Jenny

Our final day 😭. Every experienced Croatia sailor knows this means only one thing - getting to Milna petrol pump nice and early! We snook out of Bobovice first and arrived with only 4 boats ahead of us. I think everyone was amused at how you can’t just relax in a queue on a boat - it requires constant attention and occasionally a bit of dancing with other boats in tight spaces! Great docking by the whole team, we slowly drifted onto the pontoon and filled up both boats faster than I could eat my magnum ice cream! Getting off the pontoon though….oh dear, Lou at Nomad wouldn’t be impressed. I completely forgot how to spring off to get an angle (we had boats either end of us) and just found myself pinned onto the pontoon for a few minutes. In the end some confident reversing got us away cleanly…just. Lovely feeling seeing how small the fuel bill was for the week (€120 both boats) and how HUGE the queue was behind us! 😏 No wind motor to our final lunch bay. We anchored and free swung in another wonderful spot. Georgie joined me, Becca and Jay for a big swim to shore to look at marbles in the concrete jetty. Her swimming off the boat has come on an insane amount! We anchored within sight of another inflatable playground, but it was too far to take the kids. Instead Becca and I created our own version with everything we had that floated. See photos! No prizes for guessing who was best at that… 🙄 🐬 🤸‍♂️ Our final afternoon sail was our best yet! So lucky 😍 Wind was 18kts leaving the bay, so we put reefed sails out. 40 degrees off the wind would mean we would miss our target by half a mile, but we were absolutely flying so there was no way that engine was going on. Fortunately the wind backed as we went and we could keep pinching up until we were headed bang on course! In fact we headed quite a bit higher as the leeway on Asti is very noticeable. During the crossing from Solta the wind picked up to a steady 22kts, gusting 26kts. Asti was zooming along and we took a lot of pleasure catching and overtaking boats ahead of us who had all their canvas out and were subsequently overpowered, majorly heeled over and even kept rounding up! In comparison - Asti gave us no cause for concern and flew along at 6kts. Eventually we let all the sail out after the wind dropped to “only” 16kts and our speed briefly slowed to 4kts. After rounding the Trogir headland we sailed close haul and took the main sail down whilst sailing under headsail. It was so much smoother than using the engine to try and hold head to wind. This also allowed us to bear away afterwards and glide downwind towards the marina under the headsail. Bliss. We were going 3.5kts giving us the perfect amount of time to prepare lines and fenders and ditch Little Toots. Our marina mooring was, in a word, terrible. Il give it 1/10. 1 because we went super slow and everyone was prepare so no damage was done and I don’t think anyone was stressed. I lost the remaining marks by not coming into the berth quick enough to hold our course against the strong cross winds. This, in combination with no bow thruster, resulted in us being pinned on 3 other yachts in the marina 🙈 🤦‍♀️. Two RIBS towed us off and we parked up fine and checked out the boat. Great work from the calm roaming fender team 💪 thank you! And that’s the lot - a life ambition to sail with my mum and grandparents (who used to do flotillas - without me - when I was a small child). Also my first time skippering so many people and first time with kids onboard! Can’t wait for the next one 😊

The big journey day! I booked ahead for the night at Bobovice, a hidden gem up narrow inlet on the way back to Split and importantly near Milna’s cheap petrol pump! As usual the morning started with light winds, so we motored out of Vis as soon as Becca and I woke up. Dolphins swam nearby as we headed to our halfway point - the Paklinski islands. We conveniently arrived around 10am, the new perfect time to arrive at a mooring buoy as lazier people are setting off for the day. Becca helmed us onto the shallowest buoy she could find 😉. Great going for her first time, especially considering she had no bow thrusters..! I was out on the bow and really enjoyed picking the buoy up and tying the lines. Note to self - alternate more often. This was voted the favourite bay by everyone. Perfect turquoise water with hardly any boats around. Everyone swam, paddled and explored. I swam under to check the bow thruster to see why they wouldn’t turn on. Unfortunately last night’s mooring caused something to jam the flap open and rip the port propellor clean off…! Not looking forward to our last two evening stops in a tight harbour followed by a marina. Begrudgingly we left the bay, although not before taking Little Toots to join in the Yacht Week’s last day raft party! We had a decent beam reach all the way to the gate, but the wind died down and we first motor sailed before motoring the last stretch to Bobovice. Jay caught a Catamaran on his fishing rod, only bite of the week! We stopped at the mouth of the Bobovice channel to prepare Asti for docking and sent the grandparents and kids off on Little Toots. This was the best prepared crew I’ve ever had for a mooring! We took it very slow and with the help of our new neighbour and an exceptionally well oiled crew, moored perfectly on our second attempt. (First time I went reversed in, but with the wind. Second time we came in against it) Great spot on the wall outside the restaurant where we grabbed takeaway food after swimming in the nearby beach. After food Becca and I went for a walk and saw the most stunning sky as the sunset out of the channel 🌅

Another typical Croatian day of two halves! Our buoy got a bit choppy in the morning and I was planning to make captain’s pancakes, so we set off to find a more sheltered bay. As we left we noticed some lovely sailing conditions, but on the nose. The plan was to pull in to the east side of Budikovac, make pancakes, then enjoy a longer sail to the protected bay. Unfortunately the next bay was really exposed and uncomfortable so we only lasted 2 minutes. On we motored, into the wind, spotting the increasingly hilarious lobster pots made from kids footballs ⚽️. We found a beautiful bay, Stoncica, protected from wind and waves 😍. The mooring buoys we’re full (didn’t know there were any anyway!) so we started anchoring. Just as Becca announced we had 30m down, one yacht left their mooring buoy and a catamaran started entering the bay! “PULL UP THE ANCHOR AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!” Was the command. Not that helpful as the windlass has just two speeds: “up” and “down”. Becca got the anchor out of the water just as the catamaran reached us. I flung us into reverse and simultaneously demonstrated the best and worst mooring buoy pick up technique to our excited crew. Best - because we got there first. Worst - because we went full speed reverse into the buoy WITH the wind accelerating us further. All’s well that ends well - and we had the perfect spot for a long break. I fired up the hot plate for pancakes as the catamaran bow crew put their boat hook away, tails between their legs. After lunch we headed out of the bay to find the wind had picked up further! 😋 We took a while to set our sails as we initially got them all out, only to find the wind had increased from 16 to 22kts in the time it took. Sarah helmed is perfectly into wind for an extended spell while we reefed and eventually set off. What a fun sail! ⛵️ Lots of practise for COLREG rules with boats crossing our paths all over the place. We approached Vis town with a very tight set of tacks between the cliffs and a marker on a rock outcrop. I found that a bit tense, but as Becca pointed out - we could have just turned the engine on, we chose to make it that tricky (and fun really!) Vis Town bay was a LOT windier than expected. 25kts as we got into the town. Asti was the only boat brave / competent / crazy enough to sail all the way into town. After dropping sails we found a mooring buoy closest to land (the harbour wall was full) and had the worst buoy pick up experience ever. It was extremely challenging to hold the boat steady in the strong winds and jam packed buoy field just off the shore line. Unfortunately the buoy line got caught in our bow thruster. We weren’t using it, but they are protruding ones and it got caught on the flap. The harbour team were very unhelpful, saying “oh if you’re stuck you will have to stay the night and pay, can you pay in cash right now?” After I politely explained we had bigger priorities and they should try again later, Becca and Jay wrestled with the line as I tried to motor to give them slack. Eventually they managed it and we quickly took the dinghy to shore for a beautiful dinner at Lola’s. OMG also someone fell in the sea getting into their dinghy. Never want to forget that Memory so adding to my log 😂

We made the right decision! Great night’s sleep long lined sufficiently far from the rocks, celebrated with a swim across the bay to use up all that new energy! No wind this morning so we had lots of swimming and paddling fun before setting off for Vis. Very straightforward motor across to a small island off the south of Vis. We have booked for lunch at Rokis for the world’s best Peka and he is picking us up from Milna beach. However, the anchorage looks pretty weak there and I’d feel much happier leaving Asti on a buoy while we’re gone for the afternoon. There’s one buoy field at Budikovac and I messaged someone currently there via Navily who confirmed there’s just a couple of spots left. This is why our (Becca’s) SailTies track ends here. Bosun Becca and Jay were dispatched to the dinghy (aka Little Toots) to speed off and reserve a mooring buoy! 🙊 They did a phenomenal job and we secured a place for not just the afternoon but overnight as well. It was a little windy in the evening, we even put the spray hood up to stop the wind tunnel! Becca and I took ‘Toots on another adventure to find a more protected bay, however we got radioed by the mother ship to say the wind had settled. In the end it was a lovely night looking at the giant moon and stars. “Have y’all ever seen a moon like thaaaaat?!” 🇺🇸

A lovely start to the morning exploring Stari Grad, getting pastries and wandering the cobbled streets. The boat’s water tanks were filled, deck cleaned (no more evidence of our slime line muddy fiasco!) and provisions topped up - with RIB collection, straight from last year’s Sardinia trip! No wind in the morning, so we gently motored out of the bay and along Hvar’s NW coastline. Everyone was shocked by the complete change in sea state from yesterday! There were 8 bays before our planned lunch spot, each got a rating out of 10. This was a fun game at first, which soon dawned on me to be very risky as we kept motoring past 8s and 9s 😬. Fortunately “Ringo Bay” went down a treat. I don’t even remember how anchoring with the long lines went, so it must have been simple! Maybe we didn’t use lines actually 🤷‍♂️. The kids got towed behind the RIB on the inflatable rings and Becca had a go at wakeboarding. We then had a decision to make - the wind had picked up and we could see white horses out of the bay. Should we stay here and do shorter trips, or press on to the Paklinkski islands to keep the option open to visit Vis later in the week. The initial vibe was to avoid going out into another choppy sea after yesterday. It was the voice in the crew I least expected to start the rebellion - Grandma Jacky announced “WHY NOT JUST GO FOR IT?!” Within seconds the whole boat was chanting and we pulled up the anchor / lines / mooring buoy (who knows?!) The wind had picked up, but was on the nose at first. We motored quite comfortably into the sea and wind. My quick trip to the bow to look out for lobster pots turned into a full crew rite of passage to surf the swell titanic style. I will never forget watching the same people who were thinking of staying put safely in the bay, now having the time of their lives smashing up and down into the waves. The kids were buzzing when they came back. Great family 😍. (I was also permanently ready for a MOB recovery at this point 😂) Once we got round the west corner of Hvar, the sails went up and the engine off. We had a really fun sail to our night spot, planning our angles to tack through a very narrow gap in the island chain. My grandad and Becca planned our approach and Jay researched our options for the night. Lesson for Becca on the helm was Leeway. Asti really has a lot more than any other yacht I’ve sailed (does towing a heavy dinghy affect this?). We had to really overdo our angles to avoid being blown onto a lee-shore. Fun! After passing through the gap we bore away and bobbed downwind towards the beautiful bays. First one with buoys was full so we went to Tarsce Bay round the corner. The bay was very busy, but large so it didn’t feel cramped or chaotic - more like pitching up in a lovely campsite. Anchor and long lines…here we go! Improvements: - everyone had their job - we started the anchor further out and let out an initial 20m and then 5m more at a time until we were our desired distance from shore Weak spots: - one long line swimmer’s line wasn’t tied onto the boat 😂 - the other’s wasn’t long enough to reach the shore - neither knew how to tie a bowline, so couldn’t adjust their loops. Becca to the rescue ™️ to re-tie the knots and we eventually were secure in a perfect spot. It was a bit of a struggle holding the boat’s position without getting that windward line on quickly. I had to motor forward to straighten up, but this almost pulled our short “long” lines out of the shore crew’s hands. After we were done, I practised extending a long line without having to undo it, to get a better angle. That was fun 🤩. Lessons: - incremental anchor is great 👍 - make sure line crew is ready and lines are prepared - make lines even longer than you think - pay the line out, don’t send them to shore with a huge pile of line that can fall in the water 🙈

Today was our first proper day of sailing and what a baptism for the new crew! We had an early start of swimming and paddle boarding in our little piece of paradise metres from the rocks (although our anchorage stopped us all from sleeping, it was beautiful!). The kids were a little nervous to venture outside of the long line “pen”, another reason to anchor further from shore next time. 📝 Our goal today was Stari Grad, with a stop in a bay on Brac that had an inflatable playground 2 years ago. Hopefully it’s still there for the kids 🙏. We had a light wind motor at first, but could finally get the sails up after an hour and by the time we reached our lunch spot Asti was zipping along! ⛵️ Becca and I got the sails down outside the bay’s entrance, while my grandad held us head to wind 😊. The bay didn’t disappoint - lovely simple mooring buoy (free during the day) and a 2min swim from a giant inflatable play area. You know you’ve done well when people don’t want to move on. Set the bar high now 😬. Our afternoon sail was a test of our crew’s sense of adventure and the effectiveness of their stugeron pills! Looking at the forecast, I envisaged flying downwind into Stari Grad in the calm sea we left outside the bay before lunch. We got our broad reach - but 20kts of it and quite a large swell on the starboard aft 🌊. The boat was fine and sailed along quickly. However we were rocking and surfing, which was uncomfortable / nerve-racking for our crew (most of which had never sailed before!). There was quite a lot of ETA checking… ⏱ But they managed it! The swell calmed down in the bay outside Stari Grad, without a let up in the breeze. Eventually we took the sails down as we started to broach going dead down wind in a 22kt gust. Nothing happened, but the name of the game on this holiday is super cautious! Our mooring in Stari Grad left a lot to be desired. I didn’t prepare the crew well at all. We were still towing the dinghy as we entered the narrower than I remember harbour. It got caught on a slime line and we struggled to set ourselves free for a bit. After dispatching the dinghy our parking was actually very smooth considering the conditions and tight space - however I hadn’t briefed the team. Our lines crew weren’t coordinated and we got our bow thruster caught in a slime line. Despite all that - we have a perfect spot in beautiful Stari Grad for the night 😍 Lessons: 1. Prepare everything well away from harbour / anchorage, in lots of space. 2. Make sure everyone understands their one job and what could go wrong (roaming fender crew were quite shocked by having to actually needing to protect our boat with their fender!) 3. Bow crew now announces when it’s not safe to use bow thrusters. 4. Extra pair of hands helping to heave the slime line.

So, we’re finally ready to set off on the first ever family sailing trip! On board we have: - Captain Chris - First Mate Becca - Chief Stew Sarah - Lead Charter Guests Peter and Jacky - International VIPs Jay, Jenny, Georgie and Ollie. It’s the first time I’ve had 9 people onboard, first time sailing with kids and first time with my mum and grandparents! I hope Becca has remembered her knots 😬 Check in at Navigare Yachting was very simple, however Marina Baotic in Trogir is crazy busy…! Our boat was furthest from the taxi drop off 🥵. We were finally ready to depart around 3pm. Due to the large crew we had upgraded to a bigger RIB, so my grandad drove that out of the marina separately. When we were ready to rejoin we had a wakeboard overboard incident. Great entertainment and an opportunity for the crew to practise their newly learnt skill of pointing at the overboard casualty! The rest of the journey was uneventful. Not much wind so we motored round to the south of Solta. Unfortunately our chosen spot with mooring buoys (Lonely Paradise) was full - I didn’t realise a restaurant reservation was required 🤦‍♂️. We had a bit of a struggle getting an anchor with lines to shore in the adjacent bay. It was 18m deep, but narrow. We put out 35m chain (only 2x depth!!) and this put us a paddleboard’s length from the rocks 😬. The land crew weren’t prepped and couldn’t do bowlines at that point - bad planning on my behalf. Eventually we got tied up and it was a beautiful spot, but the sun had long set and everyone was a bit frazzled. None of us slept well worrying about how close we were to the rocks…