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. |
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!
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 [...]
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