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| Calvi to ….. well Calvi, but via the north coast of Corsica! |
The stay in Calvi was
planned for one night, maximum two. That said I was in for a very
relaxing time as, although single handed for the next twelve days, I
only had to travel 11 miles along the coast, to Ile Rousse, before
picking up Christoph on his return from UK. For this reason I decided
to strip and inspect the windlass which had been playing up for some
weeks; slipping unpredictably but not making any strange or agonising
noises. I suspected the inbuilt clutch was slipping for some reason
but to get access to it the whole unit had to be dismantled within
the locker, underneath the foredeck, where it resides. Not an easily
accessible task! That said it came apart reasonably readily, the only
difficult part was not spilling the lubricating oil in the unit as it
dropped away from the deck-head. Once inside the gearbox the next
challenge was to dismantle the clutch unit, easier said than done.
The entire thing was held together by a sizeable circlip, too large
for the circlip pliers I had onboard to cope with and it absolutely
refused to be extracted using long nose pliers, my fall-back method.
After a very frustrating afternoon of trying every method I knew it
still hadn't budged. Eventually I managed to borrow, for a few
minutes only, a pair of large circlip pliers from a technician who
worked for a local boat hire company; success! Once inside the
problem was obvious, a bronze ring forming part of the clutch had
fractured and was only allowing the clutch to engage intermittently.
How to get it fixed? The chances of finding a suitable spare part in
Corsica, let alone Calvi, were remote. The only option as to repair
the existing. After asking all and sundry where I might find a small
engineering company with the necessary capabilities I was eventually
directed to Philippe Marie, who runs a small workshop near Calvi
airport (behind garage Ferretti) tel no 06 07 89 01 07.
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| The old and the new! |
By now it was
Monday evening and in a phone call Philippe suggested bringing it to
his workshop Tuesday morning 1000. Next problem was how to get there?
An enquiry at the taxi rank produced a figure of €20 each way, i.e.
€80 for delivery and collection. My next option was a hire car, €65
per day for the cheapest; better but not if I needed it for two days.
Whilst there I enquired the price of their cheapest motor scooter,
€35 per day. I opted for this despite the fact that I hadn't ridden
a motorbike since my university days in 1968! Nothing ventured,
nothing gained! The delightful young lady at the desk assured me that
if I needed the scooter for a few more hours and not a full day we
could come to an arrangement; excellent service. The company is 'Tra
mare e monti' right by the marina. Next morning I set off and, after
a slightly wobbly start, arrived at Philippe's at 1000 precisely. We
agreed he would 'braze repair' the original clutch ring and he would
phone me when it was ready. I telephoned him that evening to check on
progress and he assured me it was 'in hand' and would be ready
tomorrow at 1000. At 0945 I set off on my trusty steed and headed
back to his workshop. On arrival he presented me with a clutch ring
that looked brand new; not only did it look brand new, it was brand
new. Philippe explained that when he had tried to braze repair the
old one it had cracked again on the opposite side. As a consequence
he had set to and manufactured a brand new replacement part! What a
hero. Although an expensive option, €400, it was probably cheaper
in the long run than trying to get the part shipped in from the
manufacturers in Italy. Even better, on my return to the marina, the
staff at 'Tra mare e monti' would accept no additional money despite
the fact that I had had the scooter well over 40 hours; there's
service! By the end of the afternoon I had managed to track down and
buy a pair of robust circlip pliers, the unit was reassembled and all
was back in place awaiting a load test at the next opportunity to
anchor. That evening I went ashore for dinner to celebrate!
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| Algajola anchorage |
Next morning I headed
for the supermarket to purchase some victuals etc., then watered ship
and did all the preparations for leaving. By 1300 I was set to go and
decided to move east into Algajola where there is a beautiful beach
and good holding; it was only some 7 miles away and an easy sail. By
1500 I was anchored in the bay, enjoying a late lunch and
contemplating how long the light south westerly wind would last. The
bay would be untenable in anything with an element of northerly wind
in it. As it was I stayed here three days. The weather was good, the
water crystal clear and the beach uncrowded. What better!
On the third day the
wind moved round to the west and was threatening to go north west. On
this coast it is difficult, but not impossible, to find anchorages
offering shelter from northerly winds.
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| Anse de Lozari |
I chose to sail along the
coast to the far side of Ile Rousse and anchor in the bay at Lozari
which is sheltered from the WNW if you tuck yourself in far enough.
That said, although the bay provides shelter from the wind it does
not stop the swell curling round the headland and causing you to rock
and roll! I tolerated it for two days by which time the wind had
abated again and I was able to move to the quieter bay at Peraiola
where I spent the next two nights. At this stage the time had come to
return to Ile Rousse to pick up Christoph who was arriving on the
early morning ferry from Nice (It is frequently very much cheaper to
fly to the south of France and then take a ferry to Corsica); thus it
was that I weighed anchor on the Wednesday evening and set sail for
Ile Rousse, three miles to the west.
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| Anse di Peraiola |
My last single handed sail this
year! On arrival at Ile Rousse it was evident that there were no easy
slots in the marina to moor up in and so I decided to pick up one of
the moorings for the night and sort out the problem of getting
alongside the next morning.
At 0800 next morning I
received an SMS from Christoph to say that he was on the jetty and
ready to be picked up. Fortunately a very accommodating Italian
skipper, who was already moored stern to on the outer wall of the
marina, invited me to simply back in and go alongside his boat, thus
sharing the one holding-off line available. A really kind gesture and
one which was much appreciated.
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| Sunset at Anse di Peraiola |
He later explained he was cruising
the area with a group onboard who suffered from various form of
mental disability and this for them was a real mind broadening and
affirming experience. Both the skipper and his mate were patently
providing an opportunity which few could match, two of the world's
good guys! Two hours later, after a rapid raid on the local
supermarket we were off again and headed back to the anchorage at
Lozari for the next night. The forecast was for thunderstorms and
they were absolutely right. We enjoyed a brilliant light show in the
early hours of darkness, followed by torrential rain and a WSW wind
which set us rolling around again for the rest of the night. The joys
of this coast, very few places to shelter fom the swell.
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| Remains of "original" Martello tower, Golfe de Saint Florent |
Early next morning we
had had enough and motored, in no wind but a heavy sea, towards
Saint-Florent where we hoped to find a bay on the west side of the
Golfe de Saint-Florent which was sheltered from the swell. In fact we
were lucky, in the Baie de la Mortella we were able to anchor,
close-in, in the shadow of the remains of the Genoese Tower on the
Punta di Mortella. This tower was the pattern on which all of the
Martello Towers, built later to defend England's south coast, was
based. Here we remained for two nights, latterly listening to the
wind howling above us but in calm waters at least.
Having enjoyed the
anchorage for two nights we decided that the next day we would go
into Saint Florent, to see the town and to get some fresh victuals
aboard. The town itself is nothing special, pleasant but not greatly
impressive.
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| Saint Florent |
We found the local Spar supermarket at the same time
locating the boulangerie and boucherie ready for an early dash the
next morning; after which we decided to eat ashore that night and
enjoy a night off from cooking for ourselves. Having searched the
town for a quiet, backstreet restaurant we ended up eating on the
waterfront, right in front of the marina. The town had nothing better
to offer. It was OK but not good enough to recommend and at €19 for
menu compris it was the best value on offer. It is interesting to
note that wine in French restaurants has gone up in price
considerably over the past few years. My memories are of “Vin de
Pays” at a very reasonable price and very drinkable with an average
meal, costing the equivalent of less than €10 a carafe, now it is
nearer €20 and yet Supermarket prices for wine are unchanged.
After a quick raid on
the bakery and the butchers we set off, refuelling as we departed
from the fuel point at the entrance to the marina Initially we were
motoring in no wind towards the entrance of the Rade de Florence,
complimenting ourselves on our timing as Saint Florent disappeared
behind a big black rain cloud.
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| Departing Saint Florent |
Half an hour later we were sailing out
of the bay, under “Solent Rig” (Genoa alone) and enjoying a easy
and speedy sail west. Thirty minutes after that we had furled away
the genoa due to lack of wind and were motoring again in a westward
direction. It was not to last! Within the next hour the wind came
from every direction possible at wind speeds of 0 to 45 kts
eventually settling to a bitterly cold NE wind of 35 to 40 kts,
combined with heavy rain. We continued downwind, under bare poles, in
full foul weather gear, with the engine only ticking over and doing 6
kts westward. Our plan had been to anchor in one of the bays between
Isle Rousse and Calvi, this was obviously not going to happen.
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| Snow on the mountaintops of Corsica |
We now
had a 2m sea running from the NE and any bay on the north coast would
be untenable, including the moorings at Isle Rousse. For this reason
we headed west, past Isle Rousse and Calvi and turned south towards
the bay at Crovani which faces west and was well protected from the
bitterly cold NE winds. As we approached the bay we saw, on the
mountain tops of Corsica, the first snowfall of the season; the peaks
were all covered in white: no wonder it was so damn cold! Rather than
brave the cold and high seas again we stayed at Crovani for the next
two nights sheltering from the north-easterlies, ultimately heading
round to Calvi again for a final visit before our crossing to the
French Riviera coast.
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| Baie di Crovani, L'Argentella |
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| Arriving Calvi |
