A part of History - The refitting of Lord Jim

When as a yacht Captain I returned home to Australia from the USA for the past eight years, I found work at an Australian Ship Yard working on a large boat.
I was approached by a young English Captain of a British Flag yacht called "Lord Jim", who was leaving after three years, He joined as an unpaid deck hand and ended up being the only one left on board after crossing the Pacific.
The vessel was at a marina Marina in the Whitsundays, Queensland. It wanted an available Yacht Captain take it to Thailand via The Great Barrier Reef and Cape York. The brochure looked great, as they always do.
It was an old Camper & Nicholson made in 1977 it had a steel hull with aluminum sub structure which was riveted together.
I submitted a CV and forgot about it till I got called from the owner who was in the performance coaching business . I was quickly convinced because of the owners skills.
After driving north for two days I arrived at the marina and saw the boat, I realized I'd been conned. The yacht was a mess.
It turned out it was completely un seaworthy and most systems broken down, With the Australian Cruise Permit expired, Ships Registration in Gibraltar expired, the hull and crew insurance expired, radio licenses expired. Added to this, all the safety equipment was out of date.
The captain of the ship quickly left unfortunately for him the owners were disputing his return ticket home.
The Boat was desperately in need of repairs and I as the relief captain Phuket started on my own. I wanted to save face and get going but had no boat money or cards.
About 19 month later I arrived at the Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket . I even continued restoring the vessel to her former glory with all systems up and running within a limited budget.
Refitting this boat has bought great happiness to me and I am Proud of my efforts.

Article Source: http://www.articlegoldmine.com

Author John Jackson is a writer for relief captain Phuket a business that has excellent information on Phuket , Bali and South East Asia as well as presenting available yacht captain which is a particularly difficult position to fill and need the right person.

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