Restoring Pandora 150

WORDS: KEVIN CHUNG | ANDY KWOK AND EDMUND LAI

At the beginning of the year I was invited to take over 150 by July as the owner was leaving Hong Kong. My first task was to find a team of sailors who shared common interests and a commitment to co-own the boat. By June I had that team; most of whom were novice sailors. Whilst we had sailed together before in different boats, we didn’t know each other that well but we’re all like-minded people and enjoy sailing for fun.

The plan, as it was back then, was for us all to get trained in the Sunset Series and to improve our skills to become a force to be reckoned with in the Pandora class. As 150 was in poor condition, the team also agreed to renovate the boat during the Christmas holiday break. I was hoping this project would be plain sailing from then on. How wrong I was!

Soon after the 6th race of the Sunset Series in early July, all the sailing activities had to be suspended due to Covid-19, resulting in no sailing, no dinner gathering and no social activities.

In order to keep the team and the project going, a change of tack was required. After a couple of meetings, we all agreed to bring the renovation project forward and get it done before the new season started in September. A master project plan was drawn up to encompass a number of sub-projects including deep cleaning the boat, repair and painting the deck, a comprehensive renovation of the keel and hull, commissioning a new team T-shirt, designing a new logo for the boat, designing the new spinnaker etc. Allocating the duties was an easy task as everyone volunteered. What great team spirit!

As most of us didn’t have much knowledge in boat renovation, we all had to carry out research and take advice from our fellow sailors who were also doing repairs to their boats at the same time. The more research we did, the more we found out how daunting the task would be. The very first job was cleaning. On a humid and rainy day, the full team gathered and threw out rotted timber and rusted bolts and nuts, and pumped out bucket loads of murky water etc. It was obvious that most of us were not familiar with this type of hard labour and we were feeling tired until a power washer was brought out to wash away the grime and dirt on the boat. I did not expect a power washer could save the day and the boys (being young at heart) cheered up and fought to get control of it!

Next up was hours and hours of preparation such as scraping old paint, fiberglass repair, filling and sanding before painting could begin. Our records indicate that we spent a total of 200 man-hours just on preparations alone. The whole project took us 10 weeks to complete with a total count of 350 man-hours.

For the renovations, we used a detailed project plan showing what each step would involve; what needed to be done, what tools we needed and what performance standard we wished to achieve. This plan proved to be an invaluable management tool as it gave us a clear view of where we were in the project at any particular time. In order to lift the team spirit from time to time, we included simple celebration drinks in the project schedule when certain milestones were achieved. We had to break up into groups of four of course in order to comply with the social distancing requirements!

When we were working on the design of the T-shirt and spinnaker, we stumbled on the registered name of 150: Hakuna Matata. Fans of Lion King will know this African Swahili phrase which means “no worries”. We all agreed that this name is perfect for our carefree, be happy attitude.

Weather was the main problem encountered for the duration of the project. We laboured for many days in sunny 35 to 40C conditions with

our N95 facemasks on! It was so hot and unbearable that we had to ask the boat boys to move our boat closer to the Clubhouse so that we could get some shade from about 1500hrs onwards each day. We also had to build sunshields over the boat to protect the newly painted surfaces from dirt and occasional rain.

There were also technical problems to solve due to extremely hot weather conditions. Things like the epoxy filler that set after only three minutes and before you could apply it to the fiberglass. Paint got thick too quickly too!

Throughout the whole project there was only one minor disagreement within the group; something that can happen often when building a new team. Luckily one of our number is a good motivator and mediator and the problem was settled quickly.

Not to be disheartened by these problems, we just had a few good laughs and moved on, remembering our motto “Hakuna Matata, no worries”.

It was very heartwarming to note that whilst we were labouring under the extreme heat, the wives were there to cheer us up and to keep us refreshed and nourished with homemade drinks and snacks. What a team!

Although Covid-19 stopped us from sailing, it did give us the opportunity to continue building our team spirit through the renovation project. Now that the project is complete we are all looking forward to enjoying sailing in our renovated boat in the new season. Watch out for Hakuna Matata!

Interesting bits and pieces

1. Most valued consumable 2. Man’s best friend 3. Man’s worst nightmare

4. 5. 6.

7. Shocking moment Most empowering moment Most encouraging words

Most scary moment

8. Most discussed topic

9. Least discussed topic

10. Unsung heroes

11. Toughest job 12. Most skillful task

13. Most technical task 14. Most challenging task 15. Wisdom moment

N95 respirators and sand papers Power washer Forever self-disintegrating paint rollers “Did we use the right paint?” “Ladies, let’s finish the job!” Be brave, go ahead and do it. Hakuna Matata Man holding alcohol on the left hand and bleach on the right hand and said “I am going below deck to clean”!!! What colour should my team T-shirt be Task assignments (everyone just volunteered). The many friends and fellow sailors who are so generous to share their time, knowledge and resources cleaning decades of dirt and grim sanding/filling and preparing the hull for painting adjusting tension on the rigging preparing and mixing the paint planning your exit route when painting the deck....