Day: 13 July 2015

Leg 6 started on Saturday afternoon. The new crew arrived at midday, we bought some provisions had a nice pizza and went. After a short stop in a bay outside the harbour for swimming we headed NE for Le Castella. The plan was to sail through the night and arrive next day in the afternoon. At about 19:00 a fresh breeze started to blow and we set sail. It is always a magic moment when the engine is switched off and the sails start pushing the boat silently through the sea. The wind freshened-up to F5 during the evening and we were sailing close hauled at a speed of 6 to 7 knots into the night. At about 01:00 the wind died away completely. The day remained windless until our arrival at Le Castella.

A hot and windless day beginns at the Calabrian East coast

Moored in Marina Le Castella

Leg 5 is completed and the crew left early this morning. It is amazing how fast time is passing by. I am now in Catania and there are just two weeks left until I will drop anchor in Oropos. I will need some time to come back into normal life mode I suppose…

Anyway, what happened on the last two days of Leg 5? On Thursday, we left Marina Netuno, Messina and set sails for Giardini Naxos which is about 25 NM further south along the Sicily coast. It was a nice sailing day with winds up to 23 knots and we decided to use one of the laid mooring buoys in the bay just below Taormina and 1 NM north of Giardini Naxos Marina for the night instead of going into the marina. This way we could go for a swim first thing in the morning which is always nice and refreshing. Friday, the last day of Leg 5 was quite windless and we had to use the iron jib again in order to arrive in Catania in the afternoon.

On the way to Taormina

Moored at Circolo Nautico Catania

The second look at Catania revealed a nicer and livelier city. Some impressions below: