Unije is a small, tranquil island in the northern Adriatic, part of Croatia’s Cres-Lošinj archipelago. Known for its unspoiled nature and crystal-clear waters, Unije is ideal for swimming, walking, and relaxing. The island is popular with sailors for its sheltered anchorages protected from Bora winds, especially on Thursday nights as rental boats need to be back to Pula on Fridays.
Thursday afternoon in Unije, at peak season...
In addition to being here on Thursday, an episode of Bora is anticipated during the night. Windy indicates that Bora winds should affect the area starting 6:00, 27 June. Bora is expected to be relatively mild, peaking with 13 m/s winds from the Northwest. We therefore decided to set sails out of Unije by 5 am to "benefit" from Bora to get across the Kvarner canal faster. The picture below was taken 23:00 showing a cap cloud in the north over Velebit mountain range, indicative of a probable Bora event later overnight, as announced. So, in short, clear and readable messages from the meteors!
Very quiet night, with no wind and boats facing all directions.
By 2:00 in the night, the north sector was constantly showing lightning, indicative of a very active front in land over the Velebit. But still very quiet here.
By 4:00 in the morning, did the wind start to get stronger. We waited until the sunset at 4:30 to depart as we were the boat the furthest in the bay given the small draft of an OVNI.
We made it eventually to Pula, under staysail and 2 reefs for a good part of the morning, and the genoa, no reef for the final approach as wind decreased as we passed the southern tip of Istria. Just to get back to us as we were entering the Marina Polesana, our base to moor at our berth with lateral winds of 12 m/s. Not very easy, especially in shallow waters implying getting the center board a bit up, and the boat much subject to drift.
Mooring in all Adriatic is done stern to the quay, with mooring lines to take from the quay to pull the boat at the bow away from the quay. As it was very difficult to counteract the drift from the Bora, I made the mistake to use the bow thruster in an attempt to bring the boat back in line, but the mooring line got into it and destroyed the blades.
As you may have noticed, the first post of this sailing month was about cleaning the propellers of the bow thruster, and the last one is about breaking the clean propellers and having to replace them. Fortunately, I still had one on board and I could replace it on the spot.
So, end of the second segment of the 2025 season, after 637 nautical miles so far, whichis almost 1200 km for terrians!
But more to come this year: Limsky canal in coming weeks with friends, and Venice again later in August with kids and grandkids...
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