Spain to Sardinia

Together with my Atlantic crossing friend, Luigi, I arrived in Palma di Mallorca, coming from Rome. We made a night-time bus ride to Andraitx where Mabi Two was waiting for us these last two weeks, but when we arrived, she was not there! Panic, panic, but the night guardian soon tranquillised us saying that she had been shifted to make room for the
recent Oyster regatta. Whew!

        
                                             Club de Vela Andraitx and the lighthouse that will be submersed in a winter swell

First thing in the morning I paid the marina bill and motored into a choppy sea for the 20 miles to Palma. Phoning the Real Club Nautico marina for a mooring space on the 16th October, there was still no room available, notwithstanding their 850 places. But we found a place in adjacent Marina Port de Mallorca.

        

While manoevring, we unfortunately sucked a bow-line into the bow-thruster, which quickly wrapped itself tightly around the prop, jamming it tight. Luigi volunteers to dive in to free it, taking almost one hour and finding that a prop blade has snapped off. So now we have no bow-thruster, which leaves me perplexed, as I have lazily become very much bow-thruster dependent, which is a great help in berthing a 54 foot boat in side winds. Analysing the causes of this incident, I find that this bow-line feeder was very thin and so easily sucked in by the prop. Secondly, the marinero should always pull it back into the pontoon and
get rid of the slack, as you take the line to your bow. Thirdly, a bow-thruster should have a proper protective grating to prevent such intrusions, but mine has only three thin bars, which are insufficient, but I will soon remedy this.

I quickly had to learn to do without the bow-thruster, as the marina insisted I change places, as they had made a mistake in allocating me this place, so notwistanding the fresh side breeze, I managed to complete the manoeuvre without incident.

After dinner we pass the time in a pleasant pub-crawl and then return to the boat in high spirits, ready for a 5.30 am rise for an early departure.

At 6am next morning before sunrise we leave Palma, calling into Porto Petro for a quick plate of pasta, expertly cooked by Luigi and then resume our sail to Puerto Colom, a lovely sheltered harbour on the east coast of Mallorca. Even here, all the mooring buoys were occupied, so we dropped anchor in a quiet corner, at no charge.

At 6am again in the morning we set off for Minorca, at 50 miles with a slight head-wind, so we have to motor the whole way. At 3pm we enter the magnificent and historic harbour of Mahon and we immediately see why it was so much contested by various nations in the past, with a narrow easily defended entrance and a long shelterd bay inside. The many fortifications are testimony to the determination to keep this island at all costs by several nations.

                                             

The fuel quay is occupied by a French boat which is waiting for the attendant to arrive and we learn that it will be only at 5pm, so we go alongside a pontoon and wait. After fuelling we dock at Marina Estrella and quickly shower to go and visit the town. There are four tall ships docked on the main wharf, including a five-masted cruise ship, giving us the impression that we have stepped back in time to the 18th century.

                                             

It is a lovely and fascinating city and merits coming back to visit more thoroughly and also to see the old capital Ciudadela and the rest of the island. As I am pressed to return home, we set off next morning at our customary 6am departure time, having ascertaing that we have a suitable weather window. The Gulf of Lion is no place to be in a storm, as it is renouned for its terrible storms. We hoist sail while still in the harbour and sail out into a favourable south east wind.

Rarely do we encounter other sailboats, but they are invariably heading the other way, presumably for Gibraltar and then onto the Carabbean as I did exactly two years ago. For the rest it is a pleasant uneventful day. Luigi took the first night-watch from 9pm to midnight and reported no ships whatsoever. There was no moon and the night was so black that he could not even make out the horizon and said he often mistook a star to be a passing ship.

Fortunately on my watch the moon had arisen, as I hate those gloomy black night-watches with no moon where you see absolutely nothing, while the boat rockets forward into the blackness. When you are fortunate to sail westwards as on this occasion, you see the rising moon casting a shimmering silvery pathway for the boat to follow and you can see if there are any obstacles out there in front of the boat.

During my watch I while away the time writing this log, also to keep awake, as it is easy to be lulled into sleep just staring out into the dark. One must always be alert and watch out for ships so as not to be run over and of course, one must always be tied to the boat with one's life-line, as you can't risk falling overboard in the dark!

                                               

Luigi enjoys cooking and is very good at it. For lunch we had an excellent minestroni pasta and faggioli. Then in the afternoon we finally caught a fighting 12 kilo tuna, which Luigi skilfully filleted and placed the bulk in the freezer and cooked a delicious tuna stew in the evening.

                                                

The favourable winds remained constant so we made good time, sailing at 7 to 8 knots all the time. Along the way we replaced the worn out genova sheets (ropes) with new ones which I had purchased in Horta in the Azores. The chafe and wear and tear of Atlantic sailing places a heavy toll on the rigging and sails.

We finally came into sight of Sardinian land and then approached the narrow and treacherous Passage of Fornelli between the two islands of Piana and Asinara. The flat sea consented us to proceed, so very, very slowly we allined the first two markers, then at the dog-leg turning, we allined the other two markers and slowly made our way out of the passage into the magnificently emerald coloured bay of La Pelosa, just outside the town of Stintino.

Here I had a telephone appointment with a 90 year old lady client of mine who was staying at her holiday home on the sea and so I motored closer so that we could wave to each other, before heading off to Castelsardo, 20 miles away for a last stopover before reaching our home port.

                                               

We moored in the marina late afternoon and quickly caught a bus to visit the castle on the hill above the town, which has lovely panoramic sea views. Of course, you guessed it, tuna for dinner. A force 7 north-western Mistral blow was expected next day, but as it was to provide stern winds, we set off all the same and flew along in 30 knot winds, gusting at 35 around each cape. At one point the storm-sail sheet escaped my hold and ran wildly through my hands, but fortunately I had my gloves on, otherwise I would have seriously burnt my hands. Some damage was done to the sail from it flopping madly about until we got it under control again, to continue our fast sail home through the islands.

But rounding my familiar Capo Ferro, we found the wind still gusting over 30 knots, so I did not venture to enter Porto Cervo, not having the help of a bow-thruster, so we proceeded to Cala di Volpe and dropped anchor there for the night and had tuna for dinner. Next morning, the wind had shifted to North-east, a cool Tramontana, building up a nasty head sea. But it is only a short distance and we soon entered the Porto Cervo Marina and our home mooring.

                                                

The next two days were spent on tidying up and emptying the boat of much equipment accumulated over time for ocean travel and now no longer necessary and removal of the damaged storm-sail for repairing.

In four years, Mabi Two had spent only a few days here, on her way back from Turkey going to Gibraltar. It was a good feeling to be back home again, after having sailed half way across the world, from Turkey all the way to the Caribbean!  

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