In which Sid and Doris have great trouble in choosing the conveyance of the day.
So far as we know Joe does not have any trains, but boats, planes and automobiles will all feature in a banner day. If you love a transport museum read on. If you think Sid and Doris are having it too soft please go back and read the days we cycled across Serbia and Bulgaria. Into each life a little sun must fall. We can take the smooth with the rough and other self exculpatory sayings.
The transports of delight start with a particular Doris favourite, an Isetta 300cc four wheeler with sun roof. These economical cars were popular in Europe in the 1950s, especially after the 1956 Suez crisis and fuel price rises. It was claimed to give 100 kilometres to the litre but like so many claims was not matched in the real world.
The pictures will show the big grins, but this was a short trip. At one of the crossroads is a small yump which feels quite dramatic. The Isetta steers better than the Air Portable Land Rover we took out a couple of days back and the gear box is no worse. Even so it is clear that the Austin Mini introduced in 1959 was a great advance.
Today we are flying from Maryland to Maine and take Alzbetka’s Tesla 3 for the trip to the airstrip. This is an all electric car which can almost drive itself so long as it can see painted lines on both sides of the road. It is very clever and as it is a short trip we have no range anxiety. Some of our friends have electric cars but Sid has not found one that appeals for Epic Journeys.
And now for something completely different. At Cancun airport it took an hour and a half to get through check in and a further 45 minutes of panicky queuing in security. Here at Easton (ESN) we have a seven seat NetJets Citation waiting with pilot and co-pilot. Lads from the aerodrome put our luggage in a belly locker. The pilot, who used to fly GulfStreams into Stansted, checks our ID and is ready to fly us up to Brunswick, a wartime Fleet Air Arm anti-submarine base. Total time from arrival to doors shut is about five minutes.
Once we’ve stopped climbing (it climbs really fast) we break out the pre-ordered anti-pasti and settle down. We fly over New York, then Boston and 90 minutes after wheels up we are coming down into Brunswick, a taxi ride from our destination, BoothBay Harbor, ME. Maine is the most North Easterly state, bordering Canada and New Hampshire. (No, I didn’t know ’til I looked at the map.)
Waiting on the BoothBay Harbor dock is our new home, the good ship Nereus, where we will stay while we play the part of race crew on Black Watch, sail 71. Doris is chief sailor and will tell you later about Black Watch and the racing.
Motor yacht Nereus draws about seven feet, is 105 feet long, maybe 22 feet wide with accommodation for five crew and six sybarites. It was Dutch built, by Feadship in 1969. (Sid had not heard of Feadship having never really been in the market for a super-yacht. For their current tasteful offerings do have a look at www.Feadship.nl) There is a fabulous engine and plant room with two Caterpillar turbo-diesels and all the kit to run the aircon and electrics required to power the instruments on the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise. When cruising the boat burns 20 gallons an hour which would fuel the Isetta for 1,400 miles. If you wanted to go 1,400 miles in an Isetta.
It has not been a lucky ship having been sunk, raised, bought and refitted. That owner died just before his project was completed so it was sold as ‘nearly finished’. The next owner decided to do some more refitting with an apparent budget of $P+Q x N. The joinery is perfect with much deep varnish, there are many places for lounging on deck with piped cushions, which in turn have immaculate covers. There are davits in which to hang the Tender To. Inside are a sitting room and a dining room or office, we cannot call these cabins. The stack of electronics to run the TVs and internet is about the size we had to run the whole of Investit. This next owner also died before the new work had been snagged and run in. The heirs had no interest in ships and wanted the thing off their inventory. So Nereus may be a bargain, albeit with a variety of systems that are still rather mysterious. Certainly it is a most luxurious home by the sea.
For the incorrigibly nosy among our global readership (and let’s be honest, who isn’t tempted to be nosy about something as massively fabulous as the Feadship), here is a link to the walk-around view produced by the broker: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=iczKLBpghDH. [This may stop working after a few weeks, so take a look now while you can – D.]
So that was the fab day out in the transport museum. Conveyance of the day? The Citation saved a six hundred mile drive and could be seen as a rational choice. Sid and Doris have not been conveyed in Nereus and on those spurious grounds the Rolls Royce gets the nod. The judges’ decision is final, if somewhat arbitrary.
