Pitufa.at

After sailing with an average speed of less than 2 kn for a couple of days, we unpacked and repaired our blister (a light-wind sail) today and experienced sailing again. However, with no wind at all, also a blister cannot do magic and so we are just drifting around again now. It’s incredibly hot, the boat is rolling, the sails are flapping and we have to remind ourselves that we are determined to enjoy such calms

finally…

After the leisurely bay-hopping down the Croatian coast, our trip to Sicily feels like the first real cruising and we’ve quickly got into the rhythm of night watches. With the lovely warm weather we have they’re not tiring, as the watch can play with Leeloo, read a book or watch the impressive night sky. We’ve had very light winds till now, making only 100 nm in 2 days, but instead of motoring, we slowly sail on. When the wind dies we just go swimming, clean the boat, cook extravagant meals, watch dolphins, count floating plastic bags (20 an hour, humanity just doesn’t deserve this beautiful planet…) write blog entries, and enjoy the deceleration of life in general .

Today we cleared out from CRO in Dubrovnik. Our course is towards the strait of Otranto and then towards Sicily. At the moment a very light wind is carrying us southwards. This entry has been sent via HF radio

Our last stop here in Croatia is Dubrovnik. We’ll do some shopping here, the laundry, organise some things and then head towards Sicily. Unfortunately our kindle was weaker than Christian’s elbow, so we won’t be able to report as regularly as before.

Each lonely anchorage seems even more beautiful than the last one. Today’s resembles a Norwegan Fjord

We had a quick smooth sail to beautiful Korcula, but the anchorage here requires strong nerves – like the parking lot of a shopping centre one day before xmas…

Yesterday we decided to drop the anchor after only 16nm in a lovely bay on Scedro we had visited two yars ago. We are not the only ones here this time though. Nevertheless we stayed another day. Today we were busy with all sorts of things

Today we made 40 nm in 6 hours, but even though we were running downwind it was quite uncomfy with gusts of 35 kn and we were glad to find a sheltered bay on Hvar.

Today’s blog entry is going to be a lot longer than the last ones, because we’ve reached our first city with internet-cafe’s since our departure from Pula. After a week in idyllic anchorages in lonely bays and next to tiny islets, Pitufa is anchored in the bay facing the historic centre of Primosten. It was about time to return to civilisation as we’ve run out of vegetables and 4 rubbish bags are piled up in the bathroom…

We’ve been living for an entire month on the boat now, cruising for two weeks, and all three of us have settled in very well. The Adriatic Sea shows its smoothest and sunniest face and we’ve adjusted our daily lives to its light, variable winds. In the mornings it’s usually calm, time for doing daily tasks (working on the boat, translating, domestic things), as soon as a breeze comes up at noon we set the sails. When we get becalmed on the way we just go swimming, because we don’t have appointments like the people on the other boats quickly motoring by (it’s not so easy to adjust our thinking to the fact that we’ve got time now). When the wind dies down in the evening we drop anchor at the next possible spot. Even though it’s still not high-season here, there are plenty of yachts around, but the wind (or rather the lack of it) leads us to pretty, lonely anchorages every day.

Leeloo’s also fine. During the day she sleeps in different places, loses masses of fur (even though we comb her regularly the boat is covered in hair and I’m constantly hunting dustbunnies or rather “furkittens”. To make up for the loss of hair, she gains weight — probably her way of preparing for the Atlantic

During the last days we got the impression that she was bored with her life on the boat, so we took her with us on land. Unfortunately the spot wasn’t well chosen: the islet was covered in spiky rocks, we had to carry her over pools of seawater and in the end she spent her time on solid ground hiding under a rock. She was really glad to get back to the boat and couldn’t wait to jump over Pitufa’s lifelines. Yesterday’s anchorage was far better for her: a little islet, uninhabited apart from a few hundred seagulls. We landed the dinghy on a smooth pebble beach and Leeloo was able to climb out of the rubber boat herself. Then she wandered around between the shrubs, happily sniffing on bushes and stones.

Today’s our 16th anniversary. We’ve been together half our lives, have already seen and experencied a lot during that time. We’re looking forward to what this new chapter of our lives is going to bring.
Tomorrow we’ll head on southbound. We want to keep to our “system” of letting the wind decide how quickly we commence.

Day started with good winds for our SE course. Those faded away after only 12 nm and we were becalmed again. Dropped anchor at another lovely place. Lentil curry for dinner.

Again not much progress today. Still near the Kornati archipelago. Found another lovely anchorage for tonight. Prosecco with peaches as sundowner.

Our progress today was only 7nm. The super-stable high-pressure field brings superb weather, though not really for sailing.
Dropped anchor at another beautyful spot close to Kornati.