10 October 2025 - Termoli

Thankfully the tide, all 20 centimetres of it, was up when we left Vieste. It makes a difference in this very shallow harbour and we have the reassurance of some water below the keel, rather than the depth sounder reading zero for a short distance.

The wind was down, meaning motoring two thirds of the way, but by early afternoon the breeze came in and we had excellent sailing conditions; flat water, a nice light wind, but enough to truck along faster than we would go under engine.

A larger boat had left Vieste just after us and was close by while we motored. As soon as we put the sails up we left them a long way behind. There have been times in the past when we have done that and then lost a lot of time taking the sails down and preparing the boat for the harbour entry and docking. We’re now much quicker at that and more confident when entering a new port that we haven’t been to before, than we were in the early days of sailing Equinox, so today we didn’t get pipped in behind.

The marinaros were superb, other than they had mistaken our draft and tried to put us in a dock too shallow, so we ran aground trying to get there. No worries, though; it’s mud on the bottom, so won’t damage the keel. We ended up nicely alongside a pontoon, our favourite berthing position.

We had a lovely warm welcome in the office too.

We were reminded that the taking of Termoli during WWII by the SAS is a story told in the programme ‘SAS Rogue Heroes’, so that was essential viewing to unwind after a long day out on the water. Apparently the series wasn’t filmed here, but we look forward to seeing the old town tomorrow.


Distance today -         58 miles

Distance this year - 1700 miles 

Steve (and Tricia) 

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