The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 54DS and me

 The first SO54DS, as they are known for short, that I had anything to do with was "Felicita", a dark blue hulled charter version that belonged to a company we worked with, when I was with "Sail your Soul". 

Felicita in some busy local bay

  I didn't get to do much sailing on her, but did have to organise removing her mast one winter, a major undertaking. The mast on the Sun Odyssey 54s is keel stepped and it is very well sealed where it goes through the deck. Meaning it is quite difficult to remove when the time comes as the sealant is sort of poured in there to make a good watertight seal. The stuff is called Spartite and it is wicked.

A couple of years later I was asked to help deliver another Sun Odyssey 54DS from Sukosan in Croatia to Corfu. The date kept being pushed back and finally in July 2019 I flew to Split. There was already a skipper and crew onboard, but a "mentor" friend said to me when I told him about my forthcoming trip, "if they are already two onboard and they want you as a third you won't me be crewing you will be the skipper. And oh was he right. As soon as I arrived, it was obvious they were counting on me to organise the trip. supplies course and papers etc. Part of the reason was possibly the fact that no one had an RYA license onboard. Also the one crew member had no experience at all. Anyway, during the trip the acting skipper resigned and I took over.

Sailing away from Croatia

Sunset amongst the Dalmatian Islands

The boat was named Morpheus and had been done up in a very striking metallic blue/green foil. Every harbour we went to someone would ask about the colour! "Morpheus" had been a part charter/part private boat and had lots of equipment onboard, including, aircon, generator and loads of fridge space.The new owner also had a good eye for decoration and everything was colour matched and looked very funky.

Morpheus somewhere in the Ionian

That summer we did a few trips around the Diapontia islands north of Corfu, the Epirus Mainland, Paxos, and further down to Lefkas, Kefalonia and Zakynthos. while at the same time getting to know the yacht. We had a lovely stripy blue white assymetric spinnaker, of which I quickly got the hang of setting, and we spent a few weeks in the South Ionian sailing around under spinnaker, often the only boat out there with a big headsail, making us instantly recognizable. Friendly skippers would send texts saying "is that you I can see on the horizon?"

The assymetric had a "sock" which made it much easier to use. It gave us a good turn of speed. It is visible right up at the top.

I eventually found, like on other boats that gybing can be a bit of trouble, especially if short handed. The easiest way really is to just douse it at least hafway with the sock, gybe and then open it again. It gives so much more control.

  The owner had already agreed to buy one more identical boat, so in October I set off to Croatia to survey it. It was very different to the lovely "Morpheus". A bog standard charter boat with very little equipment or extras. Also she had a teak deck which was sort of on its last legs. This all went into my report, but the sale went ahead and in February 2020 I flew to Zagreb and drove to Sukosan in order to pick up "Lady Stardust" as she was now called and deliver her to Corfu. More details and photos of this adventure in a forthcoming post.

Lady Stardust about to leave Croatia

I left the company in the middle of the 2020 season and worked on a variety of other boats, also became a sailing instructor. Last year, 2023, a student of the school I mainly work for, contacted us looking for someone to help deliver his newly bought, blue hulled, Sun Odyssey 54DS from Lefkas to Lavrion, sailing round the bottom of the Pelloponese. I had a week or so free and was up to the job, so off I went. The owner also took instruction on sailing during the trip as he had a motor boat license only. We made good time and after a stop in Lavrion, decided to head all the way up to Chalkidiki where the boat was going to be based. 

 

 

When we arrived I headed up the mast to fix the Windex and check the rig. 

 

Am I maybe getting too old (or heavy) for this?

 

Meanwhile we got along well with the owner, and he decided to book me for another two weeks. So we did a tour of the North Aegean... And I am booked to go out on her also this year.

But more of that in another post...