Zhuhai, China. Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 3:40 AM. I am up in the early hours mentally preparing for day two of this exciting visit to the Selene Yachts Shipyard. “Exciting” because this roller coaster of a ride that was never supposed to happen (last year we finished refitting Shangri-La 5388 to be our “Forever Boat”) became very very real yesterday when I operated Shangri-La 6047 for the first time. It was a short ride in the pond to reposition her on the “Selene Marina” dock for the many workers on board to have better access to their tools and equipment stored in the impressive new building. As I started the twin John Deere engines, listened to them warm with a low rumble, had crew cast off lines, and activated the proportional bow and stern thrusters, Shangri-La slipped predictably away from the downstream dock. We were underway on our short maiden run! My surprising first impression - This is a BIG BIG BOAT!! The vessel followed my prompts, pirouetted predictably to port, pushed through the muddy water to the upstream dock, piroutted gracefully once again, and slid easily into position to be secured with her lines.
Day one was filled with inspections, observations, questions, answers, decisions, making lists of things to think about, to ask Terry about, to research, sweaty crawls into the unfinished spaces on board, making more lists, being very happy, being overwhelmed at times, and enjoying lots of shared smiles. The entire Selene crew was bustling, helpful, happy and very busy on board. Chaos almost under control - my cup of tea!
I took a break to compose myself, walked away, climbed on board Roger and Christie Nowakowski’s boat (6055 OE to be named ?) to take photos for them, and admired how the vessel was coming together. I savored the peace and quiet for a minute or two. Then back on board Shangri-La for more planning, asking, answering, and sweating. Finally to the office for consultations, research, more planning (it never ends), and then we were done for the day.
Back to the Marriott for some well deserved rest after a long and exhausting day. Did I say rest? Howard and his son Jeffrey, home from College and golf academy in Las Vegas, Nevada for the summer, came for Ian and me 45 minutes later. We walked to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a huge dinner of steak, salad, bread, asparagus, noodles, pizza, chicken and cold beer. Howard has a special talent for ordering, eating and sharing a lot of food. Beanpole Jeffrey is an apple that did not fall far from the tree. He asked us for advice about how to bulk up so that he could hit the ball longer on the golf course and our advice was “stay hungry.” Jeffrey smiled, confident that he could accept the challenge.
Sunrise and day two will be here soon so I better get some zzzzz’s. I expect it will be more of the same.
Jack