Alice has a way with music. She knows her R&B. Thank you, my lady. With apologies to Sam & Dave, they caught the spirit of this moment. Tomorrow, October 7th, we begin the drive back north from Cape Cod to Rimouski. Chris and Steve start from Wing's Neck. Charlie joins in Portsmouth. We arrive on the 8th in Rimouski where Brio has been waiting patiently for attention.
Well, okay, so we're three white guys, not two Black men. But we'll do the trick.
Over the past few weeks, we have been hard at work assembling Brio's rescue team. Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding a crane large enough to lift her 25 tons out of the harbor and place her gently on a nearby trailer to be trucked to Marion, Massachusetts. It is a three-day drive to Marion for the truck and boat because the top of the boat will be close to 15 feet above the pavement and so the route will be circuitous, avoiding low-clearance overpasses.
So, here's the crane.
Here's what it looks like as it lifts other boats:
As Peter Pan would say, "I'm flyin'."
There's a lot of preparation involved in getting Brio to this point. She has to be cleaned, which is where we three white guys come in handy. That means unloading all of the food and bottled water into the car. Then she needs to be winterized, which means pumping out her holding tank (yes, that "black water.") Then all of the water systems need to be flushed and filled with anti-freeze.
All of the electronics also need to be removed from the top of the "house." That includes the VHF antennas, the radar, the communication domes, the horns, the Flir infrared camera, and the EPIRB. Finally, the mast needs to be removed. It sticks up about three feet and has a search light on it as well as cameras. All of this gets bundled up and put into the salon, or main room, out of harm's way. It's a lot of gizmos, all designed to make Brio safer underway. This stuff is her eyes and ears for us.
The truck and trailer come from Ontario. Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving, so the trucker, Dave Kopriva, will leave his family late on Monday to make the long trip to Rimouski. The crane comes from Montreal, and it will take him 6 hours.
The mechanic, Charlie Murphy, comes from Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He's bringing his pick-up and it will take him 10 to 12 hours. He not only does all of the preparation work on Brio, he will also remove the remaining pod while she's still airborne so Brio can sit lower on the trailer. He's also bringing a power washer so we can clean the boat's bottom before she's put on the trailer.
I would be remiss to not mention Julien Heraud. Julien has been essential as translator, resource finder and general inspiration. Julien did the initial dive on Brio. He works at the Marina and has hounded our first crane operator as that person could not commit to doing all of this on October 11th. With Julien's and Alice's help, we found the crane operator in Montreal.
All of this had to be scheduled with the tides in mind. By noon on the 11th, the tides will be high enough that Brio can come alongside the commercial port dock where the slings can be placed under her hull for purposes of lifting her out of the water. A few hours earlier and we could not do this.
This would not be possible without the help and support of our insurance team. Becca at the broker, Aon - NY, Bonnie, the adjuster at AIG in Kansas, and Tom, the surveyor in Gloucester, have been a solid source of support and, when needed, encouragement. Thank you!!
We will bring you pictures from Rimouski once all of this is done.
Thank you for your patience.
Cheers,
Brio
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