Aisling I

We're temporarily interrupting our China programming to tell you what we're actually doing now. You may be surprised to hear that we are in Malta. It's a bit surprising even to us, since it was a spur of the moment decision to sail from Licata to Gozo when the wind was in the wrong direction to head for the Strait of Messina.

But first I should fill in some gaps about Licata. It felt great to arrive back there on the evening of August 30th, after a 24 hour+ journey from Shanghai. Our new windows had been installed, and they looked great. Our salon table had been sanded and varnished, and it didn't look great. In fact, the centre piece had been badly damaged by overly-zealous sanding. I was too tired to worry about it, so just threw some sheets on the bed and threw myself on top. Oddly enough, Rick was wide awake and raring to go, but he had no success in convincing me to walk down to dock to see an art exhibit and hear the live music that was being performed in front of the marina bar. I didn't need to walk down the dock to hear the music. I could hear it perfectly well from my bed. It didn't keep me awake for even a minute.

Because of the window installation, things onboard were even more dusty and disorganized than usual, so it took us several days to get things back to normal. Then we ventured a bit further into the town and discovered that, once you get past the scruffy edges near the port, Licata is actually an attractive little place. The town square is lovely. The Bar Gambrinus has delicious and huge family-size pizzas for 9 euros, a friendly waitress who seemed to enjoy speaking to us in a mixture of French and Italian and a big-screen TV where we could watch Italy play Belgium. (Football of course; is there any other game here? Everyone was sad when Italy lost 3-1)

With all this at our doorstep, we might have hung around Licata for another week, if it weren't for the fact that the marina does not have potable water at the dock. No laundry facilities either. Correction, the laundry facilities have been in place for weeks, and maybe months; they just haven't been able to open for business because of some roadblock with the cumbersome Italian bureaucracy. "That laundry is very important to this marina." Maria in the office told Rick. "I pray every night that it will open." Our friends Gaby and Paul had better start praying too, since they plan to spend the winter there and I don't think they are going to be very happy about sending their laundry out to be done at a cost of over 25 euros for a small load.

So, as I was saying, we decided to head for Gozo, which is the second-largest island in the Maltese archipelago. Like the larger island of Malta, it has lovely architecture and an interesting history, but it is not as crowded and busy as Malta. It took us less than 11 hours to sail there from Licata, although to tell the truth, it probably would have taken us three days if we'd actually sailed, due to an almost total absence of wind. Of course we did it the easy way and used the motor. Lots of traffic in the Strait of Sicily (and our AIS was down) but otherwise it was a completely uneventful passage. We were certainly grateful that it was calm when we arrived in Mgarr marina (pronounced M-jar) and saw the tight spot we had to maneuver ourselves into. Once we were settled in, it might have been very entertaining to watch the commotion that occurred every time another boat arrived, if only we weren't so worried about how we were going to get ourselves out of there when the time came to leave. (In the end, it was as easy as pie, but only because the marinaro took charge and towed us out.) Otherwise, Mgarr marina is lovely, with clean toilets and showers, potable water and (for a fee) wifi. The next day, we ran through 10 euros in water charges by washing everything in sight. Then we retired to the balcony of Gleneagle's (apparently the go-to bar for locals, sailors and tourists) to soak up the view with an ice cold Cisk, the local beer. Later, we had dinner at the neighbouring restaurant "Sicilia Bella", where the food was truly Sicilian (i.e. delicious). During dinner, we enjoyed the company of a young couple from Cardiff (who were disappointed to have missed seeing the Neolithic temples at Ggantija but admitted they'd never taken the time to drive to Stonehenge!) and two young Maltese men who were seated at the tables adjacent to ours. We walked away pondering how often we cross paths with people whose company we enjoy but whom we will likely never encounter again.

On Monday, we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus and set out to see the island. The bus rolled along at what seemed to be breakneck speed, through narrow alleyways, under low stone archways and balconies, and past the fairy-tale spires of churches (including the one at Ta' Pinu shown in the cover photo). The scenery on the coast at Dwerja was gorgeous. In the island's largest town, Victoria (also called Rabat) we had lunch, bought a two-week data plan for Rick's phone (20 euros) and explored the Citadel. A highlight was a stop at the Neolithic temples at Ggantija, which date back to circa 3600 BC and are said to be the oldest freestanding stone structures on earth (probably about 1000 years older than Stonehenge). Remembering how badly Christopher and Katherine had wanted to see megaliths when they'd visited us in 2007, I wished they were there with us. Mind you, these megaliths don't, in my opinion, strike the same sense of awe as Stonehenge does, but it is still pretty amazing to stand in front of anything so ancient. Yesterday we left Mjarr and motored over to have a look at the Blue Lagoon off the neighbouring island of Comino. It was pretty, but too tight and crowded for us, so we continued on to St. Paul's Bay on Malta. We've got a large concrete jungle on the port side, and a smaller concrete jungle to starboard, but it's great to be at anchor, catching the breeze!

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Vessel Name:	Aisling I
Vessel Make/Model:	Slocum 43
Hailing Port:	Halifax, NS, Canada
Crew:	Rick and Bonnie Salsman
About:	Crew from Halifax to Horta: Bonnie and Rick Salsman, Dave Morse, Wally Fraser Crew from Horta to Spain: Bonnie and Rick Salsman, Al Salsman, Rob Salsman We left Halifax, N.S. in June 2007, sailed to Horta, and explored the Azores for a month. [...] More
Extra:	The info below is a copy and paste from some literature about the Slocum 43. Please excuse the platitudes. Although I may like them , they are not truly mine. Aisling I is a 1987 Slocum 43, designed by Stan Huntingford. She has been designed to satisfy the sailor who wants the blue water, "get [...] me there" ability with the amenities for great comfort at anchor and at sea. It's a combination of engineering, performance, comfort and safety, wrapped in high quality Burmese teak finish, teak and holly cabin soles and rich upholstery. She is meant to be easily handled by a couple under almost any conditions. She was built in Taiwan to exacting standards using some of the latest technologies of the time that are still admired today. LOA: 42'6" LWL: 35'10"" TYPE: Sailboat - Cutter Rigged BEAM: 12'11" DRAFT: 6' 5" BUILDER:SLOCUM DISPL: 28,104 lbs. SAIL AREA: 808 Sq.Ft. DESIGNER: Stan Huntingford BALLAST: 9,000 lbs. HULL MATRL: Fiberglass ENGINE: Perkins 4108 TANKAGE/FUEL: 120 gal TANKAGE/WATER:150 gal GENERAL INFORMATION: Naval Architect Stan Huntingford has incorporated into this sturdy double ender, both seaworthiness and ample interior space that offers steady and comfortable cruising. Below the water line, the hull shows a fine entry with a long cutaway forefoot followed by an efficient and modern keel section and a deep profile skeg hung rudder, just forward of a tapered stern section. This design combination readily separates the Slocum 43 from other traditional yachts and offers ease of handling and lively performance. This yacht is a perfect example of a classic offshore design and has a warm, roomy and comfortable interior . Incorporating a tumble home stern, bulwarks, dorades, opening ports, oversize rigging and quality construction, This yacht is a modern classic. ACCOMMODATIONS & LAYOUT: Headroom is 6'4" or better, throughout the boat and storage capacity can only be noted as "more than ample". Beautiful Burmese teak joinery throughout, solid teak staving , all doors are beveled and hand fitted, lockers are teak lined and the glossy varnished cabin sole is teak and holly plank. The interior is finished with a satin varnish with high gloss accents on the trim. Teak doors are louvered. This yacht sleeps up to six people in accommodations with the forward cabin, main salon and owners quarter berth cabin. The forward cabin design is a signature of the Slocum and incorporates an upper and lower twin bunk to port, with the top berth extending into a a settee and to port, there is extensive storage in the form of shelves, hanging locker, drawers and louvered doors. Naval Architect Stan Huntingford has incorporated into this sturdy double ender, both seaworthiness and ample interior space that offers steady and comfortable cruising. Below the water line, the hull shows a fine entry with a long cutaway forefoot followed by an efficient and modern keel section and a deep profile skeg hung rudder, just forward of a tapered stern section. This design combination readily separates the Slocum 43 from other traditional yachts and offers ease of handling and lively performance. This yacht is a perfect example of a classic offshore design and is one of the warmest, roomiest, most comfortable interiors available in a 43' cruising yacht. Incorporating a tumble home stern, bulwarks, dorades, opening ports, oversize rigging and quality construction, This yacht is a modern classic. Underneath the starboard countertop is a Stainless Steel automatic internal lighted freezer controlled by an opening top or door. Additionally, the refrigerator box opens from the front. The refrigerator and freezer have large capacity plates which were built to be easily removed for future servicing. There are 2-deep stainless steel sinks, fully gimbaled stove and generous counter space. Overhead cabinets have a moveable peg system, which allows you to custom fit spaces inside to the size and shape of your dishes. Over the galley is a large opening hatch for light and ventilation, also, there are two opening ports over the stove area for added ventilation. Directly across from the galley, to starboard, is a proper offshore, forward facing navigation station and chart table with tremendous room for an exceptional compliment of navigation and electronic equipment for easy use while navigating. The large nav table/desk has a generous storage locker under the desk top and room for the additional electronic navigation and communication equipment outboard. The nav seat is contoured for ease of use underway and the electrical panel is flush mounted here, on a swing-out door for easy access. Overhead are two additional opening ports for excellent cross ventilation with the galley and Nav area. Just aft of the nav station and to starboard of the companionway, is a large pilot berth that will be your favorite berth when offshore. There is a teak grate built into the teak and holly floor at the bottom of the companionway, to catch water from wet gear. With the wet locker and teak draining grate, which drains to the bilge, all foul weather gear is kept aft and away from the main living quarters. All locker doors are ventilated. At the bottom of the companionway stairs is additional storage behind bottom two steps. Next, to port is the owners aft cabin with a queen sized berth with storage below as well as drawers for him and her. Various shelves and locker with removable shelf and enclosed storage locker, as well as ample book storage and large teak framed mirror, mounted on the bulkhead. The aft stateroom also has excellent ventilation provided by two opening ports and an opening hatch overhead. There are 11 Stainless steel opening ports with screens and 5 opening deck hatches, plus the companionway hatch, with screens, which provides a tremendous amount of light and superior cross ventilation. There are also 2 dorade vents, one over the head and one over the chart table. Below deck ventilation far surpasses the standards in the industry. There are light colored curtains at the ports for privacy, interior cushions are a blue HULL AND DECK Hull hand laid-up Fiberglas with 20mm R62-80 Airex Sandwich. Cast iron ballast - 4.08 tonnes, flooded with resin and 100% glassed over ( encapsulated keel). Deck- hand laid-up Fiberglas with 3/4" Baltek balsa-wd sandwich core. Teak side decks - seasoned timber, quarter sawn with black bedding compound below and in seams, secured to Fiberglas by 1" sheet metal screws, countersunk and plugged. Inlaid teak on cabin top. 1 1/2" s/s shaft, tapered to ABYC std ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Conforms to United States Coast Guard and American Bureau Yachting regulations governing wire type, coding and load capacity FRP battery box, ventilated cover with quick release tie down NEWMAR (USA) electrical panel with panel light, circuit breakers with "ON" light and battery test switch, both 110v AC and 12v DC, volt Fuel tanks - New April2000, 120 gallons in 2 Aluminum 60 gal tanks with baffles, clean out ports, complete with dipsticks, inter tank connectors with valve, take off from top with s/s ball valve on each labeled and grounded More
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