I have been sailing since I was a kid and for some years part owned a beautiful wooden yawl called Cooya (http://classicyachtinfo.com/yachts/cooya/) but more recently I have tired of wet bunks, damp bilges and eternal maintenance, so have started sailing aluminium Ovnis.
In late 2008 I bought an Ovni 32 called Rosalie from a couple in Holland. We renamed her Rosi after a close friend and kept her in Holland for the first year. After that I moved her back to Bristol where I was living at the time. We then moved her to the Isle of Wight where she stayed until last year, when we moved her to the river Arzal in France, where she is now being prepared for sale. There is lots of stuff about the Ovni 32 here.
Why for sale? Because I have bought another Ovni, this time Rosi’s larger sister, an Ovni 345. Many things are very similar, its just that there is generally more space and the 345 is a substantially heavier boat.
I don’t actually know much about the 345 as yet – I bought her in October 2019 and christened her Morgie, planning to have various work done (new standing rigging, new sails, new rudder bearings amongst other things) and then learn to sail her during 2020.
The along came COVID-19 and sailing became difficult. I did manage a few weeks on her, first in March and then September, but that was it.
Meantime, I can at least start posting some photos at Morgie.
In ten years of ownership of Rosi we visited a lot of places, always seeking out of the way spots where she could dry out undisturbed. From 2016 I started to take her over to France each year for an extended cruise as I was finding the Solent and adjacent UK south coast over familiar and often very crowded. Even so, I could always find a spot for her up one of the creeks in Newtown Harbour, which became more or less her home port.
Last year I put together a list of “Ovni spots” I have found in the Channel Islands and Britanny. It is available on the Ovni owners website (https://ovni-owners.org.uk/) and there is a copy here.