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Our First Gale on route to Italy

12th/13th Sat/Sun CYC -> Customs Harbour (fuel) -> Santa Maria De Lueca (Italy) 175m Wind: Yes.

Well where shall I start, an intersting 2 days at sea. This was the plan; To leave for Italy in Southerly winds from Lakka, Paxos. By leaving from the south of the Island in southerly winds we are able to get an "uphill" advantage on the wind to manage sailing with the wind at least on a beam reach for us. I saw the weather thursday at the icafe
and the plan seemed good. The key was the SE winds tonight then ensuring we headed north and east of the Low pressure track to sling shot oursleves with the wind behind us all the way to Crotone. Shoudl be about 150 miles and withe the winds and the low moving the way they where, we should leave Lakka after dusk and hopefully arive Crotone 24 hours later. The winds were 10/15/20 knots all seemed fine. The key was getting to Lakka by dusk, which was a 5 hour journey in itself. we needed to REfuell and provision up as well. Time was of the eccence, We must crack on and no hold ups. RIght, so first issue was to leave CYC and get refueled and provisioned up. Me and Sophie cast the lines and started to motor out. I checked the mooring lines and motored forward. I did check the mooring lines, but port engine stalled, beeeeep. another rope around the prop. All I can say is - Im glad the water is warm and that its relativley clear. This time It was easier. The rope was just twisted around and I just untwisted it with swimming cosey and face mask on. Just what we needed to slow the day down.

Ok so we finanly left and headed around the corner to the old port to the customs quay for fuel. The refuelling man eventually turned up 1 hour after we arrived, in the meantime Helen took advantage of the refuelling delay by going off to a local super market and provisioning us up. We started to Lakka about noon and had lunch on the way. We were cutting it fine. Maybe we'll get an hour or 2 in Lakka. The wind was from the South west (from Lakka) and so we Tacked all the way down the east coast of Corfu. We raced a 41 foot Bavaria....at first he pinched past us as we were heavly reefed, anticpating increasing winds, and then as we tacked early, and managed to head to wind at a better angle than him (Our port tack seems to be better than starboard - dont know why yet....) we met each other and he passed behind us. The winds had picked up to a force 6. He was healed over and smashing through the waves, we were lounging around with our drinks resting easily on the cockpit table. He gave in and headed off to Petriti. we banged on. because we were tacking we wernt going to get to Lakka until 7pm, so we decided to go around the south of Corfu and go straight away to Italy.
The winds were still SW (should be SE soon....) and almost a 7 now. as we turned the corner and bore away from the wind we headed NNW on a nice Beam Reach. The seas started to pick up and there was a half moon out. The sky darkened and the waves now started to pick up and started to hide the horizon. This suggested wave heights of around 10-15 feet. The kids went to bed, Louisa slept in the saloon, and Jack in his pushchair, as we didnt want to risk him waking up in bed and falling over the netting. The waves from the side were rolling us around and we were apprehensive about the handling of the Cat in this weather. The sails were set to within the manufacturers recomendations. We had 25 knots of apparent wind close hauled with 2 reefs in the Main and half the Genoa out. Then the clouds came and obscured the moon and blackened the night. The wvaes picked up a bit more and it was so Dark that we couldnt see anything. The waves picked us up and rocked us around. Then the winds picked up to 30 knots, gusting 33. I should be putting another reef in the main. I furled all but a pocket handkerchief of the Genoa away. There was lightening on the horizon, it seemed to be all around, over Corfu, ahead of us, behind us. Then is started raining, heavy rain, almost flattening the sea, the wind dropped a little, seemed to change direction, I was too busy getting togged up in rain gear that I didnt notice wind shifts or the lightenoing closing in. Then quite suddenly the wind picked up from 25 knots to 40 knots in about 2 seconds (thats a good force 8). there was lightening all around, over us, lighting up the sea, almost blinding me. I defintly needed another reef in. various thoughts going through my head - The waves were on the side of us - that could tip us over ( but the wave height needs to be more than our beam of 6 metres to worry about that - I hope). 40 knots of wind in the Main from the side is not good, we were rocketing along at 10- 12 knots, thats too fast and defintly too much power. DO I go up to the mast and Reef the main, do I turn down wind and get the apparant wind down (but still be over powered), should I let the Main out and let the sail flog. Yes, that was the answer; I let the Main out and came up into the wind and waves and the Main flapped around deafeningly noisy. Maybe the Main would rip itself but at least the boat would be safe. The leeward Genoa sheet (the rope that wasnt being used) was pulled through and in the flogging managed to wrap and twist itslef around the other Sheet, pulling another slack tail of a rope from the mast into its knitting as well. This all seemed to go on for only 5 mins, then it all stopped, well the rain stopped, and the winds dropped back down to 25-27 knots. I then spent 30 mins with the knitting pulled through a front cabin window untangling it. then set the boat up in SE winds now still heaping over the waves in the pitch black. Lightening storms still seemed to be in every horizon. this was around 11pm. we carried on for another 3 hours, Helen catnapping in the doorway wanting to be useful but there really wasnt anything to do other than keep an eye on the horizon for more stroms and another eye on the wind speed to watch for speed more than 30 knots. Hlen then read the Navtex weather forcast, there was a front comming down between midnight and 4am gale foce winds Force 8. Was that what we just had? or did we just go through a squall. should we carry on? we were 4 hours away from the North of Corfu and could probably make it before it came and shelter in one of the Islands. We didnt fancy 40 knot winds for a long period of time so we decided to turn right and head to North Corfu. I dropped the Main sail, put the engine on (only Starboard as the port hand engine cooling impellor belt had loosened.) There were still thunderstorms all around. I then used the radar and could pick up The thunderstorms about 3 miles from us and could see them closing in. This was happening just as we were trying to navigate through the north Island passage. A passage through the small islands and rocks ( about a 2 mile gap). The light house would be my only aid (other than the GPS). and everytime a strom would roll in the visibility would go down to zero and my orientation would become disorientated. It was so dark, so black that once or twice I would get a horrible feeling that the boat was falling forward and that the horizon was over the mast and then my mind would catch a glimpse of something and my mind would slot itself back up-right and my heart would start beating again. The only light was from the lightening storms, it would light the little islands up and the waves. Every time one would come (from our right hand side, I would turn around let it pass and then turn around agian and carry on. this happend for 4-5 hours until day light lit up the sea, the sky and the Front!. What "dawned" on me was that, yes, we had actually already passed through the front and had been spending the past 5 hours slowly keeping up with the backend of the front.

The wind had now come around to the East and we were now head to wind, Corfu was covered with the front, the storms, the squalls. The best safe harbour to go to was on the small Island to the NW of Corfu. It was actually becomming blue sky over the Island. we turned and headed for it. by 9am we were there. but the seas were too big. ALthough it was sheltered from the East winds the Swell was still from the SOuth and the small fishing harbour was untenable. We had 2 options; hang around and wait for the front to clear, and battle on into the wind to Corfu, or head to Italy, 12 hours behind plan. The small port of Santa Maria De Leuca (on the heel of Italy) was only 50 miles away, but with the East winds comming around to the North soon we had a slim chance to make it without being headed by the winds again. The low pressure was soon to be on us which would bring the winds around to North West. We decided to go for it. I put the Main up, but this time 3 reefs. My plan being to have the main undercanvased, and put more or less sail up using the forsail, which was easier and safer to reef from the cockpit. I need to find out if this is a safe enough plan, as I would be worried about to much sail up at the front and with winds behind pitchpollling. A question for Fountaine-Pajot.

(Sunday 13th - North Ionian Sea)

The winds were E about 25 knots but the skys were brightening. The kids were now awake. Jack had been sick in the night, Helen had caught it in a tea towel. We had all had sturgeron, except Jack as he is too young. we watched lots of movies, they have been a godsend in difficult weather. they are good films as well, no rubbish. SO Im happy that they are doing it. It would be very difficult if we had to entertain the kids while manageing the sailing of the boat. Jack is now interested in "Toy Story" or "101 Dalmations" and is happy watching, or eating, or sleeping.

We were able to head North at about 120 degrees apparant wind, which was a comfortable sail, wind behind us doing about 5.5 knots. We then decided that if we carry on all day and all night that we could actually make Crotone by breakfast time. We continued to head north though to keep a windward advantage as the winds may continue around to the west later as the Low pressure system moved south of us. Helen was on Watch, I was catching 30 mins here and 60 mmins there of sleep, she spotted another storm looming. We altered course North West to enure it passed us by, we caught the rain and the lightening (on the radar) was just 1/2 mile from us. It was loud. The lightning "Cracked" not rumbled. The winds abruptly came from the East to the NW. The low pressure system had almost passed right over us. The plan was to pass North of the Low PRessure and we managed it by 1/2 mile. We were now close hauled, well about 50 degrees to the wind. We then decided that as we were 15 miles from Santa Maria De Leuca, that although it was into the wind we could motor there and be tied up by Sunset. I was tired, The winds were beginging to drop to the point that we couldnt sail to Crotone anyway. I pulled in the Genoa, stuck the Starbaord Engine on and headed for Santa Maria. I got my Tool kit out dispeared down the hatch and tightened the belt and got the Port Engine on aswell. We were able to make 6 knots into the Waves, another Movie. Helen (bless her) made a complete sunday Lunch of Raost Chicken including cualiflower and Gravy (well Pasta instead of Pots) and we ate it from a bowel. Although the boat doesnt heel, it does rock and the hob isnt gimbled or caged in. Helen had to hold the suacepans all the time. A modification is needed.....

I polished off 2 bowels of Roast dinner, and finsihed any childs meal that wasnt kept close to there chest and we arrived in Santa Maria at 7pm (6pm local time) as the sun was setting a beautiful array of colors. we came along side (the locals grabbed the ropes and tied us up - badly - I had to redo it all later) A 40 year old Danish Motor Sailer came and greated us - Micheal, Annette with son and duaghter Andy and Nina, 11 and 8. Within 10 minutes all the kids were bouncing on the trampoline and we were on their boat drinking red wine and beer. We didnt evern bother to tidy the boat we just left it and relaxed. The kids later watched Monstors Inc and we drank more Red Wine. They were heading for Corfu in the morning and we swapped the Corfu Chart for a huge bottle of wine. A good nights sleep (although the ropes creaked all night due the lash up from the locals)

Cruising the "spartan" South Coast of Italy

Monday 14th Santa Maria De Leuca.
Helen tidied the table enough to do school, while Dad and Jack re tied the ropes. The Danes headed to Corfu but returned 2 hours later - The seas were still too rough. Helen tidied the boat and did school and we had lunch. the kids came over and all played together nicly. Dad had another sleep with Jack in the afternoon while the kids played hide and seek on the boat. Helen tidied. later Helen and the kids went for a walk with Annette to the beach, Dad and Louisa stayed and did the washing with the washing machine and spin dryer (all mod cons!) It worked perfectly. Hung the washing out and the kids came back. Dad had a sleep and the kids all played hide and seek on the boat again. They turned the locker under Emm and Louisas bed into the "club-house". Books and toys in there and a torch - perfect. Louisa even likes to sleep in there now. When the washing was dry - it took about an hour after the spinning. Washed the boat with fresh water to get rid of all the salt. Cleaned the windows with windowlene. We then went out for pizza with the Danes (well all we could find was a speghetti resturant - Everywhere was closed! - end of season). We got back tired said our goodbyes (discovered all our clocks are an hour out) and went to bed.

Tuesday 15th S.M. de L.
School again; Learnt how to bake bread - rolls today. Dad fixed the step on the step Ladder. Then Jack and Dad went for a walk, A cappacino, and downloaded email from a hotel internet computer. Jack fell asleep, came back and played with the lego with him.took all the children for a walk in the afternoon, while Mum and Sophie cleaned the boat inside from top to bottom. we had some suberb ice cream on the walk. we then came back played and then had tea. Spam and cheese Pasta - Luvely Boat Tea. Dad and Sophie went off in the dingy to the other side of the harbour to the chandlers to buy some screws for the step ladder, a full book of Italian Charts, and a cheap fishing rod for Mum as a present. Mum and the rest went to the supermarket in the search of Milk and Meat. Got Milk, no meat. Helen made Carrot soup today and bought a hand powered puree'er and puree'ed the soup. More bread tomorow and Carrot soup for lunch. mMMmmMMmmm. Dad went to bed early to get up at 5:30 to get an early start down the coast. The weather is great, High pressure around, light winds and plenty of sun. Girls went to Bed. Helen was left wirling the puree'er as Dad drifted off to sleep.

Weds 16th S.M. -> Crotone 73 miles Wind Var-> S.4
Dad woke at 5:30 for a 6am setoff. cast off all ropes and motored gently out of the harbour, everyone else fast asleep. Saw the sun rise and the sea was a dead flat calm with a mirror like finish to it. Wind: zero. I tidied the fenders and ropes and started to hoist the Main. The 3rd reef was still in and discovered that the outhaul (which I had to attach during the storm) was not long enough to be slack with the main fully up. I swapped over all the reefing lines thinking that it was set up wrong and that the 1st reef outhaul should be the 3rd, lots of main up, main down, and I had a good 2 hour work out on the bisceps. 3rd reefing line was too short, I should get a longer one so that the 3rd Reef can be left ready to use. During this time everyone awoke and school this morning was baking loaves of bread and Soda bread (bread without YEast). I cast out a trawling spinner and wrapped the line and the polystyrene "bobbin" around the guardrail. Me and Jack then walked around the boat. I have discovered that I could tie Jack's Lifejacket onto a "leash" and the Jack stay, which runs all the way around the boat. He is able to walk from the cockpit all the way around the mast and to the other side of the boat with no danger. This meant I could get on with odd jobs around the boat without having to hold him, just keeping a beadey eye on him.

Sophie shouted "we've" lost the fishing line. The bobbin had come untwisted from the rail. I turned the boat around, Sophie reckoned she could see it in the water. We back tracked for a few minutes - nothing. There it was again. No, it had sunk. It had finnaly sunk. Then it bobbed up again. Wow, there must be a fish on it. Sophie kept pointing to it in tru Man overboard fashion, and we broght the boat close to it. we didnt manage to get close enough, so seeing as though Helen was still in her "ready for a shower" attire, she leapt into the water and swam after it. She immediatly knew there was a fsih on the end, and we started to reel it in. I relled in and let it run, there was no way I could hold the line. We were all getting excited, maybe we will have meat for dinner after all. I was able to reel it in. Then we saw the fish, about 2 feet in length, electric blue fins, it was swimming on the surface now and I got the net closer. It then darted down and the weights caught on the swimming ladder. Snap, the line broke. We all sighed and booed. Itwas a monstor of a fish and a shame we lost it. I will get some thicker line.

WE carried on, Helen with School , and me with Jack on the fordeck reading stories and playing with toys. then the wind slowly started to blow, and I reeled out the foresail and we motor sailed untill lunch time. I was then able to turn the eninge off and we sailed at 40 degrees to the wind, now 6 knots ( 9 - apparant). Through out the afternoon the wind picked up to the forcast South FOrce 4 and we were able to sail with all sail out at between 6 and 7 knots in 18-20 Apparant wind at 40 degrees to the wind. This was enough to point us straight to Crotone. We passed the Gas Rigs of Crotone at 6pm in the sunset and arrived in the dark at 7pm. We went into the southern (Smaller) harbour, with SOphie and Emma helping me find the pattern of lights and find the leading way in. Moored up stern to the "club" Quay. Negotiotiated with the harbour master that wanted to charge us 30 Euros down to 20 plus 2 cans of beer. tied up the boat and we all went to bed about 8:30 9pm.

Thurs 17th Crotone HOT SW zero (sheltered) forcast SW 4/5 - outlook NW.

The day was spent in Crotone, Dad did school and Mum and Jack explored in the morning. we relaxed around in the afternoon sun, making freindship bracelets, snoozing, playing on the kids skooters. Then at 5pm after a Superb home made Musaka Tea (Spam instead of Mince meat) We walked into Crotone looking around and buying some fruit and Veg from the (fruit and Veg) shop. Paid 20 euros agian for mooring. The boat nextdoor haggled down to 10 - but Mr "no nose" the Harbour master wouldnt budge. Another 2 boats arrived next to us today. An Italian Boat and a NZ boat. ALl three were leaving for siccily early next morning. The wether was forcast to come around to NW laster in the day. We decided to wait until 2pm to leave so that we would arrive at Castella (25 miles away) at sunset. Helen's finger is bad with an infection from a splinter or something from the night of the storm. Hurting - getting worse.

Friday 18th 25m Crotone -> La Castella FOrcast 1000 SW 4/5 - NW later.

DId school in the morning and Dad and Jack headed into Crotone Towncentre (1km walk North) looking for Kitchen Roll, Antibotic cream and an Italian pay-as-you-go Sim Card for the Mobile. acheived everying, and considering their 2nd language is German and most people speak zero english, shopping was a difficult task. Lunch was left over Musaka, Italian Suasage, Greek Feta cheese, and end of the home made loafs of bread. We readyed the baot and cast off at 2pm and set off from Crotone in zero wind under engine.

We headed for the first point Due South and met the three boats returning back to Crotone. Curious. They must be comming back for a reason. We were later to experince why. We communciated via Radio to the NZ boat and the y told us that there were 30 knots of wind from the SW after Cape Rizzuto (20 miles into our Journey - 5 miles from La Castella) and that they turned around and were heading fo the shelter of Crotone again. I thought they had left too early and planned for the winds to come around to the NW later in the day and thus be sheltered in the Lee of the Land. I told that I would push on and see what they wether was like and return to Crotone if too bad. As we rounded Cape Collone ( 20 miles from La Castella) we started to feel the SW winds. They were 20 knots but we were able to steer 35 degrees to the wind and the waves and under 2 engines and the foresail unfurled we mad good headway. (I left the Main away as I did not know what to expect). As we continued on the winds rose and we finnaly experinced 33 knot winds from around 240 degrees. I was able to steer due south and put a couple of tacks in to keep us close into the land to keep the waves to a minimum. Everyone below was taking it well. We were bashing through 2 metre waves 33 knot winds and weveyone was fine. A few grumbbles of feeling sick. Mum even managed to make choclate chip cookies during it. (Im still amazed how she managed it). The kids munched through the cookies throughout the journey and they seemed to keep the sickeness at bay. APart from Jack who threw up.

Yet again I dicovered that the Port Tack was the fastest and more comfortable tack. were we were maiking 5.5 knots at 40 degrees on Starboard, we were making 7 knots at 40 degrees on Port. Maybe the is the way the Jib is furled clockwise and that it makes a sharper edge at the front of the sail..... (hmmmmmm still thinking). SO do we go back and join the other boats who turned back - I can uderstand why the monohulls tuned back. But thanks to the Cat, it was relatively comfortable and being under canvased, 2 engines chugging away and able to make 5.5-7 knots, I decided to beat on to La Castella. In fact as long as the SW winds stayed put and didnt turn into NW winds then I would be able to make the last hour leg around the Cape straight to La Castella on Port Tack. Which is exactly what we did. everything went to plan and we arrived in the lee of La Castella (200 yards from the Entrance) at 6pm as the sun was setting (Still in 30 Knot winds) and Lady and The Tramp now on the DVD-TV.

We entered the Harbour and the newly completed marina was pointed out to us by the fishing men, as we approached the fishing harbour. in the Marina it was empty but very sheltered. we Moored alongside a Quay and I strapped us up with SPrings and outer bow and Stern lines. NB. To stop the Squeaking and creaking of the mooring lines I have discovered 2 things. 1. Have all the ropes as long as possible to utilise the natural stretch in the rope to dampen any forces. 2. ensure that that the ropes around the cleats are turned at least one full turn or even 2 circling around the cleat and not "figure of eighting" until once or twice around. The noise of Creaking ropes during the night when there is any sort of wind or swell can be infuriating.

We had a luvly Tea of Spag Boll'. We all told tales of dreams we remember, B'grilla's, Monstors in cupboards etc. Emma told us of the time during Hide and seek a few days ago that while she was hiding in one of the lockers and everybody was taking a long time to find her she kept thinking that were monstors in the cupboard, but she kept telling her self that there was no such thing as monsters and even of there were that they would probably be afraid of her instead. (I suspect Monters Inc. the DVD helped her there). Discovered that one of the ropes holding the dingy up to the Hoist next to the outboard was sliced through due to the rocking of the boat. I guess it had rubbed on the outboard. A simple replacement and rethink is needed.

Dad and Jack had a Bath (If you can call 3 inches of Hot water in the bottom of the shower, a bath. Dad was covered with Salt water from the spray from this afternoon's "Sail". Jack with Sick.

A great Day today, we are now in the position of being able to actually "see" the weather for the next leg to Siccily. Any wind North of 330 degrees for our next heading of 220 would be great. I am pleased that we managed it where the 3 other monohulls didnt. Does that say something for the Cat, or our perciverince. I dont know, but its nice being in La Castella, a little closer to our destination.

Castles in La Castella

Sat 19th October La Castella Wind SW 25 knots.

A lazy Saturday morning. Sophie is into fishing and sat on the quay with the rod and gazing into the depths of the water. She caught nothing. Replaced the Dinghy hoist rope with another and this time fed the rope through a piece of hose pipe to stop any chaffing. We all wandered into town at 11am to find some shops, Sophie on her scooter, but soon Dad on her scooter. We bought some bread, cured ham, crisps and toffees and made our way to the old castle for a picnic. Originally built to fend of the Turkish invasions it went through a series of neglect and rebuild. It is positioned at the "strategic" narrowest part of Italy. The kids loved running around exploring the Castle, and Jack loved running around trying to keep up. Jack continues to laugh at anything. In-fact he seems to laugh at things that have no obvious humour in them at all. He picks up a stone looks at it and laughs. One day when he gets around to talking he can tell us what’s so funny.

We came back to the boat in the afternoon. Sophie fished, the others played on the deck, Jack Slept. We got nabbed by the Harbour man. 25 Euros. I tried to negotiate but he wouldn’t have it. He did agree that if we stayed 2 nights that we could have the 2nd night for 20E. Seeing as though we arrived Friday night and we were only paying for sat night this didn’t seem to bad.

Helen started to make Pizza on "Dad-bread". 10 minutes into it and the gas ran out. Dad changed the bottle - Empty. OOps. I guess I forgot to find a replacement when the last one ran out. I put them both in the dinghy and was about to set off across the harbour in search of Gas replacements, when a local Italian started chatting and offered to take me in his Jeep. I jumped at the opportunity with both bottles in hand. He took me to a Petrol station about 5 km out of town where there was a "gas" pump to refuel Gas cars. We then discovered that an adapter was needed. So he then whisked me off to town to look for an adapter. IT was Saturday early evening and all the shops were shut. After much driving around, asking locals he eventually got the phone number of the lady who owned the local camping shop. She came and opened up the shop and the 2 Italians stood in the shop gesticulating over the sort of adapter that was needed. I pointed to the gas tanks on the shop floor were supposed to be empty but one was full. I tried to explain that one was full, they said "no - empty" and got back to their animated discussions over what looked like thread sizes and the like. I eventually convinced them that one was full and so swapped it with one of mine. She didn’t have an adapter and then she turned to me and said that the Gas was "Gratis" or free. I think she took pity on the thought of my children sitting with no pizza for Tea tonight. The man dropped me back off to the boat. Helen was adamant that I had been kidnapped and she would never see me again. I tried to explain that the odds were very unlikely, and generally people are there to help, she still had visions of me in a ditch with my head cut off.

We had Pizza for "Supper" (The kids had cold baked beans for Tea). Then we all went to bed.

Sun 20th La Castella -> La Saline Joniche Wind E 3 knots.

Headed into town to hunt down Internet. I have discovered that the kids scooters are pretty good to get around on. Very light weight, can walk up hills carrying it, and scoot down hills. I eventually found a hotel and managed to borrow the reception PC for 5 mins. Checked the weather, but didn’t manage emails.

The weather forecast suggested High pressure, Easterly winds today, and turning to nothing overnight and Monday. Increased NW winds on Tuesday. The time to leave was: today as soon as possible.

I zipped back to the boat and found the Man had come back. He was proudly holding and adapter and said he would take me to fill the other bottle. I felt obliged to go and so we went to the petrol station - closed. He eventually drove around and found another. We filled up the gas bottle and then back to the boat. All through the journey I gave him my mobile and tried to get him to make the Internet work by calling the support line. He was unable to make them help. WE said our goodbye's.

Helen had made lunch, left over spaghetti boll’, salami and bread. Sophie took all the springs and outer ropes off by herself while Dad prepared the boat, stowing dingy, tying down prams etc etc. we cast off in zero winds and gently motored out of the harbour at 1pm. heading off on a course of 210 degrees in easterly winds around 4 knots, we had wind over the deck of virtually zero. We trawled, and caught nothing. We played on the fore-deck. The girls acted out the frog prince, while Dad narrated the story. Then we saw Dolphins !!. They were heading across our bow right to left. The first school was distant, only seen fleetingly by Dad and Sophie. Then the next lot were closer, and we all saw them. lots of excitement. Emma almost fainted out of sheer delight. Then the next wave of dolphins were close by us, one or 2 surfaced under the trampoline, but were gone. As they disappeared off the left they would leap out of the water and twirling and landing back flopping in the water. The girls were mesmerized. Jack couldn’t stop shouting "Ello, Ello Ello".

We had Sunday Roast again. Helen is becoming good at keeping the tradition of Sunday Roast. Unfortunately all we had was tinned Spam for meat. So we had Roast Spam, mashed potatoes, beans, Carrots and onion Gravy. It was delicious.

We had decided to go on all night to Saline Joniche and so we watched the sunset over the rocky barren coast and the Full moon rise over the glassy sea. The course was still 210 degrees and would be until 0100 at 5.5 knots. (only one engine needed). Helen would take the first watch and Dad got his head down at 8pm. Helen woke him at 11:30pm. An uneventful night, flat calm, all the kids asleep in the saloon trying to stay awake all night - managing 10:15. The full moon bright, and the coastline of street lamps about 5 miles away the only things to see.

Sicily - the place of Volcanoes - fire and Brimstone

Mon 21st -> Acitezza

During Rob's watch from 11:30 - 6:30 There was one hour of wind at 8 knots (wow), all the sails went up, then down. After making good headway Decided to go all the way to Sicily to the Base of Mt Etna an extra 40 miles. Should be there by 10am. We aimed for Rostella. When we got there it was grimy, dirty, industrial work everywhere, no electricity, no water, and they wanted 30 Euros a night. We filled up with Petrol and drinking water at the fuelling station and then moved on another 2 hours to Acitezza. It was a small fishing harbour with space on the quay next to the car park for free. We went for a walk and struggled to find a restaurant that was open and eventually found a (sandwich?) shop and tried to order things with our non-existent Italian. Badly guessing our order and getting strange looks from the waiter we eventually ate inside-out pizza things, a Tuna Salad and a Nutello Crepe between us. Very tired - went back to the boat and got ready for bed.

Tues 22nd Acitezza.

School this morning. Dad and Jack went to the town. No super markets just doors with small shops behind. It was all very olden-days really. You buy meat from the butchers, bread from the bakers, fruit and veg from the “fruit'n'veg-ers”. I couldn’t really get to grips with the concept as I couldn’t find a shop that sold spam so I went to the chandlers instead and we bought a shackle and a dual pulley end to make the pulley at the outboard end of the dingy pulley a little easier to pull by adding more mechanical advantage (if you get my meaning). I went in search of internet access and a Mount Etna Tour guide and found a man that is a computer consultant. We talked and he agreed to meet me at his home at 3pm. Helen made lunch of Pesto Pasta while Dad and Jack cleaned and polished the starboard hull. I then met up with the Man at 3pm and after 2 hours he managed to fix my Internet access (wrong dial up number - drat the Italian technical support that gave me the number). He also introduced me to a friend who was a tour guide. He said that the tour is 8 hours and requires 14 km walk at high altitude. The Volcano is not active and there isn’t much to see other than a few sulphur springs. We need to think this over with the kids, I don’t think it would be worth it for them.

Emma was frightened of the Volcano erupting. I told her that it hasn’t erupted in 10 years and the chance of it erupting any day now is very unlikely, It is more likely to erupt sometime in the next few years but not today.

We ran out of food and so Helen made tomato and Onion sauce over pasta for Tea, with Bananas for pudding. Dad promised to try harder with the shops and by some food in the morning.

WE walked the town in the evening and had ice-cream (dad - vodka). Came back, Dad mended the Dingy pulley, did email with the laptop and the mobile (spent 15 Euros for 1.5 hours access!) Then bed.

Weather forecasts used on Dolphins: South-Mediterranean/Ionion Sea

Weds 23rd

More school. More town, Big shop and only spent 100 Euros. I can see why the Italians eat well: The shops only have fresh meat and vegetables - lots of pasta. There are no shops selling chicken nuggets and things like that. Vodka is only 8 Euros a bottle - that’s 5 pounds - Brilliant. In the afternoon Dad took the netting used to make Jacks Cot and made a Hammock between the Gantry on the Stern. It had to be pulled very tight and a lot of fine tuning. But finally a good Hammock was made. It was a bit snug as there were no struts to keep it out flat.

Sophie did some more fishing at the end of the Quay and caught a fish - about 3 inches long. Emma de-scaled it and cut it up and gutted it. WE cooked it and Sophie ate it. In the Evening we had Dinner and then were visited by a man and his children from Catania. He was in the Italian Navy, a Helicopter Engineer - A Petty Officer. WE talked and the kids played.

THurs 24th

More school, Dad got a few bits and bobs for the boat had a coffee and then had "play school" in the cabin; Jack played, Dad read books, Jack fell asleep.

More fishing, Louisa calls the maggots “maddocs”. In the afternoon Dad slapped on the Gel Coat to finally repair the scratches on the hull. Dad put a strut on the shoulder end of the Hammock; which then made it incredibly comfortable. Dad had a sleep in the Hammock, everyone did more fishing.

The Man and the kids came back and gave us 3 bottles of wine (??) and gave us his number and said if we come back to Sicily we should call him.

Fri 25th OCt Acitrezza -> Brucoli anchorage. 18 miles. WInd 3 knots East.

A superb High Pressure has been on us for the past few days and will be for the next few. School in the morning, Dad and Jack posted some letters and then rubbed down the Gel coat - A perfect finish !. Louisa was feeling (under the weather) so spent the morning in her room resting. WE had lunch and then moved the boat to the quay by the Water Tap and cleaned the boat. It had been covered in Red sand from the south winds from Africa. All in all the boat was a complete mess. WE all scrubbed and cleaned and then left in 2 knots of wind in brilliant sunshine in typical temperatures of 28 degrees.

A gentle motor trawling 3 fishing lines then we arrived at the anchorage at Brucoli. Wow what have we been missing staying in Acitrezza. The view down the anchorage was of Mount Etna, majestically oozing little puffs of smoke. We hadn’t noticed that before, and I thought the tour guide said that it wasn’t Active. We watched the sun set and arrived at the anchorage at 6.30pm. We laid on the foredeck and watched the stars come out then lit the candles and had a game of old maid and went to bed.

Sat 26th Oct. Brucoli - Capo Passero anchorage 45 miles. Wind 3 knots NE.

Awoke early for a 7am start to the SW point of Sicily. The sun rose and lit up Mount Etna. Smoke was erupting from the Volcano, definite billows of smoke. IT was a magical sight and something you don’t see every day. We learnt from Dad the following day that this was the start of the Etna eruptions. We motor sailed leaving Etna behind us, visible for about 50 - 60 miles. we fished - nothing! We sat in the new hammock and did some singing of songs from the sound of music. We arrived before sunset, negotiated around a massive fish farm into the anchorage. It was very sheltered, but the wind was minimal and wasn’t going to get up. I anchored in 4 metres with 25 of chain out. we played cards had tea and went to bed as the boat swung on its anchor and we settled in 3 m.

Sun 27th Oct Cap Passero - > Velleta Malta 75 miles wind 4-7 knots NE.

Worrying all night about the depth and the wind swinging us as there were rocks around. awoke every 2 hours! Alarm went off at 5:30 and I weighed anchor and we set off for Malta in the Dark with sun rising at 7am. Set the sails in 6 knots from the north and with engines on and running South at 6 knots this didn’t really do much to fill the sails. This was the story for the next 10 hours, past a few s hips running West but other than that a very very uneventful trip. We played Guitar, sang (Louisa made up her own song and sung it beautifully) and played on 3 blown up dolphins on the trampoline. Dad mended the Gel coat on the Table which had peeled away due to a manufacturing defect. Had lunch, lounged in the sun. Generally relaxed. Mum tidied the whole boat. We eventually resorted to a movie of Willie Wonker and the chocolate factory. Had Tea and then arrived at Valletta at 5pm (4pm local time). Actually it was probably 4pm in Italy as well as we should have put our clocks back in Italy as well. It worked out well as Customs closed at 4pm and so we cleared very quickly. Moored up next to Ocean Breezes the Prout catamaran. Emma saw them and shouted "Well, what a coincidence". We went ashore and went to a cafe right outside the marina and had chicken nuggets and chips for the kids, peppered steak for Helen and Beef Curry for Dad. Good old English food - bliss. A few vodka and cokes and then we went back and put the kids to bed. Went next door on ocean breezes for a few beers, with Sophie in charge in bed with the walkie-talkie. (we were only 6 feet from their boat). Home to bed very tired.

Malta - with the fall out from the Volcano

Monday 28th

Awoke to a very black boat. Fallout from Etna had covered the boat with a thin layer of black dust over night. we all washed it down in the dewy morning with the hose then dad filled the boat with water, wound the mooring anchor line up tight to keep us away from the pontoon and attached springs. Connected the shore power and then checked us into the marina. Even with a 50% surcharge for catamarans the nightly fees here are only 10 UK pounds a night. Brilliant. Monthly in the winter is 300 pounds and for 6 months 1000 pounds. Very comparable with Tunisia. We'll have to see. Maybe we'll split Malta and Tunisia winter.... Helen did school and Jack was in bed in the morning.

The first week in Malta:

The Malta Sailing club International Mediterranean Race was in full swing when we arrived this week. The boats had started and were out there. (The race is equivalent to the UK's Fastnet.) We were told we could moor up on the Race pontoon only until they started to return back after the finish. As it turned out we managed to stay all the time by suggesting our engine was out and put off and put off the move off the pontoon. We later became engulfed in the racing types. Lots of beers and champagne on the pontoons at 7am in the morning for the boats that arrived on Weds morning. Pity we didn’t get invited! The next couple of days they trickled back one by one, even one called "Dolphijn" from Cowes. The pontoon was filled with all the crew, their shore dolly birds (why do they wear high heels?) and local camera crews. they then offloaded all their gear, stripped down the boats and took off their racing sails. About 73 boats returned.

We spent every day cleaning the boat this week. The coating of Black dust from Etna got everywhere. I bought a new Hose! More news of Etna fall out and Earth Quakes in Central Italy. On Thursday there was even a reported tremor in Malta, although we didn’t feel a thing. If we had stayed in Acetrezza for one more day and waited for the wind we would have been right underneath the fallout. The papers had reported that people their were having to walk around with umbrellas to protect them from burning embers. These were actually starting fires in forests as far down as Catania. I would not have liked to have been in Acetrezza then. The thought of what the embers would have done to the boat let alone the sails I dread to think.

An American boat "Linnea" (53 foot with all the trimmings) arrived on Tuesday. They have three kids in the same classes in Calvert as Sophie, Emma and Louisa. An English boat sailing back from the middle East with to elderly brothers on board arrived on Weds. The one brother (who’s boat it was) was an old sea dog and well experienced, the other brother, who was ex army, was new to the sailing and was there to act as crew. We invited Ocean breezes and their kids over on Weds night as well as the Americans. Helen made chicken wings and we polished off 8 bottles of wine and half a bottle of Vodka between us. Then 2 guys from the boat arrived back from a night out and joined us around 10:30. The stories from the 2 guys of their trip up the red sea in rough weather and troubles with navigating through fishing nets with steel wire cough around rudders was hilarious. They were chalk and cheese and a great comedy duo. The kids stayed up quite late playing on the trampoline, in the club house and eventually falling asleep in front of a DVD. Sophie was keen to sit in the cockpit with the adults and we allowed her half a glass of Cider (watered down). Emma spent the evening making an amazing witch mask and hat and gloves out of black and Green coloured paper.

Ocean Breezes were forced to move their boat off the pontoon on Halloween. (They did have engine problems!) They moved down about 7 pontoons. Dad found a shop that sold face paints and we spent the afternoon making costumes and painting faces. Sophie was a cute cat, Emma a Witch, Louisa a Ghost, and Jack a Scary thing with black eyes and a few drips of red blood. Dad was the same as Jack and Mum a Witch. We stocked up on sweets to hand out and then set off down the pontoon. We had to excuse ourselves through the hordes of racing types drinking and chatting and we received lots of strange looks from the foreigners. Louisa was making slow headway as her ghost costume was a bit restricting, and she could only see through 2 small eye holes. She was persistent in her efforts. She never ceased in waving her arms around and making "woooooo wooooo" noises all the way. We passed an American boat with a live-aboard that we new had a boy on. He was dressed as a king. It was a 25 year old prout 37. We went aboard and had some orange Juice. we all then moved onto Ocean Breezes on "H" Pontoon. All the children played inside and outside. we all had more wine and cider. Helen took Jack (who was tired) and Louisa (who was crying with a bad anckle)back to the boat. Dad took Sophie and Emma back later after a few more Whiskey (!) and cokes.

The shops and supermarkets are cheap. Vodka for 8 pounds a bottle, beer for 45p. Macdonalds for the whole family for under 15 pounds. There is Marks and Spencer’s, British home stores, real bread (the square ready cut plastic type) and Strongbow Cider. There are chandlers galore, there is everything you ever need for a boat, its cheap and even engine work labour is only 10 pounds an hour. BHS even sells Duvets. We might treat the kids t o some for the winter. Sophie and Emma are constantly reading books and its been a treat to go to the English book shops and buy them more books.

WE had a day off school and went on a school trip; We had a great Maltese bus ride (anywhere on the island for 15p) over to the Marine park to watch the Sea lions and Dolphins. The bus ride was in 1950's style busses, and at the back of the bus the kids enjoyed bouncing around on the chairs. Mum didn’t exactly enjoy it as she spent the whole journey clutching her chest. The dolphins were great and it was a tremendous show, very powerful beasts. The girls had their photograph stroking them. The gift shop was filled with Dolphin paraphernalia, we

couldn’t resist. We ended up with 2 watches with "Dolphins" on them for Sophie and Emma. A wall clock with some floating dolphins on it. (Its a clock with the hands inside the clock. It will replace the boat clock with exposed hands that Jack constantly bends, moves and pulls off.) Dolphin postcards, small blow up dolphins, Toy dolphins for Louisa and a Dolphins cello tape dispenser!

Friday afternoon after school we decided to go to Valetta. We didn’t fancy the walk to the bus stop and the bus ride all the way around the harbour to get to the town so we all jumped into the dingy (Lifejackets on, torch in pocket) and motored across the harbour to the base o f the fort were the tour boat moor up. About 500 yards walk and we were right in the centre of town. Jack loves the dingy and knows how to hold own, sit down and when to get in and out. The girls had their hair cut (Emma and Louisa fell asleep in the chair) and we treated ourselves to MacDonald’s Tea. We bought some stronger fishing line (100 lb breaking strength), some feather spinners and some more weights. Bought some more books and a Duplo lego fire-engine for Jack.

All in all a lovely week in Malta. Blue skies, 26 degrees, light winds, English speaking, English food and English people. It has been very relaxing. It is looking like we will stay in Malta until Christmas before we move to Tunisia.

"Ocean Child" by Sophie Hygate

I live on a boat. It is on the Ocean. It's a catamaran which means it has two hulls. The boat has a mainsail, a foresail and two motors. Inside there are four rooms and two toilets. We named the boat dolphins because we saw dolphins the day we bought it. I love to live on the boat.

“The Club House” by Emma Hygate

I have a clubhouse. And Sophie and Emma and Lulu are the club members. It was very fun in the clubhouse. We get to sleep in it. First Lulu then Emma last Sophie. We had the best time ever in the clubhouse.

Malta- An overview of Wintering in the Cold and Wet

We have vowed never to winter again....

Watching the bottom of the boat grow barnacle encrusted green stringy weed is not inspiring. January and February was cold, wet and windy, not freezing, but cold enough. 4 children and 2 adults in a confined space (albeit in a spacious confined space) with the rain and wind belting on the coach roof, and the nights of a clammy cold bed with condensation dripping from the windows certainly puts a strain on the family. Relationships between all become fragile. But yet being in close proximity to the family enables the fragile ness to be attended to, and issues to be resolved in a close way. I will attempt to summarise the 5 or 6 months spent in Malta; the highs and the lows, the way of life on board, our friends - the other live a boards, in general: the life of “Dolphins” in Malta.

We arrived at the end of October and the last logbook suggested that we might stay in Malta and move on to Tunisia after Christmas. We decided to stay in Malta for the whole time. It worked out cheaper to pay for a full 7 months in Malta rather than to pay for 2 months in Malta then 4 months in Tunisia. We also heard too many stories about the need for bribing and back-handing in Tunisia. We also had our good friends Ocean Breezes in Malta. The weather seemed pretty good.

Most days are the same in general; School in the morning, a walk in the afternoon, Dinner followed by Games and then bed. I sometimes wonder why we have stopped though. The weather is November and December was warm and the winds are variable and moderate. Sometimes it blows from the NW and the next few days it could be from the SE. This in my mind makes for great sailing and passage making. There have been a few “blowey” days when the wind has been over 30 knots. But nothing that hasn’t been forecasted at least 24 hours before hand.

First some bits and pieces on wintering;

Condensation
When it rains it becomes damp below due to the condensation build up. We have found that the storage lockers under the berths become slightly mouldy. (Nothing bad that a tidy out and clean wont solve). Using Gas to cook when it is cold and wet causes the condensation inside, not to mention the breathing and sweaty bodies. Various solutions have been discussed over dinner and on the pontoon with Ocean Breezes and other boats. The usual approach is to sleep with doors and windows open, which is fine for weekend or weeks sailing with a hardy crew prepared to sleep in their clothes in there sleeping bags. When living aboard it needs a few more “home” comforts like being able to sleep with the door closed (and even locked sometimes).

So the remedy hot on my mind during the winter was to line the hulls where the lockers are with carpet or polystyrene sheets (maybe even with those mats that you sleep on when camping). By all accounts this will insulate the hull (where it is most cold) and will stop the condensation forming in the lockers. This will also stop moisture from collecting under the bunks, which, although are slatted to provide ventalation, will reduce the mattresses from becoming damp. The next thought is to get solar powered extractor fans for the hatches. This should constantly extract the damp air from the boat. They are about 50 pounds each and one in each cabin would suffice. Unfortunately the hatches in the aft cabins are too small to accommodate the vents, so maybe just the forward cabins……? I have bought stainless steel vent covers for all the cupboards and storage lockers. These are 6 inch diameter stainless steel vents that screw over a 6 inch diameter hole to be cut in the top and bottom of each locker. A job to be done…. Another thought is to ventilate the whole boat with cowl vents from the front of the boat out through the aft. The preferred method is to vent the boat through the Anchor locker so that in the event of so called “Solid water” coming on the boat that this water will flood the anchor locker rather than the cabin. (Water becomes solid when it travels more than x miles an hour, usually found in crashing breaking waves in severe storms. – I don’t recall what x is, and don’t intend experiencing it.) By having the Cowl vent in the anchor locker and then the boat vent high up inside the locker, this should prevent water from draining into the boat. This would allow good airflow through the boat extracting the damp air from inside to the out. After experiencing the Caribbean Im not sure how this would work in high 90’s humidity, air conditioning would solve it, or maybe lots of ventilation.

I have installed 2 electric fan heaters (that run off shore power as they are 2000watts a piece), one in each hull. They are actually too beefy for the 20 amp circuit breaker so I run them at half power each. They have built in timer switches so they can come on at 6am and warm the boat for when we wake. The heaters tend to keep the humidity down, and the goal is to keep the humidity around 70% and the temperature in the boat at around 20’c.

Space aboard
There seems to be a phenomenon that the boat shrinks when you are moored up. Even though there is the pontoon for the kids to run up and down, wash dollies in the pontoon taps and buckets, make potions in plastic bottles from water, Weetabix, fairy liquid, pepper corns and god knows what else, the boat itself seems to get claustrophobic. Maybe we tend to mess it up more with day to day living, and have to do more tidying. Or maybe we just aren’t going places. As the winter draws near we are not able to sit out in the cockpit (apart from some lunchtimes when it is still hot in the sun. –except January and February) This means the evenings are spent with one less “room” and we are all around the table until the kids bedtime (7:30 – 8:00pm). It has to be said that we are looking forward to long warm evenings and going places. Rainy days obviously make it worse. Plenty of games and no English TV make it fun however. I have revived “The Sailing game” and have made the board from Lego. The islands can be created from Lego pieces and the buoys from red, green and yellow Lego. Another favourite is “Go Fish”. Harry Potter books and tapes are always being read and Im trying to introduce Arthur Ransom books at the moment but feel that I am going to have to hide all the Harry Potter books so they read something else. Sophie and Emma are bookworms.

Projects
We are having book shelves made for Sophie and Emma/Louisa’s Rooms. Also a chart table book shelf to keep Nav books in. All the kids clothes cupboards are going to have shelves going all the way across. They don’t need hanging space but more storage space for folded clothes and easily accessible toy boxes. I have found a local carpenter that will do all the work for not much more than the cost of the materials. Labour in the winter is cheap as people don’t have much work on, so as long as you haggle the price down, you can get a very reasonable deal. A reasonable labour rate is around 100 pounds a week for engineering work or carpentry. So for 6 book shelves cut to fit awkward angles and curved shapes against the hull, in Marine ply (stained) with Mahogany fiddles and coamings, will cost 120 pounds labour and 120 pounds materials. This is Maltese pounds so this would be 180 UK pounds and 180 UK pounds respectively.

I am also getting quotes for awnings for the boat. First the Bimini in Nylon Canvas, webbed so it can be pulled taught. The other awning is to go across the boom and pulled right out to the guardrails and all the way back to the Davit Frame on the stern. This will have fold down flaps to cover the guard rails too. The idea for this awning is to give the cockpit full rain protection for the winter, and in the summer to give sun protection.

Connors Birthday.
Three weeks ago we went to a birthday on Ocean Breezes. Connor was 5 years old, we played pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and had home made chocolate cake, which was so rich it was like eating raw chocolate. It was covered in a rich chocolate icing. 5 candles and lots of sweets. Everybody enjoyed it – it was sickeningly lovely. I made a Video of the day and gave it to them as a present. This including taking the dinghy (with Jack) out to the entrance of Valetta to take some “Malta” background shots. The girls gave him some chalk, a chalkboard and some “monstors inc” squirty toys.

Transport around Malta.
We have had plenty of trips out either in the dinghy or on the bus. Seeing as though you can go anywhere for about 15p the bus is very worthwhile. We take the dinghy to Valetta to save time (and its fun) and it only takes 5 minutes to get there as apposed to 20 minutes by the bus (and a walk to the bus stop first.) The dinghy with its 9.9 hp 4 stroke engine gets up onto a plane easily with just me and Jack. But when the whole family in, it takes us all to move as far forward as possible to keep the bow down, and after about 3 or 4 minutes we just about get it up onto the plane. Planning makes the boat go faster as it is not pushing the water out of the way of the boat, it is skimming along the surface. Almost going twice as fast. We also discovered that we could take the dinghy to Selima (the closet town to us). What was a 20 minute walk and a 5 minute bus journey can now be done right from the boat in 5 minutes. The place to tie the dinghy up just so happens to be outside Selima Burger King, so I can imagine a weekly blast to burger king being a regular occurrence.

The Film Studios
We hired a car for the day along with Ocean Breezes and we went to the open day of the “Internationally acclaimed” filming studios. They filmed “Gladiator” “Cleopatra” as well as hundreds of other top films. It is renowned for its great weather, surroundings, abundance of sandstone rock and plenty of people for extras. It was very interesting but maybe it was island mentality or something else, as it was a poorly organised event. There was no information describing each area, no leaflets or people to ask.

The 100 Ton Gun.
Another weekend we went to see the 100 ton gun. It was a beautiful morning, sunny with a few clouds in the West. I made the terrible mistake of answering the question “what’s the weather today, and will we need fleeces today or just T-shirts”. We walked to the bus stop and got a Bus from Msida to Valletta and changed there for Rinella Fort. Then there was a 10-minute walk to the Fort where the Gun was housed. It is the largest canon in the world, equal to the same design in Gibraltar. The fortress was great for running around in and playing at armies, pretending to defend Malta from the invading, Germans, Turkish, Italian or Arabs. The poor old Maltese seemed to be always a victim of invasion and was the most bombed country of the 2nd world war. The day ended a bit bad as the clouds came in and it started to Rain. The kids were cold, Helen was Cold, and even I was cold (but didn’t admit it even though I was in Shorts and a Vest.) We ended up dodging the showers to the bus and then stood for 45 minutes at the bus stop waiting for the bus back to Valletta. When it arrived it only took us half way and we had to get off in the middle of nowhere and wait for a further 15 minutes for another bus. We got to Valletta and went for a Macdonalds to cheer us up, as we couldn’t muster any energy to be able to cook when we got back home, we were soaked through.

Harry Potter
We had another dinghy trip to Valletta. The kids have been excited for weeks ever since I told them that the new Harry Potter film was coming to Malta. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”. We walked around the town for a bit then had lunch up in the cinema/shopping complex. The kids had burger and chips and Mum and Dad had a Donner Kebab with extra chilli sauce. The cinema was great; a big screen, good sound and the chairs were mounted steeply so that everybody could see. It was the opening day for the film and we booked for the 2pm showing. When we got in there were only 8 people in. We almost doubled the audience size. Jack watched the first 45 minutes and the girls were mesmerized. Sophie was actually squeaking in delight. They really are Harry-Potter-Mad. Then came an intermission, a good old-fashioned break in the middle of the film. Im surprised a little old lady with the ice cream tray didn’t appear. The girls went to get some popcorn and Jack fell asleep. The second half of the film turned scary. It was very scary. I was scared. The girls were petrified. They absolutely loved it.

Swimming Pool
WE found a hotel in Selima with a swimming pool behind the Towers hotel. We have been going swimming about once a week.

Gozo.
Weds 20th Nov 2002. Wind: S force 4. Distance 15 miles. Sunny 25’c.

We set off with ocean breezes left in convoy just before lunch. They only have one engine (one is being repaired on land). And they find it difficult to manoeuvre and we help them with the dingy to act as a “tug boat”. They got away from the pontoon with no problems. They set their foresail and set of for Gozo. We stopped in the entrance and heaved the Main. I struggled with the lines and the lazy jacks and after lots of cursing and muscles eventually got the main up. (Note to self: “must make sure I put the main up with food in my stomach”) We lost 30 minutes on them and we set north after them goose winging. We managed 7.5 knots in 15 knots of True wind. I then moved to tacking downwind and on the Broad reaches managed 8.5 knots. I set the Geneka (Half a Spinnaker) ready to unfurl, but decided against it just in case the wind increased. My thoughts recently though, have been that my plans of reefing based on the manufacturers recommendations have been too cautious. I have been swatting up on borrowed books and based on formulas around, displacement, beam, sail area and centres of effort and gravity, show that I don’t need to reef in winds below 35 knots. (This is assuming a moderate sea and minimal heal). So in hindsight I should have used the Geneka. I should be able to push along at 10 knots in maximum broad reach conditions. And that day was perfect conditions with a flat sea and winds from behind. However we caught Ocean Breezes up 2 miles from Gozo and cruised in with them. The Gozo Ferrys were being stubborn and although overtaking us, did not communicate back on channel 16 when we wanted to make contact to come up into the wind to get the sails down before the harbour entrance as we were running down wind. I had to let the Jib fly and run the main sail close to a gybe to slow us down to allow them to overtake us and I was able to come into the wind very close to the ferry’s aft. We decided to anchor for the night in the “Blue Lagoon” which was ½ mile from the harbour and should be sheltered from the ESE winds forecasted for that night. We left Ocean Breezes to go into the harbour alone. (They were happy to moor up without us as the winds were ok for them to go straight onto the pontoon. We heard them on channel 16 trying to communicate with another Gozo ferry…. “ We are a vessel restricted in our ability to manoeuvre – we have only one engine and have limited steering way” They did not answer.!!!

We anchored in the Blue Lagoon at 4pm and settled down for the night. “Kilovar”, another older smaller catamaran with Dave and Ellen arrived soon after us and rowed over to say hello. They ended up staying for Dinner of pasta. 4 bottles of wine and half a bottle of vodka later at 11pm they rowed back to their boat. The winds picked up to 25 knots through the night and came around to SE. By the morning the anchorage had a reflected swell in it that was very uncomfortable and by 9am Jack had awoken and after going all floppy, was sick. We headed across to the harbour after breakfast leaving Kilovar to wake up to the swell and close breaking waves. As it happens the night in the harbour was very uncomfortable with bad swell tugging the boats on their mooring lines.

We “pontooned” in Gozo, the small Island (pop. 6000) north of Malta. It was mainly blue skies, sunny and daytime temperatures of 23-24 centigrade. The harbour is open to South-easterly Swell and ESE winds but other than that it is a very pleasant harbour with lots of fishing boats coming and going. Every half an hour the GOZO channel Ferries come in and out towering above us, but they are quiet and unobtrusive.

There was a 7000 year celebration going on in Gozo. Gozo has the oldest human built remains in the world. Older than Stone henge. We hired a car for the day (15 UK pounds) and went around some sights. We saw the 6500 year old remains, the Ggantijla Temples. Then drove to the Azure window a sandstone arch on the west side of Gozo. The sun was setting and we played on the flats which were like the moon surface. There was also a secret inland hidden bay which had fishing boats (which were more as toursist boats.) The bay was accessed by a hole/tunnel in the high cliffs probably only 10 feet by 10 feet. We picked up a Macdonalds on the way back and met Ocean Breezes at the local “pub” for a nightcap drink while the kids all played on the veranda.

We had a mixture of weather in Gozo. Hot sunny weather and wet and windy. The swell comes in mad to the moorings and snatches the ropes hard. There were plenty of rope-squeaking nights. One night the ropes chaffed so much that it pulled the stern rubber protective strip bending the screws that was holding it. Another job to do…

After 9 days in Gozo we headed back to Msida Marina in about 2 knots of wind on Friday after school. We motored all the way, leaving 45 minutes after Ocean Breezes and catching them up at the entrance. (We managed 7.5 knots at 2900rpm on both 29 hp engines). The trip was uneventful apart from the left over swell which was a bout 1.5 metres and the kids had great fun on the fore deck in the sunshine on the roller coaster of a ride. We moored back up in Msida and I took the girls in the dinghy to help Ocean Breezes slot into their berth. We nudged the bows and eventually after lots of fending off they managed to get in.

Left Malta 24th March 2003 to meet with friends

31st March 2003

We are here in Siracusa, Anchored a few metres from the Town Quay. Italy (Sicily) is very different from Malta, The people are better dressed and there is an air of calmness and peacefulness in this city, even though the town quay is bustling with people walking, sitting and playing on bikes, kiddie fairgrounds and generally just chilling out.The journey used the engine a lot as there was barely 10 knots of wind at any time. When we arrived at Mazzererla (sp) .Rob was already knocked out by a virus that Jack caught last week, causing extreme tiredness and violent vomiting. We chose to stay the night in the Marina for 30 euros. We tried to get up early to leave before the Marina opened but Rob was still being sick so the Harbour master took our money. Helen took the "helm" for the morning and we motored to Siracusa in only just a F3 from the NW. Rob slept all the way and the kids played happily.Rob managed to seize the Starboard Engine control by trying to put the Engine in gear while we attempted to sail for an hour, to stop the prop turning. We arrived in Siracusa under one engine and anchored. The following Day Rob (feeling slightly better) spent all afternoon taking the controls apart, cleaning them , degreasing them, and readjusting them. All working fine (so far...)The weather has now deteriorated to to a muggy hazy, drizzly blugh sort of day, which is due to stay like this all week. We plan to stay here until the winds are favourable to take us North.

8th April 2003

Sitting out a bit of a Gale in Riposto. Etna looks beautiful covered in snow above us. We have a few days to get 80 miles north to Vibo Velentia to meet up with our friends for a weeks sailing in Flotilla with CHris and Michelle.The winds are turning southerly on Weds so we should be able to head north then Its wet and cold at the moment, and with only generated power for electricity, the fan heater is on limited use!. Fingers crossed for good weather

Sorry, there must have been a glitch in the SMS-email gateway, these are the
messages I've been sending for the past few days;

Thursday, 10 April 2003 07:20:19 CEST
37.77 15.250 left at six am. No wind. Rough sea. Eta eight pm.

Thursday, 10 April 2003 14:51:37 CEST
38.5 15.75 doing nine knots in 35 of wind right from behind. Eta seven pm.

Thursday, 10 April 2003 18:01:49 CEST
38.678 15.9 - Tropea. Ten miles short of vibo valentia. rounded headland
into twenty knots o on the nose, moderate sea. Now sunset, and dinner.

Friday, 11 April 2003 14:58:03 CEST
38.716 15.13 - 1400- vibo valentia. A lovely sail in 15 knots westerly, flat
sea, hot sun. Viva vibo!

The Aeolian Islands with the Chicken Family on Charter.

Week in the Aeolian Islands with the Chicken FamilyWeek in the Aeolian Islands
with the Chicken Family
on Charter 12th April – 19th April 2003

We arrived at Vibo Velentia on |Friday 11th April in beautiful weather. Looks
like it could be a good week with the Chicken Family along side their charter
catamaran, a 2002 Fountain Pajot Athena 38. We settled into the Marina and I
tracked down Pualo, who was in-charge of the Charter, to pre-ask about the boat
and the cruising area. He pointed out the best anchorages in the Aeolian Islands
and gave us tips on how to anchor in these very steep sided islands.

Chris and the family arrived around 3pm on the Saturday and we set down to
checking his boat over and going through the charter paperwork. Pualo never did
get around to seeing Chris’ new sailing certificate that he had been asking for
all day. They loaded up the boat, unpacked the bags, did a bit of last minute
supermarket shopping for wine and vodka, had dinner, a few drinks and turned in
ready for a 7am start towards Stromboli. The next morning we felt it was more
advisable to take a 2-hour shakedown sail down the coast to Tropea (even though
it was officially closed) to check out anchors, sails, engines etc. The wind
was completely wrong direction as well. We anchored for lunch outside and then
with the ladies and the kids on the beach, Chris and I took each boat in turn
into Tropea to moor stern-to. As we were mooring up the Athena-38, the dreaded
mooring line wrapped around the starboard prop. Chris, being the honourable man
he is, volunteered without question to put on his wet suit and go into the 16
degrees water with a bread knife in his teeth to free the rope. His first
experience of this was a success and he emerged 15 minutes later with the rope
freed with no cutting needed.

That night we headed up to Tropea town for Pizza. We climbed 200 steps up the
side of the cliff and literally stumbled through quite shady side streets into
the town centre which was bustling with life. The place was very delightful,
with superb views of the harbour. We finished of with everybody having an
ice-cream and headed back for kids DVD, drinks and bed Chris had brought the
film “The Odysee” and there was mixed reception to the chilling parts of the
film.

We woke and set off at 8am in a force 3 beam reach which eventually became 30
degrees force 2. We motor-sailed close-hauled with one engine. Half way over
we were greeted by a school of dolphins, which swam first with the Athena and
then after 20 minutes came over and swam with us. The charter company had not
named their boat, so Christian came up with the name “Killer Whale”. We passed
in front of Stromboli. It was a towering one-kilometre high symmetrical
“volcano” shaped volcano, which rose up from the sea like a massive pyramid. It
loomed out of the haze when we were 25 miles away, showing our way. I can
understand why it has long been a natural beacon in the Mediterranean. We
passed it and headed for the Island of Panarea and headed for an anchorage with
a beach. It turned out to have a small building site on it that was building a
new beach house, and as well as the fact that the wind was starting to turn to
come from the east straight into the anchorage, we changed our mind and moved
around the south of the Island to a more sheltered anchorage on the SW of the
Island just ½ mile away.

The anchorage was amongst sheer cliffs of impressive lava rock and vertical
pillars of lava amongst the anchorage making it feel like a regal room with no
ceiling. We dropped the anchor in 6 metres of water (just 20 metres from the
cliffs and another 20 metres from 100 metre depths) We manoeuvred the boats to
be along side each other and then arranged 2 shore lines to hold fast the boats
away from the cliffs and Pillars either side of us. The cliffs were so smooth
and lava-like that it was difficult to find anywhere to tie the lines to. It
finally involved me climbing the cliff 20 feet to find somewhere to tie on to.
After all the messing around and pulling in of ropes I then discovered that my
anchors were dragging as my twin anchor system had married the two anchors
together in a very romantic embrace that made them completely ineffective. I had
to pull them up and, instead of untying the boats and starting again, I dumped
all the anchor and chain into the dingy and took it out to the right spot and
laid it out. |For safeties sake I did the same to Chris’ anchor and we were
then able to eat and sleep with peace of mind.

The following morning I dinghyed the kids (except Jack) to the rocky shore where
there was a twisting set of steps up. Chris then followed in his dinghy, but
after a couple of minutes his outboard cut-out. I was called over to tow him
back only to find that he had forgotten to turn the fuel on. (We’ve all done it
!).
We all headed to the shore and walked over the cliff up the path. It was
beautifully kept and at the top of the cliff was a wonderfully kept garden of
rocks and paths. The path led down to the beach of the other anchorage. We
decided to go back to the boat, collect our beach towels and dinghy around the
headland to the beach. As we rounded the headland in the dinghies, the waves
were large enough to cause a few screams from the unfortunate kids in the front
getting splashed. We beached the dinghies and played in the steep sand dunes of
black sand, warming ourselves on its hotness. We discovered tons of pumas stones
and the kids were astounded that rocks could float!

We then set back to the boats, had lunch and then cast off for the Island of
Lipari. A lovely Force 4, easterly wind was now set in and it was a broad reach
sail. I had just the “Jennaker” set (cross between a Jenny fore-sail and a
spinnaker) and sat back in the sun and played the guitar while the kids and
Helen played below with Lego, Playmobile and drawing. It eventually died to
Force 2 around tea-time, just as we arrived 3 hours later. When we arrived at
Lipari town quay (which was open to the east) the sea was too lumpy to more
against the quay safely. We moored along side and then 10 minutes later cast
off as the charter fenders were not beefy enough and even my bigger fenders were
not coping well. It was good practise for Chris to moor alongside and having 2
engines certainly helped. We motored around the south of the Island to the West
side of Lipari to an anchorage that Pualo had told us of. It was extremely
sheltered under the sheer cliffs. We anchored in 6 meters of water on boulders.
We watched the Sunset over the western sea silhouetting rock pillars and
formations around us into a beautiful setting.. I had set trip lines but Chris
had anchored before I could tell him to. The only thing is, I miss judged the
depth and the trip lines with a fender tied to the end went over with the
anchors and a watched in horror as the fender then sank to about 2 metres below
the water. We ate, the kids watched a DVD (10 kids in the cabin watching Lilo
and Stich!) and I worried about not seeing 3 anchors again.

The following morning it was cold (we were in the shadow of the cliffs). I
buzzed Emma and Louisa over the cliffs and we explored a few caves before
breakfast. We raised the anchors straight after breakfast without any hitches
(!) and set off just 30 minutes away to the lovely anchorage on the NW corner of
the Island of Volcano. It was a gently shoaling anchorage to a black sand
beach. We motored right in and anchored in 2.5 metres of water 20 metres from
the beach and moored the boats along side each other. Towering above us was the
500 metres high Volcano-Volcano (called Gran Cratere) with an obvious path
snaking its way to the top dotted with people. We decided that there was no way
we could stay here without climbing to the top so we set off after lunch with
Jack on my shoulders and 9 other kids between the ages of 5 and 11 to the top of
the Volcano. We passed the stinky hot bubbling mud baths, through the tourist
centre, up a road, and then started our accent. The fist half of the climb was
on black, dusty, sandy paths. The group started splitting up into different
speed parties. The boys were up front with Chris and Michelle, Sophie and Emma
keeping up well. I with Jack on my shoulders straggled behind, and then further
back still was Helen and Louisa, who were stopping every few minutes to empty
sand out of Louisa’s shoes. The next ¼ of the climb was over clay paths that
had been carved into deep and difficult channels by now-dried-up running water.
The final ¼ was scrambling over stones and rocks to the edge of the Volcano,
your leg muscles burned by the time you got to the top. We looked in….. It was
sheer impressive (I cant think of any other words). It looked exactly what a
volcano should look like I guess; perfectly symmetrically circular. At the
bottom of the volcano inside was a dried up pool of mud. No hot bubbling lava,
but plenty of sulphur gas spewing from every corner. The view to the boats and
the other Islands was incredible.

We all at our goodie bags of biscuits and drank water and waited for Helen and
Louisa, we waited and we waited. Still we waited. I then said I would go and
look for her and the others waited. I ran down the rocks, and then ran down the
clay. I was half way back down. Maybe Helen had gone back. Do I carry on back
down, should I go back to the top and tell them all to come down. I went a
little way down the black sand and there they were sitting on a rock waiting for
us. Louisa couldn’t walk any further….. and Helen had her Camera Bags so
couldn’t contemplate carrying her. I felt it wouldn’t be fair for Helen or
Louisa to not see the impressive Volcano. I grabbed Louisa onto my back and
started back up again. I actually felt quite fit and this time actually sprang
up the clay and then the rocks with Louisa on my back. Helen was walking
behind. We all finally arrived at the top and we then polished of Helen’s Banana
Bread, took some photos and then headed back down for Slush Puppies at the side
of the road. The journey down was quick and even Louisa wanted to run down. As
we passed the Mud pools at the bottom we went to the beach on the other side of
the mud pools and although the sea water was not as warm as the guide books had
told us, it was impressive to pick up hot-potato rocks off the beach surrounded
by hissing sulphur gas. We headed back to the boat for dinner, another
children’s DVD festival, while the adults had a drink and chatted.

The following morning we woke up to a dreary weather day. Helen and Michelle
wanted to try out the “everlasting-youth-miracle-mud-bath”, so we all set off in
the dingies and the men and the kids hunted down coffee and ice-creams while the
women stripped off to bathing suits and sunk into the rotten-egg smelly slimy
mud. They loved it and Helen, even after multiple showers still smelt 1 week
later. We got back to the boat and had lunch. There were rumours from another
boat in the anchorage that there were force 7 Easterlies coming. I listened to
the weather forecast and it seemed that there were warnings of 7’s and 8’s in
every sector of the Italian Sea surrounding us, but not our sector. It said it
was arriving before 6pm. I insisted we pushed on to the Island of Salina, which
had a sheltered Marina, it was 2 hours away. We headed around the east side of
Lipari to get to it just in case the winds picked up so we would end up running
downwind into Salina. We motored out and the wind dropped to….. zero. The rain
started to pour down and we motored into Salina. I was expecting at any time
the rain to come, the winds to pick up and a huge blow to ensue. It just never
happened. We squished both boats into a space next to each other, Chris
attempting to slot into his space next to me with 2 marina men waiting with
ropes. The wind was slightly blowing him side ways, and on his second attempt he
made it in smoothly and with out fault. We piled into the Marina showers, stuck
another DVD on for the kids, dried off and had dinner. Chris and Michelle put on
their rain coats and ventured out for a walk but soon returned. With the kids
in bed and the baby monitor working over time we had a few more drinks before
bedtime. This was the only expense of the week – 25 euros. The rest was food,
drink and fuel. (Chris - 30 Euros of fuel, Rob – approx 100 Euros. – Note to
self – must get rid of some weight, must not feed children too much)

Up at 6.30am for the last day sail back to Vibo-V. If the wind had been on the
nose with any strength it would have been a very uncomfortable end to the
holiday. Those forcasts of Easterly force 7 was worrying. But by some miracle
at 7am the winds came around to the west, force 5 and blew us all the way back
with an incredible Broad Reach. I was determined to use the Jennaker on the way
back to keep up with Chris’ light weight, clean-bottomed smaller version of our
boat. For 2 hours I had it up and then down, up and down, trying to sort out
problems with the sock-release mechanism. The first time it went up fine but the
sheet then had a knot in it and wouldn’t run through the block at the back of
them boat. I fixed a line to the sheet and took the load off and the tried to
untie the knot using my Marlin spike. It slipped and drove it into my finger.
At this point the sail twisted around itself and the sock lines. With the pain
from my finger and the sail flogging itself I then yanked it down onto the deck
in a huge mess. The fix I had made over the winter had caused a problem. The
sail head was not allowed to turn which caused problems which meant if it
twisted it twisted bad. I eventually made more modifications and eventually got
it flying well, the amount of pulling and tugging on twisted ropes had all my
fingers covered in blisters. We eventually were making a good 8 – 8.5 knots in
22 knots of wind at 135 degrees to the bow. A fantastic sail back although it
was a huge effort to keep the thing flying as I was having to sail closer and
closer to dead down wind. In the end I had to gybe downwind as we lost as much
as 2 knots heading dead down wind. In one of the Gybes I broke one of the ends
off a baton at the top of the main sail. I will monitor it to see if I can fix
it, replace it or live with it. While I lost Chris on the Horizon while I was
trying to get the sail sorted out, I eventually caught up in the next 5 hours
and we entered Vibo Valencia together at around 5.30pm. We sorted the boats out,
walked around to find some pizza (the kids needed a run around to let of steam)
and after a take away Pizza, Rob and Chris fell asleep at the table.

It was a good week of sailing. It was definitely how I remember charter
sailing; up early, lots of sailing, lots of eating and drinking. It was a good
week, a very good week.

Next stop Capri then Ischia

12th April

We left at 6am in zero winds but with an ominous weather forecast of southerly 7, becoming 8. We press on and around 10am the winds came as predicted. We reefed 2 in the Main and rolled half the Jib away. We made 9 knots at 170' to the wind. We raced through the Messina Strait, dodging the shipping in the shipping lanes (quite hairy at 9knots with 30 knots of wind up yer' bum).
The other side of Messina we passed the infamous Scilla (home of 6 headed monster from Oddyseus - Sophie is studying it at the moment), We didn't get attacked or sucked down Charybdis the mighty Whirlpool.
We absolutely steamed north doing between 8 and 9 knots. The auto pilot was struggling to prevent a Gibe so I steered all the way - very exhausting.
Then at the headland 20 miles from Vibo Velentia the wind dropped to zero and as we turned the headland it slowly picked up to 20 knots on the nose
with seas to match. What was a superb downwind sail became a beat towindward. The engines went on and we headed for Tropea, 10 miles west of VV.
We entered the Marina over a very shallow sandbank (4 metres - with 2 metres of swell, dodged some strange looking buoys across the entrance and moored up stern-to the unfinished pontoon. As it happens the buoys in the entrance indicated that the marina was closed (not yet open) and the Harbour master asked us of our intentions. "quartro bambini's all tired and hungry" did the trick and we were allowed to stay free of charge.

Helen and the kids read, knitted, sowed, slept, ate, watched DVD and generally got through the day. Helen obviously helped through the hell raising reefs by steering and protecting me from gybes. 100 sq metres of sail to hoist up and reef down certainly keeps me fit!.
It is now 10 degrees warmer than yesterday ( 10'c -> 20'c), the sun is out, and the sky looks good, I hope this is the start of summer !!!! Helen is getting fed up of sleeping in all her clothes and skiing socks.
Good dinner of Tortillini, a couple of drinks and I suspect Ill sleep well tonight..

27th April

We have just spent 3 days anchored in a bay in Panarea (38' 37.658N 15' 03.946 E) and did school and the kids swam in the sea. Brilliant blue skies, and hot sun. settled winds and sheltered.
We set off for Stromboli this morning and passed the lava flow track at the north (38' 48.255N) 15' 12.165 E). It wasn't flowing but the steam and the smoke and the falling boulders, rumbling in humbling way was very impressive. We have just left Stromboli now with Taa on the table in the cockpit with the sun setting over a beautiful sea, with the steaming Volcano behind us heading 337' to the Island of Capri. We are making 5.5 knots in
10 knots of wind at 60' to the bow we should be there in the afternoon tomorrow. I expect the wind is to lull during the night to reduce our speed but it is expected to veer to SE which will favour us. Rosie the Jennaker may even be out later if the wind changes direction by another 30 degrees.

Now this is what it's all about !!!

1st May

We left Amalfi, which was across between Brighton and Ditisham, lots of tourists shops but extremely beautiful. The houses are built on the sheer cliff faces towering up from the town on the waters side. The quay was reasonably cheap, and well looked after by the "ormeggiatori" man who helped you to moor and tie up and was very helpful. He ended up charging us less and we only paid 35 euros for 2 nights. We left at 2pm in a slight wisp of a wind (8 knots) and so we tacked into it down the coast to Positano, an open anchorage off a beach at another obvious holiday resort. The sea is flat calm and the winds at night drop to zero (well about 4pm actually). Had a nice play on the beach and climbed some rocks.
The girls sat down to there first Sailing school theory lesson as we sailed in the afternoon, and we covered the first 5 rules of the "International rules for preventing collisions at sea" book. Sophie and Emma are grasping it so far. Louisa draws pictures of boats crashing.

We also saw loads of dolphins as we sailed, they were diving and splashing incredibly, and one big old dolphin swam with us and under us, blowing its "nose" as it surfaced, for about 15 mins.
We maybe heading off west down the coast for a leisurely (drift) sail tomorrow. I'd be surprised if we managed more than 5-8 miles. - Not much wind and Its too hot, sunny, peaceful to go racing around

2nd May.

Oh so little wind, but oh so much sun!

We trickled to Capri with the Engines on until we rounded the headland then we were able to sail for an hour or so to the Island of Capri. We tried to anchor in a bay right by the Faraglioni Rocks, but the number of power boats around made the anchorage like a washing machine so we ventured on and are now anchored at Picola off a Beach Resort packed full of Italian tourists. There are so many boats and so many people here it is all a bit disappointing. It is however, astonishingly Beautiful, with sheer cliffs and intricate rock formations.
Its now 1730 and everyone has vanished, we are settling down to a dinner of chicken casserole and homemade lemon muffins.
After a buzz in the dinghy after breakfast through the tunnel through the rock (supposedly every frigate that goes by has to go through it at top speed - I cant believe it my self !!) Then after a quick play on the beach we settled down to school at 10:30. We gave up at noon. Had lunch and then set off around the Island of Capri. There was a 6 knot southerly wind and so we trickled around the corner with just the main up at 3 knots. We tried to get into the famous blue grotto but it was so overwhelmed with Tourists (There were at least 50 boats with 20 people each in it waiting out side, we tried to go in in the dinghy and got shouted at,) that we didn't go in. I presumed we had to use one of the local wooden boats with a man in it for 10 Euroes each. We might try in the evening tomorrow - see if the crowds go away.

Arrived at the Main town of Capri and anchored outside the Marina. (The nightly charge of 150 Euros was a bit steep!!)
Discovered that the Dinghy hard bottom has a crack in it (Mummy had a bit of a beach situation and crashing waves with the Dinghy in Positano). The false bottom has filled with around 200 litres of water. So after going ashore with it to buy some Glass fibre and Epoxy (50 Euros) We had Tea and then all helped getting the dinghy on the foredeck. Emma and Sophie winched the Outboard off the dinghy and then we winched the dinghy up the side of the boat. Drained all the water out. I then laid 2 layers of Glass fibre (the first coat) at sunset over the 6 inch crack .

The view over the Naples bay could be so beautiful. I can see that it is beautiful, but the number of boats around and the Thick layer of Smog over the water, a Greeny, browny, yellow thick disgusting looking smog, that we are not taken by Capri at all. It was busy, dirty, crowded, expensive, beautiful, stony, rocky, dirty, Capri.

Could do with 15 knot southerlies right now. but I guess we'll have to make do with 6 knot southerlies and Creep further North.

3rd May

Yesterdays trip from yucky Capri to Ischia was started in a flat calm sea not a breath of air. WE finished off with a good hours sail with the afternoon breeze doing 6.5 knots. We anchored South of the Castle tucked right in at 3 metre depth. I spent the journey adding layers of Glass and epoxy to the bottom of the dinghy, and even added a strip of aluminium in there for good measures. It wasn't going to dry until the following day so we blew up the Inflatable dolphins and Me and Sophie mounted them and swam ashore. ( we were top heavy and ended up swimming with them). Our mission was to find sweets to decorate Jacks Birthday Cake that was made by Helen today.
With the mission accomplished and the rest of the boat going for a swim we had Tea and settled down to a few stories before Present wrapping and bed.

Jack's 2nd Birthday

We woke to Jacks Birthday and he was mesmerised by the presents on the table. He had a football, colouring book, Chop-up-fruit, dinky car and Playmobile AirPlane. "WOW" was the word of the morning. Everyone then had a swim, Jack loving it in his lifejacket, splashing around with his sisters. Afterwards, playing at the table, Jack slipped and bashed his Chin on the table. He took a deep breath to scream, but nothing happened. He had knocked him self-unconscious - AGAIN! . After a few scary moments of blue-lips and closed eyes, he came around, looked around and then started laughing at Emma playing outside. Definitely a little bruiser!.

We had a lovely Birthday Lunch with homemade cheese biscuits, tomato, peppers, mozzarella and Philadelphia cheese. The birthday Cake, in a shape of a train with perfect blue icing was a great treat. Jack blew the candles out. We had more swimming in the afternoon and then a walk before Dinner to the Castle overshadowing our anchorage. Ischia is a delight and a superb peaceful contrast from busy Capri only 10 miles away.
The wind has been a nice 12-15 knots this afternoon - but from the NW - Wrong direction - I believe that the winds are due to come around south tomorrow - lets hope.

Cant get over the weather change in the past 2 weeks - Superb.
So when a nice puff of wind comes (due to be southerly 15 knots) it ends up being 12 knots from the West!!.

I spent the morning with my face mask and Snorkel on scrapping all the winter Growth of one side of the Starboard Hull. I was going at it scraping like crazy, lots and lots of muck scrapped off. Then I got out of the Sea and screamed when I saw myself, I was covered in hundreds of ant-sized shrimp-like creatures. all over. Tangled in every hair of my body. I hosed my self down and the kids picked over my body on the trampoline like a family of monkeys.

Then we set off after lunch as the wind had picked up from the South (?) to head to the next Island due West, and after a lot of fluky wind on the Leeward (north) side of Ischia we finally got a steady wind from the west! - On the nose. We weren't going to Tack all the way to Ventonene in one afternoon, so we headed to the east of Ischia to the wonderfully free harbour of Forio.

WE anchored in 3.5 metres of water and tied our aft to the backside of the Ferry Jetty. We are tucked in amongst a few tied up rowing boats with a fisherman's sandy beach only 10 metres from our bows. The small ferry boats are in and out all day, but they hardly create any wash. The town is very relaxed, not too touristy, with plenty of shops and supermarkets for our needs. After Tea I took the kids to the beach while Helen tidied up, and the girls ended up swimming in the sunset. Jack involuntary went swimming as ran a bit too quickly into the mirror like sea and fell flat on his face in water up to his waist.

WE then all went out to a family trip to the supermarket to stock up on, well, - everything. Unable to get the trolley contents into the Ikea bag in the pushchair, I ended up pushing the trolley to the boat, I returned the trolley to the supermarket. When we returned to the boat disaster came! - (It usually comes in threes doesn't it.....)

The fridge wasn't working, The children's Toilet finally packed up working altogether, and our shower pump out pump finally packed up too.

I spent the next 3 hours till midnight faultfinding the Fridge (a priority, as we had just bought lots of fresh meat etc), Turns out the Freon High pressure overload switch was cutting out. which means 1) Cooling water pump broken, Freon Pressure set to wrong sea water/air temp values. Faulty High pressure switch. I striped down the water pump and cleans al the crap out, It checked out fine, working well. Seeing as though the sea water temp in our lovely little shallow harbour was 22 degrees (up from 14 degrees in Malta - where the Fridge was fixed and calibrated), The air temp in the boat was 30 degrees ( a little different from the 18 degrees the fridge has been used to for the past 6 months !). I suspect that the Freon is now over pressurised by the higher temperatures of sea water and air. - Its just to hot and the fridge cant handle it.