Our jib furler appeared to break when we sailed from Gozo, which meant some precarious bowsprit walking and manual rolling in of the sail. This appeared to amuse the skipper and crew of a French Canadian yacht who said they enjoyed the show from the harbour wall. Me balancing on the end of the bowsprit, Lotty shouting at me and me shouting back. Trying to hand roll a flapping jib at the end of a bowsprit is quite a tense thing.

So, I decided to investigate and fix , amongst other jobs. One other job being to put back in all the blocks to re-seat the mizzen mast. In the wavy weather the day before they’d all fallen out into the lazzerette.

And do you know what, the mizzen blocks and the furler issue were connected, a bit like that song, “The leg bone’s connected to the…” and all that. The mizzen mast is connected to the main mast by the triasic stay, between the top of each mast. As the mizzen had moved forward with her blocks out, the lesser tension on the main mast shifted it forward and there was a big curve in the jib furler/stay which must make the furling system not want to operate. Blimey, who would have known..?

So I re-tensioned the mizzen shrouds so the mast was straight and at its normal jaunty slightly backwards stance. I then re-blocked it, then re-tensioned the main mast shrouds which tightened the forestay, inner forestry and the jib furler. Simples… And sod me, the furler is working again after being rewound.

I wish I’d taken a picture, but I didn’t. However Yves Christian has sailed magnificently today, pulling like a train and doubling her normal speed in light airs. My love of sailing has returned. Amazing.

Lotty will kill me for this boring post, so I’ll add a nice picture. Ah I know, such a useful book for owners of traditional rigs. Everything in one place out of the heads of very old or now long dead sailors. She will kill me now…

Next morning we found ourselves with the wind just off the nose and blowing 25 knots with a two metre swell. Fantastic. Time to find a refuge for the crew and rest for the skipper who’d been up all night. Engine on and sails barely working as we pointed as far into wind as possible.

Also I had identified a problem overnight. The roller reefing for the jib had broken whilst deploying the sail. So I had no way of bringing in the sail easily by hand and with big winds, that was a worrying development.

We got to the small island of Pantelleria and I decided to divert to Scauri, a small fishing port with rubbish reviews on all the sailing sites. But we needed shelter. The last two hours before arrival were very painful. High winds and swell breaking with the sea mend becoming shallower. There was lots of green water across the deck and a very unhappy crew. Thank goodness for our pilot house!

Zoom in and you can see the waves over the bow

We got there though. We nosed up to the cliff outside the port for shelter and I walked the bowsprit to roll away the jib by hand in the relative calm created by the land.

We then found the port full. All of two other yachts and nowhere to go. After discussion we found one boat was going, so we waited. To cut a very long story short, four hours later we were in the port and sheltered. But the port police have just visited this morning (the next day) and told us to leave because we are in “their” space, so we negotiated leaving tomorrow morning by telling them about the broken jib furler and then bringing out our joker cards: the children. Always works that one.

So to tomorrow. The passage to Tunisia, I hope.

The barren fishing port that is Porto Scauri

We set off for Tunisia but with wind and waves against us, we decided to stop on the west side of Gozo for the night. An almost round pool with two very narrow and shallow entrances called Dwejra Pool. The swell coming round the island was too big for our crew so the pool was welcome shelter.

A chart of the pool

Sunset just after arrival

Next morning after some restful sleep we set off for Tunisia and to pass the island of Pantelleria. The start of the sail was a great brisk sail in 20+ knots winds off the starboard beam, just what Yves loves.

We sailed all day with every piece of canvas up. But all good things come to an end and the wind dropped with the sun. So we motor-sailed all night. Next morning things got a lot worse.

With winds in the wrong direction we decided to go to Malta to keep going.

We set off on 8 June and have had a wonderful time here, and it’s the first time it’s been hot-hot this year. 30c+ everyday.

Straight to Malta

Coming into the beautiful historic harbour

Our anchorage

A visit to Esplora, the fantastic science museum here

Fun on tricycles in the sun

Esplora, a stunning facility for kids and parents, truly amazing

An amazing position with wonderful views over Grand Harbour

Splat stuff…

Learning about pulleys

Making a video

Building stuff

We set off for Tunisia from Siracusa on 6 June. Expected headwinds and a slight swell got us to the south east tip of Sicily by motor sailing, where forecast stronger winds would sail us onward and west with the engine off. BUT NOOOOO!!!

A complete lack of wind and increasing swell had us all over the place. Lotty was feeling seasick and then poor Feebs was properly sick. I decided to divert to a little fishing port called Portopalo, where we arrived at 7pm. We’ve tucked ourselves as far in as possible without annoying the locals. I put a kedge anchor off the stern to stop us swinging, keeping the bows into the swell (to minimise movement) and trying not to fouls the many buoys and ropes floating in this part of the harbour.

We’ve had a boat checking school and beach day. It’s been really hot today, c26c+. Tomorrow is forecast for 30c and we hopefully head off to Malta this time, winds allowing.

The route from Siracusa, we are the red triangle in Portopalo

Portopalo harbour with us as the triangle

Not glamorous but a real working fishing port 24 hours a day

We set sail on 29 May, leaving Marina di Ragusa having eked out our last free days of marina berth. The marinaros (the team who look after the berthing and transit of boats) said we should be able to leave after 10am. They came and got myself and an adjacent yacht skipper to accompany them in their dinghy as the exit was very tight on depth. They showed us a course about three metres wide at one point with a swerve to starboard right at the end of the outer moll. And we made it out without hitting anything, grounding or disgracing ourselves in any way! A sad day to be leaving our home in Sicily.

We were headed east for Siracusa instead of west for the small island of Pantelleria where we should have been headed. Weather the main issue and the high cost of being stuck on that small but expensive island.

We love Siracusa bay and the island of Ortigia. A perfect place to hide from unsettled weather and relax. Amongst other boat jobs, I scrubbed the propeller giving myself mild hypothermia in the process. Otherwise it’s been lovely and warm with Lotty taking the children to the beach and well as us all sightseeing around Ortigia. Here are some pictures.

Sail up for the first time

Dolphins!

Making things from clay in an artist’s studio

Hector with his namesake’s armour and spear

Phoebe moving the world

School, arts and crafts on the boat

On the beach in Ortigia

Our first BBQ in the Med, ever…

Sunset in the bay

Yves in full sail from Bobcat (our friends) too far away though

Yves Christian anchored in Siracusa bay