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The boat is scheduled to leave the factory on April 18, and we're up to our eyeballs in the pre-launch logistics: financing; insurance; delivery; registration; dockage; training; etc.
The Fed's interest rate decisions are moving in our favor, and luckily, we locked in our purchase price in US$ so the depreciation of our vaunted currency is not hurting us (expcet that Jennifer's provisioning of the boat prior to departure for Annapolis in late April will be a bit pricey). We're getting excellent service from our friend Cindy Lewis at Newcoast Financial. Having the boat launched in non-U.S. waters limits the universe of lenders, since -- in the unlikely event of a default -- the loan's collateral would be more difficult to access in non-U.S. waters.
Insurarance is also in good shape; Pat Bannon at IMIS has been very patient with us, and has gotten us a policy for the delivery, for our coastal cruising plans -- all with an eye to having world-wide coverage for our trip.
We had a brief glitch in the delivery -- our insurance company requires not only trans-Atlantic experience on the part of the skipper (good idea), but also blue-water experience for the crew (also a good idea). The first company we began to engage with had a tough time guaranteeing TODAY that their crew would have the requisite experience. Happily, we were referred to Reliance-Yachts in the UK that seems to have a more robust list of available crew. More later on this.
We're registering the boat with the U.S. Coast Guard, and, given our financing, we're relying on a third-party documentation company -- ASAP -- to handle the paperwork. Apparently, there are more than a few cases of conspiracies between borrowers and builders to create "false" documents for non-existent boats for very large loans.
For dockage, our long-time friend Steve L. has offered us dock space at his Annapolis-area home; permitting issues have led us to pursue a "Med-moor" arrangement, where the boat is secured on the bow via a permanent mooring, and secured on the stern to the dock. For a catamaran, this is ideal, given the ingress/egress via the rear of the two hulls.
Finally, Jennifer is hard at work gaining various course and license certificates -- coastal navigation; Maryland boat operator license; etc. She's headed off to La Rochelle, France in mid-April to help deliver the boat across.
Lots of moving parts.
