Deborah and Ange have a bit of a schedule, which relies on night sails at various points en route to Greece. They didn't have a lot of experience with sailing in the dark, so we suggested heading straight for Elba from Le Grazie, leaving on Monday evening. We studied weather maps carefully, showing there would be a calm period around the middle of the night, bracketed by decent westerlies, before the arrival of a stronger wind midday Tuesday. A little rain could be expected, and zero swell. In considering the passage, remember that though Sarah loves night sailing, Pip does not enjoy it!

We found Porto Mirabello, in La Spezia, had a good fuel dock for diesel and petrol, and a chandler for the necessary new bulb for the bow lights. About 1430 we set off. Allowing time for sorting out the mainsail, we left from Isla Palmeria about 1530, having a great starting sail on a close reach in sun shine.

Overall it was a great ride, though Sarah had acute (acute!) sea sickness and was hors de combat for several hours. The zero swell forecast was inaccurate, as there was about 1m running from the westerly storm blowing on the far side of Corsica. Pip was heroic, spending hours on deck, especially crossing the busy shipping channels off Livorno with lots of busy lighted shipping testing her memory of the col regs and everyone's night sight. Picking our red or green lights in the blazing decks of cruise liners is always such fun, we find.

The weather did exactly as predicted, even to the short period of rain, save for the optimism about the swell. Passageweather did us proud. Ange, exploring the site found it now has a good mobile app which is really handy. Now, sitting in snug Portoferraio bay, there clearly is something of a hooley blowing out there.

Of course (this is cruising) we had some gear moments. Most annoying of all, at about 2300 the topping lift snapped with a great bang. There was no immediate harm as we had full sail up. The lazy jacks snapped in sympathy making reefing and handing the sail harder than it might have been, especially as it was a cloudy, dark night. Dawn came (slowly and late!) as we closed Elba and we made a neat arrival, dodging the ferries and finding an excellent anchorage in 10m of water.

A good shake down sail, and our first long sail on a catamaran in rough waters. Sarah is unlikely to fall in love with the motion but it is lovely to have so much space, and Pip didn't miss heeling. They're fast too: we were easily making 7.5 knots plus for much of the way.

After good snoozing, we're getting up slowly, preparing to hit the Portoferraio chandlers and hardware stores this afternoon. Really, the Medici Darsena here is one of the most beautiful anywhere.