Stodge-Blog

Tonight at dinner we found our evening restaurant terrace in Korcula overlooking a waterpolo arena. It is a Lido type affair, sectioned off from the harbour so I suspect the players had little fishys swimming around their legs as they played in the crystal clear salty waters. Firstly there was a warm up match by a couple of local teenage teams as we munched through dinner but as the sky turned to night and the floodlights came on a full blown regional league match between locals Korcula http://www.korculainfo.com/kpk/      http://wkkpk.blog.hr/ and the visitors  started. There seemed to be more women than men watching the match, perhaps attracted to the warm-up exercises by 20 fit young men in speedo’s and a good mix of locals and tourists. Our meal finished we moved across the lane to watch poolside from the terraces. Eventually we got the hang of the rules, 4 x 8 minute quarters with 30 second possession periods. Although a not contact sport the football equivalents of shirtpulling etc were all there in waterpolo with splashing and ducking in abundance and lots of fouls being awarded to both sides plus an over enthusiastic coach from the visiting team. I am sure too there was an unofficial bombing / diving competition going on when any of the substitutes entered the pool.

Korcula got properly thrashed 12 goals to 4 but it was a great night out and all for free. Bit of video I took is below.

My second sailing lesson started as soon as we set off from the Korcula marina pontoon. Miro patiently reminded us how to get the sail up and then got me onto the rudder whilst working with the Luxembourgian on the jib. As we got into the nearby channel we soon zipped along into the south westerly wind leaning right over. We went out around an island and I got the chance to try trimming the sails using the wools on the jib with the rudder keeping up a reasonable pace. After an hour we swapped over and turned for home but not before Miro suggested I get towed behind the boat for a bit. He threw a rope loop over the stern and I jumped in. The force was amazing, I thought we were only moving slowly but the rope was practically ripping my arms off. Soon I climbed back in and moved on to the jib and started to get to know the feel of the varying pressures and when to let it out or tighten it in. However we started to struggle to make much progress as the wind dropped to a total calm. Miro got us to practice some knots whilst we waited for things to change. Almost immediately we started to move again. One moment we were becalmed the next we were absolutely flying. I was pulling on the jib as hard as I could and it was still flapping away. Then the mail sail started flapping and very soon after that Miro joined in. Mistral! he shouted plus a few more words I took to be Croation expletives. He quickly took over the rudder and had us hauling in the maddly flapping sails. Once safe he explained about the Mistral, a sudden northerly wind this coast is famous for which often results in a storm and boats getting into trouble. All around us boats of all sizes were scurrying for port. Miro decided we would be better coming back in by engine but the thing wouldn’t

start! A couple of mobile phone calls to put a rescue boat on standby and he carried on fiddling with the motor. Eventually he topped it up with fuel to the brim which seemed to cause enough of a vacuum to get it going again and soon we were motoring back to port through whitecaps though only just making headway against the Mistral wind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_(wind)

Day 3 came after a night of stormy, windy conditions, The Mistral throwing its force to the extent that ferries were delayed and all the Adriatic cruise ‘pirate’ ships were forced to stay in port to party even harder. The morning brought still heavy seas and strong Mistral northerly winds so Miro delayed our lesson to the afternoon. Relaxing with a cappuccino in the café next to the sailing

school I decided as the froth blew off across the table that this should be added as a more modern measure of windspeed to be added to the Beaufort scale.

My last lesson was fantastic, we were out nearly 3 hours, Miro trusting me on the jib which I seemed to now have the hang of as he concentrated on our Luxembourgian friend who was still struggling with the rudder, keeping the speed going as with tacked and jived our way around the channels and Islands that surround Korcula. The wind was still strong and even with the sail reefed right down we still were zipping along, the yacht leant right over with whoever was on the jib getting a proper soaking. The 3 day 6 hour intro course to sailing by Oreb school was brilliant and has left me wanting to try a bit more in the UK when I get home though perhaps not getting towed behind in a pair of swimming trunks!

Stodge doesn’t like sitting still! never has, probably never will. Most holidays for the last 25 years have been ‘active’ – walking, skiing, running, climbing, orienteering, canoeing, mountain biking. At 16 I remember managing to lever water skiing lessons as a late birthday present out of my mum and dad who were then forced to watch me cruise up and down all week….. sitting on an beach? ½ a day playing sand castles with Holly or perhaps ½ a day with a good book and then I’m bored; and start looking for mountain bike hire, somewhere to run or somewhere to visit.

Because of my back problems this year we decided to backpack around Croatia (introduce Holly to the joys of not knowing where you will be going or staying next) where I could enjoy the food, sit back and relax or do as much watersport as I felt I could manage, interspersed with a little medieval town trundling and a few ice creams.

I found on the first day that lots of swimming was out, the buoyancy of the super salty water of the Adriatic pushing my feet up and curving my spine just the ‘wrong way’ particularly for breaststoke, niggling at my back. Snorkelling was OK though so I mooched around the shallows following fish for a couple of days, getting paddled around by Cath and Holly in canoes and trying to get through a thick volume all about the history of D Day.

After a few days of Island hopping from Dubrovnik to Miljet and finally to Korcula we finally ended up squirrelled into a nice cheap apartment so we could spend some money on water sports lessons, windsurfing for Holly and Cath, and sailing for me. http://www.oreb-sailing.com/hr/

I’ve never sailed, never so much as set foot on a sailing boat of any size before even for a ride. Its about the only major sport I can think of that I have never at least tried once.(even tried fishing once – got very bored!) We found a sailing school (Oreb sailing) and I booked in for a 6 hour taster course in 3 sessions, expecting to be getting very wet in a little dinghy of some sort in the harbour. I did wonder when I was asked to meet at the end of the pier what sort of boat we were going to be learning in and was gobsmacked when a full sized 4 birth (SCHOLTZ 22) sailing boat putted round the headland with our instructor for the first lesson. http://www.oreb-sailing.com/en/scholtz22newsailboat

After running out to an island on the engine we first helped dock bow first with an anchor line out behind (see I am getting the lingo already) before the lessons started properly with a mooch around the yacht learning about main sails, lazy jacks, rolling jibs, various ropes, pulleys and lots more after my head became full of nautical terminology.

All the ropes are colour coded and only a few are needed once you are going so it didnt take long.

Soon we were folding the anchor away and sailing off into the wind. Our instructor Miro (only 20) an ex Croatian national squad member soon had us skimming through the waves with the boat leant right over, hair dangling (well the other two dangled) as he recounted his claim to fame of meeting his hero Brit Ben Ainsley in a bar once.

The teaching carried on with my new Luxembourg friend (the other pupil) and I taking turns on the rudder and the jib ropes until eventually we docked back in Korcula, looking forward to 2 more lessons in the following days.