Another Iconic Hong Konger Leaves Town…

WORDS: ANDREW TAYLOR | IMAGES: ANDREW TAYLOR | VIVIAN NGAN

For the last 16 years there has been an Ambush on the start line, racing in and around Hong Kong waters. During that period, with the numerous renditions of Ambush, we have competed in regattas in the UK, Thailand, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and of course in Hong Kong. They have been halcyon days, racing against fantastic competitors with an awesome group of people as crew. The stories are barely believable and only get better with age and certainly with one or more of Ambush crew member Marcus’ infamous gins!

With the uncertainty of when we would next be going offshore and the everdiminishing costs of running a competitive 40-footer, the decision was made to sell the current Mills 41 Ambush. After several appearances in Seahorse magazine, she was finally sold to the East Coast of the US with a view to continue racing her offshore, lining up for the Caribbean 600, Newport-Bermuda and a few inshore regattas.

The sale was however contingent on getting shipping which had the buyer, the agent, Joachim, and I scrambling for a ship to get the boat across the pond. Something for which

we didn’t hold out a lot of hope for in the current environment.

Eventually space was found on the vessel Annegret at an eye watering cost. A last-minute scramble then started to get the boat ready to ship. The major initial issue being a cradle as the Bush was to be shipped rig in and the keel on. After much scrambling, debate and searching, the boys on the ship came up with the solution which was to simply prop it up.

A crew possie was swiftly assembled to prepare and load the boat to leave. After one last trip up the mast to remove the wand, the boom was also detached and secured to the deck to facilitate the crane lift onto the ship. Then came the mammoth task of sorting through and loading all the onshore, offshore and practice sails, along with no end of strings, computers, spares, and safety kit. This did a pretty good job of filling most of the interior of the boat and emptying most of the lockers. Joachim and I again re-iterated our pledge to never sum the excel spread sheet…

With the boat finally prepped we were then advised of a loading date and time, which then changed four times, as expected in these days of uncertainty. Eventually 16 December was locked in, and we slipped the lines one last time and I left with Ambush from Kellet, while Joachim headed out in a borrowed rib. We rendezvoused under the Tsing Ma bridge before proceeding to the ship which was parked in very calm water quite close to Chek Lap Kok. Once we had waited for the ship’s crew to have lunch, it was a German ship – procedures must be followed; the entire process of transferring Ambush to the vessel, once underway was very efficient. Having offloaded into the rib, Joachim and I stood by and watched the final process as she was lifted for the last time out of Hong Kong waters and up onto the deck of the ship. At that point I was glad we had sold the boat and we were not picking up our new bundle of joy!

Ambush then embarked on a tour of Taiwan, Thailand, the Suez and Med before safely arriving in Florida on 7 February.