At 06.00 we left Trieste, arriving in Umag at around 08.30. Here we moor our boat at the customs pier for clearing. After that, time for coffee, breakfast, shopping, gas and fresh water. We had been out of fresh water since Sunday morning.
After this we continue in south-easterly direction. We do not have any wind again today. Late in the afternoon, just south of the Istria peninsula we were joined by a school of 10 – 15 dolphins. On one photo you can see three of them who swam in our bow wave for a couple of minutes. A bit later we receive a storm warning from Rijeka Radio.
Around 21:30 the wind increases from almost nothing to 30 knots from the northeast. Bura has arrived…! We hoist our sails and start a night of hard work and heavy (but wonderful) sailing. We have gusts of more than 40 knots. Our skipper has retreated to his bunk (flu), so it is just the four of us for the night.
Together with one of the younger guys I take the first watch. I take care of steering and navigation, he takes care of the sails. We have waves of around 2 meters, and the wind reaches force 9 to 10. Around 02:30 the other team takes over. Fully clothed in my heavy weather gear I go down to my cabin and immediately fall asleep. Around 07:00 in the morning I take over the rudder again. At noon the wind disappears just as it came: all of a sudden…
Fortunately our skipper feels better by now, and he takes over the rudder again. It’s a good chance for the four of us to catch up on some sleep – until we arrive in Split around 16:00.
