Some of you know in another topic thread I have been looking for a replacement set of Gerry Lopez GL2-5 Fin Futures fins for my Blue Planet "Duke". I bought my first set of GL2-5 Fins from Blue Planet when I bought my first Duke. I really like the GL Futures fins. They make my "Duke" perform very well in the smallish type of waves on the upper Texas coast.
I received my second set of GL2-5 Fin, from Amazon, and these "were" going to be my spare set in case anything bad happened to my first set of GL2 Futures fins. I received the second set of GL2-5 Fin on Saturday, Feb 8th.
But on late Sunday night around 11:00 pm, Feb 9th, I saw Robert's (of Blue Planet) post stating he was moving his shop to a new location and he was reducing the prices on his 2019 sup models. I looked up the price of the 2019 year "Duke" and it was priced at $799. Then I went looking to see what the price of a 2020 year "Duke" would be, but I found out the "Duke" was being discontinued.
So I checked Robert's "All Board Inventory" which has a link and the link is below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16mKsrbMifP3X4mIcInd4LK0knjG5QsS4IWbPZlnD2uU/edit#gid=515514258The inventory showed three "Dukes" left. One was a blue colored bamboo expoxy and two were the teal colored bamboo epoxy. I wanted the blue colored one.
Since Robert's shop was closed at the time; on Tuesday, Feb 11th at 2:00 pm central time which is my time, it is 10:00 am in Honolulu. I briefly talked with Robert and he transferred me to Michael for a "quote" since I wanted a few other items to be included in the quote.
I received the quote and told Michael I was placing the order right then. I talked with Michael and I wanted him to know if he could ship my ordered "Duke" with United Airlines Cargo instead of shipping by Delta Cargo.
Since Houston is the hub for United Airlines, I already knew United flew to Honolulu non-stop from Houston. I was hoping United had a cargo plane that could fly from Honolulu to Houston non-stop. Michael said he would see if he could "swing this". And he did.
When got off the phone, the BP's "All Board Inventory" showed the blue colored "Duke" was gone since I bought it. A day later on Wednesday, Feb12th, I checked the "All Board Inventory" again and the two teal colored Dukes were gone.
Moving up in time, I received an email from Michael with my air waybill number so I could track the board. The United flight number was 252 and it left Honolulu at 8:31 pm on Feb 29th for an over night flight. I tracked the flight on Flight Radar 24 and watched it coming into Houston where the plane landed, today, at 7:11 am, Sunday, Mar 1st.
The link to Flight Radar 24 is below for those interested.
https://www.flightradar24.com/ I called United Cargo at 8:15 am this Sunday morning and they told me the board had been scanned and it was at United Cargo's Houston facility at Intercontinental Airport Houston (IAH). Great news for me! I then asked if they were open on Sundays and I was told United Cargo was open 24/7 of every month. More great news.
I then asked if I could come down and pick up my freight (board). The woman agent said I could pick up my freight (board) four hours after the plane has arrived. Since the plane arrived at 7:11 am, I could come and pick up my freight (board) at 11:11 am.
I called my next door neighbor and told him I was going to the airport and I wanted to borrow his iPad for pictures and oh by the way, teach me how to take pictures with the iPad. My neighbor told me he would go with me. The news for me was getting better and better.
Anyhow, we arrived at the cargo terminal at 11:13 am this Sunday morning to pickup my board. The woman agent at the counter asked for my ID and air waybill number. I gave her my DL for ID and the air waybill number. I signed the paper with my signature and right below my signature I printed;
Possible Concealed Damage Pending Full Inspection.
My board was on a pallet. The United employee gently lifted the pallet with his forklift with my packaged board on top of the pallet. The shipping carton was in "pristine condition" since it had "No forklift", in large black letters, on both sides of the shipping carton. No holes anywhere in the cardboard.
Inside the shipping carton lay my second "Duke" and it was mummified. On top of the bubble wrap was heavy cardboard placed on top, bottom and both sides. Once all the protection was removed; my board, fins were inside the board bag and so was my undamaged "Duke".
At this time, a light rain started so my neighbor and I loaded my board onto my truck cab's roof racks. Then took the shipping carton and bubble wrap and put all of that garbage in my truck's camper shell. Then we "beat feet' back to my home just before the heavy rain came down.
We didn't take any pictures because of the rain, but I will take pictures sometime this week since this week we have rain forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Monday is a cloudy day, not good for picture taking, but this upcoming Thursday is to be a sunny day. And my second set of Gerry Lopez Futures GL2-5 fins are already installed on my second "Duke".
I want to give a public, "Thank you"; to Robert, Michael and Tony of Blue Planet for working with me and having some patience with me. Especially when it came to United Cargo.