Captain's Log
After 3 months of a work forced absence from Inelsamo and Janine, I was anxious about my return and the sail across the Golf de Lion. Whether I was up for up it and whether Janine and Inelsamo were up to it, weighed heavily on my mind. I hadn’t planned on being away for 3 months but ‘things come up’ in remote places on the planet… so after almost 90 days straight, I convinced myself that I needed to convince J that we could meander up along the French coast in order to give her, Inelsamo and me a chance to get to know each other again and to work out and understand our creaks…as we have many.
The weather predictions indicated that our window was going to close quickly and that we might only have 4 days before the Mistral winds set in. A Mistral is a strong, cold, north-westerly wind that blows from southern France into the Gulf and produces sustained winds exceeding 66 km/h (41 mph), and sometimes reaching 185 km/h (115 mph. Not pleasant sailing at all and after the previous experience, that made me rethink things and go to Plan B - a direct run from Spain to Corsica.
I put it to J and she was up for it, adventurous and fearless as always. Anxious as I was, it was a better call. So, a long 260nm overnighter later, mostly done on light winds and some using engine, we got in at midnight to the Corsican coastline at a random bay that J had pre-picked which could provide a safe and temporary refuge under the right conditions. So, we anchored for the first time in the dark and both went soundly to sleep. Unbelievably, I woke up to the most beautiful, calm anchorage with an amazing sunrise. I never tire of beautiful sunrises. So, a great pick!!
From there we moseyed on down the west coast of Corsica, anchoring here and there and picking up a mooring in Port Pollo. We eventually hit Bonifacio which we won’t speak about as it was a scary experience in high winds with soaring cliffs all around…enough said on that one. From there onwards we decided to follow the coast of Corsica around the bottom past some gorgeous island sailing (La Maddalena’s) through the Straits of Bonifacio and on towards Porto Cervo. There we accidentally found ourselves in amongst the Rolex Maxi Yacht 2019 Cup. Saw some incredible and massive yachts with 20+ crew as we threaded our way through the start-up line….a bit hairy to say the least.
The weather drove us on and to find some beautiful anchorages around Olbia in Sardinia, such as Gulfo di Aranci and Brandinchi, and then onto Arbatax. We took a few days to make our way further down the east coast of Sardinia anchoring here and there before reaching Cagliari where we needed to ‘clear out’ formally through Italian customs and immigration. What a gorgeous little city and a total surprise as neither of us had even heard of it. We once more fell in love and started thinking real estate! Another place on our list.
But time being our enemy, we had to let the lines go and set sail to Tunisia, our final stop on this year’s journey. I am always anxious about overnight sails. I planned this one to try to do one overnight by leaving early in the morning. It is less impact physically on both of us. The weather was changeable so we agreed to leave a couple of days earlier which was a great decision. Letting lines go at 345am on a Saturday morning and with a full moon we headed out from Sardinia, Italy, across the Sicilian Straits towards to Tunisia.
It was a great sail, mostly upwind and very peaceful. It did start out with 2 reefs in the main and 3 in the gib but slowly over the next several hours, we shook out all but 1 reef in the main, still to windward. We could have shaken out that one too but it was heading into the evening so I decided to keep the reef in for safety reasons. The loss was distance covered and potential wind shift but the positive was…sleep for the off-shift person. It did mean we had to tack twice in the wee hours of the morning to make it around Cap Bon, Tunisia, but sunrise is always a gift so no big deal for either of us to tack. Plus it keeps things interesting.
The Tunisian coast guard were super vigilant on approaching vessels so they kept us company for the several hours it took us from Cap Bon to Hammamet. We even had a visit from them on their coast guard vessel at one point, sirens blaring and all. Friendly, welcoming and efficient!
We then ended this year’s journey in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia. A new experience altogether and somewhere neither of us have ever been so it was worth the effort and a great end to what has been a mighty sailing year for us. We have certainly covered some distance but we are now positioned beautifully to kick off 2020 with Sicily, Malta and Greece our cruising backyard!! So excited for this bit....
Lessons learned for me this season: 1) my first ever trip to the top of the mast at sea to clear a jam in the Code Zero furler - being lifted by your partner at sea on a couple of ropes really reinforces and tests trust!! I’m still here, so she did a great job. 2) I overcame my nemesis…the bow thruster and fixed the thing after 12 months of problems. 3) My Arabic (and French and Spanish and Italian and my Portugeuse) sucks.
Unit next time.....happy sailing from the Captain's Log.
Comments