Jonathan Ross Sailing
Mediterranean and Caribbean
The Trip: Corfu, Greece to Barcelona, Spain, June 2022
The Yacht: 93' Southern Wind sloop
It's been 3 years since I did any sailing in the Med so after returning to France recently, one of the first things I did was see what opportunities to go sailing were out there. One thing led to another and I found myself flying to Corfu and a delivery job, helping get a yacht to Barcelona. Not just any yacht though, the boat is Southern Wind 93 that is a very nice 'ride'.
The Trip: Gold Coast - Lord Howe Island - Sydney, May 2022
The Yacht: 70' Custom steel ketch
I'm sure most of us have a bucket list destination and for me, Lord Howe Island was certainly on mine. So when I was offered the chance to join the expedition yacht SV Salt Lines as co-skipper, I jumped at the chance. Salt Lines is a very well proven steel ketch that's been just about everywhere around the globe. Onboard we had Matt who is the owner and skipper of the boat, five paying crew plus myself.
Leaving Southport, Queensland, we sailed east for 3 days to reach Lord Howe which was about 350Nm off the coast of NSW. We had a number of crew aboard who had never sailed offshore or spent a night at sea so it was a pretty special occasion for them.
The Trip: Gold Coast, Queensland to Tahiti, Oct 2021
The Yacht: 43' Custom trimaran
Now that I'm on a plane flying home, it's a good opportunity to reflect on this last trip and what seems to be a recurring theme with these sailing jobs that I take on. To those that might remember, the last sailing gig I had was to help take a client's yacht from Majorca to Gibralter and then onto Barcelona. That was a drama filled three weeks too. All I can think of when I come across these opportunities is it sounds good in theory but yachts (and owners) are capricious creatures and no matter how much due diligence you do prior, it's not until you step aboard and go sailing do you really find out about the boats capabilities.
The Trip: Gold Coast, Queensland to Tahiti, Oct 2021
The Yacht: 43' Custom trimaran
Well, finally a chance to provide an update and let everyone know who's been following my track what's been going on.
So instead of being off the top of New Zealand by now, I'm sitting alongside a wharf in Ballina. I spent 3 weeks doing repairs, maintenance and upgrades on the boat before leaving but obviously that wasn't enough. Getting properly offshore turned into more of another sea trial as one boat issue rolled over into another and then another........
The Trip: Palma de Mallorca - Gibraltar - Barcelona, Oct 2019
The Yacht: 84' Palmer Johnston ketch
I was asked to skipper this yacht to help the owner check out of the EU after a two year refit in Palma. The idea was to sail to Gibraltar, clear in and out and then sail back up the Spanish coast to Barcelona where the boat would spend the winter with the owners onboard. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it?
Well suffice to say, things didn't quiet go according to the owner's plan. It's a complicated story to do with Spanish Customs and a tax agreement called the TPA. I won't go into the ins and outs here but effectively to comply with the TPA, we had sail straight to Gibraltar to clear out of the EU. Instead the owner had his family onboard and a more leisurely cruise was on his mind. We had a few mechanical and electrical problems which forced a side trip to Ibiza where the fun began. The Spanish Customs ordered the boat to the main harbour of Ibiza as we were no longer on our designated course to Gibraltar. This began 8 days of paper warfare and inspections so the authorities could work out why we diverted to Ibiza.
The Trip: Private Yacht Charter to the La Maddelena Islands, July 2019
The Yacht: Bali 4.1
Nathalie and I enjoyed taking our guests to many beautiful places around all of Corsica and then to the northern tip of Sardinia. Our yacht was a superb Bali 4.1 catamaran, 3 cabin owners version. It was ideal as there was only 4 of us onboard. The west coast of Corsica is quite rugged and offers many beautiful beaches and anchorages. We spent a few days in and around Saint Florent on the NW coast. It was a prefect place to have a base to explore the area.
We then headed south past Port Vecchio and onwards to Bonifacio and then a short hop over to Sardinia and the La Maddelena group of islands. Some absolutely superb bays and beaches to explore. It's a place we will definitely go back and spend more time there.
When I received the call to help with a private charter out of Athens last summer, it was a pleasure to organise a Bavaria 56 for my clients. The brief was to go sailing for two weeks, heading north to see how far we could get sailing along the island of Evia. Leaving Epidavros, Nathalie joined me and we sailed east towards Athens past Poros and out into the Saronic Gulf. A highlight was aailing past the temple of Poseidon, just south of Athens. There's very little left of this 6th-century temple but once it was a magnificent building giving sanctuary to fugitives and wrecked sailors. Apparently in the 18th century it was mostly dismantled and the materials used to build a monastery on Hydra.C'est la vie!
One thing about sailing in Greece though is you can't escape the history. We sailed past Marathon and you can't help but think what happened here thousands of years ago.