This is a description of a
sailboat cruise that took place in the summer of 2008. (20-28th
August), with my sister and a couple of friends.
Last summer, when friends
were with us while sailing on a small sailboat, there was an idea for
the next summer to make a real cruise and spend a week sailing to the
Adriatic. That could have been one of a hundred ideas, one of those
that usually falls with coffee in the cafe, and it goes off before
the end of the winter when various business and social
responsibilities arise. But this time that was not the case, it
turned out that we were really interested in this idea and we really
did take it for realization. Searching the Internet, dreaming about
destinations, evaluating prices, contacting a skipper friend .. the
adventure started while still the snow was falling out.
We do the paperwork at the
reception, and the skipper shows us all the boat's systems and
relieves the ambiguities with patience. We add more water reserves.
The excitement grows when we decide to let go the moorings. Although
the friend Jordi and me are sailors and we have some experiences from
various trips and regattas with bigger crew, it is for the first time
that we take the full responsibility for such a boat. I hope we have
successfully hidden our anxiosity before of the departure.
Immediately in front of the marina we find a nice mistral wind. There
is no time for waiting, we have to try the sails. We sail to the
north-west of Ugljan hitting large waves while the excitement grows.
As night arrives, we estimate that we wont turn the cape of Ugljan
and we return to a small bay near Sutomiscica. The small boats that
we saw there before left, and left us almost a desert bay. We check
the depth and drop the anchor. As part of the evening bathing we
check the bottom. Weather forecast says it will be a quiet night. The
adrenaline because of the departure for the adventure that has floded
us for hours gradually disappears and gives way to total relaxation.
We are preparing a simple dinner, talking with wine in the cockpit
under the stars until late night.
The next morning, the rays
of the already high sunshine wakes us up through the portholes.
Unspoilt, warm, blue-green sea is waiting just for us. The morning
jump from the boat is a liberating spiritual experience. After
swimming and breakfast we will continue to sail further to the north.
When the mistral appeared, we opened the sails, although it was a
really weak. We pass between the island of Sestrunj and Molat towards
the Pantera bay on the island Dugi. The spacious, shallow bay recalls
a tropical atoll. We catch a buoy in the north-east part of the bay.
After bathing we go to the land to visit the lighthouse and the
populated place of Veli Rat. We enjoy walking and taking some
pictures, but it's really hot. We got quite dehydrated. Luckyly, we
find an open store, so we buy a lot of refreshing drinks. As we
walked we got hungry, so we decided to have dinner in a pizzeria.
While we ate and drank, we were caught by the darkness. And the way
to our boat was not very bright. On the asphalt it was not too
difficoult, but at the end we stumbled through the woods, tapped the
beach looking for our dinghy and deciphered the contours of the
sailboats without anchor lights (one of them was ours). However, we
have successfully found our Puntica and after all had a good laugh at
our little, late night, gourmet excursion.
The sailboat was an old but good Elan 33.
To be continued..
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