MAY 2004
A pigeons tale………….
It is May 10th, and Sylphe is in
Cavtat, Croatia……. Ready for yet another summer of
hopefully great cruising and exploring the best part of Croatia
and making it to Venice, as that one is definitely still on our
wish list…. But how did Sylphe get here???
As you all should remember; Marit is still
in India and the last time I wrote you, I was still in Tunisia.
So, please read on……as I did something EVEN I am quite
proud of…….
First, I sailed Sylphe solo from Monastir to
Malta on April 5 and 6, well, actually I ended up motoring all
the way, as the wind was absent. Under a beautiful full moon, we,
once again passed the islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, without
stopping there….we must do that one day, as everybody says
they are quite nice. Upon arrival in Malta, I went again straight
to the yard, without clearing in with customs…..good habits
don’t need changing. This time they were cool about it, I
guess they started to get used to being in Europe as of May 1st
and than this whole clearing of EU yachts is no longer needed at
all. So, on the yard and hauled out of the water the next day.
Surprisingly Sylphe had a lot of growth on
her hull. That explained the 1 knot speed drop, I had noticed on
my way from Monastir to Malta. Strange, as we have been using the
same antifouling for the last 4 years, so either they have
changed the formula or the Med has been much warmer and sea
conditions had changed (you all recall the extremely hot summer
we had last year). The works in Malta this year included only
“smaller” items: finally fixing the leak that we got in
Porto Cervo last august (the bilge pump was quite happy with it),
fitting the right size propeller, life raft service and some
paint work on the topsides (damage on the bow from the anchor!).
And next to this work I used my weeks in Malta to stock up on all
items I could possibly need for the rest of the year and get some
smaller repairs done, which I could do myself. Like a lot of
electricity changes, a new toilet, varnish, painting of interior
deck heads, etc, etc. It kept me busy for 4 weeks. But Sylphe was
put back in the water on Thursday 29 April, right before Malta
joined the EU and I would have to pay an additional 20% VAT. So,
I guess I remain Dutch, by saving this money. From this moment
on, I just waited for the right weather to sail to Croatia………SOLO
and preferably NON-STOP. Am I mad?????
Well, actually some of you may think so, but
the proof of the pudding is in the “sailing”. The fact
that I am writing you this from Croatia, Cavtat, proofs you all
wrong. (well, I still actually may be mad, but at least sane) But
it was a historic trip: 535 miles (roughly 1000 kilometers) in 78
hours (roughly 3 day/nights). That averages the speed of Sylphe
to 6.85 miles per hour…….AVERAGE….. (okay for
those who have never been on a sailboat….that is bloody
(!!!) fast) And since this is the average, and there were moments
we were only doing 2.8 knots, there automatically had to be also
moments when we were doing more than 10,5 knots !!!!!!! I know
for sure that I am the only person taking a 18 meter classic
sailboat on a 500 mile trip in early season in a very
unpredictable Mediterranean waters. BUT Been there, Done it and
…..would do it again.
I left Malta on late Thursday afternoon.
Sailed out of Valetta under full main sail and genua. Into a wide
open sea, with a nice beam reach wind of about 17 knots (I do not
know exactly as the wind meter is broken and the B&G dealer
in Malta could not get around ordering a new one in a month time….how
is that for efficiency).
The internet weather sites that I had
checked all said that there would be wind for 24 hours and that
it would die down, once I reached the heel of Italy, forcing me
to motor into the Adriatic sea. And in the Adriatic, two days
later I should have a nice westerly breeze to sail all the way to
Cavtat (10 km south of Dubrovnik). I looked forward to that.
Leaving Malta on Thursday and hoping to be in Cavtat by Monday; 4
days at sea.
So, off it went, course 035 degrees, North
East and the next land I should see was to be the heel of Italy…some
350 miles further down the road. But off course this was not to
be.
3 hours into my sail the wind picked up, I
set the staysail as well and basically with a full main, the
genua and the staysail, we are carrying about 210 square meters
of sail and there is not much more I can set, except the
spinnaker (but that would be a bit risky, being solo and so). We
sailed downwind and onward with a solid 9 knots, soon catching up
and overtaking a yacht that had left Malta 4 hours earlier. Nice.
The only trouble was that I was forced a little bit too much
North. To explain: Sylphe does not want to sail directly
downwind, basically you loose too much speed, you start rolling
from left to right and you have to watch the boom all the time (keep
your head down). Since my course to the heel of Italy was NE and
the wind was directly SW, this is not possible and I was
forced off course and would have to gybe my way down (zigzagging
basically), extending my route and time at sea. No bother, the
speed was nice, the course more or less nice and this would not
last 48 hours, would it??? Well actually, it would last the whole
trip; the wind exactly opposite of my course, all the way….frustrating
as it was, there was not much that I could do about it, except
sailing into some Italian port and calling it a day. But, many of
you know that I am not particularly keen on the Italians (sorry
Andrea’s, you are the exceptions), so there needs to be more
than this to force me off my initial plan.
By 11 in the evening (only 7 hours after my
departure) I had to reduce sail and get that genua down. We were
doing more than 10 knots. I guess we had some 30 knots of wind.
So, on the foredeck and yanking that genua down. After a ten
minute struggle the sail was secured and the speed reduced, a bit.
Half an hour later I decided to also reduce the mainsail as we
were still dangerously surfing. The autopilot can not handle this
situation, so I was already behind the helm for more than 5
hours, and I still had 4 more days ahead. So, better slow down,
let the autopilot helm the boat and take it easy.
Putting a reef in the mainsail is probably
the most physical task, we have on our classic boat. It simply is
a hell of a lot of sail, very heavy cloth and the boom
weighs a ton. On top of that; the boat is rolling from left to
right, the wind is blowing with 35 knots, making the slapping
sail a murderous weapon. One has to be careful, especially in the
middle of the night, I do not want to end up like Eric Tabarlay,
and he was not even solo. But 15 minutes later, the reef was in,
we sailed with only 8 knots and the helming was a lot easier. I
saw Sicily and was tempted to call into Syracuse, after all a
beautiful town and not the worst place to be. But no, I would
continue. During the night the wind calmed down to a leisurely 20
knots, but I did not get much sleep that first night.
When the sun appeared above the horizon and
warming me up, I set the genua again and sailed onward. By ten in
the morning I had taken all my clothes off and was baking in the
sun. Sylphe nicely continuing under autopilot and me sleeping a
little in the sun (of course I developed a great sunburn….)
Late in the afternoon the wind became so little that I switched
on the engine and this also allowed me to steer again directly in
a straight line to the heel of Italy. The first 24 hours we had
covered 190 miles, ten miles short of my dream.
That evening I made a nice meal and
compensated for the fact that I had not eaten the evening before
(except the occasional Cup-A-Soup, by the way the asparagus one
is quite good) And went to bed early, sleeping 30 minute
intervals, peaking around on deck and going back to bed. The
sunburn had given me a little fever and on deck it was cold. The
next morning I could see Crotone in the far distance and I was
able to shut off the engine and set the genua again. So, we were
a proper sailboat again. Reefed main and genua, we sailed off
into an easterly direction, basically bringing us to Zakinthos
instead of the heel of Italy. The clouds built up, I saw less and
less of sun (but my sunburn was okay with that) and the wind died
down more and more. And with less and less wind, one is forced to
take it even more square on the sails and forcing me even further
off course. By 4 in the afternoon I was gybing around and trying
to find some kind of NE direction. Impossible. With only 3 knots
of speed in the wrong direction I switched on the engine again,
took the genua down and motored to the heel of Italy. I hoped
that once I rounded the heel and turn straight North that the
wind would pick up and with the SW direction I could again sail
on a direct course to Cavtat. The first raindrops hit me at 6 in
the afternoon. Not pleased. Otranto (the only beautiful Italian
port I know) was around the corner and once again I was tempted
to call it a day and go there. By the time I was 3 miles off, I
had had some more rain, the wind still not enough, but it was
already dark and only 150 miles left to get to Cavtat. So, I
motored on. It turned out to be not the nicest 150 miles, I
ever sailed.
By midnight I could set all sails again and
was doing nicely. By 2 in the morning, I was close hauled with 20
knots of wind and was forced to get the genua down again. Under a
reef in the main and the staysail we continued, once again not on
a direct line to Cavtat, the wind did not allow me at any stage
of this trip to do this. Sailing is suffering and frustration. A
lot of ships around me, so it kept me busy and awake. By 4 in the
morning I was so cold, that I decided to go to bed and warm
myself. 15 minute intervals, but it did the trick. The wind
slowly died down and by 7 in the morning I took the staysail down
and switched on the engine again. And than it started raining….and
it would not stop for the next 8 hours. By 11 in the morning I
set the staysail again and sailed along in the rain. The gusts of
wind that came out of the squalls were vicious. By noon, I
hoisted the genua as well (all in a downpour of rain) and
continued. Around 3 in the afternoon, the clouds broke open, the
rain stopped, and the wind stopped. So, back to the engine. Only
50 miles left.
I dropped the mainsail at 2 miles off the
entrance to the Cavtat bay, at 21.30 in the evening and rounded
the corned into the pitch dark bay, avoiding the rocks at the
entrance. I dropped the anchor in 10 meters of water, only 100
meters of the town quay. I saw people, I heard cars, strange
feeling. I was there, I had done it, covered 535 miles, was at
sea for 78 hours in a season where the weather is still
unpredictable and cold, had rain, sunshine, too much and too
little wind and thus a lot of sail changes, hoisting and lowering…..
I guess I had a taste of life, up and down. I wish you all could
have similar experiences.
I checked in with customs, police and
harbormaster the next morning, who were friendly and welcoming as
always.
The fun part on this trip: the birds and
dolphins. Every time I went to the bow of the boat to reduce or
hoist sails the dolphins were there. Right under the bowsprit,
especially at night, it is spectacular to see them swimming in
the glow of the navigation lights and their trail of fluorescent
water. Or when the first sunrays lighten up the skies and you can
see again around you, they are there, right next to you. GREAT
And the birds: or to be more specific; first
4 pigeons that rested on deck for a few hours and flew off again.
Later a bright yellow canary, almost like Tweety, that stayed for
ten minutes. And in the early hours of Sunday, in the downpour of
rain, again a pigeon, that landed on the guardrail, and went
straight inside. He did not like rain either! This was however,
not a wild pigeon, but a nice gray one, with rings on its feet.
It was exhausted, and happily sat on the floor of the saloon.
Swinging from left to right on his newly gained “sea legs”.
Whenever I passed to the galley, he just stepped aside and went
back to “his” place. I first tried to feed him some
bread, but he refused. Later I found some seeds, and he happily
attacked those. I kept feeding him and he was certainly not going
to leave, after all it was still raining. So, he sailed with me
all the way to Cavtat. Whether I switched the engine on, played
the stereo or talked to him/her, he was just sitting there.
Exhausted, tired and maybe sick. When nightfall came, he simply
went to sleep, standing on both legs, swinging from left of right
with the movement of the boat. I guess he did not notice that we
arrived in Cavtat. When I opened my eyes the next morning, he was
still there. But land was only 100 meters away and he could
clearly hear the other birds singing, so he should know. By ten
in the morning, I was having coffee and enjoying the view of
Cavtat I decided to help the pigeon a bit. After all, he was
still sitting in “his” corner of the saloon. I picked
him up and put him on deck. After 15 minutes he finally took off
after having looked curiously up into the sky for 5 minutes. I
did not clear his food and water in “his” corner
immediately. I had other little jobs on deck and clearing customs
to do.
And as I am writing you this behind the
charttable, I hear the flapping of wings and suddenly there is a
big gray pigeon back in the saloon. Happily eating away at the
seeds. I guess I am his new home. The rings on his feet have a
marking with a number and ESP, is he Spanish????
We wish you all a good summer,
Roland and Marit
S/y SYLPHE