It being my birthday, we were allowed a lie in until 06:30! Then, it was up and off on our way to Manfredonia. We skirted a small fishing boat coming weaving towards us, with no one apparently steering or paying attention to what was in front, and passed a large ship in the anchorage outside Bari. After we were clear of all this, it was the first of many sail setup evolutions. I didn't think we have done as many sail changes in the whole time we have been here as we did today. It was reefs in and out of each sail to try to get the best of the conditions. The wind seemed to vary between nothing and 18 knots all day. Initially it was one of those frustrating days with the wind coming from exactly where you want to go and whichever tack you were on seemed to be the wrong one.
While all this was happening, we were suddenly aware of a boat coming towards us and it turned out to be the Guardia di Finanza. They pulled up alongside in a large, powerful rib and shouted some questions to us. Once we had told them the number of people on board and our last and next ports, they departed as quickly as they had arrived. Maybe we will get a visit from them while we are in Manfredonia.
Eventually, the wind shifted and strengthened and we were able to start progressing in the right direction. It was great fun, pushing on through the smallish waves and concluding that we were better off with more power from the sails, to get through them. Just the sort of conditions that I really like and a great birthday treat. I think that the first 35% of the mileage took about 65% of the time. At the start it seemed as if it would be late when we got in, but we were here by late afternoon, tired and hungry.
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| The wind was strong enough to need the baseball cap on backwards. |
The marina in Manfredonia is huge and modern and seems to be among the best we have been to in Italy. The facilities are absolutely first class.
After a refreshing shower, we headed out to one of the restaurants in the marina. The food was good, but there was a bit of a breakdown in communication with the waiter, and our order was messed up. This meant that we had to wait rather a long time before our secondi came, which was not ideal.
Miles Today - 58
Miles 2022 - 795
Steve (and Tricia)
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