Pancake breakfast 🥞

Becca

We ducked around the corner to check out pancake flipping conditions. Sadly, the first bay was side on waves.. so we motored on looking for the perfect spot. Oh buoy.. we found it. Just as the anchor touched the floor, a front row mourning buoy became free. We snatched it and quickly our skipper and chief stew were to work, serving up an amazing breakfast for everyone. 🥞 🍓🍇 Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the conditions were perfect for us to get the sails up. After a failed attempt in the bay, we got them up once out and safe. We had almost everyone as a ballast while whilst sailing into Vis 👌🏼 However, coming into the bay, the wind was still strong. Chris was holding us on the mourning buoy, but unfortunately we got a rope stuck in the propeller 😰 A lot of wiggling later, we were free! Lesson: Cleat the rope half way and only let out what you need so that it’s not dangling in the water ✅

Sarah Jacobs

Another beautiful bay for a pancake stop. Was tense racing for the only mooring buoy - waving our boat hooks wildly to let the catamaran know we meant business 😂 Some of us paddle boarded to shore (beach shoes a must in Croatia) and enjoyed swimming in the shallows. On to Vis - an exciting sail with all of us leaning out. We all have 100% trust in Chris & Becca’s ability which makes it thrilling rather than scary! My first time helming into the wind 😬 Coming into Vis harbour was choppy which made getting the mooring buoy quite challenging but C&B managed it in the end. Little Toots water taxi to shore & we enjoyed an evening stroll around Vis town before dinner at Lola’s followed by obligatory ice cream. A bumpy night’s sleep - probably the most rocking of the whole trip.

Chris Jacobs

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 😂

Chris Jacob

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 😂