It seems odd that a year ago we had settled in Alghero and getting our heads around what we needed to do to keep Nimmie safe over the winter with huge surges and high winds. Last year we bought sturdy springs and even sturdier ropes, took anything down that might get damaged and generally worried about leaving our pride and joy nearly a thousand miles away. This year, it feels almost normal. We spent Saturday going through our list (of course we have a list for winterisation!) and got her ready for her first winter in the Bay of Naples before flying home today. Although they get strong winds there, the harbour is fairly sheltered so the surge shouldn’t be too bad and we are on a finger pontoon, amazingly, so we are able to tie her up as you would in the UK. In addition, there is no one next to us so we have been able to attach lines across to the next pontoon to stop her from being pushed against the wooden pontoon when the wind blows from the SW. It seems that the prevailing wind in winter months is the Tramontana, which is a northerly wind but not as strong as the Mistral that gave us winds of over 54 knots in Alghero. One of the pictures shows the marina plan.

Even so, we have prepared for strong winds and have taken down the spray hood, bimini and genoa to reduce the amount of windage that could put a lot of pressure and strain on her. We also washed the genoa sheets (ropes) and furling line as these get very salty over the course of a season. These were done in a bucket whereas our other sheets (aka bedding!) were washed in the marina laundrette. Bliss to have one at the end of the pontoon rather than having to carry our washing into town.

The marina itself is large and fairly self sufficient although it doesn’t have any shops as yet – the recession of 2008 put paid to that for a while – so we think we have found somewhere that we feel comfortable leaving her. There isn’t a webcam to log onto like in Alghero so we won’t know how she is doing unless we get a phone call from the marina! It does have a stunning backdrop of Mount Vesuvius and even a swimming pool and a helicopter pad!