Puerto de Mahon (Menorca) -> Carloforte (Sardinia, Italy)
39.08.800N 8.18.693E After really carefully watching the weather for the last
week, very early on Tuesday morning we set sail for The wind was doing what we expected – blowing from the
South – although it was a little stronger than we had thought at 19
knots. The swell was from the south east. The seas were a lot rougher than we
would have liked – but we kept going in the knowledge the wind and swell
would die down during the passage. We were flying along at 7.3 knots
(that’s fast for us – in fact we even managed 7.7 at one bit).
Overnight the winds died down so we had to motor and the speed dropped down a
bit. The swell was still there until the early hours of the morning. We had
waves breaking over the bow and rolling down the decks for the first 24 hours.
We had predicted the wind speed and strength correctly however the swell was a
lot worse than predicted. Wanda sliced through all the waves and was remarkably steady
– however we were still shaken for the first 24 hours. Wanda did have a few mishaps – the stay sail would
only partly unfurl and the running backstay support line snapped in half
meaning a large block came flying through the air at us in the cockpit –
we caught it and secured it. The bow light failed probably due to the constant
crashing bashing of the waves. We need to inspect the deck gear carefully after
all the pounding she took for us and give Wanda some well deserved TLC. Yoyo and Koshka as usual slept through most of the journey.
Yoyo did try and keep us company overnight – but with the breaking waves
we sent her straight back down below. In the morning when it had all calmed
down Yoyo spent the remainder of the passage asleep in the shade in the
cockpit. On the plus side we did manage to cut the passage down from
a planned 36 hours to 32 hours due to our speed in the early part. We had planned to go to Portoscuso, but when we arrived we
were turned away as they were full. So we had to set off across the bay to
Carloforte. When we arrived in the marina it was virtually empty and we were
directed to a tricky mooring spot. We asked if we could move and they said no
they were full. We found that very hard to believe. However this evening we
have found out they are full – very full. About 6pm it started, a trickle
of yachts coming in. By 8pm the marina was full. We plan to stay here for a few
days and recover from our aches and pains! Well we are definitely in |