Snork Maiden redux

So here we are at 0730 getting ready to leave around mid-day. Richard the skipper finishes his tea while Mike the mate pauses his stream of activity, probably deciding what to clean next!  You can also get a look at our wood interior, galley on the right side of the pic (starboard) and my ensuite cabin is the door straight ahead.  Just bear in mind that at sea, the floor is the only place I can sleep - with a nest of cushions it's pretty comfortable and nowhere to fall. We leave at noon! This sail is the furling genoa (front sail) after Richard has painstakingly repaired the shredded blue strip that protects the furled sail from UV.  In Turkey it has had a lot of work to do.  Me - I'm drinking tea & eating Turkish muesli for breakfast. Here's our weather forecast from a site called Passage Weather (a great free resource) around the time we plan to leave.  So we know we will have some wind against us (15-20 knots) and from another pic, quite a bit of nasty sw...

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...