Gloucester Imposter 3

Getting ready to launch

Lao Tie climbing the mast

The boat was on the hard for 2 months for repairs. 

Off the top of my head I remember:

-The bow thruster propellers were broken due to icing

- The main propellers needed to be straightened

- A section of the genoa (big jib) furler foil was broken

- The keel needed to be welded

- Various cooling problems

Notice Loa Tie was climbing up the mast with no gloves on a cold autumn day.

1st attempt 

The marina is called Gloucester Marina Railways because the platform which the boat sits on is on railway tracks. On launch, the entire platform is lowered into the water slowly. Gross weight of the boat is 55 tons.

Gloucester Imposter 2

 Lao Tie (烙鐵) and Jennifer

The love birds in my kitchen

One of the crew members of the boat was Lao Tie (literally "branding iron"). Despite speaking very little English, he managed to hook up with a local musician named Jennifer. I did not know they were dating until he started to ask for rides to Rockport, turned out Jennifer lived only a couple of blocks from my house. 

Sometimes we would invite them over for a drink and believe me you, simple sweet nothings like "everyday is a gift" was not all that simple to translate. 学到用时方恨少。

Eventually, they would be married by the Mayor of Gloucester at City Hall and Lao Tie became a neighbor of mine. Did anyone worry about losing the one third of the crew and the engineer of the boat? No, not even a little bit. 

Read about their story here