Banu Oney
Banu grew up sailing on her family’s boats from the age of one. Her father Muhittin Öney was one of Turkey’s prominent yachtsmen and she spent her childhood years living, racing, cruising with her family. Her family built, owned and sailed on sailing yachts Keyfim, Sim, Kerme, and Mistral for over 40 years. Banu loves dinghy sailing and used to be a competitive Laser sailor.
Banu worked as an academic at various universities in Turkey and USA. After completing her PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she taught and conducted research at Bogazici University in Turkey as well as the University of Delaware and University of Ilinois, Chicago, in the US. She quit academia after brain aneurysm surgery in 2005.
Denize II is her second “big boat”. She has sailed from the Turkish coast to the Greek Islands, Red Sea, and Western Mediterranean multiple times before she set off towards that Atlantic Ocean.
Banu’s articles on cruising have been published in Naviga and Yelken Dünyası magazines in Turkey. She also lectures on her journeys in boat shows and other gatherings. She is the author of Ada ile Denizden Denize, a children’s book about her travels with her beloved Portuguese Water Dog ADA.
Banu met Peter in Gibraltar in 2009 and they have been cruising together happily since.
Peter Saggers
Peter started sailing as a boy on a ketch rigged commercial fishing vessel on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. He has been a liveaboard sailor most of his adult life. Peter is a professional boatbuilder, who likes to develop innovative solutions to construction issues and readily embraces new materials and technologies
Peter has sailed the North and South Pacific Oceans, parts of the Southern Ocean, South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Tasman Sea, Mediterranean Sea and the North and South Atlantic Oceans, either doing deliveries, or as a skipper on other owners’ cruising boats, or lazily cruising on his own boats. He has a Commercially Endorsed RYA YachtMaster Offshore Certificate.
Peter has made multiple modifications to Denize II to improve her performance and liveability. Check out the “projects” page to learn about Peter’s work on Denize II.
ADA
the Sailor Dog
ADA is a Portuguese Water Dog, born in 2008. She lived aboard Denize II since she was 3 months old. She loves to swim, chase seagulls and fetch toys. Ada crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice so far. She is now getting ready to sail to the South Pacific. Her favorite toys are stuffed white rabbits. Ada calls all stuffed toys “rabbits”. ADA is Peter’s “service dog”.
You can read the story of ADA and Banu sailing around the world in “ ADA ile Denizden Denize ”, a children’s book written by Banu Öney and illustrated by Demet Kitiş.
