Today - hard to remember it's only Wednesday - we awoke to the Bura's continuing fiendish howls. But the forecast suggested it would finally blow itself out by midday. And indeed it did - so at 1300 we set off for Marina (see the explanation with the photographs!). The wind was westerly now, yet again bang on the nose, but as we rounded the point hoping to run down to Marina under sail, the wind died - from 30 knots to zero in two hours!
We arrived in Vinisce yesterday afternoon wet and tired. Today has been a welcome and delightful interlude. All the more so because the "Bura" did finally arrive. Normally it brings clear sunny skies, as it did today. If it brings rain then you absolutely must run for cover. But even in its mildest form it is no joke, largely because it is so squally with gusts over 30 knots from a literally clear blue sky.
It was such a delight to get back onboard the old "Dream of Osprey" on Saturday evening. She lives in Sukosan near Zadar, so I bought a bus ticket to get me from Trogir back to Sukosan at 11 o'clock. Half an hour later - no bus! I asked the lady at the ticket desk. " you wait. I don't know if it's late". When it came, half an hour later, it was a lovely bus and got me there by 3 o'clock! David my co-owner handed our boat over in pristine shape and Angus and Mark, my crew, arrived promptly at 1030pm, off the Ryanair flight.
Well, I'm finally on the bus to Sukosan at Trogir bus station after an hour's wait in the hot sun: bits of the Croat bureaucracy never change!
So it's now a three hour trip on country roads, after a successful two days making sure the Historic Croatia Rally preparations are all in place. Over coffee with Ivica Bubke of Dalmatia Charters, we checked the charter arrangements. He is going to fix up berths for Steve Midgley on 9/10 September. And Anamaria at the Calebotta confirmed our menus (thank you to all, for providing your choices!).
And Antoni of the Lucullus restaurant confirmed arrangements for the transfer from Palmizana marina to Hvar. So, so far so good, and Trogir looks as beautiful as ever!
The Anniversary Channel Island Cruise with our Corinthian friends turned out to be a magnificent occasion for meeting the Clubs Honorary Port Officers.
A grand total of 8 HPOs joined the cruise and the festivities:
Magali Hamoun - Cherbourg; David Clements - Dart River; John Davison - West Mersea & Blackwater;
David Mitchison - St Peter Port, Guernsey; Brian Alderson - Jersey; Larry Blount - Annapolis, USA;
Bill Thomas - Philadelphia, USA; Keith Martin - Le Havre |& North Brittany.
Gabbie and Tim Ryan joined Hunter Peace for the return voyage back to the UK.
On the first Friday we tucked into a delicious buffet at the l'Equipage restaurant above the Capitainerie in Cherbourg, with several platters of oysters, little fishy morsels, chunks of pate, local cheeses, and waddled off into the night wishing we'd brought doggy bags.
The St Helier Yacht club did us proud for our final dinner. When the first plate of five profiteroles arrived, we thought it was for sharing - but no!
Ronhilda is now over 29 years old with its original engine (Ford XLD 1.6 the type fitted in UK Post Office Ford Escort Vans of long ago) now logging just under 6,000 hours. This year 15 years after I had renewed the original injector nozzles I decided to renew the injector nozzles again. This sounds a long time between renewals but if one considers a van average speed of 30 mph during its lifetime this equates to just 90,000 miles between my renewals, so really I am guilty of over maintaining the engine.
Don Andrew and Mary Kay Noren have been journeying since May 29 to join the adventure of the Little Ship Club Cruise. We began by leaving our home in South Carolina to drive the 600 miles to Maryland, where our boat Beckoning is docked. We prepped her for the sailing season, and inaugurated the season by joining the Chesapeake Corinthian Cruise. It was lovely to sail again in good company. Barely caught our breath and caught up on laundry before the flight to England.
The Corinthian cruise organisers celebrated the upcoming 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen with a committee meeting. What better way to banish dull care and get everybody into a celebratory mood. On the agenda: arranging for a vintner to make deliveries to the boats in Cherbourg, deciding the menu for one of the dinners (smoked salmon and prawns, roast duck and profiteroles, since you ask), and the Guernsey bus service. We then spent another hour telling a crowd of people (including a lot of people for whom it will be their first Corinthian cruise) about the delights in store (full details on the Cruise’s web page), before heading for the dining room for a particularly excellent dessert of several different types of chocolate, with freeze dried raspberry chips. (Apparently a favourite of Her Majesty’s.)
regret to inform you that Trinidadian yachtsman Harold LaBorde died on the night of 11th June in what appears to have been an accident at night on his moored yacht at the Grenada Yacht Club.
His body was recovered on 12th June. It appears that while resident alone on his yacht ‘Humming Bird III’ he slipped on a boarding plank, hit his head, and fell into the sea. I have no confirmation of these details.
Harold was to be 83 years old on 18th June. He was known internationally after circumnavigating the world twice with his family on yachts built by himself. The first circumnavigation was 1969 – 1973 in his wooden yacht Humming Bird ll, the second I984 – 1986 including rounding Cape Horn in Humming Bird lll. He also did several Atlantic crossings. He was awarded this nation’s highest award at the time – The Trinity Cross, in 1973.
