‘Kittiwake’ - 2. The Adventure Unfolds
"TimLukeronboardKittiwake.JPG"
I am sitting here in Gibraltar reflecting on the past four months and trying, desperately, to figure out how I am going to do all the things necessary to get’ Kittiwake’ ready for the next stage of our voyage together to The Canaries!
We set sail from Cadiz after the storm abated heading for Gibraltar, the winds were from the east and we hit the straits on the ebb tide (Murphy was on watch, as usual!), we tried a tack to Morocco but didn’t make any progress, so we hugged the Spanish coast under motor and finally made Gibraltar at 0400 on the 31st May. While we were anchoring in the dark, an unlit boat suddenly shone a searchlight at us, informing us that we cannot anchor at the end of the airport runway! A reasonable request I thought but this brought a new meaning to an “unmarked police car” with no navigation lights too!
We left Gib on 11th June with no GPS data for 8 hours, we thought the Yanks had turned it off for some mysterious military reason but were grateful when it was restored. A few days later at 3am the VHF sprung to life “Kittiwake Kittiwake Kittiwake this is Ibiza Coastguard, are you ok?” – we were overdue at our destination Formentara by more than 24 hours and my frantic fiancée, Rebekah, had contacted Falmouth coastguard asking of our whereabouts. I was impressed by the safety systems in place for those in peril on the sea (as was she)! Ibiza relayed the information to Falmouth and they relayed the information back to a relieved Rebekah – they even called me up the next day to see if I had made Formentara successfully – what a testament to the coastguard! I was very glad I registered Kittiwake on the Coastguard database and am thankful to them for safeguarding me and all at sea.
We sailed north to Ibiza, stayed in our most expensive marina thus far (139 Euro per night!), cut a mooring line we snagged whilst anchoring in Cala Llonga, and continued up the west coast of Mallorca overnight, watching the ghostly silhouettes of the mountains floating by, eerie and stunning all at once. Arriving at Mahon in Menorca we were greeted by a dozen Brits aboard yachts moored alongside floating “islands” on the river in this spectacular estuary. The boat mechanic was also a Brit and fixed our anchor windlass and fridge/freezer, which had died on us mid-voyage. Funny how Brits congregate in the strangest of places?
The 240 mile voyage to Corsica was very special: we passed a basking whale only metres off our starboard side, seemingly unaware of our presence; saw a turtle valiantly swimming from Sardinia to France (a 500 mile swim for a holiday?); and caught our first fish, a 15 lb tuna which appeared on our dinner plate that evening as Sashimi (raw but marinated in a crisp garlic/ lemon juice sauce – delicious!).
John left in Ajaccio and Rebekah arrived on 1st July. She had never sailed before and I was determined to make the experience comfortable, hassle free but memorable – short trips, beautiful anchorages, less than F5 winds. Departing Ajaccio we snagged an ancient sea-bed line and spent 2 hours struggling to free our stern kedge anchor whilst blocking the marina entrance – definitely stress free and a good start! I managed to stick to the plan for a couple of days then a F8 gale hit us from the stern. We had a reefed Genoa and 15 ft following seas – Rebekah often recalls her trepidation as I adjusted the windvane on the transom expecting the waves to sweep me at any minute and leaving her in charge! We anchored in Calvi as the marina was full, and remained storm bound for 2 days. Cabin fever set in as we were imprisoned on the boat, which we could not abandon with the 5 ft seas hitting her every minute. We left as soon as the storm abated and continued up the coast to our next destination. The last time I had a haircut was in Cowes in April, and I was beginning to look like a throw back to California hippies in the 60’s, so when we stayed in St Florent in North Corsica for a few days, a lovely friendly town, we found a very good hairdresser with a sharp razor! Returning south we stayed in Calvi which was too touristy, Cargese a very pretty and friendly village on a steep hill (good exercise on our shopping trips for provisions), and Propriano where we were again storm bound, but this time being battered against the harbour wall for 3 days – not good for Kittiwake!. We arrived in Bonafacio on 21st July, which has to be the most dramatic harbour I have ever seen, the entrance is invisible until you reach it. We passed through limestone cliffs 40m apart and I gave the helm to Rebekah while I called up the harbour authority. She was very nervous, as this was the first time she had been in charge in such a busy port but she did well. We spent the evening in the heads, one each, I suspect the cans of Cowes Somerfield kidney beans had rusted and deteriorated in the bilge – ugly (I will spare you the details).
We departed to the Maddelena Islands on the 24th July, a beautiful nature reserve with clear water and gorgeous snorkelling and anchored in Isla Santa Maria overnight. The next day Rebekah learnt how to tack Kittiwake to Santa Teresa Galura in Sardinia, which is a beautiful village specialising in cured wild boar, which we stocked up on for the voyages ahead. John returned to Kittiwake and the three of us island hopped to Porto Rotunda to collect my son Jack and daughter Sophie. We sailed back to Bonafacio for a few days (the bowthruster broke its chain whilst mooring!), island hopped through the spectacular Maddelana Islands (encountered a F7, a broken fan belt and alternator), then down the east coast of Sardinia anchoring in deserted bays, swimming and snorkelling, and exploring the many caves along the beaches and cliffs. We even had a night sail returning to Cagliari with Sophie and Jack on watch learning how to use the radar and avoiding other ships – they did very well and dolphins greeted us as we rounded the final headland!
We cruised west of Sardinia with, firstly, John’s brother and his family and then my sister and her family for a week each. The boat was full, catering was hard work but everyone mucked in and our guests had a truly different adventure. I came to realise how much food (and drink!) you need to buy and carry back to the boat, and store somewhere safe and dry, to feed a group of this size. One day whilst snorkelling, I noticed that the propeller was corroding slightly, also that one anode was bubbling and turning soft! I discovered the SSB aerial was dumping current to the anode so I disconnected it fast! The freezer failed too – Murphy was back. The highlight for me was anchoring in Pula on the south coast of Sardinia and snorkelling amongst the Roman ruins covered by thick seaweed, we found some pottery shards too which we were convinced were 2000 years old – an eerie feeling. Also meeting up with my old friend James, a circum navigator with 35,000 miles under his keel trying to figure out what to do next!
We left for Formentara on the 31st August, it was Rebekah’s first long passage and first night watch alone so she was understandably nervous, but she learned the owl’s trick of rotating her head through 360 degrees with eyeballs glued to the binoculars for four hours, resulting in black rings around her eyes in the morning! We also experienced an alarming drop in battery power which I figured must be a current leak from somewhere unknown – but I had no clue how to track that down. We still had no generator! Be warned, Marina Formentara Mar took the record for the most expensive overnight stay at 150 Euros! The walk along the northern peninsula of the island was refreshing though and almost made up for the expense (not). A final three day leg brought us back full circle to Gibraltar on the 9th September where I envisaged some weeks of repairs……………which turned out to be six, but that’s another story!