Gary's Deliveries

 Tuesday 30th Dec '25 Finally this job is done.  23 days and approx 3,500nm's under the belt.  This boat is amazing!  WOW, what a tank.  The Nordhavn 76 has been on my buck list of jobs to do for years and this year I managed to do 2 deliveries in her.  First from Bora Bora to Fiji then this one.  I will remember for a while to come. We left Nongsa Point Marina at first light, 06:00, and headed west out into the Singapore Strait for a few miles before turning north into the channel that separates Malaysia and Singapore towards Raffles Marina just before the "Causeway" bridge that is the border between the 2 countries.  I actually used to lived in Johor Baru which is on the Malaysian side of the Causeway from age of 2 to 4 yrs old when my father was in the British Navy and he was based in Singapore.  He used to cross this bridge every working day. For those that don't have it I have a Garmin In-Reach that tracks where we are, where we've been ...

 Monday 29th Dec '25 Arrived at the entrance to Nongsa Point Marina, Batam Island, Indonesia at 09:00, waited till we got the all clear to go in.  Put the boat on to berth number B6 with 1/2 a metre either space either side between a dock and an 80ft boat which was very tight, just as well we have bow and stern thrusters and they were working overtime for this docking.   Then it was off to the office to do the paperwork and pay the silly money to berth for 1 night and clear in/out.  NZ$650 was the total for those 2 things! An hour or so later we had a visit from a Customs guy to come onboard to take photos of the main engine, the auxiliary engine, VF radio which showed our unique MMSI number, if you don't know what that is, don't ask :-) then he went up to the fly bridge and took photos of both radar units.  That was it - very strange.  12:45 now and waiting for all our paperwork to come back from the marina office, including our passports then it will...

Sunday 28th Dec'25 We arrived at a bay on a little island at 14:30 but there was way too much swell on the eastern side so we went round to the western side with happened to be between 2 islands so was really sheltered.  Dropped the anchor at 15:30 and had a beer.  The guys got to work cleaning the boat as it was covered in salt from the last 7 days rodeo ride.  They started at the top with the chimney and worked their way down.  When they had finished we all went for a snooze and locked all the doors.  There have been know to be a bit of thievery in the area which people call "pirate" attacks so better to be safe than sorry.  I also made sure we not only had the anchor light on but all the deck lights to make sure we get seen by any other boat, ship or tug that passes through this channel.  Now a bit of shut eye till midnight when we got get going.  23:00 I woke up after a decent sleep and started getting the boat ready for departure.  Start...

Saturday 27th Dec '25 and my BIRTHDAY!!!!! It's not everyday you celebrate your birthday at sea, well, for most people anyway.  This happens to be the 2nd year in a row for me but this time it's the BIG one - 65!  Whoop whoop. It has been a quite, chilled out day with not a lot of traffic to worry about and not a lot happening.  In the late afternoon the guys put a nice dinner on.  We had really nice steaks along with a rack of spare rib, also very nice, all washed down with a couple of beers.  Super chef know as Alex cause I can't pronounce his Estonian name!   Where the magic happens  So the birthday came and went as it always does but it was a pretty good one considering I am at sea.   T o cap off the special day we also crossed over the equator meaning we are now officially in the winter half of the world even though it is sunny and 35c!    Lat/long showing us just crossed into the northern hemisphere  At our current s...

 Boxing day  So last night I was having a bit of a snooze as it was my off watch.  Around 18:00 I got a call on the internal phone system, one of the boys telling me to come down to the saloon for Christmas dinner.  Well you will see from the photo it was a bit of a feast!  The salmon didn't get cooked on Christmas eve as planned as it was a bit too rough.   Honey glazed salmon as well baked salmon was the treat of the day along with green beans, roast potatoes with a chocolate cake for desert all washed down with a couple of shots of Estonian vodka!  What a feast. Christmas day feast We had a bit of a water leaking onto the saloon table from the ceiling today.  It's actually the second time it's happened.  We finally tracked it to a small crack in the fibreglass on the upper flybridge lounge deck area.  It only happens when it rains hard and we have a slight port list due to wind on the beam or fuel tank in-balance.  It took u...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! The last 2 days we have had wind and short sharp chop waves on the nose.  We do have hydraulic stabilisers which really help to stop the rolling from side to side but does not stop the nose from lifting with the wave and dropping over the back of it into the next wave.  This has meant the last 2 days have been slightly unpleasant.  I was almost thrown out of my bunk a couple of times and made sleeping challenging. Thankfully Christmas day has brought a bit of a reprieve from the waves as they have settled down overnight and allowed us to go from an average speed of 5.5kts to 7.2kts and that was without changing the rpm.   Christmas Eve is the main day that the Germans, Estonians and probably a few other countries have as the main day they celebrate Christmas, not Christmas Day itself.  It's the day that families get together and the day that the presents are handed out and opened.  The 2 crew who are full time and been on the boat for...

Tuesday 22nd Dec '25   So the boys got themselves a couple of scooters and headed off into the bright lights of Bali to meet up with 15 other Estonian's that either live there or arrived for Xmas.  They did invite me but I graciously declined as I think I would have felt a bit strange amongst a group of 20 somethings talking a strange langue so I gave them some old person advice about riding scooters around Bali and off they went an hour or so after we landed and cleared in. Talking of clearing in - OMG!!!  I thought the pacific Islands were bad.  Roughly a dozen officials came and went in the space of an hour all with paperwork for me to sign.  I must have signed 30+ documents in total!  There were 5 copies of the crew list, all stamped and signed by different departments plus me.  After all these people left my agent went off with passports in hand (never like this process) and said she would be back the next day. The next day she came back, han...

 Friday 19th Dec '25 Cleaning day  The weather has been so kind to us for the whole trip but it couldn't last forever.   Yesterday both the waves picked up and came round onto the nose.  At around 2m and straight on the bow with very little gap between them, they were a bit of a pain.  We were motoring along at about 8kts and bouncing around, so much so that I had very little sleep as my narrow single bed orientation across from side to side meant that every wave tried to throw me out onto the floor.  I had to put a pillow on the edge of the bed to try and stop this happening which proved very successful but unfortunately didn't help me sleep. These conditions lasted for about 36hrs but now we are pretty close to land we are getting some shelter.   Our ETA into Benoa Marina, Bali is sometime around 15:00 local. Here we will wait out the nasty weather that is happening further west of us which is looking like a Monday or Tuesday depart after w...

 Looks like I deleted the last post by mistake and can't get it back - sorry! Wednesday 17th Dec '25 I have been keeping a very close eye on the weather forecast which is changeable to say the least!  There were 2 lows forming and as of yesterday they were forecast to turn from east to south away from Indonesia and into the big open sea then build into cyclones with up to 135kt winds.  Although we would not be hit by these cyclones we would potentially be effected by the waves produced. I checked again this morning and 2 has changed into 1.  Like I said, changeable. So with that in mind and although the conditions don't look too bad I had decided, as always, to be cautious and dive into Bali for a couple or more days and wait till things look a little more predictable or settled as the next leg from Bali to the channel were we change course from west to north into the more sheltered area is 650nm which is 3.5 days motoring.  As there are very few places to hide ...

 Sunday 14th Dec '25 Arafura Sea Transit – Low Activity, High Vigilance Three days into this leg of the delivery , progress has been steady and uneventful — which, offshore, is exactly the objective. Approximately 600 nautical miles have been covered since departing Thursday Island , placing the vessel now roughly north of Darwin . Over this period, traffic density has been effectively zero, with no commercial shipping or fishing activity encountered. This level of isolation is typical in this sector of the Arafura Sea and reinforces the need for disciplined watchkeeping despite the absence of visible hazards. During the previous night watch, the vessel was overflown at low altitude by an Australian Border Force aircraft. This type of identification pass is standard procedure, allowing authorities to visually confirm vessel details before making radio contact. A brief exchange followed, confirming the vessel’s identity, origin, and intended destination — information already file...

Thursday 11th Dec '25 North Queensland Transit and Western Turn at Cape York The transit north along the Queensland coast was completed inside the Great Barrier Reef, providing sheltered conditions and predictable sea states. This route consistently offers a controlled environment for northbound passages, particularly for heavy displacement motor yachts where steady progress and reduced fatigue are priorities. At the northern tip of Australia, the vessel altered course west at Cape York , passing Thursday Island during the early hours. From this point, the passage transitioned from coastal navigation to open-water routing toward Southeast Asia.      Weather Conditions and Arafura Sea Crossing Conditions to date have been exceptionally stable. Wind has been minimal, and where present, has remained predominantly astern, with corresponding following seas. These conditions are ideal for a displacement yacht of this size, allowing efficient progress with minimal motion. As ...

 Nordhavn 76 Delivery: Cairns to Singapore – Operational Reality Over Convenience Plans to spend time in the Caribbean are often vulnerable to one thing: the movement of high-value yachts. After arriving in Martinique on 28 November, Yacht Delivery Solutions received a message from an owner whose vessel I had delivered earlier in the year from Bora Bora to Fiji. The yacht in question was a Nordhavn 76 trawler motor yacht , a long-range displacement vessel designed for serious offshore work. The owner needed the boat delivered from Cairns to Singapore , with a targeted departure window of 8–9 December . With a vessel of this scale and specification, opportunities are time-sensitive. Weather windows, crew availability, and clearance logistics dictate the schedule — not personal travel plans. Within 24 hours, flights were booked and the Caribbean stopover was abandoned.                             ...