FOLLOWING S/Y JUNO and her TM5

I came across Sailing Yacht Juno purely by chance in October 2014 – and so the story begins of a 60′ sailing yacht & her TM5  heading half way around the world to Northern Australia.

 

S/Y Juno is an Oyster 575 deck saloon designed by Rob Humphries. Her length is 17.5 metres with a beam of 5 metres and a draft of 2.7 metres. She is a double headed sloop with a genoa and a jib both set on electric Reckmann furlers. She has in-mast hydraulic furling by Lewmar and a hydraulic vang and backstay. The mast and boom are made by Formula.  There are twin wheels with a walkway providing easy access from the aft deck to the cockpit.  Juno has a 150 hp VW marine diesel engine which drives a Brunton folding propeller.

I am based on the Isle of Wight and made a visit recently to a beautiful home located in the leafy countryside to the North East of Petersfield, where I was to meet  Juno’s owners, Paul & Caroline.  I sold a Thermomix TM5 to a friend of Caroline’s on the ‘island’ and so had been summoned to meet up with Caroline and her friend Sarah around mid-morning to demonstrate the Thermomix TM5, as Caroline had a mind to buying one for their planned voyage to Northern Australia, which was to include the 2014 ARC, departing Las Palmas in 23 November.

Caroline placed her order with me a few days later; the only problem was that she wanted it delivering to Gibraltar, so with the days ticking by before their planned departure for Lanzarote, the top team at Thermomix had to pull out all the stops to Express Courier Caroline’s TM5 to Queensway Quay Marina before they cast-off and headed Westwards.

You can imagine how thrilled I was to receive an email from Caroline on the following Saturday morning, telling me that “Thermo”, as she had started calling it, had arrived safely at the marina on the Friday afternoon. An amazing feat of logistical prowess by the team at Thermomix and TNT. Juno set sail at the beginning of the next week and arrived in Lanzarote a few days later, where they would rest for a few days before making the short crossing to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.

Paul is yet to be convinced that “Thermo’s” presence onboard will be of any measurable benefit. His early observations were tinged with just a tad of negativity when he wrote:

“Thermo spends his time in the galley, sitting regally on the work surface, pampered and protected from the boats movement by foam pads and lashed to the cooker for additional protection in case he lurches off his perch. Thermo is a high tech cooking contraption whose only contribution so far has been a large bill, but my wife tells me that ‘the salesman’ assured her that it would make her life richer at sea as he scampered off to the Isle of Wight.  The second addition to the crew is Zoll, who also occupies valuable space on Juno, this time in the environs of the first aid locker.  FCaroline’s logic is that with four fifty-somethings on board, it would be simply irresponsible to embark the shores of Europe without a defibrillator.”

“Thermo” snuggled up in the rather plush galley on S/Y Juno

Paul aka ‘Frewie’  (BLOG – The Travels of Juno and her Crew) now appears to be warming to his wife’s recent, high-end galley acquisition. On Tuesday 4th November her wrote:

“Thermo is looking smug today: with no apparent effort he produced perfect rice to accompany our chilli last night, followed by a frozen fruit mousse. To make matters worse, our angle of heel allows him to lean back and luxuriate on his foam throne in the galley, a look of disdain on his digital panel as we challenge him with such rudimentary culinary feats that are beneath his Michelin capabilities. Rather like asking Gordon Ramsay to boil an egg.    I am pleased to say that Zoll remains firmly in his box, in the first aid locker, where he will be shortly forgotten.”

 In exchange for virtual cookery lessons, information, advice & guidance, Caroline has promised to keep me posted about their progress and post the odd photo of Thermo relaxing in Juno’s rather plush galley. My intention is therefore – to keep YOU posted about their adventure, but more specifically about what gastronomic challenges Caroline throws at “Thermo”.

 More posts to follow soon, as S/Y Juno departs Las Palmas and joins the 250 strong fleet for this year’s ARC race.