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2005
During 2005 May to July I sailed as a 1st Mate from Puerto Rico to Svendborg in Denmark on board the 85 foot big yacht S/Y Chardonnay of Ft. Lauderdale. Later the same year from September to October I again sailed Chardonnay from Nysted, Denmark to Pula in Croatia,
Below you can find the last log letters from this latter trip.
More log letters can be found in www.chardonnay.name under "Captains log"
All pictures can be enlarged by pressing it.
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S/Y Chardonnay of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. | |
| Allan's log from S/Y Chardonnay tuesday the 18th of october 2005.
We arrived Pula just after noon monday the 17th of october. It was a rough ride
throug the night in a gale force wind.
Until late in the afternoon on sunday we had had a pleasant ride in the Croatian
archipelago. But we had to sail outside the skerries, of safety reasons, when it
started to get dark.
Inside the skerries Jorgen saw some water spurted up in the air just near the
boat. It was two small whales. They was much bigger than dolphins. But what
kind, we don't know.
Just south of Istra peninsula we would soon again be in sheltered water. But not
so. A fast gunboat sailed fast up behind us, hailed us, and told us to head
south for at least 4 nautical miles - almost in the opposite direction from
where we came. We were in the rough again. They told us to avoid the area within
an arch of 4 nautical miles. That would set us back at least two hours.
After half an hour they called and told us, that we could proceed to Pula. The
reason why we were sent out to sea we never found out.
We are now moored at Heliyacht here in Pula, just 15 minutes walk from the town
center. At Heliyacht Chardonnay shall go through a major refit and a paint job.
Pula has lot of history. There are many ruins from the roman age around the time
of the birth og Christ inclusive a huge amphibious theatre like the Colloseum in
Rome.
We walked the town last night. It has been remarkably cooler. It is autumn here
and the tourists have gone home.
A serie of pictures from Pula Croatia
Retur til Startsiden Retur til Rejsebeskrivelse Allan's log from S/Y Chardonnay Sunday the 16th of october 2005. We are on our way to the final destination, Pula in the northern part of
Croatia.
We left Dubrovnik early this morning before sunset. It has been two very nice
days in a very old and picturesque city. We arrived friday morning. Jorgen went
to the custom and harbour office. There is still lot of "red tape" (bureaucracy)
in this country.
When Jorgen came back he wanted to do something on the boat. Jonas and I split.
He wanted to rent a bike and drive in the surounding of the city. I walked to
the old town - a 5 km walk. Most of the day I walked around in this marvellous
city. It is a must see, if anyone goes to Croatia. Some of the streets are so
narrow, that you have to step sideways. In some of these streets they have even
made restaurants with outdoor seatings.
I cannot understand, why Serbia tried to destroy this ancient city with its 500-
600 years old houses during the war just about 10 years ago. It could not have
been a strategic target. It was only an act of terror agains unarmed civilians.
Anyway, everything has been rebuild now.
One minus about Dubrovnik is, that every day about 4 very large cruise ships
arrives in the morning and unload between 3- to 4 tousind tourists, who all are
transported to the old town. Sometimes you have to squeeze you through the
crowd.
In the afternoon I walked back to Chardonnay. She was allocated a place along
the pier, where all the enormeous cruise ships were placed. That part of the
town is called Gruz. Jorgen also wanted to see the old town. Jonas was still out
on his bike. Jorgen and I walked the 5 km again. After having walked the town
for few hours (most of the tourists have gone back to their ships), we took a
taxi to a reccomended local restaurant, where we had a pleasent chacoal mixed
grill.
On Saturday we had to find charts over the Croatian archipelago - a way we
wanted to sail on our way towards Pula. We cleaned the boat and made the
navigational plan for the further trip. Jonas went biking. In the evening we
found a nearby restaurant (recommended by a barmaid), where we had fish etc. We
hit the bunk very early, so we could be fresh for an early start next morning at
6.30 am.
We have now been underway for more than 10 hours, and it has been a beautiful
scenery along hour route. There are many picturesque villages along the coast.
We have just passed a town called Hvar on the island of the same name.
Our present position at 5 pm UTC is: 43 deg. 14 min. North; 16 deg. 16 min.
East.
There is not a cloud on the sky (has not been for the last three days). The wind
is fresh and as usual on our nose. We heave alot.
Allan
A serie of pictures from Dubrovnik, Croatia
Retur til Startsiden Retur til Rejsebeskrivelse Allan's log Saturday the 8th of october.
Yesterday half past two local time we arrived Cagliari on Sardinia.
During the night and until just before we arrived it was thunder and raining,
but not much wind.
Jorgen tried to call the harbour and the marina. But no answer. We found out
later, that the towns name is not pronounced as it is spelled, but mor like:
"Caljari".
So we had to enter the harbour not knowing if there were any space for us.
There were several marinas in the big harbour. And it did not look exactly like
the map.
After a short waiting inside the breakwater, a man in a dingy hailed us and
asked us to follow him. He showed us a space, where we could just squeeze in
alongside a Swedish Nauticat 33. On board were a swedish girl named Christina.
She had not spoken a nordic language for a long time, so we had a long chat and
invited her for a "Gammel Dansk", which she loved very much.
We could not get any shore power, so we had to have the noisy generator running.
After having cleaned the ship, Jorgen, Jonas and I went ashore at 9 pm to get
something to eat. Almost all places we looked in were almost empty. When we
asked why, they told us, that it was still early. People did not get out to eat
on a friday before 10 or 11 at night.
We found a place to eat - nice pizza etc. It was after midnight we returned to
to Chardonnay.
This morning, when I would lay the new route towards Messina on Sicily and
Dubrovnik in Croatia, the electronic chart system would not open up!!! It is the
only maps we got onboard! Id dit not matter what we tried. Nothing helped. We
had to call expert advise from Denmark. 8 hours we tried everything. The
computer would not open!
We could only install the map-system partly on the office computer. But then we
have nothing inside the 30-meter depth curve. So now we must sail carefully.
The computer must be sent to Denmark to be reiterated.
Tomorrow we will sail on to Sicily and expect to arrive the 11th of october.
Allan
Pictures from Cagliari, Sardinia
Retur til Startsiden Retur til Rejsebeskrivelse
 Allan Carstensen
+45 26 84 82 78
allan_carstensen@hotmail.com
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