Trapani - 27 October 2021

The wind had been blowing strongly when we arrived yesterday, and the land we were behind was not as protective as we had hoped, but by the time we awoke, the wind had died and we were still in the same place. This was to be our last night at anchor on the trip, and Tricia made the most of it with an early morning swim. The sea was much clearer and she could see the anchor well. It was not fully bedded in but had obviously held us securely. On this trip we have done much more anchoring that previously, and have gained confidence in our ability to set it, especially when there is really good sand as we have found in many places in Sicily. We also replaced the control unit for the anchor winch early in this trip and it has worked faultlessly. I no longer have trepidation every time we use it.

To our surprise, the instruments that had malfunctioned yesterday, all decided to work properly today. This was both a relief, as we had depth readings, and also frustrating, as it is always more difficult to find intermittent problems. We suspect another loose connection somewhere.

We only had a short distance to go from the anchorage to Trapani, but decided that we would go the long way around the island of Favignana as we had plenty of time. As so often recently, the driver of our arrival time was to get in before the rain started. This was due in the late afternoon. We had to motor initially but found some wind, so got the sails out. The wind proved not enough to let us overcome the current running between the islands, so after a short while the jib was away again, and the motor employed.

Views of Favignana





When we cleared the lee of the island there was more wind, but less distance to go. We decided that one last sail was called for, so the jib came out again, and the engine was cut. It was glorious for the few minutes before we had to start preparing to enter port, something that takes a while even when there are 3 of us.

There are plenty of ferries running from Trapani to the islands and they move quickly. We entered the outer harbour but then waited out of the way of an incoming ferry before proceeding. Our curtesy was repaid by an outbound ferry who waited for us to pass before leaving his berth. The ferry skippers seem to be particularly helpful here.


There have been several times recently when we have seen Italian Air Force jets patrolling, and initially we saw another pair today. Somewhat later, we were buzzed by a solitary Typoon Eurofighter, much lower. He was obviously having a closer look at us.

We made our way to the yard where Equinox will be wintered. Our first impressions are very positive. There was a warm welcome from the staff, and there are clearly a lot of other boats being stored and maintained here. It is much more of a boatyard than a marina, but there are all the facilities that we need.

Steve (Tricia and Chris)

Distance today             16 miles

Total distance 2021:   563 miles

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