A Mexican Yacht Delivery to English Owners (with Irish crew)
By Gerry Edwards
Henry and Janice Trembecki first set their eyes on a Nordhavn in 2004 in Hamble, Southampton, where our European sales office was being established. Nordhavn 57 Atlantic Escort, had just completed the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally, and I helped deliver her from Gibraltar to the office in Southampton to be sold there. The Trembeckis were intrigued by the unique look of the N57 and came by the office to find out more about her. As a native of the Europe myself, I hit it off with the two Brits and we discussed Nordhavns at length. But soon I would be headed on a plane back to California so I handed them over to my colleague, Neil Russell, Sales Manager of the Southampton office. A few years later, Neil ultimately sold them a brand new Nordhavn 55 (hull #32), and they decided to have their boat commissioned at our Dana Point, CA office so that they could start their cruising adventure in the Pacific. Neil asked me to be the point person in CA and I was thrilled to be able to work with the Trembeckis again.
Once the boat arrived, I was there to greet them and help them through the commissioning process. Since they are English citizens, the boat had been brought to the U.S. under temporary import bond and had to be delivered out of the U.S. to comply with the regulations. They christened her Cloudy Bay and when commissioning was completed, we set off to Ensenada, Mexico for delivery.
We left Dana Point at 4:00 am on a Friday in a dense fog so we had to totally rely on the new 3D electronics navigation equipment and literally tip-toe out of the harbor. Cloudy Bay ran flawlessly and we performed the delivery while en route, and then arrived at Ensenada about 6:30 pm.
On Saturday morning Henry went into town to obtain the cruising permit for Mexico and said that the assistance he received from the staff (FITO) at the Coral Marina was excellent.
After a short stay, we departed Ensenada on Sunday morning heading back north to San Diego, but there was an issue with one of the autopilot pumps and so we u-turned back to the marina to get it resolved. I called Russell Barber, head of Commissioning in Dana Point, and he was able to walk us through the process of isolating the faulty pump and this allowed us to continue on our trip without much delay. We arrived in San Diego late on Sunday night and customs came aboard at 11:00 pm and cleared us into the U.S. Henry then went to their head office on Monday morning for their U.S. cruising permit.
After a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and tea (after all, it is a British boat!) served by Janice, we headed home for Dana Point. Along the way we saw dolphins, seals, Pilot Whales and were even lucky enough to glimpse a Grey Whale sounding just a few hundred yards from the boat. What a beautiful way to end our trip!
Henry and Janice plan to cruise the western seaboard for the summer and then winter in the Sea of Cortez. Next year will be a trip to Alaska and then down through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean. Eventually they will cruise back home to the UK on their own bottom…back to where it all began.
Gerry Edwards is a representative in the Nordhavn Yachts Southwest Sales Office in Dana Point, CA. He can be reached at gerry.edwards@nordhavn.com.