As an enthusiastic, but amateur, seafarer, I’m always up for a challenge or interesting trip. So when I got a call from Ben Harris of BH Marine asking if I could accompany him on a delivery trip, I jumped at the chance.
Fairline Phantom 46
Ben had been asked to deliver a Fairline Phantom 46 from Jersey to Oslo and although he’s more than capable of getting the boat there alone, common sense dictates that he needs another pair of hands – accidents can happen all too easily.
On the surface this looked just like a fun trip – that’s certainly what my wife thought – but the reality is that this was a serious undertaking. Not only was it a journey of around 1,000 miles, but the client has paid a considerable sum of money and he wants his boat to arrive in good time, in one piece and in good condition.
The first surprise was just how much luggage the travelling delivery skipper carries. We’re all familiar with squeezing under the 20kg limit when going on holiday, but I’ve never seen anyone struggle to squeeze under 40kg before. The reason for all the baggage became obvious when Ben unpacked all his safety equipment, first aid kit, navigational aides, charts, almanacs, pilots guides and picnic hamper.
He’d left the kitchen sink at home, but there was very little on board so we did need the hamper if we wanted to eat anything!
We arrived in St Helier, Jersey early one evening and once on board the first task was to thoroughly check the engines. After all, this was an unfamiliar boat and the success of the next few days depended on them.
The following day, happy that the engines and the rest of the boat were all in good order, and after a quick trip for provisions, we set off for Norway.
Day 1 – St Helier to Ramsgate
The pilotage out of St Helier was straightforward, then we headed west to clear the island before turning towards the north in order to cross the channel.
Ben had previously warned me that parts of these delivery trips could be, well, boring, and I had clearly ignored him. I mean, spending the day in a luxury power boat speeding across the ocean at well over 20 knots – what’s not to like!
Of course the reality is that after we’d cleared Jersey we set a course for Brighton – taking into account the range of the boat and not wanting to run out of fuel – we put the auto pilot on and sat back. All that remained to do for the next few hours was to make sure we didn’t hit anything, and the radar did much of that work for us!
A feature of this whole trip was that we were fortunate with the weather. Ben had waited for and selected a good window, but even so the conditions were just about ideal. To compensate for the good weather, we found that the tides were against us most of the way. In a yacht where even a small tidal flow is a large percentage of the boat speed this would have been an issue, but we were travelling at between 22 and 25 knots so it made little difference.
Having crossed the channel we stopped in Brighton to refuel. Another feature of the trip, and one that I hadn’t anticipated, was the time this would take. It wasn’t too slow in Brighton, but at smaller marinas in the coming days it would take up to an hour just to fill both tanks so was something we had to take into account when planning each day.
We left Brighton with just enough daylight to get to Ramsgate so we powered along the south coast and entered Ramsgate in time to fill up again giving us full tanks for the next day.
Day 2 – Ramsgate to Kiel Canal
This would turn out to be a long day, but it started with bright sunshine, no wind and a flat calm, perfect conditions to cross the channel again over to Holland.
We crossed the shipping lanes then headed north up the Dutch coast, passing Rotterdam before coming into Den Helder for more fuel.
Approaching Den Helder we were briefly distracted by a submarine that was on the surface and also heading into the channel. We were then properly distracted by Dutch customs who came on board to check us out.
In contrast to some of the unsettling stories I’d read about UK customs, these guys were polite and efficient, they checked the boat’s papers and our passports, took the details they needed and didn’t hold us up more than was necessary.
Leaving Den Helder, after an hour of fueling and nearly 2,000 euros lighter, we continued north / north east following the coast around towards Germany.
The weather was still perfect so we initially moved to the fly bridge to get some fresh air, but a constant 25 knots of wind in your face can get a little wearing so after only a couple of hours we retired to the comfort of the cabin.
As dusk fell later that day we entered the mouth of the River Elba which flows into the North Sea from Hamburg and beyond.
We reached the lock at the entrance to the Kiel Canal and radioed ahead, but, despite being originally told we’d have to wait 20 minutes, it was over 90 minutes before we could finally enter and access the canal.
By this time it was close to midnight so we moored up in a busy little marina for the night.
Ben demonstrated how manoeuvrable such a big boat is by crabbing it sideways into a space little longer than the boat itself, then coming to rest alongside another craft.
Day 3 – Kiel Canal to Goteburg, Sweden
Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal links the River Elba to the Baltic, it is 61 statute miles long and has a speed limit of 8 knots so even with an early start it still took us early afternoon to clear the lock at the northern end.
In many ways this was the best part of the trip, the weather was once again very kind, the scenery on both banks was beautiful and the relatively slow speed meant that being on the fly bridge was very pleasant.
We stopped at a picturesque marina about half way along the canal for more fuel – and apologies to the yacht that pulled in shortly afterwards and had to wait while we filled our apparently bottomless tanks.
Exiting the lock to leave the canal was an exercise in swift boat handling since all 30 or so yachts (we were the only motor boat) in the lock cast off at the same time and headed for the open gates. But once clear of the melee we were in the Baltic and back up to speed.
Heading further north we cleared German waters, briefly entered and left Danish waters before turning slightly east on the way to Goteburg.
Baltic sunset
With little other shipping in the area all we had to do watch the sun going down and keep an eye on the fuel gauges.
It was close to midnight as we approached Goteburg, but that far north it wasn’t really very dark.
We had to navigate carefully into our chosen marina since there are many rocky islets and submerged obstacles, a number of them unlit, but we made it without incident.
Day 4 – Goteburg to Oslo
The last, and shortest day, was also the only one that started late. It being a Saturday the fuel pontoon didn’t open until 10am so an early start was out of the question.
The delay also gave us chance to thoroughly clean the boat before the new owner saw it later that day. Given that the boat was second hand and that we’d lived on it for a few days it was never going to be in show room condition, but that’s no reason to deliver it in a mess.
The bay around Goteburg was as busy as the Solent with a wide variety of craft, from speed boats churning up the water to cruising yachts and fleets of racing dinghies, with the occasional large ferry to keep everyone on their toes.
We made our way between all the islands and other boats, once again enjoying the view and the perfect weather.
It wasn’t long though before we got into open water and set a course for the Norwegian Fjord that would take us up to Oslo.
The shipping lane that leads into the fjord twists and turns to follow the deepest water and although it wasn’t that busy, there were enough ferries and cargo ships to keep us busy.
Once again we were stopped by customs, obviously Norwegian this time. From their point of view we were in an expensive, fast motor boat and flying the Red Ensign, so I guess we were fair game. At least I thought our boat was fast until they caught up with us effortlessly before waving us down.
Just like the Dutch a couple of days earlier, they were happy to see all our papers, take the details they needed and leave us to continue up the fjord.
This was my first trip to Norway, and I can see now why cruise ships love it so much, it’s really rather beautiful.
Unfortunately we had little time to enjoy the view, the day was getting on and Oslo was still some 30 miles away.
The boat was finally delivered to the private mooring of one very happy customer who was waiting on the pontoon to meet us.
So a job well done, but is the life of a delivery skipper the full time holiday that it appears?
The upsides are pretty clear … it’s interesting and challenging, you get to travel to many new places, on a variety of boats, and meet different people.
But, like any job, there are downsides too …
On this trip we were lucky with the weather, but if conditions had been different the trip could have taken longer, we might have had to wait in a foreign port for conditions to improve and being at sea could have been an uncomfortable experience.
Engine checks
We were also lucky with the boat itself. Naturally it had been serviced before the trip and we carried out engine checks at least twice a day, but if something had gone wrong it could have anything from embarrassing to dangerous.
Then there’s the crew … and yet again Ben was lucky in this respect! Seriously though, skipper and crew are together in close proximity for several days and they need to get along. The skipper also needs to be able to reply upon the crew to perform their responsibilities, but also to have sufficiently experienced crew to give them responsibilities. Often though the new owner will want to be on board for the delivery, maybe with one or two friends and family, and this can present another challenge for the skipper.
So, would I do it again? Well yes, of course I would. Being at sea, even when just spending hours watching the autopilot is always going to better than being in the office … and a Saturday night out in Oslo had its moments too!
