Lisa’s English homework

Posted on 25th August 201625th August 2016 by Manuela

Think I like this!

I asked Lisa if she wanted to be a published author and she gamely wrote a piece for the website on her sailing adventure on Mr X, in English, no less. I know, it was rotten of me to set her some homework, but to be fair, I did say that she could do it in French. Both Ian and myself were extremely impressed by her written English so we did not edit it. There it goes…

“Hi everybody!

My name is Lisa, I’m a french girl from Paris and this summer I spent 5 days on the sailboat of Manuela and Ian.

Garagnanis onboard

Posted on 24th August 201624th August 2016 by Manuela

All on board – The Garagnanis

The cruising Garagnanis

We needed to get fuel and water before we set off any further. Carole was arriving on the Monday 8^th August, so we had the afternoon and a night to recover from the lack of sleep. The rade of Toulon is not especially pretty, it is one of the biggest French naval base and it is littered with huge war ships of various shape and size.

L’ile Rousse- Corsica to Toulon

Posted on 24th August 201624th August 2016 by Manuela

Sunrise over Porquerolles – France

The weather looked good to attempt the crossing to France on Wednesday … we were trying to avoid the tail of the previous mistral onslaught which had been battering most of the south of France and the predicted force 7 which was coming our way on the occidental coast of Corsica. We got stuck for 3 days on l’ile Rousse (north of Calvi), waiting for the storm to pass, the forecasted winds started earlier than expected.

L’ile Rousse- Corsica

Posted on 24th August 201624th August 2016 by Manuela

Ile Rousse – Corsica

This will probably be our last stop in Corsica. We need to be in France in less than a week. This sounds a nice place for our last taste of Corsica. We were planning to stay for 2 nights with a day spent exploring the town, in the event strong wind kept us there a while longer.

Parachutists wave us on from Calvi

Posted on 2nd August 20162nd August 2016 by Manuela

Parachutists Calvi Word must have gone round that we were leaving Calvi today. Parachutists came and waved us goodbye with a fabulous display this morning for breakfast. We counted 8 drops of up to 15 of them…and they all waved at us…. Honest!

They did make us late to the fuelling pontoon and by the time we got there it was mayhem. French have no concept of queuing system… A swede guy lost his rag to a bunch of shrugging queue jumpers (Ian nearly joined in, until I stepped on his foot). Poor swede left in disgust without fuel…

Visiting Calvi

Posted on 1st August 20161st August 2016 by Manuela

Citadelle Calvi

Calvi – Corsica 27^th July to 1^st Aug 16

We had a beautiful sail up to Calvi, all down wind, only Genoa needed to ride the surf. And we arrived just in time for a late afternoon swim. What a view, the town and citadelle is the backdrop to the sunset and behind us on the other side of the bay are towering jagged mountains.

Heading to Calvi

Posted on 28th July 201628th July 2016 by Manuela

Tuesday 26^th July 2016

Last view of Ajaccio.

Off again, going north towards Calvi. We have set our destination to Anse de San Pellegrino, although the wind is SW and may not be suitable to stay the night if too strong.

Visiting Ajaccio

Posted on 28th July 201628th July 2016 by Manuela

Vieux Port - Ajaccio Understandably, Ian was a bit worried about Mr X being left in harbour and the winds still being quite strong so we went back early afternoon, just in time. The storm has caught up with us finally and with rain and thunder… we spent the afternoon catching up with the late night and by late afternoon, the storm having disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, we went and explored Ajaccio for a few hours. Nice place on a sunny Sunday evening… We decided that we would come back and explore more on Monday.

Heading to Ajaccio

Posted on 28th July 201628th July 2016 by Manuela

Friday 22^nd Foredeck hand (in the pockets) July

Heading to Ajaccio and very excited to be meeting with Cecile this weekend after some years. Still no wind to speak off and we have it on the nose, hence nos sails up.

Foredeck hand…in the pockets!

On our way up to the west coast of Corsica

Posted on 28th July 201628th July 2016 by Manuela

Th Ile Lavezzi-South Corsica ursday 21^st July

We set off the next morning under motor, with little wind and what little there is, is on the nose. Going around the south point of Corsica, weaving amongst the islands and islets with Italian sounding names (Ratino, Poraggia, Cavallo, Lavezzi) we are back into civilisation. Plenty of sailing and motor boats, from small fishing craft to big ferries and tankers, to avoid. And by the way, anyone knows why the biggest and swankiest boats we come across are all registered in the UK?