I spent yesterday trying out my flying jib and experimenting with sheeting angles, partly in Albanian waters opposite Corfu. The hoisting of the sail, which you can see at about 1.5nm out on the speed chart below, took a bit longer than expected as the tack hook came undone and I had to climb out on the plank bowsprit to retrieve the end of the line and reattach it. Winds hardly ever exceeded 8 knots apparent except coming home at the end, by which time I had taken the flying jib down and was sailing goosewinged. I was sailing at 60° apparent for quite a lot of the time and as you can see from the graph, making good progress helped by the flying jib.
The first time I came to Corfu, the Stalinist Enver Hoxha was in charge of Albania and anyone straying into Albanian waters was almost certain to face arrest and loss of their boat. At night, searchlights lit up the sea as Albanian border guards searched for comrades trying to swim across to the bright lights (different kind) of Corfu. Nowadays, Albania has a Blairite PM (yes really) who is aiming to bring his nation of warlords, car thieves, people traffickers and very poor peasant farmers into the EU. And nobody seems to worry about sailing in Albanian waters.
