Our first "real" trip with Dido was in Spring 2009 when two friends and I went to the Croatian Adriatic for 8 days. It was a "typical boys' trip" (whatever this means ...).

The Albin was then still named "Free" from the previous owner. See the complete gallery here.

Here we go!

Each “Boys’ Spring Trip” in the past was something special. The “2009 Spring Trip” however was something very special. Not only was it the 30th anniversary (we have done these trips since we were about 15), it was also the first one to try the recently purchased Albin 25, a boat we did not know about. So we were full of expectation and apprehension. Would she fit our needs? Would she really be that slow? Would she really roll that much, as we read in some reports on the internet? Would she really need only that little fuel? And many more thoughts to worry about and anticipate…

More weight than we thought

We bunkered everything that we would need for a week on the water, apart from bread, meat, and vegetables. Then we put the Albin on a weighbridge. The allowance was to have maximum 3.500 kg on the hook, trailer included. The trailer should be somewhere around 700 kg, my papers said. The Albin should be about 1.600. For all the stuff aboard I estimated some 500 kg. This would sum up to 2.800 kg. The weighbridge told us 3.370 kg. We discussed whether we should only take with us 3 pairs of socks instead of five and only 2 T-shirts each of us. But as we were within the limit we went as we were.

From where I live to the place where we wanted to crane into the Adriatic it would be a 10 to 12 hrs drive. So we left at 8 p.m. In fact we did it in 10 hrs, so we were in the Marina Kremik in Primosten, Croatia, at 6 in the morning. Getting into the water in Croatia is also a bureaucratic challenge; however we had been used to that for many years and knew the procedure.

I was the Skipper, Gerald was the ship’s cook and responsible for the route planning in advance, and Konrad was in charge of entertainment and documentation (so the photos were mainly shot by him). “Entertainment” means: the one who makes the wine decisions, the one who plays the accordion, the one who - when in harbor - chooses the sailors’ dive suiting to three moderately shaved gentlemen. So, he was responsible for all disport.

Finally, we were on board of the Albin. She still had the name of the previous owner – “Free” – as at that time we had not yet entirely adopted her. But this should change during the following days. The weather was spring-like Mediterranean, very pleasant for us who we came from still brumal Austria.

Gerald, who planned where to anchor and so on, programmed the plotter and we left harbor for an anchorage only about three hours away. After the night in the car and the whole craning activity we wanted just to lean back somewhere, prepare some dinner and enjoy the trip.

Steam in the galley

Gerald had also brought his pressure cooker, which I found a bit peculiar. From earlier “Spring Trips” we were rather used to canned food, small gas stoven, sitting on the floor and so on. Our previous boats where rather of the kind to find an anchorage and then put up a tent on the beach etc. So the pressure cooker was quite beyond imagination. The sea was calm, and while I was following the plotted course I could watch Gerald preparing Chili con Carne in the galley. I started to accept the pressure cooker and to love the Albin.

When we arrived at the anchorage one could hear the cooker whistle. The anchor went down and Konrad set the table. The 2003 Chateau-Neuf fitted perfectly to the Chili.

Anchor slips

After this early dinner we realized that the anchor was slipping. The anchor that came with the boat – a simple Danforth – turned out to be either too light or not fitting to the seabed conditions in the Eastern Adriatic where you very often find eelgrass. Sometimes the anchor would hold, but this did mean nothing. Should the wind turn and the anchor break loose it would not get hold again. I had my old Bruce Anchor also on board, but it was only of 7,5 kg weight, 9 kg or even more would have been ok. So after two nights or so we would automatically lay out both anchors. This turned out to work more or less well. However, it was clear that a new anchor would be mandatory once we would be back from this trip. Another thing also made anchoring a bit taxing: The sounder did not work. So making a right decision for the chain length always meant to fathom the water depth. Moreover, I had marked the chain at home with a spray color stripe every 5 meter. But the color did not hold on the SS chain properly. When the chain went through the windlass for the first time the color disappeared more or less. And even if it had not, at night I would not see the markers due to the missing light on the foredeck. So the next decision was clear: I need a chain counter and a new sounder.

I just took the quite new SS chain from our old boat. The chain measured 35 meters. This caused further problems. For reliable anchoring over night – even with our two second class anchors – I would have liked to lay out chain of about at least five times of the water depth. So this meant: maximum depth of the anchorage must not exceed 7 meters. Sometimes this at the same time meant being quite close to the shore and having only little room should the anchor slip or the wind turn and the anchor break loose. All things that would cause sleepless nights. Another decision: I want 50 meters of chain.

Next morning I started to love the Albin even more. Not only that I had slept fantastically in my roomy and comfortable berth (compared to our usual tent experiences for 29 years), I could smell bacon, eggs and beans. Somehow I felt like a rich man on his yacht while Gerald prepared breakfast. After good food and a couple of espressos (I never travel without my Italian espresso cooker and the appropriate coffee) we headed further south towards the island of Hvar. The Albin did 5.5 knots at 1600 to 1700 revs. The sky was clear, the temperature spring-like, however, out of the navtex came a fax that told us it would be different in the afternoon. For the first time I tried to get acquainted with the autopilot. After about half an hour I understood how to make it following my commands. I was amazed by what such a thing can do. Konrad had had his accordion on his knees and performed some hits of Harry Belafonte and that kind, telling stories about the sea, the island, the girl, and the farewell.

That style of music was not predominantly what he favored, however, I was the skipper and I ordered “Marine evergreens from the past, Sir”.

To be continued.

• The hull number apparently is 1178 (says the plate, but the former owner told us that he had transferred the name plate – saying “ALBIN 25” – from another old Albin. Maybe he also transferred the HID-plate from that old Albin, as on the back of all floor panels we found the handwritten number “1400”, which made us assume that Dido’s HID is possibly 1400).