We stayed a day (Wed) in Toulon provisioning, adjusting the rig (done very badly in Port Napoleon) and I thought it in danger of collapse! and other odd jobs.
The weather forecast for Friday is really dire - up to gale force 9! so we decided to go find somewhere to moore nearer Corsica so as to get a 22 rather than a 26 hour passage. We set off at 8.00 and at 13.00 called Cavaliere-sur-mer for a place - only to be told that it was full. Called around every other sensible marine in the area - and they're all full. Welcome to the French Riviera!
With the only anchoring now available we had to find a good sheltered bay. Winds forcast to be W to NW so fortunately the three large bays at the tip of the St Tropez peninsula were all good candidates. When we got there at 1500, they were of course packed but we knew most of the motor boats would disappear as evening approached so we set down a temporary anchor in deepish water and went for a swim.
Overnight, we had much more swell than I expected (it was diffracting round the point). It was uncomfortable and a bit sleepless but not dangerous. In the morning we moved round the point to a much more sheltered spot - and waited for the wind to get up!
And get up it did! It got stronger and stronger through the afternoon and evening till it was clocking over 35 Knots - and that was in shelter. We got no swell or chop but did get thrown around all night but our wonderful spade anchor performed flawlessly so we got a surprisingly large amount of sleep. I always have a hand held GPS on anchor watch by the bed which contributes hugely to my ability to let go. At 7.00 the wind suddenly died in 10 minutes to almost nothing.
We measured the journey to Calvi in Corsica as exactly 100 miles. At our average of 5 knots, that's 20 hours. We wanted to gett to Calvi early in the morning to ensure we got a place so we left at 10.00 on Saturday. At first there was very little wind. We put up all sail but even so we were only making 1.5Knots so we hoisted the Iron topsail.
We were 5 miles out when I spotted something yellow about a mile away which looked like an inflatable or possibly a liferaft. We couldn't just go by in case someone was in trouble so we diverted only to find that it was a towing toy for power boats and empty. We called the coastguard anyway just in case and they seemed pleased to be told.
As soon as we cleared the shelter of the coast there was a heavy swell left over tfrom the previous days storm. After about 3 hours the wind ros rapidly and was soon getting up to 25 Knots on the starboard quarter. With a 3M Meter swell it was just too uncomfortable so we reduced to part jib anda double reefed main and that's how we stayed the whole journey. I thought we were in for a nasty night as big waves would keep coming out of the darkness and slapping us in the chops. In the event though it was lovely. There was a full moon making easy to see everything, the wind dropped to a comfortable 18 Knots and the swell died away to about a Meter. We even had a completely unexpected partial eclipse of the moon!
By 0200 Corsica was clearly visible and remained so all the way until we arrived in Calvi at 7.15. The only excitement was dodging a couple of thunder storms which caused the otherwise steady wind to change rather unpredictably. As expected, there was no help with mooring until they clocked on at 8.30 so in a heavy wind we set too. Not our finest hour!
It was a horrible arrangement with a very heavy rope attached to the bottom of the buoy and a strong wind blowing us off in a tight space. We tried and failed 5 times - including dropping the boat hook which luckily floated. We were both tired and tetchy and ended up shouting at each other. L came up with the brilliant idea of tying the dinghy to Rosa's bow with her in it with a rope. I manovered up to the buoy, she passed it the rope through the loop and back up to me. A quick tie and it was Job done.
They moved us later but gave us help. It was well worth doing though as it ensured we were given a mooring and at a reasonable time. It was also a good thing we had telephoned 24 hours in advance. The place is packed!
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