Safe Arrival to Sardina

After a not so restful night on anchor, courtesy of the anchor chain snagging on a rock most of the night, the sound reverberating through the boat, we got the boat ready to depart for Sardinia at 10.30.

Relying on, I have to say, a spot on MW forecast of a Northerly 5, we reefed our sails from the outset, much I am sure to the amusement of the other yachts, who with their full complement of sails out, raced past us, only to have their smiles wiped off their faces as they rounded the SW point of Mallorca, to be almost flattened by the winds and scramble to their feet to reef their sails, as we sailed safely by!

Not sure why I had bothered washing my hair that morning, as a very frisky sail all in a northerly Force 5 gusting 6 with 2-3 metre swell saw the boat, and us, repeatedly drenched in the spay coming over the boat.

David took the first watch and about 12.30 – 1am he saw a pin prick of red/yellow light, I presumed it to be a boat, but as it grew bigger, and not just over the rapid distance we were covering, not, he became concerned it was boat on fire. Listening intently to the radio for any distress calls, he kept watching as it grew bigger and bigger until it finally started to take the shape of the moon!

As dawn approached and I was on watch, I was convinced I could make out land… perhaps it was a figment of my imagination, as least that is what David thought, (and indeed I know now to be the case!!!), as we were about 150 miles of the coast at that time, and it soon disappeared as the sun came up!!

The winds finally died down that first morning around 8am, turned due west so right up our arse, and so after another not so restful night, we took the easy option and put the engine on for a while, rather than tack miles off course and back again.

A few hours later, a little bored we attempted to gooesewing, but the swell which was still with us, kept knocking us sideways, making it untenable, but at least it killed half an hour or so!.

By 3pm the winds had changed back in our favour to a NW4 up to a NW6, and we set sail again on a broad reach, the only highlight of the day was seeing a turtle. No dolphin’s came out to play, clearly they really don’t like out music!

The rest of the day and night passed uneventfully, dawn brought site of land, and by 10am we were almost in touching distance. However the anchorage we had chosen looked as if it might be uncomfortable with the wind direction so we decided to play safe and head round the corner to a marina. Not so easy, within 40 minutes of passing our original bay we get a radio call from the Sardinia Navy advising they were having a firing exercise and so we have to stay at least 5 miles off the coast, which added about 2 hours onto an already long and exhausting journey!. Then on the homeward stretch, the winds just picked up from a gorgeous force 3 to a 6 gusting 7. Our last of our energy, or so we thought, was sapped turning her into wind and rapidly reefing both sails to bring Seaclusion back under control.

We then flew into the bay at a rate of knots, expecting to then gain some protection from the winds by the island itself. No such luck, we flew into the marina and directed to a space by a helpful Italian… but in a Force 6, it was the 2nd most scariest mooring I have ever done in my life, the engine gunned in reverse as high as it could go to fight against the wind, and seeming to race into the pontoon way too fast, having to trust that she would stop on a sixpence in the face of the wind. She did thankfully, and we moored her up, dingy attached to the stern, all safe and sound, the only knock came from my knees as I sat down and David passed me a beer and said ‘See, I told you, you could do it’!!!

We were here!, in Sardinia, or Sardegna as they say it, shattered, and in need of some downtime!