The first stage of the tournament "named after Van Kanigem"

In short, from the moment of boarding the boat to victory, it took:
1 day - boarding the boat (inactivity)
1 day - full speed ahead with sails, oars, rubber motors, air cushions, and jet engines towards the Warlock + landing
1 day - capturing the Warlock, Sorceress, and detaching 2 Warlock and 1 Sorceress heroes
1 day - capturing the Barbarian and detaching 1 Warlock, 2 Sorceress, and 3 Barbarian heroes. VICTORY! :)

I had a slightly different experience...
1 day - boarding the boat (inactivity)
2nd day - we sail...
3rd day - we arrive and disembark...
4th day - we take the Warlock, and then the monsters start appearing... I took all four castles
5th day - we reach the distant heroes, and that's it....

You sailed there in one day, so you must have started where the Phoenixes were... because if you don't kill them, you won't be able to sail there in one turn... you're short by one step!
I didn't kill the Phoenixes because they were killing two Djinns... and the boots weren't needed, at least not for me.