....and the rest was 'Easy Going'

......indeed it was.

We lifted anchor in Porto Vecchio after breakfast, Saturday 29 July and headed towards Porto Torres, Sardinia, where I arranged a new meeting point with my family. A perfect sailing day. Bft 3-4, temperature in the upper 20ties, clear sky and a deep blue sea with scattered rocks and small islands in between. We took the Passage De La Piantarel along the Corsican coast which was easy during day and with light wind conditions but likely is difficult during night and in particular in heavy weather conditions. After a couple of hours we lost the wind and had to motor the rest to Porto Torres where we arrived late evening around 23h00.

Pelosa

My family arrived the next day and as Porto Torres has nothing to offer besides a large industrial/ferry port we left soon afterwards to Stintino, a couple of miles NW of Porto Torres.

What a nice little fishing town! Colorful houses surrounded by two fjord-like channels and a well protected port in front of it. After two days we moved further to the North to Pelosa between Asinara and Sardinia. Definitively, one of the best anchor places I have been so far. A turquoise bay, crystal-clear water, white sand beaches, with perfect anchor grounds in 3-5m depth and a marvelous view on Asinara and the North-western tip of Sardinia.

Sunset behind Asinara 

We kept Asinara, a natural reserve for which a special permit is needed, for a later visit and took the Passagio Dei Fornelli between Asinara and Sardinia saving us some 20 nm and motored along North-Western coast under light wind conditions to T-Fish's new home base, where we arrived after 271.3nm Friday 4th Aug.

Pta del Quadro and Capo Caccia on the way to the new home port

Paella Algherese - the Spanish influence in Alghero is obvious

Fertilia Sunset

Porto Conte

The remainder of our vacations we used discovering the new surroundings. This included several visits to Alghero, a visit to the Grotto di Nettuno - a stalactite cave, a butterfly farm and a visit to Sassari but also several day cruises to nearby beaches to escape the heat in the port. 

Indeed, excellent sailing grounds which offer a lot to discover in the next few years. 

A happy skipper (and a well deserved beer)

A Bumpy Transfer

As planned we headed towards the Bonifacio Strait in a North-Southern arc in order to avoid strong head winds from the Mistral which bent southerly into the Tyrrhenian Sea. With the main up we started motor-sailing under light wind conditions, however, still with quite some swell (2+ meters) originating from the more windy region. Sometimes I wished we would have chosen a more southern route in order to catch stronger winds which would have stabilized the boat.

Reaching Corsica after a Bumpy Transfer

The bumpy condition caused severe sea-sickness of my two crew members shortly after leaving Rome which forced me to stay awake the whole night. After about two third of the distance, in the afternoon of the 2nd day, we reached as expected the more windy region. With one reef in the main, we sailed T-Fish in Bft 5-6 and about 2-3m of waves 45 degrees towards the wind to the Corsican coast. T-Fish likes these conditions! Sailing at its best! Unfortunately, my crew was not able to share the fun.

As forecasted, we found calm seas and light wind conditions about 5 nm before the Corsican coast. The plan was now to go south along the coast and to cross the Strait of Bonifacio in the night for which a window of a couple of hours with light to moderate wind conditions was forecasted. However, my crew was wrecked (some throwing-up for more than 24 hours!) and I urgently needed some sleep, too. We therefore decided to get some rest and anchored close to Solenzara, Corsica.

The next day (27 July), after a well-deserved long sleep and extensive breakfast we motored towards Porto Vecchio. The 'window' of lighter wind conditions was gone! On the way to Porto Vecchio we already had Bft 7 of headwind (with gusts reaching over 8). No way to make the passage. We therefore went into the sheltered bay of Porto Vecchio waiting for better conditions. One crew had to leave there and went by bus and ferry to Olbia allowing him to reach his scheduled flight back to Rome just in time.

Storm cloud over the Strait of Bonifacio (seen from the Bay of Porto Vecchio)

Sun-Set over the Corsican Coast

The forecast showed favourable conditions for Saturday 29th July. In the meantime we enjoyed the lovely holiday resort of Porto Vecchio.      

Arrivederci Roma!

There are always mixed feelings leaving a place which served as your 'home-base' for a while. Leaving friends and a surrounding which you are well acquainted with is not always easy.

This time it is - finally I am getting re-united with my family and can occasionally enjoy sailing T-Fish in Sardinia/Corsica, one of the most attractive sailing grounds in the Med. Last but not least, I will be back in some 2-3 years allowing me to enjoy Rome and Italian lifestyle and to recover from the 'cold North'. No reasons to 'sing the blues' - not at all!

Farewell party on T-Fish with friends

My friend Marco helping to exchange the light bulb of the deck light 

The last days in Rome spun away with last boat preparation, provisioning, and farewell parties. A good friend also invited me to his house in the Castelli region with a awesome view down to Rome, allowing me to escape the heat in the port and enjoying his pool and BBQ while waiting for the strongest part of the Mistral to pass through.

Watching the arrival of the Mistral from the Castelli regions - view down to Rome and Ostia

We finally decided to leave port in the evening of Tuesday, 25th July. When cast off and motoring along the pier all friends in the port blew their horns as a last farewell.

Just before the port exit, a port authority warned us to leave because of the still existing large swell (about 2 m) which was breaking at the port entrance. Watching the incoming waves for about 30 min, it seemed that there is only every 2-3 min a larger breaking wave rolling in. This should give us sufficient time to exist the port in between.

Thus we waited for a big one and gave it a try. And of course and following Murphy's law, another 'big one' rolled in and starting to break right when we were at the exit. I went full throttle and took the wave at a right angle. T-Fish jumped through the breaking wave and landed with a big splash.

Off we were....

Arrivederci Roma, ci vediamo!