summertime goes south

13th June: San Remo to Imperia
Again we had wind and waves against us, so we diverted to the grandly named Imperia. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision as soon after we moored there were two substantial thunderstorms with plenty of lightning and torrential rain. Better to be safely tucked up in harbour than out at sea! Late in the afternoon another yacht arrived with its orange spinnaker flying from the top of the mast. The strong wind made it impossible to control and they tried mooring but couldn’t control the yacht in close quarters. After going round the harbour the eventually snagged the sail on another boat’s superstructure , which ripped the sail and eventually allowing them to moor alongside and eventually drop the sail. An expensive afternoon.
Imperia is a rather faded town although some of the villas facing out to sea were impressive. We found a nice restaurant busy with the local population enjoying the evening after the afternoon rain.
The next morning it rained again but by 11.00 it had cleared so we cast off at 11.10 heading for Loana.

14th June: Imperia to Loano
A testing sail as the wind built in the afternoon but this time from the south-west giving us a downwind sail with a following sea.
Loano is a very nice resort town with some charming narrow streets in the old town. We found another nice family run restaurant with excellent seafood.
On our first evening we came across an organised concert on the seafront given by an ensemble of some 30 small children playing ukuleles. To enthusiastic applause they gave a wonderful rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’, in Italian. Absolutely charming but a little bizarre.