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Those individuals were
Brendan Westerhout, his captain, and Shane Dingle, his engineer. Norman
had interviewed Westerhout when he bought his Feadship, and while he ended
up hiring someone else to be captain at that point, he was nonetheless
impressed with what he calls Westerhout’s “brain power”
that “I knew he was the right guy for the job” this time around.
As for Dingle, not only did Westerhout recommend him, but also “he
and I were on the same wavelength from an engineering standpoint,”
Norman explains.
While it’s common
for yacht owners to have on-site representation, usually in the form of
a captain or project manager (or even someone who wears both hats), Norman’s
choice of two people—and the fact that he sent them to Australia
before the first weld—was atypical. It’s an approach that Norman
stresses is “crucial” for other owners to follow, pointing out
how the two men monitored the yacht’s progress every day, ensuring
that both they and the yard followed his specs “to a tee.”
So what were some of
those specs? A central one was having an engine room that wasn’t
cramped. One look at the photo on page 73, and you can see the space is
exceptionally neat and voluminous. Machinery is arranged over two levels
(three, if you count the level down a few steps with barely standing headroom,
used for stowage). Wiring runs overhead are meticulous. The diamond-plate
walkway between the twin Caterpillars is wide enough to permit two adults
to stand shoulder to shoulder and still have plenty of wrench-swinging
room. And the powerplants themselves sit higher than normal, providing
easy access to key maintenance points.
Another key requirement
was having the yacht’s four decks re-create a home environment. Laura,
who owns her own design company, N.I. Designs, worked closely with Sam
Sorgiovanni in selecting freestanding furnishings (many of them antiques)
and setting up a combination of formal and family-friendly rooms inside
and out, including a cinema, library, observation lounge, crow’s
nest (complete with four pedestal chairs plus a long settee), and full-beam
master suite, with its own saloon-like seating area off to starboard.
Then there are the toys.
Besides the above-mentioned No Rules, Aussie Rules carries
a 29-foot SeaVee used for diving and fishing excursions, a 31-foot Novurania
Equator, two 18-foot Hewes flats boats, four PWCs, and an assortment of
sea kayaks, surfboards, and wakeboards. And lest these provide too much
heart-racing diversion for Norman’s family (or select charter parties),
the mothership also holds two dozen sets of snorkel gear.
“Aussie Rules
can drop anchor, go to a marina, or head to the South Pacific for 90 days,”
he says. At her reported cruise speed of 15 knots, she sees an incredible
8,000-NM range. The Normans have already put that range to the test, during
the best time that Greg says he’s had so far: the three weeks he
and his family spent in a remote atoll of French Polynesia. They enjoyed
“magnificent cruising grounds, calm weather,” water devoid of
plastic flotsam, and “a trillion more stars” because there’s
no pollution in the air. “It absolutely shocks me why people go to
the Caribbean or Mediterranean when people with these yachts can go to
places like this,” he says in astonishment.
What he’s not incredulous
about is the idea that owners need to have more of a voice in general
in the yachting industry. He speaks passionately about how he’d like
to see an owner’s association meet on a regular basis to discuss
everything from how build standards are set to pros and cons of MCA. As
to the former, he feels strongly that there is no industry-wide standard
and that brokers and crew have more of a voice. As to the latter, Norman
thinks policy requirements should be reviewed on a boat-by-boat basis.
For example, during one particularly rough crossing where Aussie Rules
encountered 20- plus-foot seas, Norman says the magnetic hold on the MCA-mandated
automatically deploying watertight bulkheads wasn’t strong enough
to hold the doors closed. While the yacht came through the turbulent seas
relatively unscathed, the failure nonetheless troubled him. “It’s
incumbent on us as owners to direct the future of the industry,”
he says.
As I said, this man
does not mince words.
Oceanfast USA
Phone: (954) 522-5353. www.oceanfast.com.au.
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