FIDDLING ABOUT IN THE MED

Phil Brooks

Claire and I and occasional boat guests had a great cruise of the Western Mediterranean last fall in our Baba 40 cutter Fiddler. We were on the move for about eight weeks between 20th August and 18th October. I gather this is old territory for the OCC -- at least it was not the place to be this year, as we covered about 1500 miles and never spotted another Flying Fish burgee.

We had wintered over in Port Alcudia on Mallorca. It is very safe, with no surge, but expensive. I can recommend Ken Churchill of Scimitar Sailing as a very conscientious boat guardian in Port Alcudia.

We headed first to Ciudadela on Menorca which is as charming and as crowded as ever. This was our second visit. The first time we were inside boat, next to the wall, on an eight boat raft. I was not surprised that only the first two boats were charged. This time, however, we were the fifth boat out on a nine boat raft and we were the only ones on the raft to be charged. It is the American or the OCC flag which excites the harbourmaster?

The crossing to Sardinia was uneventful. Alghero on the north-west coast of Sardinia was fun and there was a free wall. Porto Chervo on the north-east coast was, of course, very expensive, especially the marina, but there is still a free anchorage next to the marina within the harbour. The start of the Swan World Championship out of Porto Chervo was spectacular. The largest Swan there flew an American flag, but when I asked a member of her British crew who the owner was the whimsical answer came back, "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you afterwards!". I never did learn.

It can blow like the devil through the Bonifacio Strait between Sardinia and Corsica. We also found that the strong north-westerlies came with greater frequency as we got deeper into September. At Porto Campoloro on the east coast of Corsica we were told that, because we could see Elba and the island of Monte Christo, there was a real strong blow out there. So we holed up for an extra day and took a rented motor scooter into the mountains of Corsica where the local militia still practice their marksmanship on road signs and the goats own the road. There were superb vistas in the mountains but a lot of smoke from forest fires which some said were set by the local malcontents (the Fires of Freedom?).

On the island of Elba we enjoyed Porto Azzuro as much as Portoferraio, and found free wall space in both harbours. On the nearby island of Capraia we discovered a cave passage on the rugged west coast which we could swim through, but in the main harbour the bottom was too foul to hold a stern anchor.

We enjoyed some serious trail hiking on the Ligurian coast of Italy, first at Portovenere, then along the Cinque Terre, and then outside Portofino. The statue of Christ still rests on the ocean floor off San Fruttuoso, kept clean by the air bubbles and stroking from numerous scuba divers.

From Portofino we crossed the Gulf of Genoa to San Remo, then down the French Riviera and the Cote d'Azur to Cassis and across the Gulf of Lions to the Costa Brava and Barcelona.

Some observations which may be of interest

Harbour Space: We deliberately picked September and October for our cruise in the hope that we would have a better chance of getting into some of the more popular harbours. In many cases this proved to be true. We found free wall space in Elba and in the very small harbour of Vernazza on the Cinque Terre where we spent three days. We also found space in Porquerolles in the Iles d'HpiyŠres, in Portofino, St Tropez and Cassis, and were even able to sneak broadside into the free wall at San Remo (in lieu of $60.00 for a night at the marina), but had to cohabit all night with a couple of huge and dirty wall tyres.

In several of the largest ports, including Monaco and Antibes, we were told by the marina office that they were full although we could see numerous empty spaces. Assuming they even have transient slips set aside in season, I suspect they rent them all out in early fall for winter storage. Since we were not about to pass up Monaco and were locked into Antibes in heavy weather, we simply took an empty space anyway, went ashore, and eventually struck a private deal for an overnight mooring. In the usual case, the trick is to get going early so as to arrive at the next harbour before the crowd -- no problem for us since we never could get used to dinner after 9pm.

Pollution: There was less water and beach pollution than I had been led to expect. Of course there were still the ubiquitous floating plastic carrier bags, but fewer than we had noticed the previous summer along the Spanish Costa del Sol. My guess is that they have a floating life of three to four years before finally decomposing into unrecognizable bits. I found myself cataloguing them by age as they passed by, about one every three or four boat lengths.

On the spectacular hiking trails between the various Cinque Terre towns in Italy there was, sadly, rather more discarded rubbish than I would have expected given the numerous signs imploring against it.

The Gulf of Lions: It's everything they say it is. At about 1700 on a lovely afternoon (2nd October) with a decent forecast, we left Cassis, France, with its spectacular calanques (you can stand on deck and watch the rock climbers almost directly over your head) for Port Vendre on the French/Spanish border. Twenty-four sleepless hours later, with a torn mainsail and a soaked cabin, we managed to grab the dock thirty miles further south at El Estartit in Spain. It was blowing close to 40 knots even at the dock. The seas were probably no more than 10 or 12 feet, although rather square, and except for gusts of a minute or two the wind averaged around 35 to 40 knots. The problem in a tramontana is trying to claw your way to a windward shore. We would have been a lot more comfortable if we had turned and run for Mallorca, but no one wanted to spend a second night in that sea with a ripped and flogging main which we couldn't get down (due to a track bolt that had backed out at spreader level). Besides, we all wanted to see Barcelona. If they can give out bumper stickers that say `I climbed Pike's Peak', there ought to be one for crossing the Gulf of Lions.

Barcelona and wintering over: Barcelona is clean and fun and still feeling the momentum of the Olympics, with numerous construction projects still underway (even excluding the perpetual Segrada Familia). We found the Club Maritimo very hospitable during our four days. The spacious new Marina Port Vell is ultra-modern and secure with beautiful English-speaking young women in the office, but it is also fantastically expensive and very nearly empty. There seems to be no move to turn the purpose-built Olympic racing harbour over to public yachting use.

We ended up in Port Ginesta, the first marina to the south of Barcelona, where Fiddler will spend the '92-93 winter in the water. The storage rates seem reasonable (especially after the dollar improved to about 112 pesetas), the staff are pleasant, the Port Captain speaks excellent English (excuse me -- American) and there is not too much surge. There are lots of nautical services and interesting restaurants at the marina, but it is not an ideal place to live aboard because the laundry and food shops are not nearby.

Music around the Mediterranean: One thing I enjoy doing (on a very amateur basis) is to take my half-sized bass fiddle* out of the shower stall and find some keyboardist or small group nearby that I can play with. Given the large number of tourists, even off-season, I've been surprised at how little live music there seems to be around the shores of the Western Med. Even those places that call themselves `Music Bar' invariably have only canned music and most of that American. It may be difficult to think of anything else we are still good at, but the Americans do seem to be the entertainers of the world.

Future plans: This coming August we intend to make the passage from Barcelona to Gran Canaria where we will leave Fiddler for a few months. I plan to return in late November with a crew and make a December crossing to the Caribbean. Would any other yacht(s) be interested in teaming up for company on the passage -- preferably one with a banjo player on board?

* A double bass to us Brits -- or in this case would it be a single bass?