New Leopard 40: delivery in Cape Town

[B4A]

My wife and I are considering buying a new Leopard 40, but instead of taking delivery in Miami, we are thinking about hiring a Professional Delivery Captain and cross from Cape Town to the Caribbean.

Has anyone on this forum ever bought a new Leopard and taken delivery in Cape Town? How was the purchasing process? What about US Import Duty and Sales Taxes? If you need to do work on the boat in Cape Town, are costs higher or lower in Cape Town compared to Miami? How about the cost of a berth in a marina over there? We will have to spend some time there to work on the boat and for some shake down trips before the Atlantic Crossing.

Anything that you can share will be greatly appreciated!

[Steadman Uhlich]

I am not a delivery captain, but that is a voyage I would like to take, and on a cat would be especially nice.

I enjoyed watching the videos produced by a CF Member who took his cat from Capetown to Caribbean last year, stopping at Acension and St. Helena, two places I would like to visit too. That boat's name, the name on Facebook, and the video channel on YouTube is "Luckyfish."

I hope that helps.

Bon Voyage!

[Taichungman]

Originally Posted by B4A

My wife and I are considering buying a new Leopard 40, but instead of taking delivery in Miami, we are thinking about hiring a Professional Delivery Captain and cross from Cape Town to the Caribbean.

Has anyone on this forum ever bought a new Leopard and taken delivery in Cape Town? How was the purchasing process? What about US Import Duty and Sales Taxes? If you need to do work on the boat in Cape Town, are costs higher or lower in Cape Town compared to Miami? How about the cost of a berth in a marina over there? We will have to spend some time there to work on the boat and for some shake down trips before the Atlantic Crossing.

Anything that you can share will be greatly appreciated!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I helped deliver a SF50 from Cape Town to the Annapolis boat show last year. I believe they registered the boat in Delaware because of tax purposes. The cost of work in Cape Town is much cheaper. That is one reason all those cats are being built there. Build them cheaper and then get $$USD's for them or Euros...Don't know about how much to berth a boat. We docked right next to the V&A waterfront for two weeks before we left. There were plenty of slips there in July. I know a good skipper if you haven't found one already. He usually delivers SF50 to the US and Europe. Not sure if he is busy now or not but he lives in S.A. not far from St. Francis Bay. Make sure you do some sailing before you leave and pay for. We did the same and found problems that needed taken care of.

[Taichungman]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

I am not a delivery captain, but that is a voyage I would like to take, and on a cat would be especially nice.

I enjoyed watching the videos produced by a CF Member who took his cat from Capetown to Caribbean last year, stopping at Acension and St. Helena, two places I would like to visit too. That boat's name, the name on Facebook, and the video channel on YouTube is "Luckyfish."

I hope that helps.

Bon Voyage!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for the "Luckyfish" channel......It appears he is the Luckyfish.

[peterbeale]

You have to be careful that your warranties are not used up during the voyage. Most new boats have lots of "small" commissioning problems so it is important to have warrantee service available.

[captstu]

I purchased a Voyage 43 in Cape Town. It is very similar to the Leopard family and is delivered by the same truck and crane from the inland manufacturing plant to the Royal Cape Yacht Club where the mast is commissioned and the final process is complete.

I went to Cape Town for 3 months, rented a flat and car while the boat was being finished up - about 2 weeks - and lived on board and toured Cape Town and surrounds while sailing quite a bit to learn the boat.

There were four of us on board - all USCG licensed with off shore experience but no Cape Town experience. We cleared for insurance by submitting resumes - the insurance was "free" as they determined the trip posed no additional risk beyond the float plans we had already submitted to get insurance.

Other than RCYC fees (modest), fuel (very inexpensive) and provisioning (excellent, very modest price and all wrapped for freezing or pre-frozen at no extra charge), there were no charges associated with the delivery. There are no US taxes involved (assuming this hasn't changed), but I did pay a small tax to state register the boat in the USVI - our first port of US call. It was, I remember, about $210. I paid a $45 or so renewal each year.

Voyage would provide a "captain" for you if you wish to do the trip. I assume Leopard would do the same. The person in the next slip hired a local captain - he spent several days on board and sailing to ensure the crew was up to the trip.

It was a wonderful crossing. We left October 18, calculated to be the day of least likely storms (kind of a joke in the crew), and stopped at St. Helena (excellent - stay longer), Ascension (skip it, the crew got drunk, uncharacteristic), two stops in Brazel (get a Visa, we didn't and it was a pain), and on into the Caribbean where we made something like 22 more stops.


We had a water maker on board, added a small storm sail to the inventory and used it for 7 days at 200+ miles per day and enjoyed most every minute.

We didn't have AIS or RADAR. Radar is not really necessary, but we encountered a 12 ship or so fishing fleet far off shore and I think AIS would have helped - but they were very brightly light so there wasn't much problem.

I see no advantage to hiring a captain for the delivery as opposed to using the Leopard captain. If you use their skipper, there is no sorting out responsibility if there is any damage - despite the disclaimer, friends who purchased Leopards reported excellent post-sale service.

The trip took 7.5 weeks including 4 mid crossing stops - the best sailing I've ever experienced.

Contact me if you have any questions. /Stu

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by peterbeale

You have to be careful that your warranties are not used up during the voyage. Most new boats have lots of "small" commissioning problems so it is important to have warrantee service available.

I wouldn't think this to be be an issue with Leopard. Lagoon maybe, but Leopard seems to have a decent reputation for honouring warranty issues.

[sailcrazy]

Sounds like a really good plan to me...are there many price breaks on buying "factory-direct" vs taking delivery in the US? What kind of pricing are you finding on a delivery Capt? Another option might be to look at taking delivery at the factory, spending a few months there sailing and working out the new-boat bugs(they've all got them), and then deck shipping her to your port of choice on a freighter. We sailed from the Philippines to Phuket, Thailand, then deck shipped to Marmaris, Turkey. Then, after 3 years cruising the Medd we deck-shipped from Genoa Italy to St Thomas, USVI. Both trips were not cheap, but considering the wear and tear on the boat, fuel, provisioning, etc....it was a reasonable option.

[mindsofman]

Contact this gentleman.
He's reliable,reasonable rates and has about
A dozen or more of these runs under his keel.
I know he's picking up a 70 ft Cat. From Cape
Town early next year but doing eastcoast
Deliveries at the moment.
Pompoota@gmail.com
Good sailing.

[B4A]

Thank you everyone!

Cost of freight shipping the boat from Cape Town to Miami is $30K. If you want a water delivery with their people, the cost goes up to $33K.

I got a quote from a local delivery captain former instructor of mine whom I trust and respect here in San Francisco. The cost come out not significantly lower as I expected compared to the freight shipping, but if I have to pay that kind of money anyways, at least I will support a good person and a good family, instead of some multinational corporation (freight company).

Plus, crossing an ocean on your own boat with a professional captain would be a fantastic learning opportunity. The perfect way to start our cruising life.

And yes, it is understood that you don't just pick up the boat and leave, there must be a shakedown trip and the list of things to verify is quite long.

So our plan would be to get to Cape Town like a month in advance, get the boat refitted the way we like, go through the long checklist and make sure when the Captain arrives everything is in good order.

Do the shake down trip with the Captain, fix everything else that needs to be addressed and then leave for the ocean crossing.

Either way I will need to spend that kind of money. I'd better get some value of out it, don't you think?

[ghendoaus]

Check out the Catamaran Impi youtube channel thats what those guys have done I believe.
https://www.youtube.com/user/brentandana4

[Taichungman]

Originally Posted by B4A

Thank you everyone!

Cost of freight shipping the boat from Cape Town to Miami is $30K. If you want a water delivery with their people, the cost goes up to $33K.

I got a quote from a local delivery captain former instructor of mine whom I trust and respect here in San Francisco. The cost come out not significantly lower as I expected compared to the freight shipping, but if I have to pay that kind of money anyways, at least I will support a good person and a good family, instead of some multinational corporation (freight company).

Plus, crossing an ocean on your own boat with a professional captain would be a fantastic learning opportunity. The perfect way to start our cruising life.

And yes, it is understood that you don't just pick up the boat and leave, there must be a shakedown trip and the list of things to verify is quite long.

So our plan would be to get to Cape Town like a month in advance, get the boat refitted the way we like, go through the long checklist and make sure when the Captain arrives everything is in good order.

Do the shake down trip with the Captain, fix everything else that needs to be addressed and then leave for the ocean crossing.

Either way I will need to spend that kind of money. I'd better get some value of out it, don't you think?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you have not been to Africa in the past, I would highly recommend that you give yourself more time before picking up the boat. There is much to do and see around Cape Town and one and two day trips North and East. Plan on a Safari or a tour of some National Parks; you might not get another chance. Since you are there already take advantage of it.
For sure climb Table Mountain but take the cable down unless you have really good knees. I went for a one day Safari North of CT cost was about $100.usd and they picked me up from my hotel. Have fun while you are there. I stayed at the Sugar Hotel which has great food; it was a close walk to the V & A. Also stayed at the Tudor Hotel downtown close to the outside market. It's the oldest hotel in CT with lots of history. Forewarned there are many jobless looking for a handout or drug money. I fed quite a few lunch and dinner but would not give cash.

[jmschmidt]

Have never done the Cape Town to wherever crossing but the is no import duty on South African boats or any other SA product as far as I know. Nice surprise when we went to the customs office in Honolulu after bringing our Leopard (ex Moorings 4700) up from Raiatea. the Customs guy looked at the documents and asked where was this boat built? Cape Town SA was our answer. No charge, SA is exempt he responded.

[B4A]

Originally Posted by Taichungman

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you have not been to Africa in the past, I would highly recommend that you give yourself more time before picking up the boat. There is much to do and see around Cape Town and one and two day trips North and East. Plan on a Safari or a tour of some National Parks; you might not get another chance. Since you are there already take advantage of it.
For sure climb Table Mountain but take the cable down unless you have really good knees. I went for a one day Safari North of CT cost was about $100.usd and they picked me up from my hotel. Have fun while you are there. I stayed at the Sugar Hotel which has great food; it was a close walk to the V & A. Also stayed at the Tudor Hotel downtown close to the outside market. It's the oldest hotel in CT with lots of history. Forewarned there are many jobless looking for a handout or drug money. I fed quite a few lunch and dinner but would not give cash.

Being avid kite-surfers, we will certainly enjoy our time in South Africa. The more I think of it, the more I'm convinced this is a unique opportunity.

[jmschmidt]

Forgot...flag it US right out of the factory before you even leave Cape Town and make sure you get a signed builders certificate and an signed and notarized USCG Bill-of-Sale.