Crash Test Boat makes her final voyage

PSP transports her safely from Hamble Point Marina

Joe Dixie, PR and Marketing Manager for PSP, was at Hamble to supervise the shipping of the wreck

PSP is used to transporting some of the most glamorous superyachts in the world. But today they are delivering a shipwreck to the 2012 London International Boat Show at ExCeL, in Docklands. Yachting Monthly’s Crash Test Boat – emblazoned with the PSP logo ‘We’ll take care of your boat – not wreck it!’ – is on her last ‘voyage’ from MDL’s Hamble Point Marina to become part of Yachting Monthly’s stand in the North Hall, beside the Black & White Guinness bar.

PSP’s PR and Marketing Manager Joe Dixie, pictured above, was at Hamble to supervise the shipping of the wreck.

Having spent much of 2011 destroying the second-hand 40ft Jeanneau Sun Fizz 40 ketch – which has been capsized, sunk, dismasted and set ablaze – Yachting Monthly needed to find a boat transportation firm willing to ship a wreck. ‘While it may seem easier to transport a damaged yacht – with no worries about scratching the hull – it is, in fact, a unique challenge,’ said Paul Gelder, Editor of YM. ‘The Crash Boat has no deck after the gas explosion, as well as missing bulkheads. It could fold up like a cracked eggshell.’

Frank Dixie, Managing Director of PSP, said: ‘When I first saw film of the yacht being blown-up by a gas explosion with the Royal Navy in October, the last thing I expected was to be transporting it! Because the boat was so delicate, we had to be incredibly careful when lifting it from the hardstanding to the transport vehicle. One small mistake and the whole thing could have collapsed. It’s been a great honour to be involved in something that is spreading an important message about sea safety.’

With a full PSP team overseeing the loading, cranes were used to lift the yacht from the hardstanding at the marina onto a specialised trailer before the load was secured with straps. The boat is being transported with an escort as a ‘convoi exceptionnel’, since it regarded as ‘an abnormal load’.

Paul added: ‘PSP has shipped yachts for Dee Caffari, Bear Grylls and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, as well as some of the best brands in the business, so we knew it was the best-placed company to carry out this important task for us.’

Once the London Boat Show finishes, PSP will be transporting the Crash Test Boat to the International Boat Building Training College, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where she will be worked on by students.