Sunday 13 October 2019

We were up smartly this morning and I could tell Steve was nervous at the prospect of having to lift the anchor by hand. We had 25 metres of chain out, so obviously it’s heavy. The difficulty is compounded by lack of space up at the pointy end of the boat. Today, it was going to be more difficult again because a clean F4 breeze was blowing. I have to control the boat so we edge forward so Steve isn’t holding the whole weight of the boat and also stop us from swinging in the wind, but not so much that we go over the chain and it bashes the hull. It took about 30 minutes, but we managed it. Steve doesn’t need to do a gym session today.

It had gone a lot cooler overnight, down to about 13 degrees, so more layers of clothing were required and I put trousers on for the first time since early May.

We hoisted the sails and had a superb sail for most of the way; the best sail of the autumn, in almost flat water. The wind was on the beam (90 degrees to the boat) and we were cracking along at 8 - 9 knots. The wind died about an hour from Bosa, which was OK for us as we then knew we would be able to enter the marina and park without having to deal with a significant crosswind, which makes the manoeuvre much easier. As it was Sunday siesta time when we arrived, it took several calls on the VHF until we had response, by which time we had followed our previous tracks in to make sure we didn’t run aground. There were points where we had just 30 centimetres of clearance, another reason for it being best when there is nice calm water. By the time we reached our pontoon, one of three brothers, who own the boatyard, was there to take our lines.

We have completed a circumnavigation of Sardinia, having left the boat in Bosa in July / August. That feels rather good. We cracked open a bottle of fizz to celebrate.

There is always someone fishing

We now have just over a week to clean up and put Equinox to sleep, before we fly home, but we were happy to relax for the rest of today. Steve wasn’t too sore, but I expect he may feel the results of his exertions tomorrow.

Distance covered today	32	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	549	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1602	nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve)