Overall Route This web page describes a portion of a 7 week trip with S/Y Thetis in 1996 from Greece to Malta, Sardinia, Ustica and Calabria in Italy, and back to Greece. The portion described is the passage from Malta to Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy. It is illustrated with maps and photographs, also included are some historical and geographical descriptions of the places visited as well as several links to other related web sites.
I woke up at 6:30 to prepare for our departure. I find an electrical problem: the alternator is hot, this is caused from the charging current coming from the shore connected charger. There must be a current loop in the wiring. I trace all the wiring, it is a mess. There are several wrong connections, I fix most of them. I am not sure if the regulator/alternator is working properly anymore. The regulator draws 3.4 a when the engine is off, with the engine on it charges at 40 a. We disconnected the water and electrical connections from the shore.
We go with the zodiac across the harbor to the customs house and get clearance. They want us to call "Harbor Control" when we are ready to leave. Lewis wants to buy some film so we go with the zodiac right to the esplanade and he goes shopping. While waiting for him, I call Nikos who still says that he will come to Sardinia. I do hope that he does, as am getting cold feet about single handling. Lewis comes back, he has used all our left-over Maltese money to buy several pies for lunch. Unfortunately, they are under the British influence and while not too bad in taste they have a heavy greasy crust. I hope we do not encounter bad weather after eating them.
We use the zodiac to raise the second anchor. The main anchor had not only dragged but it is fouled on a steel cable and on the anchor lines of a small ship. With some difficulty and with some not so sharp engine maneuverings we manage to disengage. Again, had I been alone this could have developed into a serious situation as there was a fairly brisk wind blowing. We move off the berth and re-anchor off-shore but within the harbor to disassemble the zodiac. Lewis suggests that we use the newly repaired electric pump, to deflate the zodiac. This works like a charm, too bad I never had thought of it before. After we stow the zodiac, we collect our lines, and fenders. We hail the harbor control, get clearance, and depart Valletta at 1:30 PM.
![[Photo of Valletta Harbor]](Photos/ValettaHarb2.jpg)
The wind is 18 knots from the NW right against our course
with strong gusts up to 27 knots. For a change the wind instruments are working
properly now. Again we do not want to consume our fuel before we even begin
the trip, so we tack and tack. We do not seem to be getting anywhere, we are
moving along our course line at a snail's pace. There is considerable spray and we
have to wear the storm gear. The waves are quite large. Lewis seems to regret not
leaving from Malta by the airplane. On top of that our stomachs are unsettled
from the heavy lunch. Lewis is nauseous.
As the sun goes down we are awarded with a breathtaking sunset over the Maltese island of Gozo.
We have a light dinner of bread and cheese and some apples. I am very tired. Lewis takes the first watch, and I go to bed at 9:30.
![[Photo of Sunset over Gozo]](Photos/Gozo.jpg)
I start my watch at 00:30. It is very wet and miserable. We are 16 nmi South of our course. I start the engine to bring us back on course. The alternator is charging at 45a and it does not seem to drop its rate. I am afraid of overcharging the batteries and possibly exploding them. I adjust the sails and turn off the engine.
The moon is beautiful, just a few days past full moon. We are sailing at about 4 knots. I take out the tools and with the help of my new flashlight, which I wear on my head, replace the regulator with the old one. There is still a problem. Now the power LED is on even if the engine ignition switch is off, but, unlike the new regulator, the old one does not draw the 3.4a. With the engine on, there is no charging. Is the alternator damaged? I do have spare parts but I am too tired to deal with this problem tonight.
The wind changes direction, now it is from the NE at 10-15 knots. This helps us get back to our course. I wake up Lewis and go to sleep at 3:30.
Lewis has tuned on the engine, it is 6:30 already. After I make some coffee I relieve him and he goes back to bed. I remove all the reefs and increase the genoa. There is no need for the motor. We are sailing right on our course at 6 knots. Over night, with the more favorable wind, we managed to cover 1/4 of our distance to Sardinia. The waves are now smaller and it is actually pleasant.
Later the wind changes direction again, now from the NW. This is not good and we must tack. I start the motor to minimize the northern tack. The alternator is definitely not charging with the old regulator. I replace the old regulator with the new. Now we are back to overcharging which means that I will have to play regulator and control the battery charge very carefully. At least the alternator is functional.
By 3:00 PM the wind has increased to 15 knots and by 4:30 to 22 knots. We reduce the genoa and we continue sailing.
I cook spaghetti "ala Thetis" which is eaten with great appetite and a glass of wine. I take the first shift and Lewis goes to bed. It is now dark, the wind has increased to 28 knots and the waves are larger. I set the second reef on the main sail. I experience an anomaly with the knot meter. It gives wild readings, but after I reset it, it works normally. Not sure what caused this.
There are many large ships in this area because this is the Sicilian Channel, the narrows between Africa and Sicily. At some point during this time our red navigation light stopped working. It is too rough to attempt repairing during the night. Later our rear navigation light stopped working also. This one I compensated with a flash light. I am watching a large ship which appears to be, from the radar, on a course which will result in crossing ours at the comfortable distance of at least 5 nmi. Suddenly it changes course and starts coming directly at us. I start the motor, and make a 120° right turn as fast as the engine is capable, with all the sails flapping. This bring us at parallel course and it overtakes us at a distance of less than 1 nmi looming a huge dark shadow over us. I was very, very scared!
At 01:00, I wake up Lewis, explain the situation with the navigation lights and the traffic. I play down our near collision so as not scare him. Fortunately there are fewer ships visible now.
I am back at 04:00. The wind has decreased and I remove the reef and open all of the genoa. We are now moving nicely again at 6 knots. Nothing else happens in the next 3 hours other than that I am getting very sleepy. At 7:00 I go back to sleep for 2 hours while Lewis takes charge.
The wind has decreased further to 8-12 knots and it is now very calm. We are moving slowly at less than 4 knots but it is very pleasant in the sunshine. I start looking at the navigation lights. The white one has simply burned and I replace its bulb. The red one has broken contacts, they must have corroded. I replace, with some difficulty due to its awkward position, the whole unit with a spare.
By noon the sea is dead calm, but we are still moving at our course. I make omelets with the left over spaghetti for lunch together with bread and cheese and fruits.
All afternoon we are basking in the sun while Thetis glides on the glassy water at 4-5 knots under full sails. Occasionally we pass some distant fishing boats.
After a lovely sunset we start dinner preparations. Spaghetti again with pesto which we found in the supermarket in Malta. Lewis makes a very elaborate cucumber salad. After dinner we have to start the engine because there is almost no wind and we are hardly moving. Lewis takes the first watch and I go to sleep at 10:30.
Lewis wakes me up at 1:20. The sea is still calm and the moon is up, no traffic is visible. The wind has shifted to the NE at 5-10 knots. We continue motor-sailing but I adjust the main and roll in the jib. We are 3/4 of the way to Cagliari making an easy 6.7 knots.
Later the wind shifts again to the SE and strengthens somewhat. We continue motor-sailing but I string a preventer to hold down the boom in case of an accidental jibe. I have been thinking about the regulator/alternator problem. The symptoms of the old regulator: LED on when it should be off and not charging when it should, are consistent with it being mis-wired. I check on the multi-conductor plug of the harness. Yes, it can be connected either up or down, there is no notch to force only one way connection, and it is connected the wrong way! I flip it and miracle of miracles it works! Now how about the new regulator. I plug it in, correctly this time, and there is no charge at all! The old one works just fine. Either the new was damaged by the mis-connection or it never worked properly.
The wind picks up so I turn off the engine. We sail with the boom way out, since the wind is almost behind us. I open the genoa a little and we make better than 5 knots.
About 35 nmi from Cagliari as we approach Cape Carbonara, Lewis prepares lunch. The wind has increased and there is considerable swell. Lewis tells me that the head (toilet) does not work, not sure what the problem is but we will deal with it when we get to the harbor.
Later as we approach the harbor we call the authorities on channel 16 and they tell us to enter and tie down near the other yachts. We enter the harbor at 4:30 PM. It is huge, with an outer and inner harbor. As we prepare to anchor a lady waves us to come sideways. We do notice that almost all the yachts are sideways. She helps us with the lines and we secure the boat. The only problem is that the red lens from the navigation light came off and fell overboard. Again I have a spare and replace it. Now we are running low on spare navigation lights.
![[Photo of Cagliari Harbor]](Photos/GagHarbor.jpg)
The lady who helped us is Lydia Numbers from the American
yacht Salubria form California. She and her husband left California 8
years ago and have been living on the boat. He is now back in the US and she is
alone on the boat, a nice one custom built in Taiwan. She gives us a lot of
information about where things are in Cagliari.
As we are talking with Lydia, a small cruiser labeled Policia di Finance comes and ties along side us. I am a little concerned about their fenders but it is all right. There are several very young men in immaculate uniforms. They take our papers and passports and disappear inside their cabin for over 20 minutes. Then they hand them all back, say "benvenuto", smile, and go away. Before 10 minutes go by, 3 of them are back on foot this time, accompanied by an older person with more gold braid. They ask for our papers again and two of them then come aboard and start inspecting our boat. They are extremely polite, and ask to see the fire extinguishers, the flares, the toilet, the engine etc. They point to a date written at the flares "1991" and mutter "infractura, due centi lire ..." I quickly point to them the official Greek inspection papers which state that the flares expire on 1999. I improvise that 1991 must be the manufacturing day. They all nod their heads and seem relieved. They smile, shake our hands, and leave. For myself I now wonder, do we or do we not have valid flares?
We go ashore. Cagliari is a substantial town with heavy traffic. We easily find a bank with an ATM machine and get 100,000 lira each. We then buy a 10,000 lira telephone card and I try to call Alice from a phone near the boat. The card does not work at all. We try another telephone but it does not work either. We then notice that the card has a diagonal dotted line at one of its corners. We cut off the corner and miracle of miracles it now works so I leave a message for Alice. Lewis does the same for Inga and Joshua.
We get back to the boat and we entertain our selves with the delightful task of dismantling the head (toilet) pump. It is full of papers which are jamming the impeller. Lewis looks very meekish. After we put it back together again it works fine. There is quite a mess to clean up. At least we have hot water and take nice long showers. We are by now very tired. We go ashore and get into the first restaurant we see. It is not very remarkable but who cares. The wine is fine. After dinner we both call home again and do find people to speak to. I find Alice and have a nice chat. I also speak to Pitsa. I then call Pei. She, unfortunately, has some very discouraging news from EUTELSAT. It seems that there are all sorts of problems which I am too tired to even follow. We agree to call her at the office on Thursday morning so that she can give me a detailed report and decide what we are to do. Finally we walk exhausted back to Thetis and fall asleep without any extra ceremony.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
