Saturday, October 6, 2012

South Coast Calabria, then round Sicily


We started our last cruise with an experienced crew on September 23rd 2012: Christian Singer, Gerhard Rothfuss und Gerhard Westphal. In the evening we anchored  west of the port of Scoglitti and had a wonderful fish dinner at the famous Sakello. 
Next day we hoisted our red Blister and rounded Capo Passero with 9 kn speed. We moored in Syracusa and had dinner at Taverna Sveva. Early next morning we set sail northeast in the direction of Calabria, Capo Spartivento. The wind turned and became weaker, so we finally moored next noon in Bocche Gallipari, where Gerhard Westphal cooked his legendary potato gulasch. 
On the 28th we turned west and had a smooth sailing to Taormina until 04:00 early morning. We had luck and fetched a buoy in splendid Mazzaro Bay near the famous cable car. A visit to the ancient town and a good dinner at Al Duomo ended a nice resting day in beautiful surroundings. Next day, after Christian left us to fly back to Vienna, we hoisted our blister again and sailed straight through Messina Strait with considerable speed. 
Rounding Capo Pelloro the wind became stronger, so we had to change to 2nd reef main sail and genua. Finally after rounding Capo Milazzo we moored in Porto Rosa. Next day we sailed west in strong winds and partly heavy rain to Mondelo Bay, where we anchored in the early morning. After some hours sleep we continued to Trapani, where we moored early evening at Vento Maestrale.
Next morning we started with strong winds and heavy seas along the south coast of Sicily to Sciacca, where we moored at the pontoon of our friends of Lega Navale and hat a tradtional fish dinner at Il Faro. The next day brought us to San Leone, where my crew visited Agrigento. On our last day we sailed back to Licata and on October 5th 2012 we made Sea of Joy ready for winter and flew back home.


This cruise took 11 days with 123 hours sailing a distance of 664 sm. You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.