Day twelve - Hvar to Drvenik

That was some night! I have never been on board a boat in a storm like that one. Hats off to my crew - they were fantastic! None of us will forget that in a hurry. It's 0825 and it's a bright sunny morning wth a lively wind but no more. Four hours ago we were fending off a Grand Soleil 52 (expensive piece of kit) that had lost control trying to anchor far too close in front of us. What they were doing out at sea I cannot imagine as we've known about this incoming storm for days. The rain was coming down so hard you literally could not see more than a few yards and lightening was going off all around with deafening thunder. The whole scene was like one of those old movies - The Wreck of the Mary Deare or whatever. Eventually the GS52 moved off, circling around the anchored yachts trying not to hit anything and within thirty minutes things had calmed down. So we did the proper thing and put the kettle on. After tea, we retired at about 0445. 

Yesterday evening was beautiful - so we went back into Hvar after dinner and found a jazz bar. It was one of those bands that likes to encourage guest singers - so Jessie was called up - and was brilliant. As she's singing regularly now with Spread the Jam in Liverpool she is fully 'up to speed' and delivered a couple of absolutely flawless performances which brought the house down. Curiously, the singer of the band (Danielle from Zagreb) was wearing a red dress almost the same as Jessie's and also had blonde curls - they looked almost like sisters. When Jessie started to sing, this girl's jaw just dropped. She was extremely generous and funny though - which is classy because a lot of singers turn nasty if they get upstaged. I knew Jessie had improved a lot in the last couple of years but I'm rather ashamed to say that until last night I didn't realise just how much. I was blown away - and a very proud Dad. It was a highlight of the holiday for me! 

We got back to the boat about 2am and the wind was picking up. Jessie and Becky took first watch and all was quiet until a massive clap of thunder announced the arrival of the storm and then the 'Mary Deare' incident described above. We will stay here for a bit - go to the supermarket etc - then we will see what is a realistic destination for tonight.

Hvar this morning - hard to believe what we just went through!

Later: When everyone came to, we took the dinghy back to Hvar and had a late breakfast at a cafe. We picked up a few essentials at Konzum (Croatian Tesco) and then set off at about 12 noon. The wind was still pretty fresh and we were sailing up the Pakleni Kanal, heavily reefed, doing 6.6 knots - a record for the holiday under sail. "It can't last" we thought. It didn't. Once we got clear of the Kanal the sea really got up and the wind was gusting 30 knots and the direction was unstable. In the end it got too uncomfortable to sail and we had to thrash our way through the mountainous seas under power - with the boat crashing down over the swell and spray continuously drenching yours truly on the helm. The wind duly veered around to dead ahead and showed no sign of letting up - 25 knots on average. We were struggling to make 5 knots against it. Having started late, Sibenik was out of reach so, having considered Trogir, I decided on Drvenik Vela as this would not take us too far off our route for tomorrow. We sailed the last part on the genoa only - making 6 knots on a broad reach. Turning into the inlet the wind crossed the stern - another first for the holiday! 

The port here consists of a concrete wall. It's the usual stern on arrangement - but with no fixed bow lines. There is deep water in front of the wall - 15m. You have to drop anchor about 30 metres out and then let out 40-45m of chain so that the anchor bites when you are 1-2m off the wall - then you can attach your stern lines. If you don't get good holding you can't keep your stern off the wall. As we were sizing up this challenge some very cheerful German guys appeared on the wall saying that the average was 5 attempts to get this right! I now have the pleasure to tell you that Team Sea Bird nailed it on the first go. We dropped in the right place then, having taken the brave pills, reversed at speed towards the wall. We jerked to a halt about 3m off as the anchor dug in. We then had only to let out a little bit more chain and we were in business. Over celebratory beers the Germans told us we had been lucky! We then watched the next boat to arrive mess up by letting out too much chain without moving back and then hoping they could use the anchor winch to take up the slack. No chance in 15m of water! So every time they hauled on the stern lines the boat just moved back onto the wall. They then used the engine to keep off, and so could not get tension on the anchor chain. Result: up anchor and motor out into the middle to try again. 

Battling the elements

The wall features a few derelict shore power stations that look they fused the island power supply some years ago - and no water taps. Despite this modest (generous adjective) facility, a sour faced port authority woman came round demanding £18. If they had an ounce of charm or empathy, it would not rankle so much. Perhaps it's just a cultural thing - but they really make you feel unwelcome and that is never a nice feeling.

So, tomorrow is our last day. The weather looks set fine again, although the north wind is keeping the temperature down. Whatever gripes I may have expressed in these posts I have loved this and I am not ready to go home.

In Hvar

The wall at Drvenik