Mello

Delivery Crew, La Rochelle to Athens

I had the good fortune to get Massimo as crew on a recent delivery job from La Rochelle, France to Athens, Greece. The trip was 2800 nautical miles and we went via; A Coruna, Cascais, Gibraltar, Cagliari and Palermo. We had a wide range of weather, winds over 35 knots and a mixture of sea states all that Massimo handled brilliantly. He is a conscientious crew member and puts in more than his fair share of work. He cooks extremely well and makes great iced coffees! He arrived at the boat not knowing a huge amount about sailing but left with substantial understanding of sailing and everything involved. It was an intensive 3 weeks and he diligently took notes and learned fast. Massimo played a lead role in anchoring, berthing, hoisting the sails and trimming. He performed his watches very professionally and I was always able to relax when he was on as I knew he fully understood what to look for, how to act and when to wake me up. Unfortunately a crew member had to leave early in Sardinia, 1000nm from our final destination, but I was happy to continue with just Massimo as his skills were up to par only after 2 short weeks. We completed our delivery without a hitch a few days under the allotted time thanks to great wind and constant trimming! I would happily recommend Massimo as a competent crew member on deck, below or both. He is great to have around, easy going and full of interesting stories. Please feel free to contact me for more information should you need it: louisgianella@gmail.com

6th Aug 2023

Delivery Crew: La Rochelle, France to Athens, Greece

To whom it may concern, I had the pleasure of sailing with Massimo for 3 weeks on a delivery trip of a new Fontaine Pajot Elba 45 Sailing Catamaran from La Rochelle, France to Athens, Greece via A Coruna, Cascais, Huelva, Gibraltar, Cagliari and Palermo. In total 21 days at sea and 2 days preparation prior to leaving. Massimo is an excellent crew member and I will be calling him again as and when I need crew in the future. He was a diligent note taker, listened very well to instruction and executed the instructions to the tee. For a guy who arrived with very little boating experience he worked hard to become very useful as quick as possible and I can now say he is a competent deckhand and crew member without hesitation. He was always punctual for his shifts and often stayed on after to shadow the person next to learn more. He cooked brilliantly and took it upon himself to do the food / meal calculations and shopping to prepare for the trip. The result of that was the best batch of meals I've had on delivery and probably at home also (!) - not to mention the iced coffees! On this trip we were also left short of a crew member due to time constraints, so Massimo and I finished the remaining 1000nm together and he managed the extra work load, responsibility and longer shifts with no problem at all. I was confident to continue the trip short handed as he proved his skills and ability to learn very fast on during the first two weeks. I would highly recommend Massimo aboard your yacht. He is highly skilled in the galley, he's a competent deckhand who's hungry for knowledge. He's a great character to live with and always turned up to his shift happy to be there. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you would like further information. louisgianella@gmail.com

1st Aug 2023