Menorca to Barcelona a Free Spirit

Network Yacht Brokers Barcelona delivered a Jeanneau 42 DS from Port Mahón in Menorca to Port Ginesta in Barcelona. An amazing overnight sail. 05/05/2017 Many thanks to the 4 free spirits. Chiara saw the dolphins for the first time in her life. https://www.european-yacht-charters.com/destinations/mediterranean/spain/barcelona/port-ginesta/sailing-barcelona-to-mallorca-itinerary/ This is part of the story is about a young lady who decided to make something of her life to be somebody. Chiara left her home in Vienna, Italy in 2016 having finished her formal education in languages. English being her specialist subject, Chiara came to Barcelona Spain intending to work for a company that could further her education in business. In January 2017 Network Yacht Brokers Chiara answered our job advertisement. Chiara had a formal interview in our office at Port Ginesta Barcelona, Spain. Shortly after that, I had the pleasure of inviting Chiara to join our company on what would most certainly become a life-changing journey. This video is an insight into Chiara's first month as a Network Yacht Brokers. Chiara had only been with the company for a couple of weeks when we got a call from a fellow Yacht Broker and Jeanneau Dealer in the UK. He said " I just sold a Jeanneau 53 Yacht, but I had to take a part exchange can you help me" Yes, of course, we can help (was our answer). The dealer went on to explain how he needed the Part Exchange (Jeanneau 42 DS Yacht) picking up from Menorca quickly. We do not usually do boat deliveries, they are often poorly paid and very time-consuming. This time though we were only too happy to help. The Jeanneau 42 DS Yacht is a magnificent Sailing Yacht. I decided it would be an excellent experience for Chiara, perhaps a perfect opportunity to feel the spirit of adventure associated with sailing. Arrangements were quickly made, this was going to be an overnight sail very early in the season. Although this was the Mediterranean, the wind and weather at that time of year can be quite severe. I asked Chiara if she had a friend who might like to accompany here. Luckily her flatmate was able to join us as crew. Unfortunately, neither Chiara or her friend had any sailing experience. Looking at the forecast, I decided to invite an old Yacht-Master friend along for the ride in case the weather got nasty. The scene was set arrangements were made. Chiara Myself and Irena would fly out to the Yacht on Friday morning, spend the day prepping the Yacht and spend an evening aboard. Catherine ( my Freind could not arrive until the following afternoon). No problem we would be ready to go, and in any case, we could have a lazy day in Mahon waiting for her. We flew into Mahon Mallorca on a reasonably calm Friday morning to find our Yacht in the small marina opposite the main restaurant strip. Provisioning went well, and the Yacht (Free Spirit) was in Good Shape. One guy, two young ladies, great food and a bar that stayed open until 3 am was a perfect recipe for having a hangover. Catherine arrived at 4 pm just as I was sobering up from the night before. Time to set sail, I was glad of one fully alert crew member, perhaps I had eaten something a little spicy the night before? Hangovers were soon forgotten! We settled into the rhythm of our passage. The wind slowly increased just as we left the shelter of Mahon. What a great sail, we seldom had less than 25 knots of wind all afternoon. The wind eased in the evening, rain and lightning were followed, by a night of mainly black cloud. That was a shame as we didn't get to see stars or the moon. We were however treated to a dolphin escort at various times throughout the night. The Dolphins themselves glowed in the black of the sea thanks to the disturbance of bioluminescence. I have sailed thousands of miles and never seen such a light show. It was simply amazing, one I will never forget. We were a bunch of free spirits all together on the Yacht Free Spirit. As the night passed, we approached the Spanish Coast, and the wind increased further to a near gale. By this time Chiara and Irene had become sailors. They were not fazed at all by the strong winds and spray. My feeling was had we elected then to keep on sailing all on board would have said: "yes let's go"! We arrived in Port Ginesta in a full gale. The following day we washed the Yacht down and set about putting her up for sale. The astonishing thing, a buyer was found. They wanted to keep her in Menorca in the very place we picked her up from! Perhaps the journey was meant to be? It will go down in my book as one of the best.