Geoholm and Amphibear in Rio de Janeiro

At 3 pm, I was on my way to the Geoholm as agreed with Gustavo Magalhaes, the local representative of the shipping company. I was slightly worried about the Amphibear’s condition and the attitude of the crew. On board the ship, I had to obey its laws; I wrote down my name and walked along the green line to get to the captain’s bridge. While in there, I took a quick look at its equipment – there were tens of places with big computer screens and operator controllers. It was a modern Nordic ship. The captain Reinhold Lederle welcomed me cheerfully because it didn’t happen every day that you can save cars at sea and later question their owners. After our conversation and discussion on the plan of action of how to bring the car to the shore, we went to see my vehicle.

With its unique profile, the Geoholm is recognisable from afar. The Amphibear is also on the deck and just visible (in the picture, it can be seen in front of the background ship).

The first sight was encouraging. The car had a lot of “cosmetic” damage – some dents, a few lights not working, flagpoles and other smaller pieces broken – but nothing that couldn’t be fixed or would cost a fortune to repair.

The half-broken gear that I wasn’t able to repair in the water was mended in half an hour on the ship deck. It wasn’t done exactly the same way as planned but still very similarly.

When I took a closer look at the pontoons, I realised that their situation wasn’t that good. In addition to some small problems, there were also a few serious dents and cracks under a support of one of the pontoons. Since one of the pontoons was leaking, all the five main chambers were filled with water.  One of the stainless cable tensioners and other smaller things were also broken.

The “cosmetic” problems were noticeable at once – a light was missing, plate and exterior mouldings bent. The small cracks near the base were difficult to see and posed a much more serious problem.

In the evening, staying in my hotel I sent my questions to the boat factory and to Mark Muru, head of the Estonian boat manufacturer “Alonaut”, who had kindly offered his advice. I doubted whether I should fix the pontoons or start thinking about ordering new (and better) ones.

Translated by Luisa Translation Agency

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