Sunday 6 October 2019

One of our more eventful days.

We had warned Mary and Gerry that we would need to be off as soon as possible in Sunday morning.  This was partially governed by the time that the marinaros were due to be in the marina, for us to return our keys and reclaim the hefty deposit that the marina had charged.  On other occasions we might have done this the previous night, but we needed the keys to open the gates for our guest’s arrival, so we had held on to them.  Anyway, the marinaro arrived at 8:00 as expected and we were on our way by 8:30.

There is a fairly complicated traffic separation scheme on the entry to Cagliari, with effectively 2 entry lanes and 2 parallel exit lanes, arranged as an “in”, an “out” and then another “in” and an “out”. We were going down the “out” between the two “ins”, and as we made our way, a large ferry, the Moby Dada (complete with massive cartoons on the sides of Looney Tunes characters, Sylvester and Tweetie Pie), was on its way in. It was difficult to work out which of the two “in” lanes they were going to use, and as a result whether we had to take avoiding action or not.

Once we had cleared the entrance, we were able to get the sails up and sail in very pleasant conditions.  We were making good speed as we went through the large anchorage area for ships just outside the port, and we had a visit from a dolphin who played in our bow wave for a few moments before disappearing. Later we saw what we thought was a pilot whale a little further away. Its movement through the water was completely different to the dolphins and we watched him going parallel to us for a few minutes.

We had wanted to get to our destination by early afternoon, as the wind was due to build, and we knew that it was forecast to be worse on Monday, so we were headed to a marina at a place called Teulada.  Unfortunately, the wind was up long before we got there, and with a couple of headlands to round, with the resultant wind acceleration, we decided to start reefing down.  First a reef in the main, then a second reef and a reduction in the jib size to about 2/3 of its normal size. We turned the corner at the second headland and the wind increased again and the waves were bigger as well, it was pretty uncomfortable.  We were progressing nicely when there was a big bang and the furling line for the jib broke. The jib completely unfurled itself to its full size, and we had a very unbalanced sail setup.  Without the furling line, the only way to get the sail down is to actually drop in onto the deck, which was not a very pleasant prospect in the conditions.  By this time, we were consistently in about 40 knots of breeze, and we saw gusts recorded on the instruments of up to 78 knots.  The graph of what had happened showed even more wind than this, but we are sceptical about its accuracy.  We did not want to try to take the sail down in these conditions, hoping to leave it until we got further inshore where the waves would be smaller and the wind possibly a bit less as well.

At this stage the sail started to come apart. It was an old sail, and we have in fact already ordered its replacement, knowing that it was on its last legs.  This much wind on a full-size sail was always going to be too much for it.  Probably the holes that started to appear helped us a bit, as they reduced the power of the sail. Eventually we reached a point where the sea was a bit less lumpy, and 2 of us went out on the foredeck to wrestle the sail down, ably supported by those in the cockpit, who were still driving the boat and controlling the lines as the sail came down.  We managed to get it lashed on the foredeck a little more easily than I had feared, although Gerry and I were both soaked by the time it was done.  There is no option but to get wet when you are at the bow, and it goes through a wave rather than over it.  With the jib down the boat was more manageable, and we were rather more under control as we headed towards the port.

I was very glad to be answered straight away when I contacted the marina to confirm that they had space for us.  It is not always so, some marinas are slow to answer at the best of times, and during the siesta period on a Sunday afternoon, they can be worse.  When we were close enough to the marina, the main came down, and we entered the harbour.  The wind was still blowing very strongly and we had been apprehensive about how easy it would be to dock.  In the end it was remarkably straigh-forward, the marina is large and spaciously laid out.  The marinaro allocated us to a space on the down-wind side of a pontoon, and was there to take our lines as we reversed up.  There was a boat on one side for us to lean on if necessary, and a huge space on the other side. A huge sigh of relief was heaved by all of us when we were safely berthed.  We will sort out the remains of the old jib tomorrow,  for now I just need a stiff drink.

Distance covered today	40	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	440	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1493	nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)