Meet Victor who is, for the second year in a row, in the crew of a livery Capetan. His vast experience at sea, passion for sailing and outstanding skills in the kitchen, translated into a business with Mediterranean delights and gourmet meals for those on board.
What is your Sailing story so far?
I did my first sailing course when I was 16 on Lake Herastrau, with Bogdan Doara, on the Bimbo; the plan was to learn windsurfing but I was too weak for surf sailing. It was 14 years later before I got attracted to the sea.
What made you want to go to sea?
Once I did the first week of basic training after graduating, I had no escape. It may also have helped that I immediately found the option of working as a skipper and so was able to afford more trips out to sea.
How did you start sailing?
My father instilled in me a passion for sailing. He showed me the first Voiles et Voiliers magazine, to which he subscribed, and he enrolled me for the certification course at the ICRR. There I met the first wonderful people and made lifelong friendships; Edi Rada is my mentor at sea.
Who do you generally go out to sea with?
With two categories of people: friends I'm trying to make happy or clients I'm trying to make friends with.
How did you come to make this delivery?
Through friends in the small but heartfelt community. Not being on my first and hopefully not my last such ride, maybe experience is starting to count, but I'll let others give their verdicts.
What attracted you to such an adventure?
Wider! Not being drawn to the sporting side of the field, but only to cruising, this option of a boat delivery, in addition to the brand new boat, also offers a route that is every sailor's dream in length, complexity, uniqueness and beauty.
How did the delivery experience start?
Every delivery is different. This one was full of twists and turns and days of waiting. The boat was not launched when we arrived. It took more than a week to take possession, which had a moral impact on everyone. The positive side, however, was the visit to the CNB Lagoon factory in Bordeaux, which can be passed on to once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
How has the weather affected you?
Weather doesn't affect you negatively when you have the necessary experience. It was exactly as expected and prepared.
What do your friends and family at home think of what you do?
The older side of the family worries but supports me, the younger side feels like I'm on an extended leave of absence and has less understanding, but perhaps with everyone this aspect is different.
How often do you communicate?
As often as we can, but much more often than we need, depending on the coverage area of the phones.
How do you feel being away from home in these times of crisis?
There are aspects that make me tight-lipped - I miss my kittens to death! But all in all, I'm glad I'm not sequestered, and after all, solitude is one of the things we sailors seek.
How do you feel the impact of COVID-19 at sea? How has it affected you?
We were fortunate that when we left we hadn't yet started this pandemic, which I call international manipulation, so we were able to stock the boat with everything we needed. However, along the way, our plans were slightly altered: we had to cancel our stop in Portugal because, despite all legal international maritime provisions, they decided to abusively ban boats from their ports. For us it was not serious because we were supplied with both water and fuel and food, but we also knew desperate cases, treated in a criminal way by the Portuguese authorities. In Spain, by contrast, the situation was totally different, but adapted to the false crisis created.
I'm still tempted by some negative thoughts, but one sure way to overcome them is extensive information independent of the mainstream.
A general regret is that we can't make small stops along the way to relax and visit the fabulous places we pass through: the coast of Spain, the Balearics, Sardinia, Sicily, but we will definitely come back to enjoy some of the local goodies we really miss.
I know you have a business in Romania. How do you cope with this and what can you do from the sea to support it?
Amada, a Mediterranean taverna, is in the hands of colleagues back home, who are doing what they can. The impact of the general situation is overwhelming, the activity is reduced to 0 for an indefinite period. The economic impact is major, and the only short-term option would be to move to deliveries to customers' homes, which does not really fit the specifics. We expect things to slowly get back on track.
What has been your favorite moment of the experience so far?
There's just one: leaving the marina where we waited for the boat, sunbathing in the middle of the ocean/sea and dolphin visits!
What is or has been the hardest part so far?
Fight the prejudices of those on shore about this pandemic and the misguided measures taken by authorities everywhere.
What are your plans after you get home?
To rethink my options and take advantage of the quarantine to stay away from people I dislike.
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Epilog
Thoughts at the end of the journey
My beloved Gala is dead! God rest her beautiful soul! I never got to see her again. Forgive me Gala! Forgive me Simona! I should have been there for you! Simona took exemplary care of her, with her kindness known to all. She did everything she could to save her, but unfortunately there wasn't much hope. I hope she didn't struggle and enjoyed the unconditional love Simona offered her as she offered us. Thank you Simona! At least one eighth of my love will now be in my thoughts only. My aristocrat, our lute, with her gorgeous mane and her unique roar will be greatly missed; I will miss her torso as she nestled on me. Some said she was the most beautiful of our children, I think Ana. 8 happy years together were not enough for us, but I thank God for them. I hope she is in a better place, where her siblings don't chase her, and I hope He guides us to be better, like her.
We love you Gala!
For more than a month since we have been at sea, I have been dreaming different dreams every night, more like at home, so probably the pineal gland is working better, and I feel cleaner in my soul, I almost don't snore anymore, the guys say. I've read as much as I can read in the last 5 years at a time, even a 500 page book a day. Isolation in the middle of the sea has many good parts too, thoughts are no longer disturbed by the background noise of home life. Whole days without technology, lack of 4g, compensated by dolphin visits, picture sunsets and sunrises, waves, sunshine, camaraderie in confined settings are things that to a miserly introvert matter more than money, cars, property gained or lost. Only if I could live all this with the few people who matter to me and consider myself rich. It doesn't even matter that I sleep with my clothes on and my hat in my sleeping bag, or that we only shower once a week. Fabulous food as usual, only I cook, and Panos did extensive provisioning, I don't think we ate the same thing twice, nor did we miss anything. Alex also cooked very well, when he got out of my bad mouth, and in addition he caught fish: a big zander about a metre long and a tuna of about 5kg.
On the boat everything changes, at least I am much more tolerant, things that at home would drive me crazy here pass almost like a breeze, I learn to appreciate everything differently and realize how difficult I usually am and try to correct myself.
As we approach the fortress of Athens, the sun warms us even more, Panos has taken his first dip in the sea of the new decade and we begin to face the reaction of the authorities, to the arrival of the modern pirates as they call us.
After sailing non-stop from Sardinia, where we stayed at anchor overnight to get through the bad weather, last night we anchored in the south of Elafonisos island, in Frangos bay near Simos beach, which reminds me with its name and wild beauty of my beloved; virgin beach which with its sandy tongue is in the top 5 idyllic anchorages in Greece, according to Panos. The coast guard didn't leave us long and we set off along the Peloponnese coast northwards, with a headwind towards our final destination.
I lost a fish with all the bait, it broke the line holding 50kg, must have been very big.
Good weather, sunny, sea like a lake, about 70 miles to the quarantine marina.
Night time 00- 03, silence, the moon lights our way, I will wake up at the temple of Poseidon.
Let the Greek quarantine begin!
