An exciting passage to Rome
We bid farewell to Corsica for the time being at Ajaccio after another 3 days of fine walking in the mountains and headed south for the short
sail to Sardinia. We made landfall in Castelsardo on the north coast, the ancient
village clinging to the hillside surrounded by the walls of its fortifications.
The sun did come out again and we headed up to the northern
tip of Sardinia for a day at anchor then over the 6 mile wide straight back to
Corsica to drop anchor in a pretty bay on the opposite side of the island from
the town of Bonifacio. At last the bikes came out for the short but still
pretty hilly ride into town. A better fortified town I have seldom seen!
Time to head to Rome! Melanie was heading home in a few days
to go to our Godsons 21st birthday party; I would be staying with the boat to
look after Woody. Unfortunately getting him home is too much hassle to be worth
it for a short period.
Fuel on board was getting low. I had intended to fill up in Bonifacio
but having anchored on the opposite side of the island it didn’t get done. No
matter, the passage was only 140 miles; we
had enough to motor half way (slowly!) if necessary and the forecast was for a
good breeze.
We picked up the anchor after a leisurely breakfast. We knew
we would have to motor for the first couple of hours to escape the grips of the
easterly wind that funnelled between Corsica and Sardinia, we should then pick
up the forecast south easterly wind. 2 hours, 3 hours, 4…hmm, we were eating up
our fuel; the wind had dropped but had
not shifted to the south. Time to slow down to conserve fuel and wait for the wind.
A few minutes later I saw something flopping about in the
water 100 yards ahead. Fins? Two fins? No, they were wing tips – they were
manta rays! I called Melanie and we turned off the engines to try and avoid
frightening them off. We drifted slowly towards them. Never mind 2, there was a
whole family of them, we counted 8 in all. Incredibly they seemed not the least
bit bothered by us. They cruised around gently in circles just doing their
thing.
Now stationary I stripped off, donned mask and snorkel and
slipped into the water with then. Wow! Swimming amongst them they were still not the slightest bit bothered by us. In front, beside, below me, this was magical. After a while they
got inquisitive and glided gently straight towards me – that was a little intimidating!
6’ wing span, big white mouth and two eyes on big storks – a gentle flap of their
wings and they glided by. Melanie and I took turns in the water, the other watching
from the boat as they glided under and around the hulls. As they headed slowly
off from time to time we motored behind them until their next stop 100 yards
on, the swimmer coasting along behind them. 
20 minutes later we had a couple of dolphins join us briefly.
Melanie and I sat in the bow with grins on our faces from ear to ear!
The wind was becoming a problem. It had come round a bit but
nothing like forecast and was stubbornly light. This crossing could take rather
longer than planned. Oh well, we are a sailing boat after all and in the good
old days they could sit becalmed for days. It certainly teaches you patience!
We sailed on at a sedate 3 knots, 40 degrees off our intended course because of
the wind direction and settled down for the night. It wasn’t however to be a peaceful
as we had hoped.
By 3 o’clock in the morning the wind had shifted a little. I
went to adjust the jib. I don’t know what I did or what happened. It was the
end of my watch, I was tired, it was dark and I was perhaps I was complacent in the light wind. The rope slipped on the
winch drum and the next thing I knew my fingers were caught between the rope
and the drum as the rope pulled 9 tonnes of boat along at 3 knots.
Winches are dangerous things. I have been sailing for 40
years and told countless people of the dangers
of ropes on winches; how to always hold the rope in such a way that if
the rope gets pulled suddenly it gets pulled out of your fingers rather than
pulling your fingers into the drum. Oddly, this is not what had happened
because the inside of my fingers were facing the drum. If your fingers are pulled in it is generally the back of the hand against the drum. I have no idea how my hand went in facing inwards!
Anyway, fortunately the wind was light. I quickly whipped
the rope off the drum getting my fingers out and reattached the rope to the winch
without the presence of my fingers. I then went below and pulled a bottle of something liquid out of the fridge to get my fingers in the coldest thing I could find to reduce the internal bleeding (it turned out to be milk!) I sat on the floor for a
few minutes with my fingers held high. I started to feel nauseous, the shock
kicking in I guess. I made my way forward and called Melanie who jumped out of
bed and switched to nurse mode!
I had been extremely lucky and got away with this very
lightly. My middle finger had taken a bit of a beating and would be very sore
for a few days but that was it. Lucky indeed. I like to think it would not have
happened had it been windy because my senses would have been much more alert
but it could have been so much worse if it had been a stronger wind.
After a big dose of pain killers and I handed over the watch
to Melanie and went to bed for 3 hours. The light wind came and went during the
night. We motored slowly if we could not sail at 3 knots (well – 140 miles is a
long way at 3 knots and I’m not that patient!) Sail for a couple of hours,
motor for a couple. We played the sails all we could but the fuel gauge which
had been in the red since we left was creeping remorselessly towards empty.
By lunchtime on day two we had 30 miles to go and finally
the wind piped up for a pleasant home run. We pulled into the marina with about 20 litres left in the tank – easy!
It was time for some sightseeing. We had two days in Rome. All
capital cities have grand old beautiful buildings from the 17th
century on. What makes Rome so very different is that round every corner you
bump into something that is 2000 years old! When the ancient Romans build they
really built and built to last. Despite being cannibalised for building in
later centuries enough remains to give a very good idea of the grandness that
was. The Colosseum, the arches and huge columns everywhere.
For anyone who has wondered how long the fine game of golf has been around, judging from this fresco the answer is a very long time (except they seemed to have the club head the other way round in those days!)
On Thursday Melanie left to go home and I headed south to
meet my friend Mark in Naples.
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