Yacht Ibn Batuta

22/08/2021

I was asked recently about the rework of my bow thruster tunnel, done by DMS Marine at Port Napoleon, so I said I'd upload some photos. Here you can see the original position of the tunnel, and a new position much lower and further aft that was worked out by Matt at DMS.

09/11/2020

Some great photos just received from Martin Birch, who worked on Ibn Batuta in the 90s in Turkey with Tony and Belinda Richardson

28/05/2020

Ina and Mike from Quest, the boat next door in Marina Di Ragusa have done a lovely job on the brightwork and the bronze parts while I am still locked down in England. Here's a before-and-after photo:

25/11/2018

Looking forward to going here in the spring

19/07/2018

Looking for some people to join me on passage from Sardinia to Sicily in August. Please let me know if it appeals. Will suit experienced sailing types, as it involves a couple of days' passage at sea. We can also do some touristy cruising too at either end if you want. I buy moorings and fuel and we run a kitty for food and drink.

08/06/2018

This looks like it could be good:

Series of documentary travelogues in which Tim Mackintosh Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th Century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 mi...

08/06/2018

People often ask where the name came from. This is Ibn Batuta, known as The Great Traveller:

Abū ʿAbd al-Lāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Lāh l-Lawātī ṭ-Ṭanǧī ibn Baṭūṭah otherwise known as Ibn Battuta was born on February 25, 1304. A Moroccan intellectual, he was recognized as having travelled the majority of Muslim lands and many non-Muslim places. Battuta was of Moroccan desc...

05/05/2018

We were on board a couple of weeks ago when a lady called Barbara hailed us from the quayside. She knew the boat from the mid-80s when, as an off duty member of BA cabin crew, she had been relaxing with a friend in the sun at a marina in Bahrain and they were invited to go sailing on her, I think with the first owner who I know was an oil man with his company in Hong Kong, through which he bought the boat, hence it saying Hong Kong on the transom. She popped back later with some photos for me:

26/09/2017

Craig took this video on what should have been the last day of the delivery to Almerimar. The wind in this video was 23kts but it quickly built to over 40kts, a force 9, and the waves got a lot lumpier. We baled out and headed into Aguadulce for the night.

What a lovely gentle motion she has in such conditions. 22 tonnes and a v-shaped bow means no slamming like you would get on something more modern.

Ibn Batuta in a lumpy sea near Almeria. It got a lot lumpier as the wind rose to Force 8/9 and we diverted to Aguadulce for the night.

02/09/2017

Back home again, with the boat safely in Valencia's Marina Real Juan Carlos until the 11th, when I plan to take her the rest of the way to Almerimar. We've had our problems, most notable of which was an inability to make progress under engine, which was eventually diagnosed by virtue of diving on the propeller, which had grown a 1/2" coating of barnacles all over in a couple of months. A good scrape improved matters enormously and she will now motor at 6.5 to 7 knots.

Spent €700 in Cap d'Agde and €300 in BurrianaNova on fuel but can't currently access the fuel in the port tank, so wroking with starboard only. I've resolved the problem with the starboard tank GLOOPing bacvk all over the deck, by virtue of rigging a temporary vent pipe when filling, all of its own.

We had fun, even Sarah when we dragged her up the mast in Port Vendres. Overnight charges in marinas, dearest Port Vendres and Estartit at €80-odd and best value Valencia at €24 per night.