Passage

Imagine your very first driving lesson, but your car is 12 meters long, weighs 10 tons, and you’re driving on sheet ice with worn-out summer tires. That’s more or less what steering a cat is like.

Learning to sail is really hard work and has absolutely nothing to do with a relaxed beach holiday. Matthias, who was with me at cat training, told me he needed about 10 charter weeks before he felt safe and relaxed as skipper.

That is, among other things, why we have so far barely dared to leave the harbors and have only spent half days keeping our noses a bit to the wind. Other reasons are physical and mental exhaustion, various aches and injuries, as well as constant defects and breakdowns on the boats.

In those 6 weeks, 2 alternators have already been swapped, and on one boat they actually forgot to refill the gear oil after the service. At least we managed to get almost 500 meters. Always check everything, even if the bros get offended, mistakes happen.

In the third charter week, the time finally comes and we dare to take our first little outing. From Sibenik to Kremik, where we spend one night, then on to Jezera where we stay for two nights, and then back to Sibenik. I think that must be how the Apollo astronauts felt: completely on their own, in the endless expanse of the Adriatic.

When berthing in Jezera, I make my first beginner mistake too and drive forward into the alley, then when I switch to reverse, the crosswind mercilessly pushes me into the parked boats. Luckily, I’ve watched enough Epic Navigator.

I shift into neutral and just let the wind drift me into a free, wide berth. Never has a marinero hopped on a bike so fast to race to our position. Even if it’s hard as a beginner right then, you have to ignore these people. If you follow their shouting and waving and try to somehow save the situation with full throttle, that’s when it gets dangerous. This way, it’s not a problem at all, it just looks embarrassing and you become the topic over after-work beers. But every beginning is hard.

When berthing in Sibenik, we then had almost the same situation: crosswind up to 20 knots. This time we tried it in reverse and it worked 100 times better. The charter company’s skipper even congratulated us on our performance. I was hugely proud, drenched in sweat, and completely done for.

*This blog post has been automatically translated by a Large Language Model.