New adventures

After I left Illusion + having been properly disillusioned by the Owners and zero progress in just about everything I resigned, handed over to my Chief Officer and went R&R to South Africa for a few weeks to clear my head. 

Ventum Maris in Valencia

I then returned to Tarragona to pick up my luggage from Wanderlust and took the train back to my hobbit hole in Italy. Actually crossing 2 borders is pretty painless in EU, there were no checks whatsoever except the only snag is you gotta change trains, at least on the smaller lines. The timetables did not go very well together so I also had to spend the night in Barcelona and Nice so if you are in a hurry - take the plane. After having settled down and unpacked I enjoyed hiking the Ligurian mountains and watching summer coming on whilst looking for new challenges. 

I also did some travel around Firenze and Rome whilst renewing my travel document as well as visited Civitavecchia, nice marina over there. 

One morning I was checking train tables and decided on a spur of the moment it is a good time to go to Greece as my dentist had called me for a checkup so took the overnight train to Bari. The train was most uncomfortable, next time I'll take a sleeper. I had the good luck to meet with a former colleague and he showed me around Bari and treated me to a wonderful lunch before boarding the afternoon ferry to Patras. 

In Greece I met another colleague and stayed with him a few days after which I took the bus to Peloponnese to go hiking. In Tyros I did five days heavy trekking up and down the local mountains, with my friend Wendy, was actually very lucky with the weather. Then I had some matters to take car of in Athens and packed up and took the bus to the Big Eggplant. After failing to resolve my business I then once again took the journey to Patras but this time took the ferry to Ancona as I could not bear the idea of the overnight train. Arriving Patras it was too late to get a ticket all the way so I managed to get one to Milano where I stayed the night before continuing to my destination.

Only a week went by and once again I had to get going and this time to Finland to upgrade my qualifications, it was time to do the polar ice navigation course. At same time I managed to meet my parents and sister for some family time. Time went by quickly and summer was coming on so I had to fly back to the Riviera.

Mid of May I was invited to Burgess office in Monaco and to discuss a possible job. I went and met with my previous yacht manager, Mr Jiyu and he explained the situation is very confidential so can't really disclose anything but would I be interested as the previous Capt had resigned? Yes of course I would and that was about it, meeting finished and I was out on the street again. As I was walking along the street I met with my previous Ch Off who was captaining Illusion Plus now, the world is small. I asked him of latest news but the reply was that nothing had changed except the management. He was in a hurry so I wished him good luck and headed for the train station.

End of May I was again on traveling foot, this time to Malta to attend the wedding of 2 friends, Leanne & Jono, it was a lively weekend where I also met old colleagues but was happy to return back to Liguria to rest & enjoy the nature.

Eventually in the beginning of June I was invited to visit a yacht in Valencia, m/y Ventum Maris. They had Burgess management but due to change to Camper & Nicholsons as per Owners request and needed a rotational skipper for the summer. 

Ventum Maris anchored at Maddalena archipelago

For a 10 year old lady she is quite well preserved with a peculiar interior design, very close layout as in Lady S (both are Amels builds) and simple functionality. The only thing I dislike is the low freeboard tenderbays making it hard to recover the boats in rough seas, the boats will just get smashed against the crane booms. Oh well just another thing to learn to live with. Propulsion was same, twin fixed props astern and a good sized bowthruster, the rudder was not independent so there is no "toe in" maneuver mode as I had in Lady S. Anyway propulsion is a minor thing in the grander scheme of things so I accepted and was due to sign on in Palma by mid June. Great, new adventures ahead.

After a few days after the initial visit I had my flight tickets sorted and some days later I was on my way and signed on in Palma, Port Adriano. The next day was handover of management as well as Captains and the day after I was on my way to Ibiza. The 1st maneuver was equally exciting as there was not much space to maneuver but I quickly picked up the characteristics and got her out of port without any hassles. Then it was only time to wait for the guests to board and get on with the show...