A friend of mine, Henry Lund of Dublin, Ireland, bought a new Beneteau Oceanis 48 and took delivery in Canet, France, which is just north of the Spanish border on the Gulf of Lion, the windiest part of the Mediterranean. Henry bought the boat from the Beneteau dealer in Turkey and sailed it to Marmaris, Turkey where he keeps the boat. He already had a shake down and sea trials the week before with a few friends and was able to get the new boat bugs out before the 1,536 nm trip to Turkey.
I elected to sail the 781 nm leg to Catania, Sicily because of time restraints and also the fact that I had not sailed that area previously. Henry, the skipper, Joe, John and I were the crew for this leg and the chemistry between us all was really great. When I boarded the boat, “Anna Bella”, my first impression was how clean her lines are and the very impressive cockpit layout. The interior is very spacious, with plenty of cabin space and spacious toilets/showers. Since this yacht is equipped with two wheels, I asked Henry if we would flip coins to see which wheel to use. After this trip, I came to love the twin wheels and being able to sit on the low side and see the tell tales on the jib, switching to the high side wheel to look for other boats or obstructions or docking in close quarters. Since all lines are run to the cockpit, it did not take me long to see where everything was located. During the trip, I joked that we needed to use a megaphone to talk to the crew sitting on the other side of the cockpit. We could really have a great party in the cockpit which, compared to other boats her size, is enormous and very well laid out. The skipper gave us a briefing on the location of ALL the safety gear and had us fit the offshore inflatable life vests. We hooked up the safety tethers to the vests and made sure they fit snugly and put them in our cabins for later use.
Henry plotted the course as follows: 290 nm to Bonifacio, Corsica, 162 nm to Nettuno, 77nm to Ischia, 56 nm to Agropoli, 75 nm to Tropea and 69 nm to Riposto, Sicily, all in Italy. We cast off at 0815 on Sept. 4th and we had to motor sail because of the lack of wind. Joe did a great job keeping our stomachs happy and nobody had problems with the pint size beer cans or the great wine on board (we take these trips seriously). The next morning the seas started to build and we could see thunderstorms all around us. It reminded me of the typical afternoon thunderstorms on Tampa Bay. Around 1600, we hit a major thunderstorm and we had to reach off to sail the quickest course through it. I was on the wheel and the boat drove through the storm beautifully and at one point I had it sailing over 11 knots. The next morning we sailed into Bonifacio, which was a great experience. The harbor is surrounded by high limestone cliffs and you cannot see the entrance until you are on top of it. It would be easy to sail past it from the west since you don’t see the town on top of the cliffs until you are past the entrance on the east side of the cliffs. We spent 2 days and nights in this medieval town, which has a fantastic marina and you just walk from the boat to the shops and restaurants just yards away. They also had a great tango dance and band for the public right on the harbor.
The one thing I like about most of the towns on the Mediterranean coast is that the harbors are the central focus of the towns. The restaurants, taverns and shops are along the waterfront and there is always a constant parade of the local people and tourists walking along the waterfront viewing the yachts in the harbors. I wish we had more of that in Florida!
On Sept. 8th we left for another overnight trip to Nettuno next to Anzio, where the Allied landing was in 1944. We stayed in Nettuno for two days, since the weather was forecasting gale force winds. This gave Joe and I an opportunity to take the train to Rome for a day and see the Coliseum and the Forum.
The rest of the trip was a short day trip to the marina in Riposto, Sicily. We sailed across the Bay of Naples and saw Mount Vesuvius that whole day. Whenever I saw landmarks, I would look up the history and found out that Mount Vesuvius is the most dangerous volcano in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby. We sailed to Cetrada and had to put up with swells that had not subsided from the previous day’s gale force winds. We picked a restaurant right next to the harbor and we were the only customers there. The owner had to call the cook, who came over on his bike.
The next day, on our way to Tropea, the sea had moderated and we had a nice sail, passing the active volcano of Stromboli, which would be beautiful to see at night with its glow. Tropea is again a town high on the cliffs to avoid the pirates and raiders of the old days and to give exercise to the tourist of today. From there we sailed through the Straights of Messina, separating Sicily from mainland Italy. You have to sail along the shore and the commercial traffic stays in the center. Because we went through on a Sunday, the traffic was light. As we approached our destination, we could see Mount Etna and the volcanic ash still spilling out the top. We sailed past Taormina where there were some beautiful mega yachts moored and I went back later with a car to visit a Greek theater and a small but very impressive museum that I came across, with artifacts that went back to 380 BC, when there was a Greek settlement. We had our last meal before the crew went their separate ways and Captain Henry got ready for the new crew to take Anna Bella to the final destination 755 nm away.
I stayed in Catania for two days and saw 12 churches; a concert made up of young musicians from the university, walked miles all over the town and visited a boat yard where I met with the owner. We exchanged the same issues that we all seem to have as small business owners. Most of the boats in Italy are power and they love big engines. The price of diesel fuel is $8.55 per gallon, so you really have to love boating. My sailboat has two 100 gallon tanks, so it would cost $1,710 to fill my tanks over there. I am glad I am back in the USA where I can afford to go boating. It was a great trip with a fun crew and captain plus I had the opportunity to sail in an area I had never seen plus absorb history going back to 400BC. Not bad!
Words by J. Jopie Helsen