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Lat. 43° 30.7'N Long. 7° 03.2'E August 2002 Blow the wind southerly and didn’t it just! Meteo France and weatheronline forecast NW5 for our 92nM south easterly sail from Antibes to Calvi on Corsica. No problems for a 12m yacht that likes sailing downwind and we would be in almost before we left. We being Sue, Richard, Liz and myself.
Unable to lay the course we were content to make good progress at 6 kts but slowly the wind increased and refused to veer and by 19 00 it was steady between 24/28kts and from only just west of south. By now the sea was up and we were taking a lot of spray but it was warm so shorts and an ocean jacket were enough foul weather gear. Now I decided to set a cruising rig - half the main, no headsail and the engine at 1500rpm - and we clawed our way to windward, something we should have started much earlier.
After the long beat from Ipswich to Helgoland across the German Bight in 1988 I had promised Liz that never again would I subject her to heavy windward sailing and I meant it but we were under pressure to get down to Sardinia and I had trusted the forecast. The next day ashore as the bedding was tumbling in the launderette and we were sitting in the sun having morning coffee I felt the warmth of her forgiveness. What a girl.
What you need for four people. 4 chicken breasts each cut into 3 pieces. 1 fennel bulb cut into thin slices. 1 red and 1 orange pepper each deseeded and cut into thin slices. 1 bunch of salad onions cut into rings including the green leaves. Olive oil. White wine. 250ml tub of crème fraîche. 100ml of hot chicken stock made with a stock cube. A handful of coriander, shredded.
To serve with the dish. Crusty bread or fried potatoes.
What you have to do. Fry the chicken for 4 mins each side. Add the peppers and fry until they are soft. Add the water, stock cube, salad onions, a good slosh of white wine, the fennel, half the coriander and the crème fraîche. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20/30 mins. Check the chicken is cooked. Decorate with the rest of the coriander and serve immediately. This was accompanied by a bottle of cold dry white wine.
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The night before we left Liz cooked the chicken fennel so that it would only need reheating underway the next day. Not too spicy, easily eaten but a hot meal to keep us going. I motored Compromis out of Antibes, Liz ,the fender queen, supervised their stowage and then helped Richard and Sue pull out enough sail for the 16kts from just west of south.
After being on deck all day Liz went to bed in one of the stern cabins and still the wind increased but refused to change direction so by midnight it was steady at 35/37kts gusting to 42kts. Having considered running off to St. Florent I decided against it because I knew the entrance to Calvi which is a huge bay and it would be sheltered from this wind and we would be assured of a mooring buoy until the morning. It was 02 45 before we picked up the mooring buoy in the relatively calm and flat water of Golfe de Calvi. Liz emerged from her cabin and offered Sue a cup of tea, Richard the chicken with fennel and ignored me until she discovered that water had got past the forehatch seals and soaked our bedding.