Inaugural trip
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Just got the keys. Happy happy people!
Lynne trying out the "dingy" option during handover week.
Tanning and smooth sailing with the Downwind Genaker.
Using dingy to get to shore for sightseeing, shopping and dining out. Important feature - Wine Cellar.
Part of reason Atlas is so fast- Narrow hulls.
Our first stop was Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
Port Grimaud. Not for people on a budget.
Saint-Tropez. A quick boat-ride from Grimaud.
Old Port of Saint-Tropez.
One of MANY spectacular sunsets.
And amazing mountains in late afternoon sun.
We did actually take time to stop and relax. Not much, but a bit...
And plenty of cooking. Bianca (aka B-B-Quick) is swinging the BBQ tongs
And pretty healthy food as well.
BBQ sampling
Crossed over from Antibes to Corsica and arrived in Calvi.
Fanny joied us for the night-crossing from Antibes to Calvai and down to Ajaccio.
Mountains of Corsica.
Approaching Bonifacio. Just WOW. At this point only the 2 of us on the boat.
Bonifacio cliffs. I am amazed why this is not the most visited tourist attraction in Europe. Absolutely amazing and by the time we got there late September crowds were mostly gone.
Very tricky picking up the mooring from the rock-face, but one tied up we were safe in 40 knots wind coming in the channel. 3 anchor ropes and 5 to shore. Not going anywhere.
Old Town Bonifacio.
After a couple of days sailing up the east side of Corsica we arrived in Bastia to wait for Bianca to join the crossing to Italy.
Time to change courtesy flag from France/Corsica to Italy.
Portoferraio. Main town of Elba.
We caught 3 fish on the trip. A Tuna (yummy), Bonito (this one) and a mackerel (let back out as we were almost back in LGM).
Gelato - When in Italy and so forth...
A few hours were spent with the head in the engine room. Free yoga that comes with boat life.
Visiting Pisa by boat was never on our bucket-list, but look where we were. Very interesting.
Just cold not resist.
Florence (Firenze) was on the list of places to visit by boat. But we took the train and went here too.
One of the 5 villages of Cique Terra. One day spent on foot and train to see them all.
Lots of ups and downs between villages. And this was poor little Mia's last hike. She past away in December '22.
Sunset light on the southernmost village.
Following day we visited all 5 villages from the seaside. Stunning views.
Port Venere. Not part of the 5 villages, but still impressive.
Crossed back to France and passed Monaco. Motoring as no wind.
A family of dolphins was playing in front of the boat for 10 minutes to the crew's great enjoyment.
Maximum speed 14.1 knots.
Trip statistics. Almost 1100 Nautical miles covered.
And after some warranty work in La Grande Motte here is S/Y Atlas arriving in Barcelona a grey December morning. A fantastic trip. All looking forward to more experiences in 2023.
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After having left Moscow in early August we officially took ownership of S/Y ATLAS on August 19th. Atlas is the 95th Outremer 51 performance sailing catamaran built in La Grande Motte, France. Construction started in January 2022. Here is a video tour of the boat Bianca made while we were waiting on repairs in Toulon. It took us about 2 weeks to get the boat ready to live on board. After many trips to IKEA and hardware stores, we were finally ready to leave for the trip on September 7th. A full crew of 6 people departed: Lynne, Sophi, Bianca, Marie (niece), Knut (long time friend from Norway, and an experienced sailor) and Atle. Here is a link to the route covered in 2022. Basically, along the French coast from La Grande Motte to Antibes. Then we crossed to Corsica overnight with the help of Fanny and stayed in Calvi for a few days. After that, we continued down the coast of Corsica to Bonifacio with an unintended stop in Ajaccio to clear up a clogged fuel system. At this point, it was only Lynne and Atle on the boat who continued south to Bonifacio and up the east coast to Bastia. Bianca joined in Bastia, and helped the crossing to Elba (Italy). Then we went up the Italian coast, visiting Pisa, Firenze and Cinque Terre. Absolutely amazing places to see although there was no wind and a lot of motoring. To finish up the loop, we went across to France bypassing Genoa and back along the French Coast to La Grade Motte. Sophi and Olly joined for part of the trip and got to experience the fastest speed reached on the trip (14.1 knots) and the dolphin visit. Certainly 2 of the nautical highlights of the trip. We got back to La Grande Motte on October 26th and spent a few days before going back to Barcelona. The boat was checked, modified, and fixed at the Outremer shipyard before Atle took the boat to Barcelona in December. Now Atlas is safely moored in Port Ginesta awaiting for the 2023 summer and more adventures to begin. Best regards, Lynne and Atle PS. Keep up to date with Atlas adventues by following Atlas sailing on instagram @sailing_atlas51 |
