“I’m Free”

After weeks of bad weather and extensive boat work, we were finally ready to leave Berkeley East’s winter berth at Marina di Ragusa, Sicily. On the big day, we once again awoke to big winds and reluctantly decided that we had to wait another day. Two hours later, all was calm, it was a beautiful sunny day, so we quickly readied BE to move. With a marinera standing by in a dingy, and friends on the dock to throw our lines, we held our breath with the hope that we would get out of the slip without incident. A lot can happen to a boat that sits all winter long. They often lack the momentum to leave, sometimes it seems they actually grow legs and attach themselves to the ocean floor. But this year Berkeley East was ready to go. She moved smoothly out of her berth and out of the marina, chugging along happily like a Golden Retriever that had not been taken on a walk for a very long time. We quickly tended to chores like stowing lines and fenders, turbo washing the engine, and depickling the water maker. The wind was light when we put out the main, only to have it jam halfway, but with a little coaxing, it finally popped – we were sailing again. Comfortable that we did not need to turn back for any reason, we relaxed and played an old favorite by “The Who” over the radio to everyone back at the marina:

“I’m free. I’m free. And I’m waiting for you to follow me.”

While it was sad to leave all our new friends at Marina di Ragusa, we were happy to be free and off on another adventure, this time to Malta.

Homegrown tomatoes – a farewell gift from our favorite hardware store.

Berkeley East gets a prime dock location.

A fireworks celebration of our arrival May Day.