Returned to the Boat at last

Made a huge mistake when we left the boat last year, somehow we managed to leave the laptop behind. Our very good friend Graham lent us a laptop so that we could keep in touch with everything but it meant that the blogs were completely abandoned. So now we are back a quick catch up with what we have been doing.

The trip to Spain was uneventful if a little difficult, snow the day before had left big drifts on the motorway but thankfully they had all be ploughed to the side by the time we got there.

We spent Christmas and New Year at Vinaros, loads of parties with mountains of food and drink with good friends as usual.

We drove back to the UK for Dave’s appointment with his surgeon. Went over the Millau Viaduct for the first time, what a view!! Once Dave had seen the specialist all we had to do was wait for the letter confirming the operation date, so we had a couple of trips out, one to Arundel, it was freezing cold and the wind was bitter.

In the meantime Dave did the deal to change the Winnebago for a Burstner motorhome so we packed everything from the Winnebago into it and headed for the New Forrest.

Just in time for the snow fall. Very pretty and it didn’t last that long, and the heating system in the Burstner is marvellous so we kept warm. Dave got a cancellation slot for his op so we headed back to Oxfordshire to be near the hospital.

The weather was beautiful and we took some lovely walks along the river while Dave’s hand was healing. Once he got the all clear from the surgeon we sold the car and booked the ferry for our trip back down to the boat.

The first night we stayed near Dunkirk, then we stayed on the bank of the Mosel river, then somewhere in Germany, the last night was in the capital of Slovenia were it rained and turned the campsite into a quagmire, we had to be dug out !!!! Just as well we didn’t have the Winnebago or we would still be there !!

 

We went to our favourite restaurant our first night back in Biograd, best pizza place in town and open all year unlike some of the others. Set to work the next day cleaning the boat, there had been strong off shore winds which had brought dust down from the fields and covered the boats with a layer of grey dirt, took most of the day to wash it off. Inside was not so bad but still had dust on everything. Then started fitting the new equipment on the boat, what an experience getting wires from the binnacle through the engine room, under the shower compartment and up to the navigation station. Then a repeat performance with the connections for the new radio, a good way of finding out what's behind all the panelling though !!!

Then just when we thought we were ready for our first sail the weather changed and reminded us winter was not completely over.Hail stones some the size of small marbles, we were lucky not to have any damage, an hour later the sun was out and they were all gone in another hour or so.

Finally after fitting a reconditioned alternator, (don’t ask) we were able to get out for our first sail of the season. Headed down to the island of Murter where the views over the Kornati Island are wonderful. Only problem was they are digging up the main street to lay new water pipes or something and the restaurant we were going to go to is closed. Its a long detour around to the main square too so next time we took the dingy to the centre of town.

We stopped off on the way back to the boat for a beer and Dave liked the look of the menu so we returned later that evening for Dave’s birthday dinner. They produce their own wine like most the local restaurants do and it was very good, as Dave’s face shows.

The next day we sailed to Soline on the island of Pasman, spent a very lazy afternoon in the bay and had supper on board. Then in the morning we motored back to the marina, very little wind and in the wrong direction as usual. More bad weather forecast so will probably be in home port for a few days.

Biograd Boat Show

The Boat Show is held in our marina every October, they started putting up the marquees and exhibitors tents the week before and we had to move our car from the marina car park to an hotel car park on the other side of town. The publicity flyers said it was the biggest ever and now even bigger than the Split Boat Show.

The show opened on the Friday and it is miles smaller than the boat shows in the UK. But they had quite a few things to see, new and second hand boats, we managed to get a look on a Halberg Rassey 54, I was a little disappointed, the layout was not as good as our boat ! The aft cabin was huge but it had a double berth on one side and a single berth on the other side, all in the same room ! Why ? We also looked on a couple of ex charter boats that were for sale, they were only a few years old but looked like they were older than our boat, really tatty and battered about, the upholstery was worn through and stained, the woodwork was scratched and badly faded, and of course they were the layouts with multi cabins for maximum occupation, not our cup of tea at all.

We walked over the floating pontoon they had installed so that you can walk from our side of the marina to the south marina where they had another marquee. The local yacht club had a stand there and they were very friendly, maybe we will call into their clubhouse one day. We also discovered a bar with some local dark beer called Tomislav, it was very good we shall have to look out for it at the supermarket.

 

The floating pontoon opens when necessary to let boats in and out, including the kids in their dingys from the yacht club.  Note the guy sat on the end of the pontoon steering the outboard !!

The marina is back to normal now, we have retrieved our car from the other side of town and managed to get it parked at the end of our pontoon for the first time.

The Geezers third sailing trip

The weather improved by the Wednesday so Thursday morning we motored south as not enough wind to sail. Then turned NW around the bottom of Pasman island between Pasman and Zizanj.

Motored in Zincena bay and dropped anchor for the night.

We donned our “Sanja” t-shirts that Ken & Carole had bought us all for a team photo.

The bay filled up over the afternoon and by dusk there were 7 yachts plus us in the bay for the night. One was especially close and when the wind increased during the night we got up to make sure there was still a safe distance which there was so, back to bed.

Up next morning and out into the main channel where lots of boats were sailing but we couldn’t get a good point of sail so where we wanted to go so motor sailed to Zut harbour entrance, then sail down and into the bay.

Found a spot to drop anchor right in the corner away from the marina pontoons. Dingy off and a walk to a Konoba recommended to us by William from the “Flying Dutchman”.

Konoba “Sandra” was very nice and we sat on the balcony with large beers and mini doughnuts a ‘gift from the house’. We asked about food, especially the stew the staff were eating but were informed that it was a special treat just for them. However a few minuets later a platter of stew with mashed potatoes was brought for us to try a ‘gift of the house’ again, chicken with vegetables in a tomato sauce. We had already had lunch so we couldn’t manage much but what we had was delicious.

 

We also asked about mooring if we came for dinner as they had a pontoon and were told it was 100kn to moor even if we had dinner, the food prices were not cheap and the beer was 25kn where we were used to paying 20kn.

It was decided we would eat on board and stay anchored where we were. We had a swim and a shower then Dave’s infamous Carbonara, excellent. During the afternoon 4 motorboats and 3 sailboats moored alongside another restaurant while only 2 boats went to “Sandra” I think they need to reconsider their mooring fees.

The next morning was absolutely flat calm so we motored around the bay see what else it had to offer.

Another Konoba on the other side but the water was too shallow for us to get very close.

So out of the bay and across the channel to Soline bay, turned into the north corner and picked up a buoy for lunch. There was a small Konoba Bar but it didn’t seem to be open and a large JCB was out back trying to move some of the mountain!! After lunch we motored out and back down through the gap between Pasman & Zizanj.

Once we turned NE on the home stretch the wind was perfect for a broad reach which took us all the way back to home port with only a couple of tacks.

The best sail yet and a perfect end to the Geezers final sail out.

Sailing tally:-

10 days sailing

65.8 nautical miles travelled

5kts average speed

8.2kts max speed

 

After supper at our favourite restaurant Casa Vecchio, we came back for coffee and something stronger, tried the marina bar but couldn’t get large black coffees, why?? It’s the Italian influence again, only do espressos, so back to the boat, its better coffee and its cheaper!!!

It will be a sad day on Monday, taking Geezers to the airport and the Geezer flag will be lowered for the last time, until next time!!

The Geezers Second Sailing Trip

Well we took Ken & Carole Geezers to the airport on Monday for their flight home but we had a great couple of trips out before they left.

The wind was kind to us and we got a nice broad reach to Murter. We didn’t have to take the sails down until the entrance to Murter harbour.

Not going ashore today as Dave has supper sorted.

All sorts of tasty sausages and chicken plus salad etc etc

 

While we watched some gaff riggers race around the bay.

And yet another glorious sunset.

The next day we went ashore, firstly to deliver a slab of beer to the great guys who helped us last week, and then for a walk around to Betina which is on the other side of the headland. Unfortunately it was extremely hot and we only made it as far as Betina Marina where we were forced to revive ourselves with 4 large very expensive beers. The marina wasn’t very impressive either, mostly charter boats, quite small and no shops or restaurants very close, hence they had a captive market and charged accordingly. No problem we were looking forward to our dinner in the nice little restaurant we had found on our last trip to Murter.

 

Konoba Barbara was just as we had left it and supper was delicious, Ken had pizza which was so large we took half of it home and had the rest for lunch the next day, Dave & Carole had chicken stuffed with all sorts,  & I had seafood pasta which was also enormous but I cleared up all the seafood. The pasta & pizza is always good in Croatia because of the their long association with Italy, the Venetians first invaded in the 11th century and have been teaching them how to cook ever since.

Unfortunately the weather then put a stop to our adventure. Storms and strong winds were forecast so a group decision was made to return to home port for safety.

But that did mean that we could restock and Dave could do his magic with the BBQ, more sausages and sausage shaped pork burgers, which we nick named “Dog Turds” for obvious reasons.

The forecast is better in a couple of days so we shall go out again then.

The Geezers first sailing trip

Of course the first trip had to be to Velika Luka. We did manage to get the Genoa up but with the wind almost behind us there was no point is putting the main up. Arrived in time for lunch then got the dingy ready for the trip ashore.

 

Once ashore we ordered large cold beers.

It was even too hot for the resident cat.

The coolest place was in the swing chair where there was a nice breeze, trouble was the sun was still very strong and the next day my shoulders were a little sore.

That evening Dave made his best ever carbonara, we stayed on deck until late under the almost full moon.

Next day we had a leisurely breakfast and cooled off with a swim off the back of the boat.

  

We didn’t go ashore again as the bar seemed to have plenty of customers and after another good supper we watched the sunset.

The next day we headed for Murter an island just a few miles away. We found our way into Hramina harbour.

We had been recommended 2 restaurants so we unloaded the dingy again and headed ashore. Murter old town was very picturesque, the recommended restaurants were very expensive so we found 2 others that seemed a much better option for supper the following night.

However, during the night the battery alarms went off and showed that they were down very low. When we tried to start the engine to charge them up we found that the engine battery was too low to start it, the previous owner had wired all the batteries together, something you should never do, and so we were without power.

We went ashore and walked to the marina where a very helpful charter manager lent us a battery and jump leads, and a shopping trolley to transport it all to our dingy, what a nice man. It did the trick and the engine started, we returned the battery etc to the marina and it was decided that it would be prudent to return to our home marina to sort the problem out.

By way of compensation, once back in Biograd we went ashore and had a great meal in Casa Veccio. The battery problem will need investigation and in the meantime a search for a generator so that we cannot get suck again in the future.