Swallow's adventures

After four days of obsessively studying Windyty in Castelsardo we set off for Bonifacio on Saturday 9th September 2017 at 0845; luckily we managed to fuel up, expensive though at 1.58 euros per litre! There were a few black clouds but no rain had been forecast; apparently this was an unusually bad September, weather wise- just our luck. The predicted wind was a southerly of 10 knots but we had a Force 1 of WSW and, at 1000, misty rain, lovely! Consequently the genoa was barely filling and then an hour later we got hit by a really nasty squall with a massive swell which was pretty scary; Paul had to go on deck to try and reef the main while I kept Swallow pointing into the wind- not easy when you’re getting corkscrewed around all over the place- this is not my favourite part of sailing! We were so out of control in the end that Paul decided to drop the whole sail and we then carried on downwind with the genoa on a dead run ( the wind directly behind us); the wind eased half an hour later but the white horses were still galloping behind us, then the sun came out- and breathe! Now was a good time for Paul to raise our French courtesy flag. When we were 10 miles off Corsica and approaching the start of the Bonifacio Straits the waves got bigger. This is a beautiful mountainous coastline and Bonifacio is hidden by stunning, eroded limestone cliffs, we could see the old town on top of the cliff; the deep narrow harbour is situated in a slit in the cliffs with the fort and citadel high up on one side; the citadel is so well fortified that in the fifteenth century the inhabitants successfully defended their city against Aragonese attack without troops or artillery. Our 37 mile passage ended at 1615 and we had little help from the marinaros tying up; luckily a kind Frenchman took the lines from me, it was so bouncy. Many superyachts berth here and so far, at 55 euros a night, Bonifacio has been the most expensive marina we have been to with the worst facilities and unhelpful staff; our budget was to suffer here- weather conditions determined that we were here for seven nights, ouch!

The following morning winds of 30 knots, gusting 45 knots, funnelled in towards us and there was a real chop in the harbour. We had to remove the anchor as we were pushed hard against the quay; there were three men helping us push the boat back to tighten up the stern lines (fellow yachtsmen are generally very helpful)- we were sitting ducks basically as every yacht that came in missed us by inches, it was so nerve wracking; we thought: what on earth were they doing out in predicted winds like that in the first place? This continued for four days and I was like a mearcat , popping my head up every time I heard an engine; on our last day another yacht did bash our outboard engine which is bolted on to our push pit, luckily no serious damage though.

On the plus side this place has fantastic sunsets and a wonderful medieval town set within a fortress which, although has seen so much conflict, maintains so much of its’ original structure and features such as tiny winding alleyways, churches, look out towers and sheer walls looking down to the crashing waves below ; this is a town not destroyed by tourism- the tiny shops and restaurants, serving wonderful French cuisine, are nestled into its’ original fabric; the inhabitants here, and on Corsica in general ,are slightly aloof but this adds to the charm! We also made some new friends here: Juan and Mariela from Buenas Aires and Kellie, Nicky and Jonathan , with whom we had a very entertaining evening aboard Boomerang, having a ‘ sing-off’ with a French boat, their line dancing put our rendition of Chiquita to shame!

On 15 September 2017 the winds had settled down earlier than predicted and so we made a snap decision to leave Bonifacio at 1300; Juan helped us with our lines and we departed our berth; there was quite a swell in the harbour entrance but once away from there we had a good breeze and east going current which took us for 17 miles around Iles Lavezzi and Cavello towards Rondinara, another stunning anchorage where we enjoyed an early evening swim; we felt a massive sense of relief to have negotiated this infamous stretch of water without any drama. Rondinera had beautiful, crystal clear water; bright green bushes lined the sandy beach and very few buildings were visible along the attractive undulating coastline; it was so peaceful here, there were a few strong gusts but the holding was really good and so we had a restful night. The next morning a force 3 NNW wind filled our genoa and took us speedily further up the east coast towards our destination of the Golfe de San Ciprianu; this is a beautiful cruising area, so unspoilt. We sailed past the nature reserve of the Isles Cerbicales ; all around us was the stark landscape of sandstone, spotted with dark red, and evergreens; there were a few scattered villages that blended into the scenery so well that you could hardly pick out the houses. As we rounded the Pointe de la Chiappe the wind died and so the engine took us the last few miles, we arrived at our anchorage at 1400 and had a very relaxing afternoon. On Sunday morning we awoke to a squall of 20 knots winds and a big fetch of white water; again we were holding well and Paul decided to let out some more chain, which isn’t easy in those conditions as we do not have an electric windlass- needs to be added to the wish-list I think! The afternoon was perfectly still and we watched two red and yellow firefighting sea planes practising their water bombing techniques- luckily not over us. We were sorely tempted to set off for Giglio, a Tuscan island 80 miles away, but decided to wait until after dark so that we could maximise our daylight hours, especially as the nights were getting longer now; heavy rain was forecasted for the following night and didn’t look to be improving all week so we figured it was a good idea to leave that night as planned. We knew that the winds would be strong when we left but Windyty had promised a lull further up the coast and across to Giglio. So, with the lee cloth ready in place for the night watches, we waited for a lull in the wind to weigh the anchor and set off at 1830. Note to self- never again interpret Windyty so literally, it is only a forecast after all! A few hours in we kept thinking soon the conditions will get better but the wind behind us just got stronger and the swell got bigger, we were totally out of control; tempers were frayed and the tension was tight, we couldn’t agree on a plan of action ( for the non-sailors amongst you, you could compare it to being lost in the car and the man won’t stop and ask for directions- that kind of disagreement); Bob couldn’t cope either (he’s our auto-helm; everyone else seems to have named theirs so we’ve joined in- after Henry Bob, our grandson!) Eventually, after admitting defeat and heading back to Corsica, we arrived at Solenzara at 0130; there are not many safe havens along this stretch of coast and the pilot book recommends against entering this particular marina in the dark; there are lots of rocks and shoal water close to the entrance so we really were guided by just our chart plotter and the cardinal light- I was at the bow trying to keep a lookout, it was all pretty confusing; once inside we couldn’t figure out where visitors were supposed to go so we tied up alongside the fuel berth, in the morning we realised we had a massive pile of rocks behind us which we had narrowly missed. The plus side to all of this was that the fuel berth had electricity and water and nobody knew we were there all night so it was free. Of course now we’d missed our weather slot for the Tuscan islands so we decided to head further up the eastern coast of Corsica so that we could have a much shorter passage across to Elba, neither of us fancied a night sail anytime soon after that experience. This 30 mile journey was a total contrast, brilliant sunshine and next to no wind so we motored up to Port de Taverna with the genoa barely filling. Time to relax after last night’s ordeal and enjoy the beautiful scenery of dark red and green hills backed by the mountain ranges with cumulus clouds above them which resembled flying saucers; we saw a solitary dolphin and overhead a mirage and a super etendard were flying along the coast, there is a long military airstrip here. We spotted lots of little inlets along the way, called etangs, and also sandy, uninhabited beaches which were glistening in the sunshine. Suddenly Bob decided that he wanted to go in the opposite direction- the exact reciprocal of our set heading; it took us fifteen minutes, after studying the manual in detail, to suss out what had happened- I had tucked our insect curtain, which has a magnetic closure, against the wardrobe which housed the flux compass . With four miles to go the rain started so at 1645 we were relieved to finally reach the marina, with the help of lots of hand signals the marinaro managed to find us a berth which had the mooring lines actually attached to the bottom. This marina, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, was a bit soulless although the local boat owners were friendly. We had a very mediocre meal in the restaurant and all the staff had that blank, Corsican expression on their faces. They told us that there was not a shop for miles but we headed off on a brisk walk through the woods, stopping for a coffee/ hot chocolate en route, and found a well-stocked Utile 2km away in Prunette. That night there was a pretty dramatic thunder storm above us, we were relieved to be here. In a couple of days’ time we would be crossing the Tyrrhenian Sea for the Tuscan island of Elba; we’re really excited to be bound for Italy again.