By Andy Lund

Ed. note - This is the twenty-third installment of a multi-part series by
Andy Lund on his ocean-crossing journey aboard Resolution, the Nordhavn 46 he took delivery of in February 2004.

Chapter 23

October 8, 2006

We had a nice time in Monaco, where my friend Kevin Bonnie, who lives there now, got us a slip. He took us up into the Italian hills behind Ventimiglia to a little town called Dolceacqua, where we bought two cases of good inexpensive wine from a winemaker he knows, and had a super dinner up on a hill top, family style - rabbit, local wines, grappa, limoncella, etc. Good thing I wasn't driving. Kevin bought an old and small stone house up on the hills above the town, next door to the restaurant. His view stretches from the Italian Alps to the sea, and with some work he'll have a neat getaway.

Our trip 20 miles from Monaco to Cannes Wednesday was unexpectedly rough, as a mistral wind blew up. We saw five to six foot seas right on our nose, with peak winds at 45 knots. The forecast had called for 15 knots max. Worst weather we've seen since the gale west of the Azores 16 months ago on our Atlantic crossing. We'd planned an Antibes stop, but there was no room, even though the marina has 1700 slips. Cannes had space, but I called first and booked via mobile phone from just off Antibes.

We spent four days here in Cannes, med moored (stern to) to Quay St Pierre, on the west side of the harbor, looking across at the megayachts. Neat Irish bar just across the street, with a good seafood restaurant called Voile au Vent right next door. The big Forville town market selling flowers, fruits, vegetables and fish and four bakeries were within four blocks, and the newstand for the Herald Tribune was just two blocks away. My parents kept an apartment on the Croisette (the famous waterfront promenade) over the winter of 1960-61 while my brother and I were in boarding school in Nice, and my two younger sisters were in boarding school in Cannes. So Cannes has many memories for me. It's a nice town, and the four days' moorage was only 100 euros total! Incredible bargain, so we're finally seeing the benefit of off season travel.

We're now (Sunday afternoon) anchored off the St Tropez harbor, behind th breakwater in light SE winds. Seems a sailing regatta ended today, but the boats haven't cleared out. So we expect a spot tomorrow. Beautiful run down the coast 20 miles from Cannes. Cannes port had four big ships at anchor on our departure, including QE 2, the big Cunard liner.

We're still on track to reach Barcelona by the 15th. It's just 220 NM SW across the Golfe de Lion. But we'll pay close attention to the weather for that run, as the mistral winds can really kick up a strong, rough sea.