Sailing in the Mediterranean and Beyond

Franz on the Water at Anchor in Croatia

This episode is an on the water recap of the summer of 2019 sail in Croatia while at anchor in Croatia.

 

In the introduction I  talked about having dinner with one of our listeners and Amsterdam, Jacques Ten Kate and a wather app that he finds helpful

He provided us a tutorial for the app Lamma Meteo!

Enclosed the walk through screens of app Lamma Meteo Provided by my friend Jacques Ten Kate

This is the opening screen, choose Modelli

You than go to the right pop down menu and in Modello and choose vento y mare

 

 

Than from the right pop down screen, the middle option area you choose the area you want to see

 

 

Than from the right menu the most right one you choose what you want to see, raffica is gusts, altessa onda is wave height, nuvolosita is clouds, perioda onda is wave period, swell, and vento a 10 meters,

You can than press play but that is all pretty self explanatory.

 

Past Podcasts may now be found HERE

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Costal Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam over 9 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 103 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2019 Franz Amussen all rights reserved

Franz on the Water at Anchor in Croatia

This episode is an on the water recap of the summer of 2019 sail in Croatia while at anchor in Croatia.

 

In the introduction I  talked about having dinner with one of our listeners and Amsterdam, Jacques Ten Kate and a wather app that he finds helpful

He provided us a tutorial for the app Lamma Meteo!

Enclosed the walk through screens of app Lamma Meteo Provided by my friend Jacques Ten Kate

This is the opening screen, choose Modelli

You than go to the right pop down menu and in Modello and choose vento y mare

 

 

Than from the right pop down screen, the middle option area you choose the area you want to see

 

 

Than from the right menu the most right one you choose what you want to see, raffica is gusts, altessa onda is wave height, nuvolosita is clouds, perioda onda is wave period, swell, and vento a 10 meters,

You can than press play but that is all pretty self explanatory.

 

Past Podcasts may now be found HERE

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Costal Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam over 9 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 103 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2019 Franz Amussen all rights reserved

We were delightfully surprised when we pulled into the Anchorage area at Scranton Croatia that there was another boat from Utah named year. When the people came back to the boat we found out it was somebody we knew Jeff Whitmore and his family. I previously interviewed Jeff personally in my office in Utah and it was a surprise to actually meet him and his family on the water. We had a delightful evening aboard their boat sharing information and observations and I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Here is a link to their YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB-H1_Of6CiMIGERk0mF8Yg

We were delightfully surprised when we pulled into the Anchorage area at Scranton Croatia that there was another boat from Utah named year. When the people came back to the boat we found out it was somebody we knew Jeff Whitmore and his family. I previously interviewed Jeff personally in my office in Utah and it was a surprise to actually meet him and his family on the water. We had a delightful evening aboard their boat sharing information and observations and I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Here is a link to their YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB-H1_Of6CiMIGERk0mF8Yg

This is a great interview with Gary Harris on his bareboat charter along the Amalfi Coast.

Gary has allowed me to share his journal for the trip along with the photographs, Here it is!

July 23, 2016

Castellammare di Stabia- We arrived at Naples terminal from Florence at 11:00. We had previously arranged a van and driver through Pompeii Car Service to meet us at the terminal and Mario was waiting with his 8 person Mercedes Van. We mentioned that we’d like to have lunch nearby then visit Mt Vesuvius. As we were in Naples, he suggested a Pizza place in town which, if we are lucky, would not yet have a line. We were pleasantly surprised to find no line at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele which is an unassuming place on a small side street that one would never know has the best pizza in Naples (and thereby Italy, and therefore in the world). Here there are exactly 3 items on the menu; Margherita, Margherita with extra cheese, and Marinara. We sat at the basic formica tables on simple chairs and ordered 5 pizzas and two bottles of still water for the seven of us which arrived in about 7 minutes. There was a signed photo on the wall above our table of Julia Roberts, who apparently added notoriety (especially for American tourists) by eating at this restaurant in “Eat, Pray, Love” (spectacularly awful movie). The pizza was fantastic which we ravenously devoured in 15 minutes. At this point the restaurant had filled with locals and tourists and a line had formed outside. Mario was waiting outside as routed through Naples, noting interesting items and facts about the city on our way to Vesuvius. He dropped us at the end of the road several hundred feet below the summit where we paid the park entrance fee and walked the mile or so to the top where we looked down into the caldera and had a hazy view of the entire bay of Naples including the Sorrento peninsula and Isle of Capri to the South and Procida and Ischia to the north west. Mario mentioned the haze was primarily from the unusually high humidity that day and not pollution. We spent 20 or so minutes at the top then returned to meet Mario at the drop off point. The drive to Castellammare di Stabia took about 45 minutes and he had to circle around the marina area and ask a couple of times to find Sun Charters (office marked with another charter company sign). The boat was ready early so we unloaded our luggage and send the kids aboard while Val, Holly and I had Mario take us to Auchan Pompei for provisions. Auchan is a supermarket / Mega store akin to Super Walmart in the states. We found everything we could want at very reasonable prices. We even picked up a couple of beach towels and a large “American style” pillow to augment the typical charter boat flat pillows. We spent 149€ on provisions for the week, thinking that we’d augment with local fresh bread and water each morning, eat breakfast and lunch on the boat and dine ashore each night which worked out quite well. We returned to the boat, arriving right around 5:45. Mario suggested 250€ for the nearly 7 hours of driving (normal rate is 100€ from Naples + 30€ / hour) and I threw in another 20€ tip (not expected in Italy but, alas, American habits die hard). Certainly, the hired van was a bit of a pricey extravagance but, the convenience and Mario’s local knowledge to get us the Pizza, tour of Naples, and especially finding the Charter company lead me to consider this money well spent. Nick, Scott and I did the boat check-out with Sun Charter personnel while the rest went ashore in search of Gelato and dinner. The check out was fairly basic with going through running the motor, explaining the instruments, and going through the electrical panel. Asked for and received helpful suggestions on good anchorages at the Islands and confirmation that Agropoly was worth a visit. I received the equipment list which I did inventory separately. When asked, I said we’d stay aboard that evening but would like to leave early in the morning. As the boat was completely blocked in, we were told to wait for Sun Charter dock personnel to clear things out before we attempted to leave. It would be no earlier than 8:30AM (which is mid-day by my clock). As we were still full from our pizza lunch, we spent the evening at a fruit bar adjacent the marina sharing the Misto Grande fresh fruit plate (13€) and then walked to town square for the best value Gelato of the trip at Mago del Gelo (1.5€ for 2 scoops!) The evening temperature was still above 80 degrees and there was little breeze in the harbor so all but Val and Holly elected to sleep on deck. Unfortunately, load music from the bar ashore continued until 2:00AM so I didn’t get a lot of sleep. We had a key for the marina shower and toilet but the shower drain was clogged making it a wet mess. We elected to go aboard the boat. Fortunately, things we’re cleaned up when we returned a week later.

Sunday - While we were awaiting our turn to leave dock, the charterer next to us grew impatient and decided to leave on their own. They fired up the motor, cast off lines, and proceeded out of the slip, turning to avoid several boats rafted un front. Unfortunately, they failed to disconnect shore power which resulted in all kinds of commotion with the dock hands and a sudden flurry of activity to free them from the electrical tether and prevent collision with the boats rafted in front. Eventually they were set free and went their merry way. Since we now had plenty of help nearby, I was able to get the boats immediately in front of me moved out and we were able to leave. As we made sure to disconnect shore power before we cast off, our departure was uneventful.

We sailed west along the Sorrento peninsula with a 11kt north-east wind. We passed the time sailing by putting out a hammock on the spare halyard which the kids took turns swinging out over the water, occasionally getting dunked in passing waves. It’s a favorite pastime for the kids during our sails. We turned south into Boca Piccolo and left marina Grande of Capri to starboard as we rounded the Sorrento peninsula. We were now in a south-east wind which as the day wore on decayed to 7-8kt. We put out the iron sail and casually motor-sailed past XXX, on which legend has it, lived the Sirens of Homer fame. I can only figure the motor drowned out any music that otherwise would have lured us to a terrible fate on the rocky shore there. There was a constant flow of yachts, cruisers, and small ferrys all along the Amalfi coast. Although prohibited by designation as marine sanctuary, many boats were anchored just offshore.

We arrived Positano late in the afternoon. The bay at Positano is protected by the land from about 10:00 to 5:00. As the wind was from the north east and there were maybe fifty sail and powerboats anchored, I figured this would be a tolerable place to stay the night. We pulled in close to the east shore near a small restaurant about 300m south of the beach1 and main swimming area where we dropped anchor in 13 meters of water in between two comparably sized boats. The anchorage was reasonable calm with barely a swell coming from the south west. Between us and shore was a taxi lane where small motor taxis were continually ferrying clients I assume to/from Amalfi. I figured the chop from their wakes would subside come dusk. Our scouting party took the dingy to check things out and found that the restaurant near us was only open for lunch and beach area at town was completely packed with sunbathers on towels or under umbrellas. You couldn’t fit another towel anywhere on the beach. Between a small commercial dock and an even smaller water taxi dock was a bit of beach on which we deemed we could use to land our dingy when going to dinner.

I should mention here that our dingy was unbelievably tiny. It was barely longer than it was wide and clearly designed more as a throwable life ring than a craft to ferry people from boat to shore. That said, if taking proper care, you could position two small adults diagonally in the boat such that as long as there were no waves or ripples, you could hope to motor ashore without getting swamped. Any attempt to jam 4 persons in the dingy would result in what seemed like 2.5” of freeboard if perfectly balanced. As we had to get all seven of us to shore that evening, I elected to haul anchor and move up closer to town where we re-anchored about 75 meters south of the swimming area. We would attempt to get everyone ashore in two trips.

Around 7:00, we gathered on the transom to make our run. I would pilot the dingy, we carefully orchestrated entry of each person such that we maintained balance and wouldn’t capsize the life ring of a dingy. With four of us aboard, we embarked. Those on the boat later remarked that we looked like four people literally sitting in the water with no sign of a boat below us. Needless to say, we were pretty much soaked from the waist down within a minute or two. To add to the challenge, about halfway to be beach, the 3.3hp Suzuki motor died. I was able to get it restarted but as soon as I increased throttle, it would sputter and die again. After a dozen or so cycles of this, I was able to slowly run the motor just above idle and resume our journey. We put our first three passengers ashore (at least within a few feet of shore, but, we were all wet anyway so, close enough) and I returned to our boat. The dingy motor dies several more times but I was now getting more adept at coaxing it back to life and even getting up to half throttle which was pretty much as fast as you could go without swamping our little life ringhy anyway. Before picking up our remaining 3 crew members, we filled the dingy motor with fresh gas hoping that would improve the odds of making it back. We then headed back to the beach. The motor was now dying constantly and took 6-7 pulls to restart. We barely made it ashore and pulled the dingy up to dry land....

This is a great interview with Gary Harris on his bareboat charter along the Amalfi Coast.

Gary has allowed me to share his journal for the trip along with the photographs, Here it is!

July 23, 2016

Castellammare di Stabia- We arrived at Naples terminal from Florence at 11:00. We had previously arranged a van and driver through Pompeii Car Service to meet us at the terminal and Mario was waiting with his 8 person Mercedes Van. We mentioned that we’d like to have lunch nearby then visit Mt Vesuvius. As we were in Naples, he suggested a Pizza place in town which, if we are lucky, would not yet have a line. We were pleasantly surprised to find no line at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele which is an unassuming place on a small side street that one would never know has the best pizza in Naples (and thereby Italy, and therefore in the world). Here there are exactly 3 items on the menu; Margherita, Margherita with extra cheese, and Marinara. We sat at the basic formica tables on simple chairs and ordered 5 pizzas and two bottles of still water for the seven of us which arrived in about 7 minutes. There was a signed photo on the wall above our table of Julia Roberts, who apparently added notoriety (especially for American tourists) by eating at this restaurant in “Eat, Pray, Love” (spectacularly awful movie). The pizza was fantastic which we ravenously devoured in 15 minutes. At this point the restaurant had filled with locals and tourists and a line had formed outside. Mario was waiting outside as routed through Naples, noting interesting items and facts about the city on our way to Vesuvius. He dropped us at the end of the road several hundred feet below the summit where we paid the park entrance fee and walked the mile or so to the top where we looked down into the caldera and had a hazy view of the entire bay of Naples including the Sorrento peninsula and Isle of Capri to the South and Procida and Ischia to the north west. Mario mentioned the haze was primarily from the unusually high humidity that day and not pollution. We spent 20 or so minutes at the top then returned to meet Mario at the drop off point. The drive to Castellammare di Stabia took about 45 minutes and he had to circle around the marina area and ask a couple of times to find Sun Charters (office marked with another charter company sign). The boat was ready early so we unloaded our luggage and send the kids aboard while Val, Holly and I had Mario take us to Auchan Pompei for provisions. Auchan is a supermarket / Mega store akin to Super Walmart in the states. We found everything we could want at very reasonable prices. We even picked up a couple of beach towels and a large “American style” pillow to augment the typical charter boat flat pillows. We spent 149€ on provisions for the week, thinking that we’d augment with local fresh bread and water each morning, eat breakfast and lunch on the boat and dine ashore each night which worked out quite well. We returned to the boat, arriving right around 5:45. Mario suggested 250€ for the nearly 7 hours of driving (normal rate is 100€ from Naples + 30€ / hour) and I threw in another 20€ tip (not expected in Italy but, alas, American habits die hard). Certainly, the hired van was a bit of a pricey extravagance but, the convenience and Mario’s local knowledge to get us the Pizza, tour of Naples, and especially finding the Charter company lead me to consider this money well spent. Nick, Scott and I did the boat check-out with Sun Charter personnel while the rest went ashore in search of Gelato and dinner. The check out was fairly basic with going through running the motor, explaining the instruments, and going through the electrical panel. Asked for and received helpful suggestions on good anchorages at the Islands and confirmation that Agropoly was worth a visit. I received the equipment list which I did inventory separately. When asked, I said we’d stay aboard that evening but would like to leave early i...

In this final episode with Rory Rory talks about completing is circumnavigation.

This is from Rory's website http://www.roryandcookie.com/about.html

"In 1989 Rory McDougall had a dream. Inspired by Laurent Bourgnon who crossed the Atlantic in a Hobie 18 catamaran, Rory had the burning passion to sail

around the world on the smallest catamaran and multihulled sailboat.

Rory tried for 2 years to get support and sponsorship to create a high-tech event to circumnavigate the world on an open-deck beach catamaran. Fantastic

support came from TIMBERLAND, NORTH SAILS UK, RIGEL COMPASSES, BROOKES & GATEHOUSE in the form of products - but no boat to float them on!! In the end it

made sense to choose a less extreme catamaran that had living space below and gave a low-tech and low-expense way of getting afloat. The Wharram Tiki 21

design was the perfect choice.

Please Consider supporting the podcast on Patreon

Want me to go sailing with you? Then contact me!

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the

link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam Exam over 8 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to

go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 104 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or

fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2017 Franz Amussen all rights reserved

In this final episode with Rory Rory talks about completing is circumnavigation.

This is from Rory's website http://www.roryandcookie.com/about.html

"In 1989 Rory McDougall had a dream. Inspired by Laurent Bourgnon who crossed the Atlantic in a Hobie 18 catamaran, Rory had the burning passion to sail

around the world on the smallest catamaran and multihulled sailboat.

Rory tried for 2 years to get support and sponsorship to create a high-tech event to circumnavigate the world on an open-deck beach catamaran. Fantastic

support came from TIMBERLAND, NORTH SAILS UK, RIGEL COMPASSES, BROOKES & GATEHOUSE in the form of products - but no boat to float them on!! In the end it

made sense to choose a less extreme catamaran that had living space below and gave a low-tech and low-expense way of getting afloat. The Wharram Tiki 21

design was the perfect choice.

Please Consider supporting the podcast on Patreon

Want me to go sailing with you? Then contact me!

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the

link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam Exam over 8 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to

go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 104 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or

fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2017 Franz Amussen all rights reserved

In this episode #6 Rory talks about his adventure sailing from Sri Lanka and we end at the Suez Canal.

This is from Rory's website http://www.roryandcookie.com/about.html

"In 1989 Rory McDougall had a dream. Inspired by Laurent Bourgnon who crossed the Atlantic in a Hobie 18 catamaran, Rory had the burning passion to sail around the world on the smallest catamaran and multihulled sailboat.

Rory tried for 2 years to get support and sponsorship to create a high-tech event to circumnavigate the world on an open-deck beach catamaran. Fantastic support came from TIMBERLAND, NORTH SAILS UK, RIGEL COMPASSES, BROOKES & GATEHOUSE in the form of products - but no boat to float them on!! In the end it made sense to choose a less extreme catamaran that had living space below and gave a low-tech and low-expense way of getting afloat. The Wharram Tiki 21 design was the perfect choice.

Please Consider supporting the podcast on Patreon

Want me to go sailing with you? Then contact me!

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam Exam over 8 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 104 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2017 Franz Amussen all rights reserved

In this episode #6 Rory talks about his adventure sailing from Sri Lanka and we end at the Suez Canal.

This is from Rory's website http://www.roryandcookie.com/about.html

"In 1989 Rory McDougall had a dream. Inspired by Laurent Bourgnon who crossed the Atlantic in a Hobie 18 catamaran, Rory had the burning passion to sail around the world on the smallest catamaran and multihulled sailboat.

Rory tried for 2 years to get support and sponsorship to create a high-tech event to circumnavigate the world on an open-deck beach catamaran. Fantastic support came from TIMBERLAND, NORTH SAILS UK, RIGEL COMPASSES, BROOKES & GATEHOUSE in the form of products - but no boat to float them on!! In the end it made sense to choose a less extreme catamaran that had living space below and gave a low-tech and low-expense way of getting afloat. The Wharram Tiki 21 design was the perfect choice.

Please Consider supporting the podcast on Patreon

Want me to go sailing with you? Then contact me!

If you have ideas for future podcasts or comments please drop me a note! and PLEASE rate my podcast in iTunes and perhaps write a note. Here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sailing-in-the-mediterranean/id566678892?mt=2

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam Exam over 8 hours of Audio Instruction to help you get ready to go sailing and also to prepare you for the written portion of the ASA 104 written exam.

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

If you're interested in my sailing instructional audio series here are the links:

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Keelboat Certification Lessons for the ASA 101 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/Eiig

Sailing! Learn to Sail: Basic Coastal Cruising; Lessons for the ASA 103 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/PvOYK

Sailing! Learn To Sail: Bareboat Cruising Certification Lessons for the ASA 104 Exam

https://gumroad.com/l/bwXh

Sailing in the Mediterranean Website

https://www.medsailor.com

If you would like to be a guest or have suggestions for future episodes or if you would like Franz to be a speaker at your Sailing Club or fundraiser please feel free to contact me.

©2017 Franz Amussen all rights reserved