a family sailing blog
Port Stephens is a perfect natural harbour and the only all weather refuge between Newcastle and Coffs Harbour. Even then, with a strong onshore wind and an outgoing tide you can have a tricky entrance riding breakers into the calm water behind the heads. Once inside there are a number of excellent anchorages for yachts... Continue Reading →
Some friends of ours had run aground near the Royal Motor yacht club earlier in the day, and after a stressful afternoon, they called us just after dark saying they were heading past our mooring. Within 5 min’s they were rafted up for a hot chocolate and baileys to calm their nerves, while we laughed... Continue Reading →
Anchoring is often likened to a black art, but we have learnt that there is some science to it, a bit of commonsense and a whole lot of luck! I know plenty of weekend sailors and racers who loath it, even the old sea dog that took me through my RYA Coastal Skipper qualification didn’t... Continue Reading →
Before the weather really turned ugly we ran the gauntlet and headed 50NM north to Pisa. The wind was light and variable and the sea state ok, with about 1m of swell. But as we arrived at Pisa Marina I was a little surprised by how swell really heaped up around the entrance, forming 1.5m... Continue Reading →
Our first trip to the mountains was so much fun we decided to head back for a second time. This time in the central and northern regions. We left Vega in the old port of Bastia, hired a car and went to explore. First we explored the Asco valley, which was magnificent. We decided to... Continue Reading →
After the wind subsided we ventured out into the tail end of the Mistral, and she was still a little more spirited than we had expected wth gusts of 30 knots, but we were sailing down wind and flying along. First stop was Nora, just 12NM across the bay. The beach was picture perfect, fine... Continue Reading →
Malta is 55NM south of Sicily, which makes it about a 10 hour trip on Vega. The night before setting out we had sailed from Syracuse down to Porto Palo. As we upped anchor at 4am in Porto Palo there were fishing boats everywhere and we had to work hard to dodge boats and nets.... Continue Reading →
While in Syracuse we hired cars and headed for Mt Etna, the largest and most active volcano in Europe. Mt Etna is a 1.5 hour drive from Syracuse and being a big tourist draw card, it gets busy, so we headed off early one morning to avoid the crowds. Navigation was easy, we just headed... Continue Reading →
Syracuse is a superb town to visit by yacht and is one of the Medierraneans best natural harbours. Its town quay, which is grand on any scale, was until recently free of charge to use. Even now you only get charged 10 Euro per night to stay here, bit of a bargin where most wharves/quays/marinas... Continue Reading →
Having made it to Crotone in Italy with Calyxa, we were once again reunited with Clive, Claire and Oliver on S/V Intention, and after a fish BBQ and a bit of boat prep all three yachts headed off towards Sicily. However, we only got as far as Le Castella where we had to hole up for... Continue Reading →
a yacht more to life 