22 April - 1 May 2016
LGM - Tunisia - LGM
On April 22, we set off to give Mais Uma her first proper "shake down" trip to Tunisia and back, to find out how everything handles and works over a longer period of time. We were fortunate to have Venturi II, another Outremer 45, to sail togethe with us. We had extra crew with us from Norway, our good friends Terje and Jon.
We startet off from LGM, 10 hours before a very strong mistral, was due in, so we were in front of the strong winds for the whole trip down to Tunisia. The weather was great, and we had wind from behind, from 14-26 knots, and we had a max speed of 20,1 knots in the surf, but over longer period of time double digits speed. We covered 540 nm, in 2 days and 6 hours.
Had 2 mishaps on our way down!
The Code D, got caught in the forestay in the middle of the night and Knut had to climb up the mast and unwind the Code D, until it was loose again. We were sailing more conservative from then on.
In the middle of the first night, the shackle that holds the boom lifter, got loose, and when the rest of the shackle was swinging forward towards the mast, it hit Knut right under the eye, with the result of a solid pink/blue eye for the coming week.
There was some cheafing from the Code D blocks on the gelcoat, but this we will address the yard, and will be fixed. Just need to alter the fixing of the block to the hull.
3/4 of our crew ready for some great sailing.
The trip back to La Grande Motte, was a little bit slower, with 2 days with little wind, so we had to use the engines for 18 hours, and we had a night with strong head wind up to 26 knots and big waves, but no rain before we took the sails down before entering the harbour of LGM. We encountered on the last leg of the tour a pod of dolphines playing in front of the bows.
We are very pleased with the trip, and we vere cooking nice meals along the way, and had a very comfortable trip. Looking forward to our next encounter with the sea.
Tunisia was a positive surprise! The people were super nice, and we had a great two days exploring Tunisia and all the different aspects it has to offer! Luckily the family of a collegue of Anita helped out and showed us a great time. We can not thank them enough for making this experience so special. Tunisia is absolutely a place we can recommend to everybody. We felt secure and welcoming everywhere. We explored the Medina of Tunis as well and got us some local dresses. Good Fun!
