Shipping a yacht the size and weight of Oceans of Hope is a delicate operation requiring some serious hardware and a small army of people.

Singapore is one of the world’s greatest shipping crossroads and as such the harbour is filled with close to 1000 commercial vessels at any one time - waiting to dock or awaiting a cargo commission. The infrastructure ashore that supports this business is substantial and impressive – mile after mile of docks and shipyards fill the coastline with sporadic marina complexes and the occasional beach adding to the mix.

To ship Oceans of Hope we needed to remove the mast and load the yacht into a supporting cradle. Yesterday we carried out this operation at a local shipyard, surrounded by huge commercial ships and oil rigs, all there for service work – I am sure that for most of the yard workers it was the first time they have seen a yacht on site!

The mast was carefully lifted out of the yacht by a large shore-side crane and then a second, mega-sized, crane, that lives on a floating barge, picked up the base of the mast and the two performed an aerial dance to put the mast into a horizontal attitude. It was then placed carefully into four wooden support boxes, custom made here, that were placed on the deck of Oceans of Hope. The lashing team then entered from stage-left and secured the boxes and the mast to the yacht with strong ratchet straps.

The 50,000kg package of yacht and mast then needed lifting from the water and placing into the custom built (in Malaysia) cradle which itself was sitting on a floating barge. Two heavy lifting strops were passed beneath the hull either side of the keel and on the second attempt we got the strop lengths right, so that she lifted out straight and square. With millimetre precision, which belied the enormity of the mega crane doing the lift, Oceans of Hope was hoisted then set down inside the cradle with the bulk of her weight resting on some large timber blocks beneath the keel. The lashing team re-entered the scene to position the adjustable cradle legs against the hull of the yacht and lash them in place. Eight hours after the operation began, Oceans of Hope was sat ready for shipping – mast lashed to yacht, yacht lashed to cradle, cradle and yacht lashed to the floating barge. In 48 hours the barge will be towed to the shipping terminal and the crane there will hoist the entire package aboard the ship which leaves on Sunday, bound for Turkey – a 16 day passage.

So, a successful operation carried out which only involved two cranes; a floating barge; ten yard crew; ten lashing crew and a little organisation! We were fortunate that the daily tropical rain held off all day but the temperature was too close to 40 degrees for comfort so there was plenty of sweat, but no tears!

The reverse procedure will happen at the Port of Ambarli in Turkey where we have just four days to re-launch the boat, re-rig the mast and get all the many systems aboard Oceans of Hope re-commissioned before she continues on her mission of hope in yet another ocean – the Mediterannean.

We would like to thank Maersk, a global Danish shipping company, that is helping us to ship Oceans of Hope from Singapore to Turkey aboard one of their container ships and who have also aided us hugely with the required logistics. Thank you Maersk – we really appreciate everything you are assisting us with!