So far everything has been working like a dream on the boat with only silly things like light bulbs going and guests blocking toilets for me to fix so I was quietly confident about heading out on the boat’s first offshore test with all its new gear.
The trip, about 750nm, from Genoa in the north of Italy to Otranto right on the heal would take us south along the east of Corsica and Sardinia, leaving Stromboli to starboard before heading through the Straits of Messina (the busiest area of shipping in the med after Gibraltar) and then past the toe of Italy to the heel where the only town that the Romans built on the coast is located.
As we were in a hurry, we had an extra crew member in the shape of an opinionated Irishman, Rob. He is a very good sailor though which is probably just as well as the forecast was for NE force 7 for the whole trip. The sailing was fantastic with the wind on the port aft quarter we were making 9-10 knots and a top speed of 12.6 the whole way sailing with headsail and reefed mainsail and some motor sailing.
Everything worked perfectly apart from one point where the auto pilot lost control, just as well Clare was on the ball and rescued the helm. That problem was fixed pretty quickly as it was just a loose connection on the rudder angle sensor and we were on our way again. The Straits of Messina were easier then I expected as it wasn’t too windy and the radar was giving me a great picture making it straightforward to spot all the ships and small fishing boats and with a 3.5knot following tide we blasted through at 13-14knots.
12+ knots under head sail!
All too soon we arrived in the marina just south of Otranto where the boss was there to kindly catch our lines. Rob and I had (in my opinion) a well deserved beer, while poor Clare was shattered and had already passed out in bed.
Gordon