A Long Slog to Paradise

The start of our sailing season was not the smoothest.  On the 6^th of June (two months later than our first sail of the season last year), we finally left the marina in Cagliari to set sail for Teurreda, a beautiful little bay we visited last October.  The wind was on the nose so we were motoring.  About an hour or two into the passage we noticed the engine was overheating quite badly.  Weighing all the options we decided we would have to return to the marina.  Fortunately the wind was in our favour on the return trip and we could sail and let the engine cool.  

Leaving Cagliari the first time

The next day Antonello, the mechanic, came to check out the motor.  Bob had done several checks the night before when we returned and there was nothing obviously wrong.  Antonello removed the heat exchanger cover (radiator) and the little tubes were filled with marine life.  They cleaned that up but when they checked the engine again it was still overheating.  Break for lunch then back at 5pm to test the thermostat.  The thermostat was fine.  After lots of head scratching, they decided to test the temperature sensor reading against the actual temperature of the coolant.  Problem identified.  The sensor was faulty and the engine was running fine all along.  This is an easy and relatively inexpensive fix.  We could pick up a new sensor at the Yanmar dealer in Menorca.

Bob was much relieved.  He brought out cold beers for everyone to celebrate and we chatted and joked using Google translate as the mechanics did not speak English and our Italian is limited to a few polite phases.  Antonello reminded us of Alfredo, the cinema owner, from the film Cinema Paradiso so we started calling him Antonello/Alfredo.  Antonello totally under charged for all his time and hard work so Bob gave him a bit extra and told him teasingly to use it for some hair restorer which brought on a big laugh.  It was a nice way to end our time in Cagliari.

The second departure - I thought I saw a puddy tat!

The next day, Saturday, we were up bright and early to head southwest to Teurreda Beach – once more with feeling.  We got there mid-afternoon, put down the anchor and I got on my wet suit for a swim.  Finally the first swim of the season.  The water was still chilly (at least for me) but fine with my shorty wet suit.  It was heaven to be swimming again in the crystal clear water.

Teurreda Beach

Sunset on a lovely day

However, by nightfall the blissfulness of being at the beach changed.  A big wind blew up.  We let out more chain.  I knew the anchor was well set as I always swim over it to check, but the 20-25 knot winds gusting to 30kts made Bob quite anxious.  We ended up spending most of the night in the cockpit doing anchor watch.  We have a GPS anchor alarm but Bob wanted to be on hand to react immediately if the anchor dragged.  Finally at about 4 am we went to bed for a few hours sleep. 

In the morning the wind was still strong but it looked a lot less malevolent in the daylight compared to the moonless dark night.  The wind eased a bit by mid-morning so we decided to sail on.  It was a rocky rolly trip under reefed sail but nothing worse than we have experienced before, but certainly not pleasant.  We arrived at Carloforte on the little island of San Pietro on the west coast of Sardinia.  We were there last October and found the place utterly charming and it did not lose any of its charm the second time around. 

 

The pretty back streets of Carloforte

We were planning to stay just one night in Carloforte and head out in the evening for our 200 nm, two nights and 1 1/2 day sail to Mahon, Menorca in the Balearic Islands.  However the winds looked slightly better to leave Tuesday.  It didn't take much convincing to have an extra day in Carloforte.

We left Carloforte at about 6pm on Tuesday the 11th for the 38 hour passage to Mahon, Menorca. 

The first night was fine but quite cold.  The winds were good and we could sail.  We do shifts with the watches.  I tend to go to bed around 10pm then get up around 2pm for my night watch until around 6 am.  Then Bob takes over while I get a few more hours of sleep then Bob will take an afternoon nap and so it goes.  

Rough sea state rounding the top of Carloforte

The sea state was quite rocky rolly on this passage and I couldn't sleep very well.  With the boat rocking and rolling there isn't much to do other than hold on and pass the time as best one can.  We have a bluetooth speaker for the cockpit and listen to music or talking books or read but sometimes reading can make me a bit queasy if the seas are too rough.  This passage was a bit of a test of endurance.  We arrived in Mahon about 8 am on the 13th.  We moored up on a floating pontoon in the harbour and got a few hours sleep.

Sunset on the first night

Frozen by morning

Entrance to Mahon harbour

We went ashore for an hour or so in the evening for a quick look around and were looking forward to exploring the town the next day.  However Mother Nature had other ideas.  A big wind blew up in the morning and we could not go ashore.  By the late afternoon the winds had calmed enough so we could go ashore.  However our explorations of the town were postponed as the priority was to get a part for the motor at the Yanmar dealer which was a taxi ride of several kilometres from the waterfront.  Once this task was completed we decided to walk back through some of the old town.  

We came across this parade on a small side street - Boy scouts? children group of some sort?

Mahon harbour

Mahon is a lovely town.  In typical Spanish custom the town comes alive between 6-9pm.  It is a great time to sit at an outdoor cafe having a drink and tapas.  We did this at a little cafe opposite a square filled with families enjoying the evening.  Then we moved on and found an even nicer street corner near a beautiful old church and had another tapas and drink while people watching.  Then 200 metres further on we came across an old converted fish market which had the most amazing tapas.  We couldn't resist and had a third tapas.  It was a great way to finish our short visit of Mahon.  We wish we could have stayed longer in Mahon but then we would have turned into one enormous tapas!

 

 

 

 

Who could resist?

The next day we left very early for an 11 hour passage to the nice harbour of Porto Colom in Mallorca.  After the big wind the day before the seas were really rough and the wind was right on the nose so we had to motor.  We were making very little head way bashing into the waves.  Waves were breaking over the bow and washing down the deck. If we couldn't make up time we would arrive at Porto Colom after dark - something we never want to do is arrive in a strange harbour in the dark.  We were checking wind predictions and other harbours we could go to, if needed.  We had to decide at some point whether or not to turn back.  Fortunately the winds eased by 2pm and we decided to continue on but the seas were still pretty rough.   

 

 

 

Bashing through the waves with the wind on the nose

We managed to make Porto Colom by about 6.30 pm - several hours before dark.  We moored up to a buoy, lowered the dinghy and went straight into town to the supermarket as we needed supplies for our 4 days at Cabrera national park.

The calm of Porto Colom at moonrise

On the next day, Sunday the 20^th, we left mid-morning for the little island cluster of Cabrera just south of Mallorca.  This was made into a marine park in the 1990’s and it is necessary to book ahead for permission to stay there.  There is no anchoring and all boats must be on designated buoys. 

In contrast to the previous two passages, we had one of our best sails ever from Porto Colom to Cabrera.  It was delightful.  The winds were just right and the seas moderate.

What a difference a day makes - perfect sailing

So for four days we swung on a buoy in a beautiful harbour of crystal clear water looking up to a 14th Century castle amongst rugged hills.  Paradise at last.

The anchorage at Cabrera (Songster is the blue boat on the top right)

 

We’re Back in the Water!

After over a month ‘on the hard’ in a rather grubby boat yard (and that is being generous), climbing a 10 foot ladder to get on and off the boat and having limited plumbing facilities, we have finally launched Songster and are back in the water.  Mind you, we have only gone a few hundred metres onto a pontoon in the marina but there is water under the keel and we have an occasional gentle rocking motion onboard and our spirits have soared.

Songster ready to be lowered into the water

Celebrating our first night on the water with an Aperol Spritz

 The delay on the hard was part of the ongoing saga with our propeller.  When we got the new engine in 2015, we were told we were slightly under-propped and, although not essential, should get a slightly bigger propeller (2’’ larger).  We did this the next year and really had no end of issues with it.   For the first four months the propeller sang.  It drove us nuts.  It was so noisy and would sing different pitches (a 5 note pentatonic scale like a gamelan orchestra) depending on the revs of the engine.  After a bit of trial and error we fixed the problem permanently by putting a chamfer on the trailing edge to stop the vortices which produced the harmonics.  (A temporary fix is to let little sea creatures populate the blades, thus interfering with the vortices.  This happened when we were in Skiathos harbour but the problem returned once the propeller was cleaned).

Although the propeller gives us lots of thrust, it also produces lots of drag while sailing. Now that we are planning to cross the Atlantic we really do not want to have the anchor like drag on the boat with this propeller.  So we decided to get a folding or feathering propeller which reduces drag so that we theoretically can go about 1 knot faster under sail.  On a long passage of say 2-3 weeks this will cut several days off the voyage.  So we ordered a beautiful Flexofold propeller from Denmark.  Sadly it did not fit our propeller shaft.  We sent the propeller back to Denmark – Thank you Flexofold for being so helpful.

Ah what might have been.....

Blades folded when under sail

 We started talking with other propeller manufacturers in England and Germany.  After lots of emails and phone calls we discovered that our propeller shaft was never machined properly and we must get a new or re-machined shaft.  We spent several weeks trying to get the job lined up here in Sardinia to no avail.  We concluded that there just is not the expertise or inclination or available time for anyone to do the work.  Plus none of the mechanics speak any English and it is just too dicey to try and do such technical things through Google translate.  So we have cut our losses and put the old propeller back on and will get the work done at a bigger and better equipped marina in Spain.

We have lined up Almerimar Marine services to deal with our propeller shaft in July

We have not been totally idle while on the hard but outside of doing research on propellers, I must admit we have been very relaxed.  We have taken long walks admiring the street art along the canal and spring flowers.

 

 

 

  

Another day we went in search of the flamingos in the salt pans east of the city.

Flamingos feeding in the salt pans

A close up

A large flock flying overhead.  They struck me as being like large geese.

We checked out the Omani training ship which was in port for a few days.  The Shabab Oman II, is made as a traditional square rigged ship tall ship but build in 2013.  It was a lovely ship and when one of the officers found out we had a sailing boat ourselves gave us a special tour showing us the helm and other places. 

The Shabab Oman II

Bob and I at the wheel

Then to assauge the guilt of being totally slack, I finally got around to servicing the winches, a task I had been putting off too long.  It is a messy job but I quite enjoyed it.  I gowned up to protect myself from the grease and felt like I was back in the AIDS lab.

The inside of the winch ready for disassembly, cleaning, re-greasing and re-assembly

Gowned up and cleaning the bits in diesel

In a few days we will leave Sardinia and make the 40 hour passage to the Balearic Islands in Spain.  Hola Espana!