From freshwater sailor to saltwater sailor – the epilogue

Adriano Gatta, from Brescia, DOC, class of 1956, free-rider, mountaineer, former judo national team member, photography enthusiast (the photos accompanying the story are his), wrote to us telling us his story as a former “repentant” motorboat racer. We offer it to you divided into installments (at the bottom of the story you will find all the links to the previous chapters), as newspapers once did. Here is the fifth and final part of our “summer tale”.

In mid-October, after evaluating a few, we find what we are looking for: Sun Odyssey 40′, from 2000(the budget did not allow me a newer boat) but in excellent condition and super equipped, indeed more; teak deck, new cushions, webasto, radar, GPS, AIS and so on, it even had the cagnaro which I did not even know what it was and had to look it up in the Sailor’s Vocabulary, Commander Basile’s bible.

At the end of the month I sign the transfer of ownership and request a name change on the license.

BRAVO PAPA 3. Obviously.

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And now it’s off to Cérvia……. machimmeloffaffaffare, circumnavigating all of Italy in winter and not enjoying the beauty of the seas on which I will sail ? And then the cold weather and short days ? Besides, where can I find a pirate to accompany me this season ?

No, no, I’ll reconsider and take the boat to the new port in Marina di Pisa; it’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive from home and during the winter I’ll set it up the way I want, then in May we’ll see.

In Marina di Pisa I find very kind people. I quickly make friends with the moorers who see me hustling around the boat all winter.

They envy me because I have decided to spend my “last” (I hope long) years around the seas.

I spend several long weekends outfitting the boat the way I like it, and in mid-November I have a launch complete with bubbly, of course from Franciacorta( although this is another lake), inviting close friends. New Year’s Eve in the boat and then a few practice trips to Meloria and to Gorgona and to bed with the Webasto on the barrel; an icy north wind whistles down from the Apuan Alps.

Meanwhile from Gigi comes the shock proposal, “I take the Golly to Trapani and leave him there at least two years, will you come too?”

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Ecchèccazzo, but you don’t do that, I still haven’t decided when to leave for Cervia and then who tells Marghe?

“Sicily? It’s the only region we’ve never seen, and then to go to Cervia we had to go there anyway, didn’t we?”

I am a methodical, a precise person, you can’t throw my plans off like that; what do I tell Floriano who is looking for my berth?

However, Trapani, the Egadi Islands, Ustica, Lampedusa , Stromboli and the sciara di fuoco and then again Etna, Agrigento, Noto and its Baroque, Acireale, Licata and Commissario Montalbàno, Palermo…..no, no let me think about it.

I do the math: round trip by car from Cervia + highway costs me twice as much as a low-cost Bergamo-Trapani flight.

The berth costs me almost half as much as Saló…….but why didn’t I do it sooner!!!!

I call Gigi: “Commander, is your proposal still valid, is there still a berth at Marina Levante inTrapani ?”

“Yes? Then know that in June I am taking the boat to Sicily.”

And so begins the adventure that will take BRAVO PAPA’ 3 for now toTrapani, via Capraia, Corsica, Sardinia and then we’ll see…….but that’s another story…

END (FOR NOW)

REREAD THE OTHER CHAPTERS OF THE SUMMER STORY

Part 1

Part 2




Part 3





Part 4