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Journal - The Accident (2000)
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The return of Mouse Pad to the USA was supposed to have been an uneventful 14-16
days ride on a container ship from Auckland, New Zealand to Long Beach Harbour,
California. Then off-load it into the water, for me to motor Mouse Pad to the San Pedro
Boat Yard and have the mast re-steped. Sounds easy and straighforward
doesn't it? But it was not to be! |
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Some details will be omited to protect the inocent or are just plain
irellivent. |
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Let me start when I got my first phone call from the load-master in Long Beach
Harbor telling me that the ship was on schedule and due to arrive in 4 days.
AND that it would cost me $4,000.00 to off-load and pay dockage fees. I
was totally staggered as I was told by the NZ shipping company that the fee to
them was all-in. It was far from it, there fee only got Mouse Pad loaded
onto the ship and the ship to Long Beach. I was now getting told that the
budget was out the window and I would have to fork out another $4,000.00.
Well after lots of panicky phone calls between Long Beach Harbour Load-Master
and me arranging how to unload Mouse Pad and how I can reduce the Long Beach
dockage fees. To say that I was miffed would be a huge understatement.
As the transportation company I hired in Auckland told me that all charges
on both ends were included, they lied, it did not include any of the charges for
the Long Beach Dock. I have to give a big nod to the Load-Master at Long
beach for his co-operation and understanding in my situation and the disasters
which insued.
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The Load-Master told me that Mouse Pad would be one of the first containers
off-loaded and the sceduled time would be around 6-7am. And as per the
load-masters
suggestion, for cost savings, Mouse Pad was to be off-loaded directly into the
water along with the mast which was loaded seperatly. To go along with this
plan, I made arrangements with Jerry to take her 24ft power boat from Marina del
Rey to Long Beach, about a 2 hour ride. So we left MdR around 3am all fueld up and ready to go.
We got about half way there,somewhere off Point Vicente, when we sucked
something into the water inlet and the engine overheated and siezed up. Not
being able to fix the problem on the water we called Vessel Assist to come get
us and tow us to Long Beach. I made a call to the Load Master in Long Beach and
told him of our situation and he was nice enough to say that he could change the
off-load to have Mouse Pad off-loaded last, giving me about an additional 4 hours.
Needless to say nothing was going my way! We didn't get to the San Pedro
Boat Yard till several hours after the deadline. The Load-Master was a real
gentleman and sport and off-loaded Mouse Pad onto the dock. Now instead of
just meeting the ship and seeing Mouse Pad off-loaded into the water then
jumping onboard Mouse Pad to motor her to the boat yard. Now with no time
to spare and already late and racking up a bill from the ship yard I had to find
a truck with a low-boy trailor. The load-master had Mouse Pad held on the
dock waiting for the truck show up with a low-boy trailor to transport her to the boat yeard. |
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Once we got to the boat yard I made some frantic calls with the assistance of
the boat yards owner/manager to find a truck that could make the 1.5 mile move
from Long Beach to San Pedro. With the truck contracted and ready to go it
was now too late to transport Mouse Pad through the streets as oversized loads
can only be moved between certain times of the day and of course specific routes
based upon the size restrictions we had, mostly the height of the load. |
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The next day I was at the boat yeard early to make sure everything goes
according to plan and schedule. The yeard had all his guys there along
with the rigger and crane operator to off-load Mouse Pad and step the mast.
Now came the long wait as we were not allowed on the Long Beach docks, only the
truck and driver could be there. It was because of safety and security
issues. I was at the boat yard waiting with the yard crew and the manager of the trucking company. This was
supposed to have been about a 2 hour wait due to the route and reduced
speeds allowed during transport. The was going to be an easy day.
The process was supposed to be... transported
Mouse Pad from Long Beach to San Pedro by truck, off-load directly from the
trailor into the water, re-step the mast. Then by the end of the day I would be
on my way out of San Pedro/Long Beach harbor. I was
going to have an overnight stop over in Avalon, Catalina, about 18 miles. Then on
to Marin del Rey, about a 40 mile run, and into Mouse Pad's new home slip.
YEAH RIGHT! |
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After lots of coming and goings by the transportation manager he said there was
a problem at the docks and he would be back as soon as possible. Well
after about 2 hours later he returned to the boat yard with a very dissmayed look on
his face. It turns out that there was no problems with dock yard, that was
just a story to keep me calm while he went off and dealt with the truck hitting
a bridge! Needless to say I was not pleased when I saw the truck arrive
with the mast hanging off the side of the trailor and what was left of the bow
rail hanging off the side of the boat. |
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The situation was this... the young man who was sent to the docks to measure
Mouse Pad in her cradle so they could create a route for the truck where it
would not pose any height or width problems. Well there was a calultations issue! It
appears that the young man measured the cradle for its highest point but did not
account for the fact that the mast, which was carried seperatly on the ship was
going to be tied to the top most level above the bow and stern railings. Hence his measurement was of by
12-16 inches. Causing a huge problem for the truck driver as his route for
height was now off and he didn't know it. So when he got to one bridge
which only had a few inches clearance, with the wrong height calculations he hit it full on with the base of the mast.
Which was now
firmly tied to the bow & sterrn railings and anything else they could find along
the way. The damage done was that the bow and stern railings were both torn
out at there bases and demolished leaving big 6 inch holes in teh deck where
each deck plate was suppoed to be. This also took out several of the side
stantions and the life-raft. |
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The trip from Long Beach to San Pedro which should have taken a couple of hours or so plus
launching Mouse Pad and re-stepping the mast, another 2-3 hours. A total
of 4-6 hours ended up taking over six months! |
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To see the photos of the damage to Mouse Pad
click here. |
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