Every month, BOAT gets the skinny on all the most treacherous tales from the high seas...
Many years ago, my associate and I travelled all the way from the UK to oversee the installation of our artwork – an enormous, sculptural Japanese headboard, which had taken months to craft – on a 70-metre yacht. It involved beautiful oriental paper and cleverly embedded lighting; you really had to see it in the flesh to appreciate how incredible it was.
There was only one issue when we arrived at the shipyard: the wind. Or rather, the crane driver, who was afraid of working in the wind! Try as we might, we couldn’t persuade him to operate the machinery. We waited endlessly for the weather to change in our favour, but it didn’t and he stood firm, arms folded in defiance. There was no way he was going to risk it.
We were left with a difficult decision to make. If we left the shipyard, the headboard would have to be abandoned and we would have failed in the one job we came there to do. Eventually one of us, looking around the yard, had a brainwave and it wasn’t long before an entire army of crew members were hauling our work of art onto the boat, and up all three decks, huffing and puffing as the gale blew all around them.
At last, the mission was accomplished, but there was more than one sigh of relief once the piece was firmly in place. My associate and I both slept soundly that night – but we vowed to keep a closer eye on the weather forecast next time an installation came around…
As told to Charlotte Hogarth-Jones. Do you have a tale to tell? Send your story to [email protected].
We are sad to report that Massimiliano Aurelio, who created the artwork for this column for many issues, has recently passed away. His wry cartoons brought a smile to many who read BOAT, and we’d like to offer our condolences to his family – he will be greatly missed. Fair winds, Massimiliano