The Levin Menz Shed blokes were out in force, joining the crowd of about 1000 people gathered around the Manawatū Marine Boating Club in Foxton Beach on Thursday to watch The Beast take to the water. The monster boat was built for New Zealand jeweller, entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Michael Hill and is 39.5m long and 12m wide. It was built by Profab Engineering in Palmerston North and can sleep up to 22 people.
The previous day the boat was maneuvered on to the boat ramp and put on to airbags to wait for high tide. The boat launched about midday on Thursday to cheers from onlookers.
Profab owner Carl Ferguson said it took 22 months to build the boat prior to shipping it from Palmerston North, and it is one of the largest boats constructed in New Zealand. After two years of working on the catamaran, he was relieved the boat was finally at sea. The Beast will travel to Wellington for some finishing touches, and then the crew will take it to Auckland.
We returned to the Boating Club today to catch a glimpse of The Beast without all the crowds of launch day. And there she was, not a pretty boat by any means, with her name painted very discretely on the side.
2 comments:
"Not a pretty boat"!! Jenny you are a master of the understatement.... :-)
Wow! She is a beast. You know what they say about boys and their toys.....
Post a Comment