Based on photos we received from Ray Wolfe, our marine surveyor, and Heny Zheng, our SHM project manager, it was clear that pace of progress on Alpenglow was accelerating. The schedule called for the boat to be completed Fall 2009 and if we wanted to correct issues before the boat was all “buttoned up”, it was time for another visit to the boatyard.
Since no “Saver” frequent flyer tickets were not available on Northwest Airlines (soon only to be a memory as its name and logo is swallowed by Delta), Marcia turned in more miles and flew business class. That also allowed her to really load up stuff for the boat in her checked luggage with out paying additional baggage charges.
The initial plan was for Marcia to break up her yard visits with weekend stays in Hong Kong. However, with the mainland Chinese immigration authorities doing their utmost to prevent a H1N1 flu outbreak, the border check was intimidating and lengthy. Marcia decided to forgo the risk of an inadvertent quarantine by only entering China once and putting all of her Hong Kong time at the trip’s end.
| Dates | Activity |
| July 3-4 | Fly NWA from Seattle to HK via Narita |
| July 5-6 | In HK |
| July 6-15 | At Seahorse Marine (SHM) boatyard |
| July 16-21 | in HK |
| July 22 | Fly NWA from HK to Seattle via Narita |
While at the boatyard, Marcia and I spoke daily for about an hour using Skype. The hotel she stayed at had free Internet in the room that was generally reliable enough. While in Hong Kong, we didn’t talk as often because Internet connectivity in hotel rooms there is typically extra cost.
Marcia’s visit was very productive and timely. She was able to identify and have the boatyard correct several problems and adjust installations of other items (e.g., hand holds) to meet our needs.
Below are some photos from her trip.
