James Cornall

Trip completed with auxiliary outboard. Lock in at Turf at 08:30. Car bridge at 10:00. Got told off by bridge people for being too close to the bridge whilst it was opening. Weed was an issue for the twin rudders but easily cleared with the boat hook.

Motored back to Dubrovnik Marina via the Green caves on Kolocep then Dubrovnik old town. Force 2-3. Arrived back early to avoid fuel pontoon and berthing queues. Stern too mooring with lazy lines.

Much windier than forecast. Gusting up to 25 knots. We sailed for the first few hours then motored into Slano presuming it would provide good shelter from the strong northerly. Wind was very strong and was not suitable for anchoring so returned to Sipanska Luka. Sipanska also not overly well sheltered so opted for a mooring buoy and ate at restaurant Tauris.

Significantly more wind than forecast coming out of Korcula. Force 5 gusting 6 between Korcula and Mijet. Once in the shelter of Mijet however this dropped. Stopped at Odysseus Cave. Too deep to anchor there but went into cave on dinghy (in turns) whilst holding position on the boat. Sailed/motor sailed down the entirety of the south side of Mijet. Had pre-booked mooring in Lupa Saplunara with Antes Place due to concern about overnight wind forecast. Navily reviews suggested Antes Place was better than the alternative restaurant (MS). Overnight winds did pick up and despite a preferable direction the boat was affected by the wind.

Light winds all day so motored out of Polace around some of the nearby islands and inlets. Did some swimming. Headed towards Korcula again on the engine. Docked on the Korcula Town Dock. This required a stern to mooring with anchor. Wind was ideal on the stern as a brake. Plenty of space to safely reverse. Depth approx 4 meters at the dock. Georgia fell in after a failed attempt to jump to the dock to receive the lines, but thankfully was uninjured. First attempt was good although concerned about 25m chain not being enough. Repeated and put out 35m chain. Held fine over night. Korcula was great, did some shopping, wandered the old town, had Pizza and watched some of the Baroque dancing/music.

Sailed from Šipanska Luka to Luka Polace, Mijet. Great sailing wind so got some good upwind sailing in and covering a reasonable distance. Struggled to get good performance out of mainsail due to poor shape of in mast furling main. Anchored in Luka Polace. Went to quay restaurant that included mooring so could have stayed there. Great bakery for breakfast and really peaceful idyllic location.

Day 1 of our bareboat charter out of Dubrovnik. Did significant provisioning at the marina for the trip. Boat was booked from 17:00 but we were able to get access to the boat from about 15:00 allowing us to leave the dock at 17:00. We made the short trip to Lopud island and anchored in Sunj Beach/Bay. The beach has a wooden swing in shallow water. Good nights sleep on the hook. Woke up and had a swim to the beach.

Anchored at Babbacombe - near Cary Arms. Force 4 gusting 5. Hit 6.5 knots with Genniker downwind

Moderate breeze and 1m swell gave a lively start. Sea state Moderate becoming slight. Conditions settled approaching Exmouth. Smooth run overall with good visibility and light traffic only a couple of showers.