Leopard 45 Azuria 2 delivery from Saint Thomas to Spain Cartagena
Azuria 2 in St. Thomas VI – As one can imagine this is all, but an easy delivery.
The one crew from Canada Jean-Sebastien managed to get on the boat easily, on the other hand, the other crew Alexey (coming from Israel) found it very difficult with flight restrictions kicking in right after his booking leaving him to arrive in Saint Martin.
Not on our way for sure… but that is exactly where this delivery is heading next.
Approaching Bermuda – As expected we picked up our third member of the crew in Saint Martin and all went well.
The weather forecast was not very promising but we had to make a go.
All our electrical systems went down just a few days out of Bermuda.
No lights no electronics, no auto-helm, no charts.
Making our way to Bermuda was very difficult. o charts!!!
We struggled but sailed our yacht all the way, and by pure luck, we managed to get all our electronic systems back to work…only a few hours out of Bermuda…
Sailing Catamaran Leopard 45 Azuria 2 On the way to Saint Martin from Saint Thomas VI.
Winds on the nose for much of the way as you will expect and that is only the prelude of what is there yet to come on our not even started delivery.
Alex, Andrea and Jean-Sebastien
Quarantine in the Azores – We are a good pair and we leave Bermuda just the two of us.
We cannot tell how incredibly unfair the weather has been to us by chasing us down, storm after storm.
Three depression systems altogether, with steady winds of 45 kts blowing over 50 kts at times…always from the NNE-NE making our way to the Azores very hard indeed.
Finally, we reached the Azores and had more bad news. Europe Closing Down…
Passage to the Mediterranean through Gibraltar. This time gaining gave us more options on the Europe entrance plan.
Also, most importantly Cartagena would allow us to stay…So that was now the only plan! We liked their trimaran, but our Leopard 45 has a lot more to offer.
The Mediterranean – Our crossing from the Azores to Gibraltar went pretty well.
Leopard 45, handles very well the strong wind by great downwind sailing performance. This is just what we need to make our way towards the Mediterranean.
Arrival in Cartagena on leopard 45- The stop in a small beach in Balanegra proved to be perfect to rest.
We were on the go 24 hours later to Cartagena, now only 48 hours away from us.
Video & Reference
Every morning when I wake up on board Azuria II, our Leopard 45 catamaran, I am amazed at our good fortune to have contracted ‘Delivery Captain’ to sail our boat from St Thomas/ US Virgin Islands to Cartagena/ Spain.
From the first contact to the skipper taking over, it was less than a week. CEO and skipper Andrea Ciotoli arrived on schedule on the jetty, and we could leave 2 days later to attend urgent business back home.
During the passage via Bermuda and the Azores, we were regularly updated via sat phone, as to their position and condition of the boat. When we were finally able to get back on board, we were pleasantly surprised to find our boat in top condition, even cleaner than we had left her. The engines had been serviced, the stainless steel was polished, and the boat generally inside and out was clean and fresh smelling. All our personal belongings were where we had left them, and our wine supply intact. The Atlantic crossing in early March was not without mishaps, the crew experiencing total electrical failure at sea, and later on gale-force headwinds. Andrea is extremely knowledgeable and experienced and was able to professionally deal with all problems. He is also a very likeable person, always happy. So from us, a big ‘thank you’ to Andrea and his crew. Well done!
Dave and Dimi Hardwicke.
