ONO Delivery

SNORK MAIDEN (B)LOG

Strictly speaking this is not a Snork Maiden (b)log but it is about sailing.  I am currently on a delivery trip from Turkey (Marmaris) to the UK (Gosport).  The boat is a 39’ Beneteau called ONO.  She’s been on charter in Turkey and now she’s going home!  

This is ONO Beneteau 393

Deliveries are unlike cruising in so many ways.  We need to keep up a steady day’s run of around 120 Miles so we make every effort to stay at around 5 knots.  If this means running on the engine, that’s what we do.  Of course we sail (or motor) all day and all night making minimum stops – so far we pulled in at Ios for fuel and then off, with another pitstop at Zakinthos.  In between came the Corinth Canal.  This is an old (1800s) canal with steep stone sides, like motoring through a canyon with the shadow ship passing over the walls as we slip by floodlights to each side.  We were instructed to go ‘full ahead’ and 2 working boats followed us through at our quite sedate 5 Knots or so.  The Corinth Canal cuts of the Peloponese Peninsula and we took it to avoid adverse weather further south.  We popped out into the Ionian – there’s a stunning new-ish bridge at the end of the Gulf of Corinth.

Emerging from the Gulf of Corinth

If you’ve never been on a sailing yacht on passage it’s hard to convey just what it is like.  If the boat is going to windward just getting dressed is a bit of a struggle – imagine that someone wakes you at 0240 and tips your room to an angle of 45 degrees while you try to find a selection of layers.  Oh yes, and you need to dismantle your makeshift bed on the cabin floor so you can stand up.  To keep night vision we use head torches a lot.  But then the chap who has just woken you gives you a nice cuppa, shows you where we are on the iPad, tells you the course to steer and in heavy weather will sit with you for a bit while you have your tea and get oriented.  Ono has wheel steering with an electric autopilot.  This means that when we are on the engine we can use the autopilot to steer the boat, but when we are sailing we hand steer. If the sails are well-balanced and the wind is not too strong, this is pretty nice.  At night the best way is to steer by a star.  If it’s a night dark with cloud, you either steer ‘best course to windward’ making the best progress you can given that the wind is dead ahead of where you want to go.  It amazes me how fast the 3 hours fly by.  No, I don’t often listen to music (never when hand steering) – just watch and feel the night and the wind.  

Stromboli

 Sometimes there are dolphins or porpoises, sometimes there are fabulous sunsets and dawns and sometimes torrential or stinging rain.  The landscapes of Turkey, Greece, Italy, Sicily and now Sardinia have been stunning and mostly we have had clear weather and great views.  

Sunset

Now waiting out a bit of a blow – we need to have a settled time to refit the Genoa that has been down for repair.  Also could do with a bit less wind for the next leg to Palma, and it would be helpful if it doesn’t come from straight ahead ‘on the nose’ as we say.  Palma 270, Mahon nearer 200.  

Sunrise