A French Yacht Delivery Story 3rd July 2024 in La Rochelle, France Click here to see more details for 'Meerkat' and to check availability for 2024 or 2024 We will be updating this blog when Jan & Jo leave La Rochelle with regular posts detailing the long delivery trip, check back for updates soon! RYA SafeTrx. Click to follow the trip live. 'Meerkat' a brand new Nautitech Open 40 catamaran has left the factory in La Rochelle and is ready to be sailed to Greece to join the charter fleet for the summer of 2024! New owners Jan & Jo have traveled to France to take possession of 'Meerkat' and prepare for the long delivery trip across the Mediterranean to Greece. Day 3- knocked off most of the jobs on the to do list and said goodbye to Chris at lunchtime. Tender engine run in by Will, and then tender lashed onto the davits good and proper… Finished the day with a lovely dinner cooked by Jo and chatting with Dusan and crew about the plans for tomorrow Meerkat have just left France headed for A Coruna in north west Spain - they will cross Biscay and expect to arrive on Saturday! A good run across Biscay - boat performing v well. 20-24knots on beat/fetch in big waves for last 24 hours, so not a lot of sleep on board! Motor sailing at first, but then a great sail since early hours of this morning, much at 8kts Safely moored in A Coruna! Finally some R&R in A Coruna! The crew have left A Coruna to sail down the Portuguese coast in little wind but with a substantial swell. Update from Jan before they lose STARLINK signal which is intermittent as they go farther off shore. Bit less tired now-alas still bashing into wind and waves and looks like another day of it. We are further offshore now to position for a hoped-for wind change, so starlink now intermittent and no phone. Will send update later today if possible. Will get closer coast again around Lisbon on Thursday! Starlink just about hanging on… getting a bit brighter here (the weather) and hoping that the wind shift will come through tonight so hopefully not too much more upwind. Dolphin escort still checking on us every day 😄 just about to sit down for a French cheese and Spanish charcuterie lunch. How very international! Quick update: Quick data blurt as on the expensive service! Passed Porto at 1700, wind dropping and shifting as we hoped so tonight will be motor sailing and better sleep! Tried fishing but no luck Quick update on the expensive starlink! 20:50 BST. Just passing Aveiro and will approach the coast as we get closer to Peniche in the morning. Nice dinner had, no fish caught! Morning all! Nice night deep reaching at between 6&7knots under single reefed main alone. Lovely stars and moon. Charlie and i back on at 4am. Gybed at 530am for a fishing boat, breakfast at 6am. Wind down to 17kts now and some blue in the sky Should be gybing around the corner late morning A busy afternoon playing with string and sails…in the lower wind period we had the Gennaker up for the first time- probably a bit deep for it but we have ideas re how to sort that….now the wind is back up to 21ish true so we are back to white sails/goosewing, with the help of some extra knitting to make the jib happy. Pushing on past Faro to hit Cadiz in the morning, then we sail along the surfline to avoid the angry dolphins! Safely moored up in La Linea marina Gib! No orcas today, just dolphins and tuna luckily! Max speed so far 11kts. Bye bye Gib! Departed 1215 via fuel dock, now aiming at Almeria - broad reach, full sail and sun! Perfect conditions! After a morning of motor sailing the wind kicked in for our turn north up the Spanish coast- perfect conditions- sun, waves and 20-24kts Max speed 13.2kts….all whilst i was doing a work call down below- design spec met! 😂 Nothing like an early morning coffee! North winds coming so we are stopping at Santa Pola marina to let them pass. Hopefully one night only we will see. Arrival approx 1pm All arrived Santa Pola- lovely marina albeit not cheap- maybe something to do with being put on the 80footer dock!The wind held at 18-20kts through to midnight last night so was a super fast 12 hours and meerkat handling the waves beautifully Jo’s 2nd watch and her first night time de-reefing👍🏼 Setting off in a few minutes. Should. E heading past ibiza in 24 hours then onto mallorca for fuel, then to sardinia - likely arrival late Sunday night/Monday morning. Will aim to update the tracker every day, but wont be continuous when we are more than 10 miles offshore. RYA SafeTrx. Click to follow the trip live. Back online as we approach Ibiza!Bumpy first night at see as we motored into 15kts, although we had a lovely sunset. Lovely sail for first part of morning, fetching along at 8kts for a while before backing onto our nose again- currently motoring the last 15 miles to the gap between Ibiza and formentera which we will nip through before heading onto southern tip of mallorca for fuel. Crew has been catching up on sleep this pm, but alas no fish! Morning all. Aproaching Mallorca for quick fuel topup! Still motoring dead upwind but a quieter night than previous one! A worrying development…Coastguards had to tow a 40-foot-long sailboat back to port after two young orcas severely damaged the boat's rudder near Guilvinec in the French region of Brit… Source: livescience.com https://search.app/GTLssphXYCjquSi66 Good bye Sardinia! Powering off with 24-30kts of breeze dead behind us- max speed 11.5 but that will prob not be beaten as wind dropping on coming hours! Graham our new crew already at home on the helm, great at washing up too! Morning all! The wind held up to 20-22kts all night so a fast but bumpy night for Meerkat and crew - approaching Sicily and some lighter airs by lunchtime! 160nm in past 24hrs and still doing mostly 7-8 😄 (although it will drop in next 3 hours) Not seen a single boat on this leg so far…just a floating chair and 2 stray lobster pot floats Sun feeling noticeably warmer and sunrise earlier than a week ago. Just passed 2000nm travelled so far! Today’s engineering job was a re-prime of the port engine raw water circuit- think we picked up air in the waves yesterday 😫 easy enough to sort at least Mount Etna Morning all! Just made the turn away from the italian coast to point at Lefkas! 16kts on the beam so hoping for a swiftish crossing, ca 36hrs RYA SafeTrx. Click to follow the trip live. Night all, more than half way accross after a v fast day. Bit calmer now, doing 6.5 in 18kts now aft of the beam Our wish for a quiet night was not granted! We had 20-24 most of the night, and upto 29 - all on a beam reach with big sharp waves - boat did great so our fast run continued but not conducive to much sleep!! Lefkada-ho! Finally! Meerkat arrived in Sivota on the south coats of Lefkada! We are very excited to welcome her to the charter fleet! You can see availability, photos and specifications here! ‘This trip has ended’ so wonderful to be welcomed so warmly by Chris, ma and Pa, Hannah and Elda you’ve made us feel very proud. Big love and shout out to Disan, Leigh, Charlie and Will without whom this adventure would not have had such memories - kudos all. We certainly feel part of the family fleet xx 🥂🎉🍾 This post was written by Tom Fletcher