Mirabella
| Vessel Name: | Mirabella |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Hallberg-Rassy 400 |
| Hailing Port: | Suffolk Yacht Harbour, UK |
| Crew: | Simon, Fiona and Daisy the dog! |
| About: | Simon and Fiona had Mirabella built in Sweden and launched in the South of France in 2025 where they continue their exploration of the Mediterranean. Prior to then, they sailed Brindabella, a Najad 405 also built in Sweden which they sailed for 16 years. |
18 April 2025
Le Grazie
At lunchtime, after buying some cockles for Pasta Vongole, we left La Spezia and returned to anchor at Le Grazie. There was little wind, some sunshine and miraculously no swell. We anchored and had a peaceful afternoon and evening. Ashore near the little church, there was a Good Friday church service [...]
13 April 2025
La Spezia
The forecast showed that the weather was worsening and we were going to get some heavy rainfall for the next few days. Therefore, on Sunday, we travelled the short distance to the marina in the city of La Spezia. We would have more to do in the city and could dodge the rain showers as necessary. We arrived [...]
11 April 2025
Le Grazie
We had breakfast ashore at Santa Margherita and picked up some fruit and bought a squeaky soft chicken toy for Daisy! It was another calm day, with sunshine and we motored to Le Grazie. We have been here several times before and knew a good spot to drop the anchor. The first night we went ashore for [...]
10 April 2025
Santa Margherita Ligure
In the morning we called into Delta to collect our life raft which had been sent on to us from Sweden. After getting a bit of shopping, we were out on the water again, heading for Santa Margherita. It was a beautiful day, calm and sunny. We saw a large trawler which had seagulls following it and following [...]
09 April 2025
Varazze
We left Sanremo at first light at 7pm. The sea was very calm and so we motored most of the way. It was sunny and warm. Halfway during the journey, we rounded a small private island. The water seemed to be busy with small fish and we saw some small fins showing out of the water. It became evident that [...]
03 April 2025
Sanremo
We needed to visit Sanremo to complete the import process for our yacht. It was also the first major marina after leaving France. The process took longer than expected and we were in the port for 6 days. For many of those days, the wind was blowing from the east (the direction we are heading), so were [...]
31 March 2025
Port de Nice
After 3 nights at Antibes, we moved on to Port de Nice. Port de Nice has a few separate areas for yachts. There is one area for super yachts, one for normal yachts and a section for smaller day boats. There is not a dedicated visitors area in the marina, so you need to phone ahead to check they have [...]
26 March 2025
Île Sainte-Marguerite
We left Port Fréjus after filling the tanks with fuel and motored out to Île Sainte-Marguerite. There are two islands there, just off the coast of Cannes. Between the islands is a great place to anchor.
Mirabella
The plan was to have her transported to Varazze in Italy, where we had left Brindabella and our items in storage in Genoa. On the 6th March, 2025, the truck from Germany collected her from the yard in Ellös, Sweden. However, as with anything to do with boats, you can have an outline of a plan, but what happens varies a lot. This was to be the case with our delivery. Unfortunately, our transport company was not granted a permit to drive from France to Italy! We needed to find somewhere to unload the yacht in France, and it was already on its way.
These things normally take weeks to plan, but we had just 2 days. Fiona and I then spent a frantic day phoning and visiting yards in the South of France to find one capable and available to unload and rig the yacht. Eventually, we struck gold with Chantier Naval Port Fréjus. They unload and rig many yachts each year. When they asked when we needed this doing and I replied two days' time, after the initial shock, they said yes!
The yacht arrived at the port overnight on the Thursday and when Fiona and I got back to the yard early Friday morning, the truck was already waiting there.
During the day they got the windscreen on, stanchions up and pulpit assembled and lifted her into the water.
Over the weekend, we started to unpack things and get ready for the mast to be rigged. Staff from the yard were very proficient and got the mast rigged and sails on during Monday.
Fiona and I spent the next few days both preparing Mirabella and driving to Genoa to collect our items from storage. By Wednesday, we were ready to depart for Italy.
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28 March 2025
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15 March 2024
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