There has been a surge in media coverage regarding orca attacks in recent days. In the Gibraltar Strait and the Mediterranean, reports of orcas interacting with yachts and boats have been steadily increasing over the last few years.
Reliance captains have regularly seen orcas while delivering yachts over the last few years. However the story of one particular Reliance captain, Dan Kriz, has been picked up by multiple media organisations around the world.
From Newsweek to NPRandGood Morning America, Dan has been in demand giving interviews about a couple of incidents with orcas slamming into the sides of boats and fixating on the rudder.
While this has been an increasingly regular occurrence in Southern Europe, the story has recently been picked up by North American outlets due to similar incidents being recorded off the coast of New England.
Speaking to Courtney Leopold, from FOX News’ America Reports, about the uptick in interest, she suggested it’s captured the imagination of the American public precisely because it doesn’t fit the popular image of orcas as ‘lovely’ and ‘friendly’ creatures. She informed Reliance that people are used to stories about shark attacks that have also been on the rise off the North American coast, but the orca story is different.
Stills from video footage show the orcas ripping the rudder from the yacht. Catamaran Guru Instagram
CNN journalist Jacapo Prisci got in touch with Reliance to secure an interview with Dan, but stipulated that the sudden surge in media attention concerning orca activity has providentially coincided with the development of scientific research. He said that Dan’s story is ‘unique’ because he first encountered this strange orca behaviour in 2020 before encountering them again in 2023. He has seen how they have evolved and become more coordinated.
Bringing together Dan’s firsthand experience, encountering the orcas multiple times, with the latest scientific research, we can see a development of the orca activity with yachts. It’s possibly evolved from simple, aggravated attacks towards more sophisticated training techniques.
Dan will be giving an interview about the orca encounter today at 2.45pm EST on Fox News.
In this interview series, we speak to former Reliance delivery captains, who’ve since moved on, about what they do now and how working as a delivery captain informed their life today. This month Jennifer spoke to Simon Patterson, CEO of the MSP Technologies, Multi Source Power, a hybrid energy storage company, who initially worked as a Reliance delivery skipper from 1997-1999. They chatted about self-sufficiency, boat building and finding creative solutions, accompanied by a couple of barnyard cameos.
Reliance: Thank you for agreeing to chat with me today. What we wanted to talk about really is your current work and how working as a delivery skipper informed and led to where you are now.
Simon: Well in essence, I am now the CEO of MSP Technologies, otherwise known as Multi Source Power. And we are very much in the large-scale energy storage game. So, we build big batteries that help store rooftop solar, grid services, and help the national grid stay balanced. And very strangely it is a direct result of my marine history.
How so?
To summarise it quickly, in essence I studied technical theatre at university – which was all about building things. I then decided that that wasn’t really for me and decided to go get my Yachtmaster and somehow managed to get a job with Reliance – ended up doing about 30-40 Transatlantics, a couple of Pacifics, and a few Indians, etc, etc.
I had an absolutely marvellous time. Ended up moving from that [yacht delivery] to engineering, then got into being a bosun and an engineer on the big classics. I sailed boats like Thendara and all sorts of other lovely big 100 foot plus classics. It was great! I did that for a few years, then I went back to the UK and became a boat builder. Set up a company called Patterson Boatworks with my brother, and we ran a relatively successful boatbuilding business for 5,6,7 years.
Then one day, a chap came in, [he] said, ‘I want an electric boat, but I want to go really fast’ – this was way before lithium was a thing – and that took me to Taiwan where I managed to find this brand-new technology in the form of lithium and a long time ago, we managed to build the Elektra, a very fast electric boat, that became quite famous. That electric boat sort of got me on the path of
Simon Patterson CEO shows off his lightweight hybrid power generator
meeting lots of new and exciting factory people. Then eventually we sort of drifted away from the marine industry, and now, as a direct result of everything floaty boaty, I’m the CEO of a battery storage company. But yeah, that’s kind of my plotted history.
Well, that’s just an incredible history in and of itself. But I suppose what we are mostly interested in is how working for Reliance influenced your journey – I know you said that it got you into the marine industry, which subsequently got you into boatbuilding and engineering. But do you see any of the everyday work and skills needed in boat delivery reverberating in your work today?
Well, there are sort of two sides, in my humble opinion. Sorry if you can hear noises in the background, I’m being followed around by a turkey – I’m also a farmer, I happen to live on a farm, so in the mornings I’m a farmer, and then in the afternoon I’m the CEO of an engineering company.
I love that.
I encountered two different types of skipper when I was working for Reliance. There were the older guys who, you know, they were doing it almost because – this is the wrong word – but retired into it. And then there were the younger guys, like me, who were looking for a route into sailing. But there was just something about the lifestyle that actually really suited me – I really enjoyed it. I really liked being at sea. It just…it just felt right, you know? But at the same time, it gave me
a) a huge amount of rapidly accrued miles
b) a huge amount of rapidly accrued experience
Then I suppose at the same time, [it gave me] enough confidence, because I’d been in enough strange places, enough strange situations, seen enough…enough oddities and that stood me in really good stead for future life. I could pretty much [do] anything in [any] strange country, any strange port. But that’s all stuff that you sort of had to learn to do as a direct result of working for Reliance. There were lots of…it was a very interesting career. I mean I worked for Nick [Reliance] for nearly four years. But see, I was the flip side, I was using Reliance as a steppingstone to go forward. Whereas I suppose there are other who are happily, fully there just doing their thing in later life. I sometimes think about it, I think ‘oh wouldn’t it be nice, maybe I’ll just phone Nick and jump across the Atlantic?’
Maybe you can become one of those skippers who ‘retires’ into it – come back full circle.
[Laughs] Yeah but I’ve got a farm now. I’ve got too many cows to take care of, can’t take them across the Atlantic.
You said that you loved this nomadic travelling lifestyle, but then you have sort of moved completely away from that, or rather you’re very of grounded in the land now.
Yeah – well I mean I know quite a lot of sailing farmers actually, weirdly.
Really?
Yeah…I don’t know…I think there is an element of self-determination you know? Farming is sort of a bit similar. We’re kind of on our own. And sailing as a captain is a bit the same – complete master of your own destiny.
But then there are so many other things as well. You learn about financial management, you learn about food, you learn about…you know…just everything. But then there was this time that you would have this complete clarity because you don’t have a mobile phone, you don’t have internet access and that’s kind of lovely in this day and age.
So, it’s that immediacy in both sailing and farming – you can very directly see the results of your actions and you have to take responsibility for them I suppose.
Yeah, I think there was a great amount of that. There was this very rapid element of responsibility that is quite unusual. I was twenty-two, I think. And somebody just gave me this responsibility and sent me across the Atlantic [starts laughing]. Which always seems a bit amazing to me.
It’s amazing speaking to yourself and others and seeing all the different paths people have forged from working in yacht delivery. Everyone is so different. You said that you saw two different types of skippers – people who’ve retired into it and people who are using it as a steppingstone – but there are also some rare people who’ve managed to make a long-lasting career out it.
I mean, I ended up in the superyacht game. But that wasn’t deliberate. I was kind of between jobs with you guys, I met a girl in Greece who happened to be a Kiwi, and so I ended up in New Zealand. I met some people whilst sailing in the Med and then I get a phone call from France saying we want you to work on this boat because we want to win the America’s Cup Jubilee. I said ok…that’s sounds interesting. My girlfriend said it’s me or the boat, and I chose the boat.
[Both laugh]
Tell me about the America’s Cup Jubilee.
SY Thendara
It was the 100-year anniversary of the America’s Cup and they decided to have this big race in Cowes, invite the 100 best boats in the world. And the owner of this particular boat, Thendara, put together a crew and I was lucky enough to be invited to do it.
So, I was in New Zealand and then a couple of days later I was in Antibes – never really looked back.
So, the Jubilee was a real turning point in your career then? I’m not sure if it’s something unique to people who work on boats, or if it happens in other career paths [sectors], but there seems to be a lot of spontaneity and luck involved in people’s journeys.
Well, I think it can be a very clear route. There are lots of people who say I want to work on super yachts. And they, you know, become a deckhand, then they go through the courses, there is almost a sort of contrived route. Whereas becoming a sailor of a multitude of different vessels from cats [catamarans] to racing boats to bog standard charter vessels, etc., well, that really changes everything doesn’t it? Because you suddenly have this depth of experience and the ability to just…I just realised I’ve been undoing the wrong bolt while talking to you.
[Laughs] I do that. You’re talking to someone and you suddenly start fiddling with something and then next thing you know you’ve broken something.
Oh well…anyway, [break to speak to daughter about feeding her pigs]
Sorry about that.
No don’t worry. Have you ever considered getting back into sailing?
Well yeah…I’ve got this history in classics now, I keep looking at classic boats and thinking oooh I could do this, I could have that [laughs].
Yeah, can’t get away from the romance of it all.
It’s the purity of it that I like at sea…And you know there are some of the crazy places that we used to go.
Where was the craziest place you went or craziest thing you did as a delivery captain, as you say?
Craziest thing that I did was to sail into…I’ll never forget…I was sailing up to Miami…We were about four days away when the autopilot decided to die. And we cut a coke can up into tiny little strips and resoldered this board on this autopilot, resoldered it all.
But then on the way we were sailing up past Venezuela and we had a gas leak which meant me had no gas. So, we piloted this 47-foot cat into Venezuela by using a rough guide. I had a rough guide sort of booklet which gave us a drawing of the harbour and suggested various restaurants on the outside but didn’t really help with navigation. But we managed to get in there and get back out.
And then going to odd places like St. Helena, who gets to go there? You know stopping in absolutely insane beaches in the Bahamas, cleaning the boat down before dropping it off. And you meet some amazing people. A lot of the crew I sailed with back then I’m still in touch with now. It’s really interesting to watch how their careers have moved. I often wonder if it’s a direct result of what we did as sailors.
That’s why we do this series. So many delivery skippers go on to do amazing things, and such different things too. Everyone seems to get something different out of the experience.
Well, where I am now, it’s not a given, but if someone has sailing on their CV, I will generally look at them ten times more favourably because they always bring something a little bit more to the mix. Whether it just be a steadiness or breadth and depth of skills. Now that’s the nice thing about being on a boat. You’re on your little island, this is it you know? So, for me, I always gravitate towards CVs with sailing on it.
So, is there lots of people then in the kind of engineering, energy sort of sectors that have got sailing on their CV?
Ummm…well there are in my factory!
[Both laugh]
Motor Yacht Elektra
Energy storage is a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry, so there is quite a lot of head scratching – a lot of engineering and problem solving. You know how to solve x, y and z in the most sensible, safe and economic manner. The results of that actually are that, and especially in the way that we do stuff…because I have this marine and boatbuilding heritage, there could be a perceived ‘boatiness’ about what we do and build as energy storage systems.
Actually, the housings we build are designed and built like a boat, using composite materials, and foam cores. We utilise water cooling systems and take a lot of our design philosophy’s from the marine world.
Wow that’s really interesting! It’s a direct link back to your knowledge of boatbuilding and sailing. Just to end, do you have any advice or words of encouragement for those looking to work on deliveries, or even for those who never really considered it an option?
Well actually, I’ve just had one of my friends apply to Reliance and he is now sailing with you guys as crew – and loving it!
It’s a fantastic way to get away and across the world in a meaningful and exciting way, at a low cost; [you] meet people who will be friends for life and learn a lot about yourself along the way. I also believe it gives you a huge life skill: how to live and work with people, a skill that sets you in good stead for the workplace in any field.
Another successful delivery made by the Reliance Yacht Management team! Captain Dylan Le Roux sailed the Bali 5.4 from Canet en Roussillon in southern France to Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA. Then Captains Karl Reed and Nikki Wedrychowski joined Dylan in St. Martin for a crew change, before delivering the yacht safey to Fort Lauderdale.
At the end of July, Reliance completed the delivery of a Lagoon 52F from Cape Town to Virginia, USA.
The delivery was conducted for a private client who actually accompanied the delivery as a crew member. Owner assisted passages are one of our most popular services. Clients benefit from working with highly experienced skippers, gaining skills, knowledge and confidence, all tailored to their own yacht.
Owner assisted passages are not just popular amongst clients but captain too, who often feel immense job satisfaction passing on knowledge and skills.
Sailing with the Owner onboard also allows the Skipper to gain insight and understanding of the plans and dreams for the boat and its future crew and so makes the job of a Delivery Captain more meaningful. Seeing the joy on the Owner’s face when you set the spinnaker for the first time or when you catch your first big Dorado is truly great fun!
Captain Kenneth Hoiem of the Lagoon 52F delivery told us about his experience sailing with the client on this big transatlantic trip:
“I love Cape Town. This time of year, it is a special challenge sailing across the Atlantic as you have to navigate the weather coming up from the South. Gradually changing from foul weather gear to board shorts and reefed main to spinnaker on your way up towards the Equator, it’s such a fun and satisfying progression. Then to carry on all the way up to the mouth of the Chesapeake and Norfolk makes for an epic journey. A quick stop in Brazil was a bonus.
Of course, it helps to be sailing a boat like the Lagoon 52F which, with its powerful rig and well-equipped sail plan, is an absolute delight to sail. Also, sharing both the pre-departure preparation and the crossing with the boat’s Owner onboard makes for a special experience as you immediately have a crew member on the boat who shares your absolute interest in making sure that the boat is prepared for the journey and that both boat and crew get to the destination as safely as possible and with minimal wear and tear. With the addition of a young, strong and hard-working First Mate, it made for the perfect setup for a Transatlantic crossing.
Sailing with the Owner onboard also allows the Skipper to gain insight and understanding of the plans and dreams for the boat and its future crew and so makes the job of a Delivery Captain more meaningful; seeing the joy on the Owner’s face when you set the spinnaker for the first time or when you catch your first big Dorado is truly great fun!
I’m excited for the Owner and his future sailing adventures and I’m already looking forward to my next owner assisted assignment.”
If you would like to enquire further about Owner Assisted Passages, you can contact us here.
We have noticed a significant rise in the number of Bali catamarans we have been delivering this year – and it’s easy to understand why! Reliance Managing Director, Nick Irving, calls the yachts ‘good looking and a pleasure to sail and deliver.’ He notes that there has been hardly any technical difficulties on these deliveries with only positive feedback from captains, ‘we love delivering these yachts and cannot wait for more people to know about them so we can deliver more!’
Currently, Captain Dylan Le Roux is delivering a Bali 4.8, transatlantic, from the Catana shipyard in Canet en Roussillon, France to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While Captain Pavol Cizmar has just embarked upon delivery from Catana’s other factory in Tunisia, heading for Split, Croatia.
It is not just the catamarans themselves that have impressed our captains and staff, but the people at Catana too. When Captain Pavol arrived in Al Huwariyah to pick up the yacht, he discovered that the shipyard staff had filled the boat with fuel and fully stocked provisions!
Captain Pavol is just off the Croatian coast now and Captain Dylan is passing by Cuba, turning up to Florida now. We’re looking forward to sharing our praises with each yachts’ respective clients and can’t wait to deliver more soon.
Contact us if you have a Bali catamaran or any yacht in need of delivery and we will provide logistical solutions that work for you!
Philippe Gigon Le Grain is our captain of the month for May! He has been sailing professionally for nearly 30 years with extensive experience and knowledge of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
Captain Philippe Gigon Le Grain
Despite his extensive experience, Philippe has never been fazed at the prospect of yacht delivery. He is one of our most enthusiastic captains, always seeking out the next job, and has been contracted to deliver 4 yachts this year already. He has sailed over 90,000 nm as a captain and has worked in super yacht management, running a Shipman 72 from 2009 to 2014 around the Mediterranean.
In order to showcase Philippe as the talented and accomplished skipper that he is, we asked him a couple of questions, covering his sailing origins, career highlights and future plans.
How did you get into sailing and what has led you to continue with it as a career?
I started sailing when I was 6, then went to Corsica with my family with a small sailing boat when 8. I kept close to the sea and explored most sports around it until 22, when I graduated from university. I then started to live for my passion for adventure, nature and freedom.
Shipman 72 GEOMETRY
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
Managing a Shipman 72 for 5 years for a Russian owner. Boat and clients were exciting. I stopped for a new adventure in Croatia.
What is the job’s greatest challenge?
Being able to ensure the best service no matter the conditions. When storms happen we must remember that it will be gone one day or the other.
Lagoon 46 recently delivered by Captain Philippe from France to Greece
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In between a boat and my house in south of France.
Do you have any advice for those looking to become a delivery captain?
Start with missions you can handle without stress and build on from that.
Former Reliance client, Andy Scott, has recently arrived in the Mediterranean with his yacht, Elton. Designed by renowned naval architect Bill Tripp, Yacht Elton is a 104’/31.7m custom gulet monohull built in 1992 and last refitted in 2021. The yacht accommodates up to 8 guests with 4 ensuite cabins and is available for charter!
Andy Scott is a UK businessman whose trading investment portfolio, REL Capital, specializes in buying ‘turnaround’, high growth businesses. In 2019 he was named one of the Sunday Times Maserati Top UK 100 Entrepreneurs. He also owns the heritage yacht Telstar, check out his website for more information about the yachts and charter availability.
UPDATE: Andy Scott’s classic yacht, Telstar, is now ready for charter too! The yacht was originally built in 1963 before refitting in 2019, offering accommodation for up to 8 charter guests in 4 cabins, with a crew of 2 on board. If you would like to charter Telstar in time for Classic Regatta Season, contact us.
Reliance manages loading and offloading of transatlantic yacht shipment
Reliance Yacht Management has successfully loaded the yacht, Carisma, in Antigua for shipped delivery to Mallorca.
The yacht was delivered by crew from Grenada to Antigua; from there a Reliance team prepared the boat for shipping and oversaw loading onto the cargo ship. Reliance crew based in Europe will be waiting in Mallorca to offload the yacht and take it to the nearest marina. With Reliance managing the loading process at both ends of the shipment, a careful and consistent delivery is guaranteed. We provide thorough predeparture preparation, independent safety checks, and highly qualified captains to oversee the entire process.
The ship, alongside Carisma, will be delivering super yachts and luxury cruisers such as Sunreefs and Oysters – all of which dwarf the custom built, 43 foot Carisma. At Reliance, we treat every delivery with the same level of care and attention. From straight out of the factory, luxury catamarans to well loved family yachts, every vessel is unique and every vessel deserves a bespoke service that puts safety, care and client peace of mind at the forefront.
Peters and May is the company shipping the yacht across the Atlantic; Reliance Yacht Management is their approved service provider for crewed delivery and loading services. If you would like to know more about Reliance Yacht Management and the services we provide, from management to delivery, please contact us.
Lionel Le Brenn is our captain of the month for March! He has been sailing professionally for over 10 years, although his love and passion for sailing goes back much further, and has worked across the industry as both a delivery and charter skipper. He has extensive knowledge and experience of sailing in the Mediterranean, but has also sailed across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans – most notably helping to create and develop a charter project in Sri Lanka in 2017, charting new sailing routes. Lionel’s love of freedom and adventure drove him to a life at sea; his respect for the ocean comes across in how he approaches every yacht delivery with care and attention.
Lionel is popular with clients and has worked on owner assisted passages, providing expert guidance and knowledge to new owners as they sail their new yacht home. Check out one of his most recent owner assisted passages with a client transporting their new catamaran from France to Portugal. The owner made a great video expressing how much he enjoyed the experience.
In order to showcase Lionel as the dedicated, conscientious and reliable skipper that he is, we asked him a couple of questions, covering his sailing origins, career highlights and future plans.
How did you get into sailing and what has led you to continue with it as a career?
My paternal family is from Brittany and has lived by the sea for a long time. I started racing every winter when I was 16 at the time in La Trinité sur Mer, which was the meeting place for sailing in France, then I never stopped racing and cruising a little everywhere on the sea. After a successful professional career in the world of distribution, I created my own consulting and training company. But 10 years ago, I decided to live around my passion which is the sea. I have a validates captain’s diploma and since then I have been delivering sailboats, a job in which I find both this feeling of freedom, autonomy and being close to nature.
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
Beyond the victories in regattas which were moments of great joy, the most enriching experience that I had was the chance to live was to make the first crossing of the Adam’Bridge in 2017 with Sapphire, a catamaran made in Sri Lanka. This passage between India and Sri Lanka not mapped was both a return to the sources of navigation, to find a passage between the different sandy islands, and a strong sharing with my Sri Lankan crew and the populations on site in very significant conditions of autonomy (no port, little reliable weather).
What is the job’s greatest challenge?
To manage between speed and safety, because we have to deliver a new boat to our client after 4 or 6 weeks of crossing. I always tell myself if I buy this boat I want it to be “Perfect” on arrival ..
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In the same place, I am writing these lines in the south of Sardinia and I will have to be in Palermo in 2 days to refuel, for delivery to Croatia…I love it.
Lionel (far left) with his crew
Do you have any advice for those looking to become a delivery captain?
Beyond getting the right qualifications, the ideal is to participate in winter offshore deliveries with confirmed captains to learn. This job is a job of knowing how and knowing how to be where we learn every day. Moreover it is necessary to always keep in mind that it is not our boat but that of a customer who is impatiently waiting for her.
What is your favourite knot?
The double sheet bend, I like it because it allows to hoist the courtesy flag when we arrive in new territorial waters and that means that we have arrived.
One of our oldest and most trustest clients, The Catamaran Company, have created this incredible reference for Reliance – on video!
Hugh Murray, the president of the charter and sales company, praises Reliance before going on to explain the transatlantic process through which we collaborate. A Reliance team picks up catamarans for The Catamaran Company from the manufacturers in France, undergoing all necessary safety checks and handovers. The yacht is then sailed over the Atlantic where the same team will do the handover again to The Catamaran Company’s teams in Florida and the Caribbean.
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?