Mo and I returned to Fuga in Cagliari on 27th April. Fuga had spent the winter ashore at the Marina del Sole boatyard, while we had been away visiting New Zealand. We had also delayed in the UK because of problems with my knee that needed physiotherapy to sort out. Our first task was to find a ladder, and the second to wash down some of the extensive sand brought by the rain, to avoid walking it down below. Otherwise, Fuga was aok, the batteries well charged, and dry under the saloon's canvas cover.
We took two weeks before we were ready for the water. The rudder needed some repairs, probably as a result of the anchor swinging incident at the end of last season. We antifouled, and we polished the topsides not once, but twice, having tackled some of the gelcoat repairs to the bow and stern caused by anchor and dinghy respectively. During this time we hired a car for a few days, and took the opportunity to lay in some stores at Lidl and Eurospin.
Gradually we became more ensnared with the social side of Marina del Sole, including a barbecue that Gary organised. We soon met John and Mo on Ocean Star, also in the yard with us, who were very welcoming: there continued to be quite a lot of confusion caused by the duplication of names! Brian on Chinook returned to do the jobs without the benefit of Deborah's help; she had stayed in Canada to help her mother move. Quite a surprise was the arrival of Colin in Willem2 (last seen in Lagos), crewed by Gary and Dave from MdeS.
Once back in the water we turned to the rest of the jobs list. Some of these were important. The sails went away for a service repair, the boom vang was re-riveted to the boom, we checked the rig, changed the fuel filters (I confess for the first time since La Rochelle). The rudder was found to be very stiff in the yard, almost unusable, and this had caused us difficulty in getting into our berth. Assuming this to be due to dried out sea life, the solution devised was to inject acid into the rudder stock, sluice it out with water, and follow up with vegetable oil. This worked well. With Max's help, we tracked down a new 5.5 m long zip, which Mo fitted to the lazy drop system.
Everything was beginning to look good, when I (think I) managed to get bitten on the leg by some unknown creature. Although initially of no consequence, this caused a fever within hours, and gradually as this came under control, I recognised that the leg was probably to be blame. The leg then 'blew up' with what aspired to be a similar problem to that experienced in Croatia, so we had to go off to Pronto Sicorso at the hospital and wait our turn while the ambulances rolled up with cases more deserving of their attention. Eventually we came away with a prescription, and the infection was brought under control, and Mo agreed we could go sailing.
We eventually got away early on Friday afternoon, having originally planned to be away on Thursday afternoon! We made a quick tour of the harbour, then set off for Nora. We negotiated our way between two massive US Navy fleet auxilliaries laden with all kinds of gear, and wondered what George was up to as his finale. We found Ocean Star anchored close in to a pleasant looking beach at Porto d Agumu, about a mile south west of Cap di Pula. Anchoring close by, we were soon celebrating our freedom, although in Ocean Star's case this was marred by worries over their leaking gearbox.
Saturday and Sunday were deemed by the two Mo's to be rest days with the intention of rehabilitating my leg still further. Mo, alias Nurse Gladys, tried massage to improve the circulation. On Sunday, we took Fuga's dinghy over to Nora so that John and Mo (Ocean Star) could explore the Roman remains, while I sketched the scene with a view to painting it in the afternoon. Sometime after lunch, Ocean Star set off to return to Cagliari, and take advantage of a reasonable breeze, although this turned out to be more of a beat than they had bargained for.
There was very little wind, but it did begin to fill in from the east as we set off around midday for the 15nm to Malfontana. As it transpired, as we rounded Capo Spartivento, the wind freshened and had we not been running, and going further, it would have been necessary to reef. We anchored off the beach at the eastern end of the bay, but this gave us very little respite from the wind which funnelled down the valley and off the beach at the head of the inlet. An HR called Moya was anchored there before us sporting the Welsh flag but no visible ensign. We later learnt that they had been in Cagliari.
The wind howled all night, and Willie the wind generator was kept busy resulting in slightly less of an ampere hour deficit than usual. It was not going to be a pleasant balmy day at anchor, so we decided we would move on. We left the anchorage, set our small blade jib, and enjoyed the F5 easterly wind which drove us along at around 6 knots. We stayed with this rig, and were only forced to motor when the wind dropped out as we reached the end of the journey, rounding the top of Isola di Sant Antioco. The initial plan was to anchor off Calasetta, but at this point the wind swung around to the NW making this seem unwise. We were unsure from our pilot how good the 'Porto Turistico' is: certainly some of the works referred to in our edition (2002) appear to be completed, but the depths looked marginal for Fuga. Having drawn a blank in the commercial fishing harbour (there is a strike of fisherman protesting against the price of fuel) we decided to take the known safe option and head for Carloforte. There we berthed in marina Sifredi, and went ashore to pay our dues. Mo decided we could have a drink in view of the long day, most welcome.
Mo organised the chicken from last night for soup, and did some washing, after which we went shopping. It was drizzling from time to time. We returned the supplies to the boat, and set off again for some exercise, calling on Kiwi Time who were berthed opposite. Steve was puzzling over a rough running diesel engine, but declined my offer to help remove the injectors. Carloforte was as nice as we remember it, though very quiet at lunch time. There is active development to make the place even more attractive to the tourist. After lunch, we filled with water, and set off for the anchorage which we had used on our last visit to these parts. The wind was going to be negligible, we hope and the bay would give us shelter, and avoid paying out for another night in the marina. Mo set about the vegetables to make a batch of soup, while I set about updating the web site.
Once again, we endured a less than ideal anchorage. The remains of a south easterly swell were coming into the bay, but we were lying to a south westerly wind that meant that we rolled around quite severely. As usual, there was loud creaking that kept us awake. In the morning I went in pursuit of the creaks, only to find that what we had been enduring (for 5 years!) was simply movement between the closed door between the heads and the forward cabin, and easily resolved with a sock jammed in it! We were promised a westerly or north westerly breeze, and this began to fill in after breakfast as we weighed anchor. The rhum line was too near to a dead run for comfort, and so we steered above our required course to ensure that the sails pulled us along nicely without slatting. As we prepared to alter eastwards at the southern end of Isola San Antioco, we noticed a patrol boat approach one of the yachts ahead, and switched on the VHF. We were all required to sail south around the military exclusion zone: this would add miles to the trip. The wind freshened gradually during the day, and we were sailing along nicely, however. When we at last got to the final corner, and started to head almost due north in a close reach, we were obliged to put in a reef to the main and roll down the jib. This made little difference to our hectic rush through the water, and Mo would have preferred another reef in the main. As usual, she was probably right. We arrived at the anchorage at Malfontana to find several boats there. Trying to anchor on sand, our initial spot put us a bit too close to a boat called Snoopy, so we moved only to upset some people on a Swiss boat because we fell back on our chain directly ahead of them, and over their anchor, they said. They wanted to leave in the morning. We seemed to continue to exchange filthy looks for some time, but I could not see what their problem was. Also anchored there was an Irish yacht, >Aldebaran, with whom we had had some radio contact. They were en route from Sicily to Majorca, on the final stages of a 9 year circumnavigation.
The wind persisted all night, and we suffered from lack of sleep. In the morning, it died down for a while, and had shifted more to the north. The Swiss announced their desire to leave, with much whistling and hollering. My reaction was to tell them to leave, and to fend off if they became too close. In the event, their anchor broke out when they were at least a boat's length away from us. Mo was a little cross, because I tried to suggest to them that they might enjoy a visit to UK rivers with tidal waters and our congestion. We decided to stay put and take it easy. I launched the dinghy, and intended a swim, but found the indicated 19C was too cold to my taste: this is worse than the UK in May! I was immersed in a book when Mo enquired whether Aldebaran had re-anchored, as she was now much closer. On investigation, I was forced to admit that the Rocna had dragged for the first time in its life, and we laid out more chain and took a new transit. Later, I mounted the outboard, and went over to Aldebaran for a chat. Pat and Olivia were most hospitable, and I enjoyed a drink with them while we talked about their experiences.
The wind was still quite fresh, so we set out from the anchorage at 1300 hours, and set the jib only. We were able to make good progress with the westerly F4/5 wind, and arrived off Pula at 1600 hours. We anchored and settled down. Ocean Star sent a text to say that they would not after all be making it, as the wind in the marina was still quite strong. Later, a NE swell started into the bay where we were anchored, as if from nowhere. Eventually, when it did not die down, we motored over to the northern corner of the bay and tried to tuck in close to the beach behind the point and island off. This worked, and we enjoyed a relatively peaceful night, apart from the loud music from the beach bar opposite.
There was very little wind to start with, so were in no particular hurry. John on Ocean Star confirmed that they intended to join us at Vilasimius. We set off from the anchorage at around 1100 hrs, and enjoyed winds that were predominantly from the W/SW although as advertised they gradually backed to towards the S. We enjoyed a very pleasant sail and arrived at Vilasimius and anchored outside the marina at 1600 hrs. We were slightly surprised not to see Ocean Star there ahead of us, but eventually they showed up and anchored nearby. There was much amusement at the expense of our Swiss friend from Mafontana, who appeared to be very anxious about all comings and goings. We had to put up with some naff beach music, but it died down in time for us to enjoy drinks in the cockpit.
We had a pleasant and relaxing day, taking the dinghy into the marina to go ashore for a while in the hope of purchasing a phone card. We had a look at the shops, and sat and had a drink in the port bar. Afterwards, John picked up some petrol for the dinghy and had a second swim (third this year) before going to Ocean Star for supper. The following day, we got our bikes out and ferried all four ashore. We cycled up to Vilasimius village, about 2km from the marina. There we found the required phone recharge cards, and had another relaxing drink at a street cafe. On the return trip, we picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables from a van beside the road. Ocean Star left Thursday morning for the east coast: we had enjoyed their company and took turns to cater. On Thursday afternoon, the Guardia Finanzia came up in a heavily manned launch and told us to move away from the marina entrance as we were too close. Large motor boats had happily been in and out, and none of the marina staff had approached us during the course of our four days there, but you cannot argue. We picked up our anchor and set off to another beach across the bay. This proved somewhat rolly, unfortunately, despite the settled weather and very light winds.
We got ourselves moving reasonably early, and set off for Cagliari. Unfortunately there was no wind, so we had to motor the whole way. We filled up our tanks with diesel, a painful process with fuel prices at an all time high of 1.60 a litre. That afternoon we borrowed the marina car, and did the rounds of Eurospin, Lidl and Auchan to replenish our wine and spirits stores, and take on loads of milk and orange juice. Our friends on Chinook and Willem 2 were still in the marina, as were all the old faithfuls. We had a very enjoyable social interlude, but this meant a delay to our departure until Monday 23rd, as we were too hung over with the late nights.