Sailing in Croatia

On Monday we sailed from the island of Vis to a nearby small island where there is a sea cave named, for the color of the light, the Blue Cave. When we arrived it was pretty jammed up, and Diane commented that she was not that fond of caves, much less sea caves. As everyone agreed we set sail for the island of Hvar and the port of Hvar town. The sailing was great. The big catamaran really covers the water. On arrival the port was packed and we were lucky to pick up a mooring. The lay of the mooring required that we tie off the bow to it and take a line ashore. My inadequate preflight was obvious when one of the crew pulled out the long line from its storage locker. It was a rats nest and Ken and I spend 20 minutes sorting it out. No harm done, but I was irritated at myself for not making sure the line was flaked properly beforehand.

The boat is new, commissioned in April of 2009. Moorings calls it a Moorings 4600, but it is really a Leopard 46 built by Robertson and Caine in South Africa. I have sailed an earlier model, the Moorings 4500, in the southern Caribbean so I am familiar with the boat. They have improved it with the addition of two crew cabins, one in each hull forward, a hard top over the aft deck area, and a raised helm station with a hard top. The salon must measure 10 by 10 feet. It is air-conditioned using its own generator. There are four main cabins each with their own electric head and shower. Length overall is 46’4” with a 24’10” beam. It sleeps 12 and we only have 6 aboard, so we have lots of room. Electronics include the usual sail instruments as well as a color GPS chart plotter as well as an autopilot. It is a very comfortable and fun boat to sail.

Ron