Brindabella

Vessel Name: Brindabella
Vessel Make/Model: Najad 405
Hailing Port: Suffolk Yacht Harbour, UK
Crew: Simon, Fiona and Daisy the dog!
About: Simon and Fiona had Brindabella built in Sweden before she was launched in 2009. They sailed her from Sweden back to Suffolk in the UK. They are now exploring the Mediterranean.
26 March 2024
23 March 2024
22 March 2024
21 March 2024
20 March 2024
19 March 2024
18 March 2024
30 October 2023
16 October 2023
14 October 2023
13 October 2023
12 October 2023
11 October 2023
05 October 2023
04 October 2023
02 October 2023
01 October 2023
Recent Blog Posts
26 March 2024

Marina d’Arechi

Position update: in Marina d’Arechi

23 March 2024

Salerno

Sunshine bathed the anchorage in the early morning when Daisy went for her walk. We left in calm and very low winds, so we motored all the way to Salerno. There was a lot of debris in the water such as bamboo and branches. I had to avoid a log which was attached to a floating upright tree!

22 March 2024

Baia del Buon Dormire

We left the anchorage at Centerio very gingerly, so as not to touch the shallow sandbar. It was a cloudy day, but the sea was calm. We saw two dolphins briefly approach the boat and then disappear. There are very few marinas along this part of the coast, so we planned to anchor at Palinuro, where we [...]

21 March 2024

Cetraro

While at Santa Maria we debated whether we should continue north or go to Tropea for a few days. There was settled weather for the next few days and strong winds forecast for next week. We needed very calm weather for the next two stops because we would be anchoring. If we stopped in Tropea, which is [...]

20 March 2024

Santa Maria

On Wednesday we had a good forecast for passing through the Strait of Messina. This is a narrow stretch of water between Sicily and mainland Italy. There can be strong tides here and it is better to have the tide and wind with you when making this passage. Unfortunately, the website that shows the current [...]

19 March 2024

Sicily – Riposto

The next stage of the cruise was from Siracusa to Riposto. It was a beautiful morning and very calm when we took the anchor up in the bay of Siracusa.

18 March 2024

Sicily - Siracusa

We had spent the weekend preparing Brindabella for the cruise. We got the sails up and fitted everything that we had removed for the winter layup. The cupboards and fridge were also filled with food and drink. By Monday morning, we were ready to set sail.

15 March 2024

Sicily - Marina di Ragusa

Today we were lifted back into the water for the weekend. We will spend a couple of days putting the sails up and provisioning for the cruise.

07 March 2024

Sicily - Marina di Ragusa

We arrived back at the boat on the 7th March and gave her a quick clean before being lifted into the yard on the 8th March. Fiona and I moved into a hotel for the week while the yard have been applying new antifoul and polishing the topsides.

30 October 2023

Sicily – Marina di Ragusa

We spent 12 days in Marina di Ragusa doing a mixture of visiting the sights of Sicily and working on the boat. The marina really started to fill up while we were there, and it is a popular over wintering spot. There were boats from many different countries including the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and [...]

Gijon to Ribadeo

19 July 2017
Gijon was an interesting town with attractive back streets around the marina. The drink of the region is cider and the town had many siderias. It's a non-fizzy cider but poured from a height into the glass to make it frothy.

The trip from Gijon to Ribadeo was eventful for all the wrong reasons. We attempted to leave on Monday. There was some light mist in the marina and no wind, so we motored out of the port and out to sea. After about an hour, thick fog descended. We normally put the radar on and continue in fog, but visibility was less than a boat length. If we had seen a fishing buoy it would have been too late to avoid it. Reluctantly we turned around and motored the hour and a half back to the marina.

We stayed in port on Tuesday as there was still fog around and set off again on Wednesday.

The trip on Wednesday was equally eventful. Within 15 minutes of leaving the marina, while putting Bella's life jacket on we heard a banging noise under the boat. We stopped the engine and out popped a fishing buoy from the back of the boat. We think it had caught on the propeller, but stopping the engine caused the blades to fold and it came loose.

We continued on and had a very large pod of dolphins swim with us and play in the bow wave for around an hour. At one point, there were about 20 with us and 8 swimming at the front of the boat. Bella was going mad - she loves to bark at them from the bow.

The wind started to build after about 6 hours into the trip, but it was a westerly and right on the bow so we were motor sailing. Then, for some reason, the motor stopped! We tried starting it again but it was not going to run.

We altered course to come off the wind slightly and put the jib out to get sailing properly - all be it pointing much too far out to sea. We then contemplated what to do. Do we continue for a further 8 hours tacking into wind or return for a 6 hour sail to Gijon?

Simon thought it was a fuel problem. Generally, a diesel engine does not run because of something in the filters causing a lack of fuel or air in the fuel. Simon bled the engine and saw some air coming out, so that was obviously the problem. The engine started first time and we were on our way again!

During the next 6 hours the wind and sea continued to grow to a force 6 occasionally gusting force 7. The harbour we were going into has a large and safe entrance but still the waves were very large coming in.

We were planning to anchor in the river but this was not possible given the swell, so we went into the small marina just below the town of Ribadeo.

The photo above is of Ribadeo.

Time: 12:00 hours Miles: 67nm Total Time: 210:00 hours Total Miles: 1,222nm
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Brindabella's Photos - Main
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Created 15 March 2024
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2012 cruise to the Atlantic Coast of France
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2 month cruise from Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Brest
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15 March 2024
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16 April 2023
102 Photos