The Last Voyage of the Good Ship Tarun

May 10, 2010 – The Last Voyage of the Good Ship Tarun

On fifth of May, in the year two thousand and ten, the ownership of the good ship Tarun passed from the vivacious Catherine and the seasoned Brian to a New Zealand bloke named Tom. After nearly 9 years, in which she served her two masters extraordinarily well; enabling safe passage across turbulent seas and stormy oceans; providing a snug and welcoming home; it was time for her stalwart owners to let her go and follow a new and different dream.

The process of sale was not without its dramatic moments. We were advised of an offer on Easter weekend. No worries, all was right with the boat, in fact I had just replaced the fresh water pump on the engine (more on this later). The mechanical survey was arranged, and the day before, I ran the engine and made sure it was all nice and clean. The next morning the diesel engineer (NEVER call them mechanics in MZ) arrived, I took off the engine cover, and there, lying on the bottom of the drip tray was a puddle of nice fresh antifreeze. A good start! The mechanical survey went well, a small oil leak from the front seal but nothing major. The next day, was haul-out and completion of the mechanical survey while under way. The day dawned overcast and the winds picked up to 25-30 knots. Not a situation I really wanted to take Tarun out the berth in, but, the buyer had flown from Wellington, the haul out was booked across the harbour, so with five of us on board we roared out of the berth (and I mean roared, full revs in reverse) and off we went. Got to the other side and I wanted to back Tarun into the travel lift, NO WAY. So front first but luckily the travel lift could lift us without dropping the forestay. The survery went well, a few small blisters on the bow, and then (drum roll please), the diesel engineer is spinning the prop and I am watching the prop go around in circles and up and down. We had a bent propeller shaft. Well, I contacted the insurance company, made a claim and after a frustrating week of trying to get someone to do something, we hauled the boat out, dropped the rudder, pulled the shaft and sent the whole lot off to get a new shaft made. Amazingly it only took 3 days and we re-installed on Thursday afternoon and were back in the water Friday.

The new owner is a novice sailor, Tarun is his first boat, so he is having a delivery skipper sail her to Wellington. Unfortunately weather is terrible just now, so the delivery crew, who arrived in Auckland on Monday after delivering a yacht from Wellington turned around and made their way back to Wellington, on land! As we have been paid, I wish the new owner the very best of luck!