Why the Ovni ? 

Why Ovni ??

This is being written after living on the Ovni for the last 5 years or so, and I am now fully sold - but when I first saw an Ovni, I wasn't that impressed. Not when you compare it to, say, a newly painted shiny Hanse or a nice baby blue Westerly - for example. 

Often thought of, or referred to as the "4x4 of the seas" the Ovni is well known for being a safe, strong, sail anywhere boat and can be seen in all latitudes throughout the world.

The 100% aluminium build - the deck, the coachroof, the cockpit - welded together with inside and out weld, makes it hugely robust - believe me we have tested it!

Over the years unintentional groundings, hitting reefs, rocks, and even a dead whale have seen the odd scratch, but really - nothing more - whereas if we were in a more traditional fibreglass boat we would probably have sunk by now! Only kidding, we're not that bad!!

But you get the picture. 

The other appealing feature of this boat, is the fully retractable rudder and keel which reduces the draft (depth underneath the boat) to 0.75m.(Most sailing boats have around 2.5m underneath)

Not only is it a treat to be able to sneak into shallow anchorages where other deeper keeled boats cannot go, but this feature has got us out of the s**t  when we have found ourselves accidentally in 2m of water (or less!)

The Skipper never shouts, but I hear that tone of voice which means "feck feck feck" in my language.

It goes something like. - "can you lift the centre board?.... now"  - and my special ovni muscle - an overdeveloped right bicep, comes into play. I run to the starboard locker, do some boat yoga to insert myself between the big steering wheel helm, and the locker, crouch down and pump 46 times (its quite heavy) to lift the keel off the (near) bottom (probably) 

The other subtle bonus of having a battered looking aluminium boat, compared, say, to a shiny new Hanse is that it doesn't look like it is worth robbing! For us, given some of the potentially dangerous places in the world we travel to, this is a definite advantage. (Touch wood/fingers crossed/do a few hail mary's etc etc etc)