Leaving Italy to Explore Corsica

After a lovely time in Ostia, we decided that the tempting weather window which would give us a broad reach for 150 nm to Corsica could not be left unattended.  We are still waiting for a package from Sailrite which includes all the material to make some banana yellow dinghy chaps.  Unfortunately, Italian UPS seem as organized as Greek UPS and it is debatable if they will ever actually process the package sitting in their warehouse.  After trying to contact them repeatedly for the past 3 days, we decided that we would just head West to Corsica, and if they do finally deliver the package to Ostia, we will recover it in person later.

Thus, we left at 4 in the afternoon, with light winds, smooth seas, a full fridge, and plenty of available means of caffeination.  The wind steadily built and by midnight, I handed watch off to Jay with a perfect beam reach in 14 knots.  We did our deck walk and found an incredible site of thousands of phosphorescent jelly fish that lit the water up in the wake of the stern of the boat.  Unfortunately, none of my cameras were able to capture the effect, but it far exceeded the phosphorescent water we saw in Vieques, Puerto Rico.  After a prolonged period of sitting at the stern in amazement, I retired to the front cabin to find an already sleeping Evan. 

Eventually my gentle rocking to sleep became a little more raucous and the sound of the water rushing under the bow intensified as we surfed down the waves in progressively building seas and winds.  At 4:30, I got out of bed and found my socked feet making the interior of the boat a tippy slide.  After climbing out to the cockpit, it was quite apparent that our lovely predicted broad reach was now a smoking fast beam reach in 25-30 knots with 3-4 m short, confused seas under a moonless night and lots of rain.  We were making great time with a boat speed of 8-10 knots, but we still had four and a half hours left to our destination.

Jay chose to lie down in the cockpit to be at hand if needed though, I doubt he got any quality sleep.  Shortly thereafter, James awoke calling for his SeaBands and made it to the cockpit just in time to empty his stomach into a bucket.  Soon after, he and I were sharing said bucket and I have officially earned my first episode of sea sickness on Elation.  We jokingly dubbed the cockpit the “puke pit”.  Evan meanwhile, stayed blissfully asleep in the front cabin until the lighthouses to Porto Vecchio became visible 2 nm from shore.  Even with a sea that built up in the shallows, Evan’s stomach of steel held strong and he was completely unfazed.

Once we were anchored within the lovely, protected bay of Porto Vecchio, Jay and I retired to a long nap while the boys quietly entertained themselves on the boat.

 

Fortunately, 2 days later, the clouds cleared and the stunning mountain ranges of Corsica came into view.  The sun began to shine and we all felt recharged.  Now the task at hand was: 1. Boulangerie 2. Sandy beaches.  After stocking up on some delicious French baguettes, it was not difficult to find long sandy beaches as the entire East coast of Corsica is essentially one long sandy beach.  The boys have been properly entertained and Jay and I are having lovely day sails in downwind conditions of 10-18 knots as we made our way North towards Bastia.  Bastia is a lovely town with numerous old buildings, small streets, and long bike/scooter paths.  We were able to tuck away in a small spot next to the French customs boat in the old harbour for a night, under the beautiful church.

Tomorrow, we plan to take the scooters and bikes on a long ride South to the local yacht club to see about renting some Opti’s and whether they may have some older Opti’s for sale.

For the first time this season, we are now leaving our cockpit enclosures open during the day and the night.  We are leaving windows open at night and are starting to relish the warmer temperatures heralding late spring and early summer.  I am eagerly looking forward to more time in the water, preferably, without the wetsuits.

James and I have also added a trip to our future bucket list.  There is a stunning but tough ridge hike that crosses Corsica from North to South with numerous, high alpine passes and refuges along the way.  The hike is called the GR 20 and is said to be the toughest hiking route in Europe.  If we did not have some looming timing commitments, and I had brought my backpacking gear, it would be incredibly tempting to hop off the boat for a “little bit”.  Alas, James and I plan to return when the boat sabbatical is over to conquer this one.

 

• • Next stop: Elba

• • Distance travelled this season: 1000 nm

• • Percentage of time under sail this week: 95%

• • Boat projects completed: Stainless polish, whipping dock lines

• • WTF Moment: 2 cans of Epoxy disappearing