Seascaping in the Adriatic

I've now had my Seascape 18 dinghy for 2 seasons.  My local lake, Neusiedlersee, is now too shallow to get much sailing in. The keel would only be about a 1/4 of the way down so would make for pretty dodgy sailing.

I was inspired a while ago by this book:

The guy sailed around Italy from Genoa in a Drascombe Longboat, then switched to a Seascape 18 in Trieste to continue down the Slovenian and Croatian coasts and eventually to Istanbul. He did this in short stages depending on holidays, seasons etc., maybe sailing for 2 weeks, getting transport back to the car and trailer then parking the boat wherever he could until the next time. It took him over 2 years to complete.

I began my adventure with 4 days on the north Italian coast. I had 2 marinas near Grado in mind where I could hopefully slip the boat and leave the car and trailer. However it turned out one didn't have a slipway and the crane operator doesn't do weekends. The other said I had to be a member with a berth. I parked the car and boat in Grado, nervously taking up several parking spots and went to figure out how to get waterborne.

The local public slipway is too short and doesn't get deep enough. I tried 3 boat rental places but all were closing up for the day. Eventually found Deltin shipyard where they would crane me in next morning. He even had a place to store the trailer and car.

All hotels were full, so I ended up in a miserable, mosquito-infested  campsite. They even had a narrow slipway, but said I would need to negotiate lots of oyster farms before hitting open water. Hardly slept - Italy is a noisy place on a Saturday night.

By next lunchtime I had the boat in and rigged and ready to go:

After a picnic lunch I was off without any sort of plan. Just before heading out to sea, I hung a right and ended sailing through the Lagoona di Marano. It was wide enough and deep enough for a few miles and the wind was in the right direction.

I wanted to get to Aquileia to check out the marina for future use, but the last few kilometres are up river and my electric motor was not quite up to it.  The wind changed direction and instead of a run back down the channel I had to motor, watching the battery percentage descending a bit too fast.

After a couple of hours playing out in the open sea for the first time ever, I headed to my mooring for the night, right in the heart of the town up past the fishing boats.

Hotels were all full so I stayed on the boat. Also a noisy night with the main road going right round the harbour.

Next day I planned on possibly going to Trieste. The wind was good enough for a while but then dropped and almost made me change plans when I realised Piran and Izola were actually closer than Trieste.  Not having boat papers and not sure of the requirements though, I decided not to venture into another country. It was slow going at 3 knots.

I arrived in Marina San Guisto on the motor well after the office had shut but eventually found a watchman who assigned me the berth officially and gave me a chip key for the gates.  After a perfect shower I watched the perfect sunset from the rooftop bar before heading into town for some food. The marina cost €40.

There was zero wind in the morning so spent a few hours wandering around town. I toyed with the idea of going by public transport back to Grado to get the car and trailer and call it a day, but turns out there is no slipway or crane facility in Trieste. So I set off anyway with very little wind, along the coast past Miramar castle. The wind dropped completely so I even managed a swim.

Quite a pleasant coast line with various small harbours, but ruined perhaps by the myriad buoys of the mussel farms.

Portopiccolo is an ugly marina village of no interest. There's also a beach club and a 5 star hotel of no interest. After a swim I had a nice meal in the restaurant just overlooking my boat. My 3rd night sleeping on the boat was also a failure because some wind got up and the noise of the water slapping against the hull was like 20 children jumping up and down on the deck. Even with ear plugs in...

Although I wanted to set off early to enjoy the wind the marina didn't open until 9am and they had my passport. They charged me €50 which was a bit steep.

I started with a reasonable wind so made progress towards Monfalcone before heading south towards the Grado peninsula.

The sky clouded over quite spectacularly at one point but the forecast was for sunshine so I wasn't too worried. Saw a million swans in the distance. Then I was shocked that the water is very shallow a long way from the coast. I did hit sand a couple of times and had to rush to wind up the keel. So when the wind died comepletely I had to get the motor on for quite a long time.

At one point I heard the pitch of the motor change and realised there was quite a tide running. I could see water breaking over the sandbar and was beginning to worry when I felt a breeze. Immediately got the sails up and started making progress out to the safe sea.

The final few kilometres provided very enjoyable sailing and I stayed out practicing gybes before heading back into Grado, though to a hotel this time for a pleasant night's sleep. I left the boat moored at Deltin's yard for the night as he wouldn't crane it until the next day.

Just after getting the boat all sorted on the trailer a massive thunder storm struck. I waited for the rain to abate but finally just had to go. It rained in sheets for about 3 hours, making for a very stressful drive. It finally only let up around Ljubljana.

A slight bitter taste was left by Deltin charging me €400 for use of the crane and parking for the car and trailer. He seemed like such a friendly, helpful old chap, but was obviously out to empty my wallet. I won't use his services again.

Conclusion

It is not as easy as one would think to find places to launch the boat and leave the car and trailer. Herr Friedl made it sound so simple. He must be more resourceful and charming than me.

I would love to do it again in the hope of more perfect wind, and maybe even head further afield. Sleeping 2 on the boat is not an option.