It was a very calm pleasant overnight to Sardinia where we checked into the Marina Cala dei Sardi. The marina here was reserved by the Lagoon 40th worldwide anniversary rally. We just happened to be coming nearby when we decided to see where the rallies were being held and found the Sardinian one was right in our path! Lagoon was organising through their worldwide network of agents to simultaneously have get togethers for Lagoon owners. The event took place over three days and was a lot of fun. There were only two non Italian boats, us and a Polish one. There was a greetings dinner on the first night then a sail parade to Golfo di Marinella for lunch. We were all supposed to form a line for a photo opportunity but you can imagine that was nearly impossible trying to organise Italians! The lunch was held on the beach then we somehow all managed to form a circle much more successfully than a line for the drone picture. The last meal was formal occasion in a very well set up pavilion in the marina grounds.

We were lucky to meet Fred, the Premier Service Manager for Lagoon which was very interesting and helpful. It is his team who engineered the deck fittings for our Wingit kite sail that we intend to use to help across the big leg in the Pacific on our way across, Galapagos to Marquesas, 3000 nautical miles. We plan to join the World Arc in the Caribbean for this which will complete our circumnavigation with them as it was with them we left Australia 10 years ago nearly exactly! The kite sail system is not brand new technology but we will be the first to try such a long distance to help conserve fuel so both Lagoon and the Wingit guys are very interested to see how we go. The system will be fitted by Balearic Boats in Palma and we will have training in Barcelona with the Wingit guys and Lagoon engineers. Hope it all works out! The trial will be the South Atlantic from Cape Verde to St Lucia in November.

The Lagoon Escapade Rally last day was a wine tasting in a very nice modern winery nearby. It was supposed to have a bus leaving at 10 am but we got a group message to say it was now 9.20 at about 9. We rushed and rushed and got there at 9.20 only to sit on the bus until 10.10 waiting! We amused ourselves by thinking that they must have brought the meeting time earlier to try to get everyone to actually turn up near to the original time! We bought some nice reds and whites.. The Escapade boats all dispersed and we are now in a very nice little town at Marina Isola Rossa. Here we wait to cross to Menorca in the Balearics to make our way to Palma. We ae sorry to be rushing from Sardinia as we have been impressed by how beautiful it is and quite a wealthy area as evidenced by the houses, towns and surrounding countryside being neat and tidy and well maintained. Everyone has been very kind, helpful and welcoming.

We had the usual fiasco with the Constituto*. It has to be handed in upon leaving Italy. The Guardia Costiera office at our marina is currently closed so we had to taxi (no buses) to Castelsardo and back to get it done. The marina at Castelsardo is full so we couldn't go there by boat to do it and the anchorage was not safe in the current wind. Therefor: 100 euro…..taxi ! The thing of it is - is that the Italian Government makes no money from it (unlike Greece) and it is almost impossible to comply with the rules. We've found: the office closed (unpredictable times), no office, office only open in summer, the boss guy not there come back tomorrow, the guy has taken his mother to the dentist etc etc. We can't always wait around due to weather - what do you do?? Maybe don't come back to Italy by boat!

*The Constituto is a document you are supposed to get when you enter Italy by boat and is a temporary import exemption for VAT. If you don't have it you could be liable for VAT on the boat. The deal is you are supposed to get it stamped upon arrival and departure at each port/marina/harbour you stop in.