Currently sailing, we're halfway in a 35 hour, 230 nautical mile passage from Propriano in Corsica to Mahon in Menorca. We're reaching along at 8 knots in a 15 knot sou'easter, it's a perfect day :) I thought it would be fun to write a 'before and after' blog (this being the 'before' section, but as I haven't yet set up our satellite connection we'll have to wait for 3G reception near land and post this along with the 'after' section). We're forecast a 30 knot northerly at midnight tonight which we're a little apprehensive about so the 'after' section will cover any ensuing drama. 

To give our time in Corsica a quick summary, it was Ok... we saw some great things in the first few days but as we headed up the west coast it was quite boring. Perhaps we're now too spoiled to appreciate our beautiful surrounds but you can't help to compare your current local with other more dynamic or spectacular places we've been. Possibly also adjusting to our new lack of wealth has taken the edge off things. We were in good company though because as we left Propriano the Maltese Falcon arrived which I believe is still the worlds longest sailing yacht, just shy of 300 feet!

We are now very much looking forward to our time in the Balearic Islands; Menorca, Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera. We'll spend out last month of summer there, can't quite believe we're through so much of the Med already. We recommend watching the Estrella Dam beer ad on YouTube as it's shot on a classic yacht in the Balearics and has us dreaming of the fantastic things ahead. It's a stunning ad and with an Aussie soundtrack to boot.

Before weighing anchor in Propriano we waited a couple days watching the weather, it wasn't a very easy passage to plan because we are going through 3 distinct weather 
pattens and we wanted to arrive in daylight. What we decided to do was leave 8pm in no wind, motorsail about the first 12 hours which we did before this lovely sou'wester we're currently enjoying arrived, then reach along as fast as possible and get a little bit of northing in so that we can ride the strong northerly sou'west into Mahon. We're sailing much faster than planned though so we may well arrive before sunrise, our instruments are currently quoting 5am.

The strong north wind in these parts (we're now firmly in the western Med) is called the Mestral or Tramontana and is a much feared wind that can reach gale force (50 knots) with little warning and blow for 3 to 7 days. Fortunately for us in the summer time it's normally weaker, fingers crossed. There is a period of calm forecast about one or two hours beforehand when the wind direction will shift, I think we'll be reefed down then!

On a quick aside for those interested we now have the MOST BRILLIANT weather app on our iPad called PocketGrib. It takes the grib files from SailDocs but the interface and presentation of the data is superb. We do use a variety of weather sources but none as convenient as PocketGrib.

Two funny things have happened on this passage so far, first the shackle on the top of our gennaker halyard failed so once again the gennaker went into the drink. Fortunately the busted shackle prevented the halyard falling back through the mast like last time, so although I had to climb the mast it was relatively easy to retrieve. Second I was trying to eliminate a creak in the boards under our bed when I unwitting laid a screwdriver against the flux compass used by our autopilot. Gosh the boat went wild and Mike called out from the cockpit that we'd just been hit by a 5 knot current and we couldn't hold our course, it took about 15 minutes before realizing what had happened! Ok a third thing just happened, an errant wave just soaked Mike in the cockpit :)

Auvoir for now and hola from Menorca shortly.