We left Porto Vecchio at 1207 in 22 knot winds. The exit was starting forward and we were soon in the marker channel and heading out to open seas. Initially we sailed on the small genoa alone, but soon put out a small amount of main.
We sailed out past the light houses of Punta Di a Chippa and in between the Roches de Chiapinno and the main land.
The wind soon piped up to 35 knots and we were close hauled. It was meant to be westerly, but it was more south westerly and to add to our plight we had to bear away somewhat to avoid the group of island off the east coat of Corsica. Once past these we put in a tack to get closer to land and to give us a better coarse on the next tack for our destination of their island of Cavollo. The tack worked well, but the U.V. Strip on the small Genoa ripped and was being battered by the wind.
After our second tack and back on a good course for Cavallo i went to my cabin to get a new battery for my GoPro, and noticed a whirling noise. At first i thought it may be the sail drive not being put into gear, but when chewcking the lever was firmly in the reverse position. It turned out the noise was the bilge pump motor and when Ed checked the bilges, found then quite full of water. This, we concluded, was due to the forward hatch not being closed correctly, due to the Geneka lioness not being stowed and an abundance of water over the foredeck from crashing waves. To add insult to injury, the bilge pump was not pumping.
We pressed on and finally arrived at our destination of Cavallo. Welcomed by the beautiful calm turqouise waters of Cala Di Zeri. We anchored about 100 metres off the beach in paradise. The contrast of the 35 knot winds and rough sea could not be different, and while the storm blew out some 1/4 of a mile away we were anchored in a tranquil bay with hardly a ripple on the water and no motion at all.
Upon further reading, Cavallo is an island own by a group of investors with houses scattered around belonging to the rich and famous and rumour has it the Princess Caroline of Monaco has an abode her. A very interesting place and a delightful safe anchorage from all winds apart from North or North Easterlies.
Once anchored we spent a good hour investigating the bilge pump and as it transpired, found that the impeller had failed. So with this replaced we were back in action, with only wet bilges to contend with and then concentrate of cooking the Tuna we had caught and watching an episode of the Pink Panther.
