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The late afternoon of October 2 we motored as the winds seen
during the day had abated. Conditions were to change drastically
before making landfall in Menorca. We were close hauled in 25
knots of wind and building seas as dawn broke. It was a wet
ride as the boat was not equipped with a dodger. By noon the
following day the helmsman, who was hand steering, was wearing
a scuba mask to maintain visibility. One of the Garmin 48 handhelds
experi-enced a sudden death. Fortunately, the water was not
cold. Soon we were seeing 40-knot gusts and an occasional 20-foot
swell and were quite happy to find refuge in the protected harbor,
Port de Mao. Although Menorca is a summer tourist attraction,
it is not nearly as highly developed as Majorca.
We were told that most of the tourists were back at their jobs
in Great Britain or Germany so we had the run of the port city.
Port de Mao is a natural harbor several miles in length which
served as a submarine base during the war. The harbor clearly
has had strategic importance since ancient times as the entrance
contains the ruins of extensive fortifications and one can easily
image Spanish cannons blasting away at invading forces.The winds
had not abated by the evening of the following day (October
4).Weather charts indicated that another front in northern France
was headed our way. The Port Captain advised us to spend a second
night. We set sail at noon on October 6 for southern Sardinia
on a beam reach with 15-knot winds in clear skies and blue Mediterranean
waters. October 6 brought great sailing in similar conditions.
John Connolly broke out his training sextants and coached us
through the noon sighting procedures.
We reduced sail as the wind and sea built and averaged 7 knots
on the 200 mile passage to Calasetta, a quaint little fishing
and tourist town on the southwest corner of Sardinia. We were
well protected on the lee side of the bulletproof dock and enjoyed
pizza and beer with a group that had gathered in the local watering
hole to watch the Friday night "football" match. The
front from France had overtaken us and brought winds of 30 to
35 knots in the bay, which were to continue for 48 hours. The
day after arrival some of the crew took a two hour bus ride
to explore the major port City of Cagliari, on the east side
of the bay. Sunday morning brought continued clear skies and
no reduction of the winds. Several of us took the local ferry
to the small picturesque waterfront city of Calaforte.
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