Voyage | marilaughlen

Dodging Tankers

Crossing the English Channel had its challenges. Crossing two lanes of rapidly moving large steel vessels made for an action packed voyage.

Dimanche

A glorious sunday afternoon touring Iles. Chausey, Brittany, France. August holidays do not
get better than this.

On board

Crossing the English Channel had its challenges.

Orange Grove

This is a friends place in Biniaraix, Mallorca surrounded by Serra de Tramuntana mountains.

Break from Battle

during a difficult day on the battlefield in Repic Beach Mallorca, these two warriors need a much needed refreshment.

Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands.
Its origin dates back to In 6 A.D., after his visit to Capri, the emperor Augustus, desperate to obtain the Island, swapped it with Naples for Ischia, which once again fell into Neapolitan hands.
The movie Cleopatra staring Liz Taylor & Richard Burton was filmed here.

Meeting Songline

There is much to be said about the anticipation and excitement in meeting up with friends and yacht Songline to embark on a well planned voyage. Our meeting place was Alghero, Sardinia.

After provisioning the boat and settling into our berths, within 2 days we would be heading out for adventures in Mediterranean waters.

Alghero is such a pretty port , laden with history and shows of pride and deep Italian culture. Shopping is incredible, from the modest yet spectacular food markets, a great chandlery , fabulous restaurants and some fantastic luggage,bag and shoe stores. There is an obvious plethora of high-end bathing-suit shops which I suspect could be the legacy of PM Silvio Berlusconi keeping his harem well suited.

Sailing

There is much to be experienced whilst riding the winds on large powerful bodies of water. Navigating coastal shores towards a well plotted destination inclusive of wind directions and tides makes for many challenges to embrace and inspire.

My first opportunity at the helm of Songline was sailing the Tyranian sea towards the west coastline of Italy. Wind was good at about 17kn and I was humbled and surprised by the delayed motion of the bow as I steered the course. It was such a long boat compared to what I had ever sailed before, on the Great Lakes in Canada. Before this experience I had sailed on smaller racing boats in the 25′ to 30′ range. Steering this size of yacht , a Sweden 45′ and also built for racing with twice the length, I felt a moments lag between the wheel and the bow. She was stiff and responsive and I knew this boat could sail any conditions extremely well. It was like driving a Jaguar after being accustomed to a Porche Boxer and its all good.

Adventures in Sailing

Approaching land

on Songline was always exciting as we prepared for a safe mooring. We would contact the port marina for verification that we would have a berth and usually we were met by marina personal who would come in a zodiac or small boat to escort us into our aloted berth. With all the fenders placed along the hull we would stand on deck with the ropes ready to tie to the dock. Usually things went smoothly, yet sometimes confusion with instructions or a botched rope toss would leave us scrambling to correct it. We usually berthed with transom to the main dock and port or starboard alongside a finger-dock.