The next day we managed a few bits of sailing to give Steve and Tina an introduction to the white flappy things as we made our way through the narrower channel to the more northerly part of the Gulf. The marina had warned us that they rigorously enforced the 6 knot speed limit here and we did see someone stopped – lots of other high speed craft weren’t though.

Risan is a small town but has a reasonable anchorage – a scarce resource in the Gulf where depths are significant right up to the shore. We dropped anchor in about 13m with the wind gusting up past 15 knots. Chris stayed aboard Splice to monitor things whilst the others ventured ashore, inspecting the mosaics at the Roman Villa and doing some shopping. A restaurant was also visited and pronounced suitable for the evening meal that night.

Cattiva arrived, anchored nearby and issued an invitation to drinks aboard before our shore excursion. By evening the wind had dropped and we had a pleasant hour or so on their bow chatting and sampling the local wine which we found to be very good. With Chris asking questions about how they flew their spinnaker Grant then offered to bring their smaller kite aboard Splice the next day and give it a go. The offer was quickly accepted by the Skipper with the First Mate looking a little doubtful.

The meal that night in the place right on the quay at Risan was pleasant with very cheerful service and locally caught fish being a highlight.

The next day there was no wind so both crews sat around in shade drinking coffee and water in conditions that would soften metal – it was extremely hot (40 degrees plus) and the air was completely still. At last, around 10.30 the breeze started. Splice moored briefly alongside Cattiva and the sail was handed over with Grant and Lesley joining us onboard. As we motored up the waterway the wind was 6-7 knots, ideal for the trial. Steve was gaining confidence at the helm so he took the wheel as Grant worked with Chris on the foredeck and Lesley supported Carolyn on the sheets with Tina as official photographer.



The spinnaker flies on Splice - Photo credit:Tina

We had a good initial run down the gulf with the sail going up and down a couple of times using the ‘sock’ to douse the sail before dropping it (the ‘sock’ is a ring with a long bag attached to it which is pulled up to the top to free the sail and then down over the sail to compress it when you need to drop the spinnaker). By the time we had returned to the head off the Gulf to try again the wind had increased to 15 knots gusting 18. Not ideal for trying out new sails but with a big crew and Grants confidence we again hoisted and dropped a couple of time in the strong winds as we surged down the gulf at 7-8 knots. It was great fun but hard work dealing with the large sail in those winds. Even the First Mate agreed that, having tried one, we should now get one for Splice........ mind you, we will only fly it in lighter winds!!



The Anglo/Australian spinnaker flying team – Carolyn, Lesley, Grant, Chris and Steve - Photo credit: Tina

Many thanks to Grant and Lesley from ‘Cattiva’ for their willingness to demonstrate their kit and let us get a real feel for the process.

Main Photo: Cattiva anchored off the quay at Risan