It's spring – the time many a yachtsman's fancy turns to cruising the fjords of Alaska or the glittering ports along the Med. But if your boat is in Fort Lauderdale or the Northeast, getting it to your dream destination can turn into a logistical nightmare.
Traditionally, there have been two main ways to transport your boat across an ocean or around a continent. If your vessel was of sufficient size and seaworthiness, it could make the voyage "on its own bottom." Meaning, you could drive it there yourself – using up all your vacation time in the process – or hire a delivery skipper. Or if the boat was large enough for a crew, you could let the captain take it.
ONNE VAN DER WALThe process in action on a Dockwise Transport.
If the boat wasn't a transoceanic-capable vessel, your only option was to have it loaded by crane onto a cargo ship, a process known as "lift-on, lift-off."
FLOAT-ON, FLOAT-OFF
In recent years, however, another option has emerged, one that has gained popularity among yacht owners: "float-on, float-off" shipping. This innovative service was introduced to the yachting industry back in the late 1980s, when a commercial oil-rig and platform shipping company used one of its semi-submersible ships to ferry private yachts across the Atlantic for an Italian yacht builder. Today, a later incarnation of that company, Dockwise Ltd., is still the primary provider of "float-on, float-off" shipping to yacht owners through its Dockwise Yacht Transport (DYT) division.
Since then, DYT has gained some loyal repeat customers who take their yachts back and forth between the Caribbean and Mediterranean seasonal cruising grounds on its ships, as well as transporting them to other exotic destinations.
"The previous Adler was on the first "˜dock-ship' crossing back in 1987, and we are making the 38th and 39th Atlantic crossing this year," said Capt. Phil Alloway, master of the current Adler, a 136-foot, high-speed motor yacht.
DYT transports boats from 20 to 200 feet to ports around the world, including such seasonal yachting hotspots as Newport, R.I., Fort Lauderdale, Genoa, Italy, and St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. The company operates a fleet of dedicated yacht carriers that partially submerge during the loading and offloading procedures, so the yachts literally float on and off the ship.
The process begins well in advance of the sailing date, when yacht owners who have booked a berth are required to submit full specifications for their boat. Of course, "Once you're a regular customer, you're a known quantity," says Capt. Alloway, who has participated in 28 DYT transatlantic crossings. Before the yachts even show up, the ship's Loading Master diagrams the position where each yacht will be located in its "dock bay." As loading day approaches, chocks and temporary frames are set out on deck to use in bracing the yachts once they are aboard. Then, the ship fills its ballast tanks with water, lowering the bay far enough below the level of all the yacht's keels, bulbs, stabilizers and other appendages, so they won't bump into anything on deck during loading.
The next step is to drive the yachts one by one through the ship's transom into their assigned places. "In essence, it's really no more than a tricky docking," says Capt. Alloway. "We use the normal fendering you would if you were close to the yacht next door, and our regular docking crew – four to six people on deck. There's always plenty of [ship's crew members] available to take lines. It's all done in a slow and cautious and protected manner."
