Friday 6 September 2019

After the (mild) dramas of last night and turning in late, we were not in too much of a hurry to set off.  We went to see the marina folks and they assured us that they knew all about our encounter with the police and would resolve it all.  They also said that they were now aware that they should not be loaning the car to visitors to the marina, so I think a corner has been turned.

I was accosted by a German guy on the quay, asking where the shops were, and we spoke for a while. It seems that his plans are similar to ours over the next few days, so we expect to bump into him again.

The wind was still blowing strongly during the morning, but after lunch it died a little, and we headed out of the marina.  We had a downwind sail to Castelsardo, the next town after Porto Torres.  The later seemed to live up to its billing as heavily industrial and not terribly attractive as we passed, so we were pleased to have given it a miss.

As it was to be Chris’ last sailing day with us, we let him do the driving for most of the day.  We were deep downwind in reasonable waves, and were attempting to race the German guy. We were holding a deeper course than him, to be able to pass on the other side of a fish farm, and by doing this we leap-frogged him quite comfortably.  It is inevitable that when two boats are within sight and heading in the same direction, that they will try to race.  We seemed to win quite comfortably on this occasion.

The last few hundred metres into Castelsardo were the most challenging, with the waves building up as the seabed shelved.  The entrance is spectacular, but our focus was on safely making the turn into the port, and getting into the shelter. 

Although we had phoned ahead and reserved a berth, a large group of yachts had arrived just before us. The marina staff seemed a little concerned that the only space remaining was exactly the same draft as our boat. They asked if we wanted to take it, knowing that it would be tight, but we said ”yes, we would try” as there seemed little alternative.  The depth sounder showed 0.0 as we went in, but we were still afloat and moving when we reached the pontoon, so all was well.  

We had beaten our German friends, but there was a space for them as well, as their boat was a little smaller.

Distance covered today	24.0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	114.0	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1273.0	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)