Finding Shelter

From: Porto Teulada, Sardinia, Italy
To: Porto Di Sant' Antioco, Sardinia, Italy

We left Porto Teulada in good weather. The waves weren’t too high yet, the wind 25 knots — coming from the direction where we wanted to go but whatever, we’re used to it now. Daggerboards down, one reef(make the sail smaller by rolling it in or lowering it a bit) in the main, sailing time!

As long as we stayed in the gulf of Teulada, the waves stayed small. The closer we came to Cape Teulada, the higher they became. Cape Teulada is an imposing piece of nature. A hundred meters of unforgiving cliffs rising up from the deep.

With the course we were sailing, we would just make it past the cape. About 300 meter clearance. We crept slowly closer — slowly in this wind meant doing about 6 knots. I kept Vite & Rêves pointing as high as I could, to have as much margin as possible when it came to the crunch. It was close. The sea was being reflected off the cliff face and created a bewildering interference. Waves arose from nothing and slammed the boat’s floor, holes opened up right before Vite & Rêves and we went tumbling in. It was wild. Véronique wisely decided she could use a midday nap.

Near the cape the wind turned 5 degrees too much. I saw the expected leeway lessen to 50 meters. My inner safety voice whispered: “Now would be a good time to turn on the engines. You know, on stand-by. Just in case.” I listened. 10 intense minutes followed.

Once past the cape, I could bear off 10 degrees, and that was all Vite & Rêves needed. She accelerated to 9 knots and we soon left the washing machine behind us. The waves in the Golfo Di Palmas were much quieter and we surfed to our destination on a very comfortable broad reach.

The rain held off until just before we reached the port. When we needed to douse the sails, a sudden downpour doused us as well. But it stopped again while we were docking at the public quay. The quay is very scenic — if you’re into industrial archeology. The friendly Dutch crew of Ikigai lent us a much appreciated hand.

We talked a bit with the Ikigai crew. They were going to wait out the coming storm here in Sant’ Antioco. That seemed like a very good idea. On top of that, their mast is much, much longer than ours, so we should be safe for lightning too.

We waited until the showers stopped, then went to explore the nearby town of Porto Di Sant’ Antioco. We found a good cocktail bar (“Is Solus”) and a very good restaurant (“Il Tamarindu”), to celebrate Véronique’s last night with us.