Summer ’24
It was great summer, 35 days on the water in SoCal and
fabulous weather. We do live in Paradise. Lots of yacht club events and dinner
parties made for a very full social calendar.
Raffaellesco was waiting for us in Brindisi, Italy enduring record heat. I only had a few small projects to accomplish at home, but mostly picking up somethings I simply could not find in Europe; binoculars, handheld VHF, oil filters. You could find these things, but not the quality or price I wanted to pay. In spite of our inflated prices, it is still cheaper and easier to buy things in the USA.
By the time our departure day arrived we were more than
ready to go.
9/6/24 Huntington Beach, CA
Our friend Inez showed up right on time for a 10:30
departure. John Wayne Airport was not crowded, we were checked in and through
security in no time. I am glad we did not listen to the recommendation of
arriving 3 hours in advance. We did have time to walk the terminal from one end
to the other before the plane boarded. Once on board we settled in, but this is
where it all went sideways, and we had to gather all of our travel patience.
The captain announced that the temperatures outside were hitting 101 and the
needed to calculate the ability of the plane to fly based on the weight. It
never gets to 100 at the beach! The minutes ticked by, and it was increasingly
clear that we would not make our already tight connection in Minneapolis. It is
convenient for us to fly from John Wayne, but it always adds a domestic stop
before crossing the pond.
The pilot came on and he was looking for 6 volunteers to get
off the plane and he was offering $1,000 each. We looked at each other, knowing
we would miss our connection anyway, and jumped up to volunteer. Ultimately,
they took 14 people off the plane, fortunately we were first in line to get a
new itinerary and our $1,000! The plane
departed and we waived bon voyage to our luggage hoping to see it in Italy
eventually.
First, they offered seats in main cabin on another flight,
but I told them I could not do that, business class or bust, it is what I paid
for. They rebooked us on a flight from LAX to Amsterdam and on to Bari, Italy
arriving 10 minutes earlier than originally planned. They paid for our Lyft to
LAX and we were on our way. The timing was tight, but the traffic was light,
and we made record time. We sprinted to the gate and made it with minutes to
spare. We managed to get seats assigned that were close enough to do a little
horse trading on board and sit next to each other.
The flight was very comfortable, great food and wine, a
couple movies, a long nap, some breakfast, and we were there on time.
The plane to Bari was delayed, but did finally take off and
we arrived at about 1800, sans luggage, but well rested on the last flight. Coming
into Bari we could see olive tree groves that went on forever. We stood in line
for a long time to get our rental car, only to discover that they required an
international driver’s license! Supposedly a new law that went into effect 4
months ago. We went to another car rental counter and waited in line while I
googled international driver’s license. I was able to do it online and get it
digitally immediately, but before I pushed the $99 button we got to the
counter, and they said “no” you do not need an international driver’s license (we
will not be using Eurocar anymore). After a couple hours waiting in rental car
lines, I do not know why it takes so long in Europe to rent a car, we were on
our way. The drive took us along the coast 120 kilometers to Brindisi.
Arriving at the boat we were elated to see the boat and climb aboard. We had to make the bed and shuffle some stuff out of the way, but all seemed to be in good order. Sleep came easy on a quiet night. One last check on my Delta App showed our luggage arriving in Bari about 1130 tomorrow on ITA airways.
9/8/24 Brindisi, Italy
Up early for a full court press on preparing the boat. I was
a little disappointed in my boat cleaner, the boat was not very clean. We
scrubbed from stem to stern then proceeded to work on rerigging the lines and
putting up the bimini and dodger. The heat was oppressive, sunny and high 80’s,
I drank a gallon of water and took two cold showers in the course of the
morning. Mid-morning we walked up to the little grocer for coffee and fruit to
have on the boat. At about 1300 we decided that a ride in the airconditioned
car would be way more fun. We headed back to the Bari airport enjoying the
landscape and view of the sea that we did not get on the ride down in the dark.
Once we found the right person to speak to, we were
presented with our luggage and went on our way! The drive is only about an hour
and a half each way, I figure we were making about $500/hr courtesy of Delta
Airlines.
With our luggage on the boat the heat and jet lag were
catching up to me, a nap was in order. We stowed the contents of our luggage it
was time to celebrate, we went to the marina restaurant for cocktails, seafood,
bread and a salad. We lingered on the patio to enjoy the warm night and evening
breeze while the boat cooled off.
9/9/24 Brindisi, Italy
Up at first light it was overcast with a light breeze. We
were expecting wind today, so I wanted to finish securing the rigging. Then it
was off to the grocery store in downtown Brindisi. There are no big grocers close
to the marina, but with the car we made several stops and stocked the boat with
food. It started to rain as we were leaving the last store, but it was a
welcome reprieve. It was a bit cooler with wind and light rain. We continued
getting the boat recommissioned and putting things away, outside when the rain
stopped, inside when the rain came, off and on. The night was cool and very
quiet making for a more restful night.
9/10/24 Brindisi, Italy
Up early with cloudy skies, light rain and wind predicted
for the day and it looked like it would be accurate. We decided to be tourists
for the day and explore Puglia while we had a car at our disposal. We headed NW
to a town called Alberobello, famous for its stone roofed houses. The countryside
was covered in Olive trees and grape vines, there must be some Puglian olive
oil and wine in our future.
The stone roofed houses were amazing, like something out of
a kid’s fairytale. To me it did not seem very practical, but the fields were
covered with rocks and they had to clear them in order to farm the land, so
they built stone houses and stone fences. The stone fences reminded me of north
England where the situation was similar. The houses were called Trullo, tiny
but efficient little living spaces. We walked the narrow stone streets, enjoyed
cappuccinos at the café on the square and found some beautiful locally hand-crafted
linens. The linens came in three patterns: wheat, grapes and olives. A family
would have one of these three that would represent them. The Owner of the store
was represented as wheat and his family had farmed the wheat. Now they are
weavers making naturally dyed hand-woven linens in a wide variety of colors.
Another stop had us buying locally grown olives.
Next we headed south to the hill top town of Ostuni, a beautiful hill top town looking out to the sea. Suzette spotted a Chocolateria and we had to stop. It turned out they not only had fabulous chocolates they also had an incredible selection of wine and spirits. I was able to finish stocking my bar and wine storage. Suzette selected dark chocolate covered almonds and Medici style almonds. You could not drive into the old town, you had to park outside the walls, and we did not feel like making the trek in the rain, so we enjoyed it from afar as we continued south to Torre Guaceto reserve at the sea. On the way we saw an organic olive oil producer and stopped to buy some local olive oil. We got a tour of the facility and tasted a few oils, which were delicious. With a liter of olive and some pasta we continued on our way.
Back in Brindisi we walked the waterfront and the harbor
area. They have a number of impressive monuments along the quay. The city
itself seems old, but not ancient. One last stop at a very nice grocery store
to make one last provisioning haul while we had the car. We returned to the
boat and off loaded our bounty of goodies. We made the short trip to Brindisi
Airport, literally next door to the marina, to return our car. It always feels
good somehow to have no car to worry about.
A light dinner, a bit of stowing and off to bed after a big day. We set the alarm for 0230 in order to see the presidential debate. This the inaugural use of the newly installed Star link. It worked like a charm. The debate was entertaining, such a stark contrast in candidates. Sadly, Mr Trump continues to propagate his lies and rhetoric rather than state his policies and plans for the future. All he seems to be able to conjure up is instilling fear in everyone and assuring us that he will be the greatest president and fix everything better then we have ever seen before. I leave it at that for the politics. I will say that, compared to the many places we have visited, we have it pretty darn good in the US and should not complain.
9/11/2024 Brindisi, Italy
We awoke to a stunning blue sky, cooler temps and a light
breeze, a perfect day. We tinkered with various boat projects to be ready for
departure, the focus was the mechanical side of things, winches, engine,
instruments and solar. We closed out our bill with the marina and prepared for
departure on the next day.
We met our Australian neighbor Greg and he invited us for a tour of his new Amel 50. This is a belts and suspenders blue water cruiser. The first thing you notice is the high freeboard and well protected helm station forward in the center cockpit. He can run the whole boat from the cockpit, hydraulic furlers, electric winches, etc. After the tour we showed him our boat, way simpler than is boat, we are very much a sailboat, he is more of a motor sailor.
The afternoon was warming up, but not the high 80’s we
arrived in, more like low 80 with a breeze. We made reservations for a marina
in Bari where we would hide out for a few days in high winds. Tomorrow is a
perfect weather window to make the 60-mile run NW to Bari. After that it will
be high winds and rain for several days.
For diner we grilled a bunch of eggplant, tomato and garlic.
This was diced up and mixed into the pasta we just bought with some seasoning.
Everything for the meal was grown and made locally in Puglia, including a most delicious
wine. Suzette claimed it was the best Italian wine she has had, San Marzano,
Cinquanta, 2012. We will need to find some more of that wine.
A quiet night as the wind died off and the water settled.
9/12/2024 Brindisi, Italy
A beautiful clear and calm morning made for an easy
departure as we bid fair well to Marina di Brindisi. The bottom cleaner did a
great job, I could tell that we were moving well through the water. We motored
for a couple hours until the wind came up to 9 knots on our beam. We unfurled
the code zero and the full main for a perfect beam reach. It was so fabulous to
be sailing on our first day out. After a couple hours the wind died off, so we
switched the motor on for the next couple hours, we had a fair distance to go
and I wanted to get in before dark.
Like someone flipped a switch the wind jumped up to 16 knots. We unfurled the main and code zero for a broad reach, but the wind soon moved to far forward for the code zero, so we furled it and unfurled the self-tacking jib and sailed for awhile in a steady breeze. Needing to make better time and seeing clouds building ahead we furled the jib and the main for a motor boat ride in to Bari.
We could see the harbor some 8 miles ahead, we could also
see a squall forming to the west, so we put the throttle down kicking in the
turbo and making 9 knots. What is that sucking sound? Oh yea, we are now
guzzling fuel! The visibility closed down, so we switched one of the MFDs to
full screen radar and cleared the cockpit. The rain and wind came
simultaneously, terrrential rain and 35 knots of wind. It only lasted about 15
minutes, but as it cleared we could see a second wave coming. This time more
rain, 42 knots of wind and lightning about 8 miles off. This lasted about
another 15 minutes before the utopia of clear skies and the harbor entrance
came into view. No harm done and I will not have to shower tonight as I have
had my rainwater bath.
Bari is a big port with shipping, ferries and several marinas. We easily located ours and the sailor was already on the dock waving us in, he must have been watching us on AIS. We side tied behind an Australian Catamaran and in front of an Italian sloop in the last spot in the marina. The sailors were very helpful, and the wind was a gentle 6 knots off the dock. There was a hawser to a dead man that would keep our bow off the dock, I had never seen that before. The sailor, Andrea, indicated the expected high wind direction and made some good suggestions for securing the boat. All fenders out on the dock side, the dock was fixed not floating, making for a very secure berth. We settled in connecting to the water and power, cleared the decks and hung the wet lines out to dry. The code zero would have to wait until tomorrow to be stowed, it needed some drying time.
Cocktails were a priority feeling that we did well
navigating our first significant squall. It does make it easier being daylight
and having radar to see the squalls progress. Prosciutto and cheese sandwiches
were all we needed for dinner. A great and exciting first day of boating in the
Adriatic.
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