With 2018 summer sailing season in full swing the folks at Queen Long Marine are busy preparing for the fall boat shows and are on track to have the first Bill Dixon designed H48 available for viewing at the Annapolis fall sailboat show. This new design features sleek lines, open clean decks, a self tacking staysail for ease of handling, wrap around deck-saloon windows for optimum light and visibility and a classic Hylas spacious center cockpit. Hull #1 will soon be loaded on to a freighter for delivery to Miami then moved to Riviera Beach (Hylas Year Round Service Center) for rig installation and final commissioning. But before any of that can happen she must go through a rigorous inspection both in and out of the water. Although Kaohsiung is a port town and the home of Queen Long, to allow a detailed inspection and give full access to all trade departments preliminary testing is done in the controlled environment of the test tank. If you visit when we are not water testing it’s a great place to watch the bustle of the yard and enjoy the thriving population of Koi Carp who also share the tank.
Only after satisfactory testing and QA checks have been complete will she be given a final spruce up, making sure every detail is to the new owners specification. She will then be carefully prepared for the four week freighter trip to Florida. Just because she will be out of sight for those four weeks she won’t be out of mind, new owners and Hylas get regular updates as to the freighters location, local weather conditions and a status report re this precious cargo. We will post more news as her journey continues and anyone interested in test sailing her when she reaches the US, please contact kwensley@hylasyachts.com. We look forward to welcoming you aboard.