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| Our semi-submerged dinghy |
We motor-sailed the short hop to Porto di Cugnana on Thursday and anchored in the bay. We’re starting to see the really big yachts now, as this is the playground of the rich and famous who come over from the French Riviera. Calpe de Volpe looked like Gin Palace city.
We took all our washing in the dinghy to the Marina, where there was a launderette and we could use the machines for 8 euros a load. Washing was becoming a bit of a problem as we don’t want to use our precious water supply for washing clothes and because we’re no longer using Marinas, we don’t have access to water. John & Denise were also anchored in the bay, and they come to our boat for a meal in the evening. They have booked into the Marina for three nights because a fridge engineer is coming to see them and Denise is flying home – the cost is 115 euros a night – increasing to 138 euros from 28 July!
Gale Force winds were forecast for late Friday and they weren’t kidding! It started about 6 p.m. and got up to a strong Force 9. Roger had shackled an extra anchor onto our existing one and luckily we didn’t drag at all but our anchor ball blew down. Other boats, including a very large sailing vessel, had to re-anchor.
On Saturday the wind was even stronger, and we recorded 53 knots on the wind indicator, which is the top end of a Force 10. After that, it was under-reading by about 20 knots, so we think one of the balls on top of the mast has come off as the wind did not lessen. The wind generator sounded like it was going to take off at any moment.
Gale Force winds were forecast for late Friday and they weren’t kidding! It started about 6 p.m. and got up to a strong Force 9. Roger had shackled an extra anchor onto our existing one and luckily we didn’t drag at all but our anchor ball blew down. Other boats, including a very large sailing vessel, had to re-anchor.
On Saturday the wind was even stronger, and we recorded 53 knots on the wind indicator, which is the top end of a Force 10. After that, it was under-reading by about 20 knots, so we think one of the balls on top of the mast has come off as the wind did not lessen. The wind generator sounded like it was going to take off at any moment.
The dinghy was in the water and the rear bracket with the outboard motor came off and was floating in the water – luckily still tied to a rope. We got that on board and Roger had to do some emergency work on it – wash it down in fresh water, and take out spark plugs etc. It wouldn’t start when he tried it, so we will have to try to find an engineer. We then re-tied a second line to the dinghy, but within 10 minutes the original painter had pulled the fitting out of the dinghy, and we had to put another temporary line on it. One of the buoyancy bags and the bailer came loose, but we retrieved these with the boat hook. The dinghy was so full of water it was in danger of sinking.
The boat nearest to us realized they were dragging, and as they tried to re-anchor, their dinghy blew sideways on to the boat, acting more like a sail. It took them over an hour motoring around before they finally anchored again. One of the large mega yachts anchored in the bay is the one we saw last year in the Balearics called ‘A’. It was launched last year at a cost over £250,000,000 and is owned by a Russian.
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