Split to Dubrovnik, Croatia July 2009

This was, mostly, more of a motoring trip than our usual ones. Fortunately the deal was that free re-fuelling would be arranged for us because of the increased distance involved over normal fortnight trips.

But one morning when “free” sailing on our own, we were awakened early by a thunderstorm. (Thunderstorms are common in this area in summer, even more than the UK!) This was at Lopud, our first stop on the return leg from Dubrovnik. Our anchor dragged, like those of several other yachts in the bay, and like them we decided to leave. Rather than re-anchor nearby and try to get back to sleep we chose to head for the next stop, a rendezvous with the rest of the flotilla.

Fortunately Ian had already worked out the passage plan in the evening, so we were able to set off for what turned out to be the most exciting sail of the trip. Initially we needed the spray-hood up (normally we have it down) to protect us from the water coming over the bow each time we hit a wave. “George”, our trusty autopilot, did sterling work beyond this shelter; the sole one of us getting wet...

The wind had only abated slightly when we arrived at our sheltered rendezvous. So we then had somewhat of a struggle to pick up a buoy (not something we often do) belonging to the local restaurant. But since it was still only 10 a.m. we had plenty of time to recover from our exertions! Unfortunately only the last part of this sail appears in the Google Earth plot, because in all the excitement I forgot to turn my GPS on. Similarly the track from Dubrovnik marina to Lopud actually appears to start well outside the city

Google Earth "KML" file: Full track (123Kb) or KMZ-zipped to 31Kb.

Below are some photos taken during this trip. Hover over each for an explanation or click for a full size view.

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