Sunday, May 29, 2011
Summer begins - MALTA TO CORFU!!
Left Malta Tuesday 24th May – delayed a couple of days due to strong NE winds and quite rough seas (2m to 3m waves) – as we were heading NE it would not have been pleasant. Quite extraordinary how often winds come from direction we want to go in! Life really is about dealing with adversity! So rest of the team (Doug, David and Andy) had some time to visit some of Malta’s attractions – St John’s cathedral got top marks I think, possibly as well as lunch at our favourite restaurant Da Pippo’s! I got a few more small jobs done so we were reasonably well prepared to go. Left marina 1230 Tuesday and had a quite rough first 24 hours – wind had slackened a good deal to around 15 to 20 knots but still 2m waves. Had planned to head north towards Sicily at first as winds were forecast to change over the course of the next 2 days but as we cleared the island wind was already close to North so we made better progress on port tack heading ENE. Then we got lucky and the low pressure that was coming across from Tunisia tracked a bit further north than expected and as wind moved to ENE we tacked northwards. We were able to get far enough north before the wind again came back to the north so that we could then head for Corfu. Winds held up well too so we didn’t suffer the light winds that were forecast for Thursday – in fact we had a glorious breeze and maintained over 6 knots all day. So quite an interesting sail with varying wind direction along with thunder squalls, some very heavy showers and lightening on Wed night (two reefs in the mainsail for much of the time over night in case of very strong gusts in the squalls but with help from the radar (great to be able to spot the squalls on the screen) we were able to change course and avoid the worst gusts).
Saw a few ships en route and the AIS (radio position communication system) proved its worth again – lets us see ships with AIS and perhaps even more importantly lets them see us! The VEGA bound for Thessalonika radioed us as he’d seen us on AIS and as were the stand on boat (ie we could maintain our course and he should alter course to avoid us) he wanted to let us know he would alter course to starboard to go behind us – much relief! In poor visibility and squalls AIS is great to have! Think the captain of the Vega must have been relatively inexperienced (he sounded it a little) as very very few ships take much notice of yachts and alter course for them (we’d already had to dodge a couple of ships that were going to pass very close). Thanked him very much for being so considerate.
Had quite a few visitors en route – swifts (we think) migrating and perhaps off course in the unseasonal weather. Anyway, they had some rest, pooed on the transom (why do birds always have to poo on the boat when we give them a ride?) and then left – except one who had enough of this life. Burial at sea.
Thursday throughout the day, overnight and into Friday morning was one of the most glorious sails – wind between 10 and 15 knots, sea becoming much smoother and almost all the time we were able to sail pretty much directly towards Corfu with great boat speed in the calmer seas – a joy to helm in these conditions – noticed we were all quite happy to stay on the helm for longer! And as the conditions improved so did our appetites and the cuisine! Bacon rolls appeared on the breakfast menu (supplementing not replacing porridge of course), and a truly wonderful fruit cake (THANK YOU BEVERLEY) with afternoon tea. Along with Helen’s great cottage pie for dinner we were now feeling very well fed. Things were looking up!
Dawn Friday morning and Corfu appeared – fabulous scenery in the early morning light – and by 0800 we were heading up the Corfu channel (its about 25M from the southernmost point up to Gouvia marina where we were going to berth).
So almost exactly 3 days for the trip (420M) which was very good given the wind direction and conditions in the first part of the voyage. Allowed us to see Corfu town on Fri evening (after a celebration beer (or two) and a recovery afternoon nap) before Andy, Doug and David departed on EZ jet Sat morning. Great week. Pics to follow.
Saw a few ships en route and the AIS (radio position communication system) proved its worth again – lets us see ships with AIS and perhaps even more importantly lets them see us! The VEGA bound for Thessalonika radioed us as he’d seen us on AIS and as were the stand on boat (ie we could maintain our course and he should alter course to avoid us) he wanted to let us know he would alter course to starboard to go behind us – much relief! In poor visibility and squalls AIS is great to have! Think the captain of the Vega must have been relatively inexperienced (he sounded it a little) as very very few ships take much notice of yachts and alter course for them (we’d already had to dodge a couple of ships that were going to pass very close). Thanked him very much for being so considerate.
Had quite a few visitors en route – swifts (we think) migrating and perhaps off course in the unseasonal weather. Anyway, they had some rest, pooed on the transom (why do birds always have to poo on the boat when we give them a ride?) and then left – except one who had enough of this life. Burial at sea.
Thursday throughout the day, overnight and into Friday morning was one of the most glorious sails – wind between 10 and 15 knots, sea becoming much smoother and almost all the time we were able to sail pretty much directly towards Corfu with great boat speed in the calmer seas – a joy to helm in these conditions – noticed we were all quite happy to stay on the helm for longer! And as the conditions improved so did our appetites and the cuisine! Bacon rolls appeared on the breakfast menu (supplementing not replacing porridge of course), and a truly wonderful fruit cake (THANK YOU BEVERLEY) with afternoon tea. Along with Helen’s great cottage pie for dinner we were now feeling very well fed. Things were looking up!
Dawn Friday morning and Corfu appeared – fabulous scenery in the early morning light – and by 0800 we were heading up the Corfu channel (its about 25M from the southernmost point up to Gouvia marina where we were going to berth).
So almost exactly 3 days for the trip (420M) which was very good given the wind direction and conditions in the first part of the voyage. Allowed us to see Corfu town on Fri evening (after a celebration beer (or two) and a recovery afternoon nap) before Andy, Doug and David departed on EZ jet Sat morning. Great week. Pics to follow.
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