SailTime Croatia Flotilla - Day 5

Day 5 - Wednesday 27th May

St Klement - Komiza, Vis (Town Quay)

This morning brings a few changes. John has been quite ill in the night and is wiped out. The wind is up over 20 kts and we have a beam reach sail to Komiza on the island of Vis today. Could be a lumpy sea. Boat briefings on each boat by dinghy today- with Sam at the helm - we untie all the stern lines. They’ve all managed to hold well - then we’re underway. I’ve asked Catalina to motor sail today as it is likely to be lively and Sam has stayed on board Lola to lend a hand.

As soon as we clear the anchorage, the wind picks up and we’re seeing 20kts, gusting 25 - so its a reef’s in the sail and we head for Komiza. It’s a rolly sea, with the boat side on - so a couple of the crew feel a little worse for wear and poor John is suffering down below in his cabin - still being ill. As the wind freshens up even more - 25kts constant - we put in our second reef - it’s life jackets for Chloe and Joseph, then we push on. It takes us a few hours to reach Vis, but once we’re passed the headland and avoided the lighthouse - we’re able to turn into the wind and sail easier, but more heeled into a less bumpy sea. Another hour and the wind starts dropping - so we shake out the second reef, and keep sailing with the first reef giving us just enough to manage adequately.

By the time we reach Komiza, Catalina has managed to secure a space on the Town Quay. It’s stern-to and lazy lines again - and we manage to park safely.

John surfaces - feeling a little better - but not to brilliant - no wine for him tonight!

The kids are all off with Sophie in search of another pizza - but I have other plans - it’s the Champion’s League final tonight!

I had visited Komiza on an earlier sailing holiday in the Adriatic and was reminded by my girl friend that we had been to a lovely little sea front restaurant called Bako - where I said we had the best Lobster ever - so I recommended the restaurant to the others and we planned to meet there. The crew on Catalina were running a little late however, so when we finally headed to Bako, we met the crew of Bagpuss - just leaving, but they had good reviews - and the restaurant even had a 60” screen indoors showing the football.

So it was another Lobster - just as good as I remembered last time - we sat outside on the terrace overlooking the harbour - and I was cheered by the shout of “GOAL” twice from the Barca fans inside - I’m a Liverpool supporter, so no love lost on Man U!

A perfect meal was finished by a quick aperitif for Aiden and I in one of the many town quay bars still open - but our night was curtailed by the rain coming down - so back to the boat at mid-night.

After a busy day, full-on sailing, and a very satisfactory meal, I was hoping for a good night’s sleep - but that plan was thwarted when I heard footsteps on the deck above my cabin. It was raining very hard, the wind was blowing and we were in the middle of a big thunder storm with lots of very bright lightning. Upto 50kts registered on the instruments - and the storm lasted 4 hours continuously - so it was up 3 times in the night for John and 3 more times for me, adjusting squeaking and squashed fenders, tapping halyards and offending gang planks - sharing much activity with our neighbours on either side. Our boats were certainly blow about. Finally managed to get asleep at around 4am!