We have just secured to the dock in Crotone, Italy. If you are looking at a map of the boot of Italy, we are at the back part of the ball of the foot. Our next leg will take us under the sole to the tip of the heel at S. Maria di Leuca. In the picture we are at the red pin now and our next port will be the purple pin.
The crossing over from Taormina was really quite special. Every time I came up to the cockpit to begin a new shift the weather was completely different. Every weather report we checked was wrong, again. We left Taormina in morning and as soon as we got out of the anchorage we were in 20-25 knot winds from the North. The winds were rushing down the Straits of Messina and the waves were already kicked up. We were beating hard for about 6-8 hours in rough seas and a very wet cockpit. I warned Charlie, who follows me in shift rotation that he needed to dress in either a swim suit or his foul weather gear. I was soaked the majority of the time but dried over and over again because the wind was blowing so hard that dried I out quickly. I was a salty dog at the end of my shift.
I went down for a rest after my shift and within an hour I heard the engine start up. The wind had died completely and the seas were calm as we passed beyond the edge of the straits. We ended up motoring for a few hours. Before the sun set, the wind picked up from a nice direction and the evening shift was just wonderful sailing. I cooked us up a nice dinner after my shift and went to get some sleep before my midnight shift began.
I came out at midnight and we were motoring with very little wind but quite a few small boats all around us. None of the lights I could see were on AIS which meant they were probably local fishing boats. As it turns out they were. And I soon found out there were things going on that I did not understand. The lights on the fishing boats appear to be placed for functionality rather than for navigational purposes. I studied and studied the lights of the fishing boats and could rarely ever determine which way the boat was going or what they were doing. I did my best just to avoid them at a good distance. One set of lights passed my to starboard and everything seemed fine. I thought we were doing well. Another boat started getting close to us so I angled about 20 degrees in towards land to give him some space in case he was pulling a net or something. He kept getting closer so I kept going further into land to get out of his way. Soon it looked like he was getting pretty close, like closer than comfort so I ran down and called Don up because it was getting a bit confusing. By the time we got back to the cockpit they were on a interception course with us and basically blocking our path, like driving right in front of the boat. We stopped and tried to communicated at this point because there was a lot of yelling in Italian going on. We stopped the boat with them and had a discussion. After some communications work we realized they had a net out that we needed to go around. They agreed to escort us around their danger area so we followed them until all was safe. We could see the two lighted ends of a big net stretched out across our path. I'm glad they came out to intercept us because we would have driven right through the net. It would have been messy for all involved.
After we left that group of boats we could see quite a number of lighted boats ahead of us and we decided to just go way out to sea to get beyond them and give them some room in case more nets were involved. We did not want to go too far out into the shipping lanes so we found what we believed to be a happy medium between the two. By the time my midnight shift was over the fishing boats were no longer a danger and it was all dark in front of us. I was ready for a little sleep at this point. In less than an hour as I was trying to sleep the seas started picking up again and getting pretty bounce. We were on a port tack and I had not put the lee board up yet. It was challenging to stay in the bed during some of the rolls going on. We had now moved out into the open space of the "sole" or the foot and the winds began to howl down the bay of that space. Needless to say sleep was not likely through the night and by six AM for my next shift I awoke to 4-5 foot seas and high winds again. The sun was just coming up and began to warm the air. Yet, by the end of my shift, things had settled down again and Charlie asked me why we were not sailing when he came up to relieve me.
We unfurled some sail and got in a nice morning sail. As you can see there are quite a variety of conditions out here and the influencing factors are still mysterious to me. The Ionio Sea has some very unique weather conditions and sailors need to pay close attention when navigating these water.
.
The crossing over from Taormina was really quite special. Every time I came up to the cockpit to begin a new shift the weather was completely different. Every weather report we checked was wrong, again. We left Taormina in morning and as soon as we got out of the anchorage we were in 20-25 knot winds from the North. The winds were rushing down the Straits of Messina and the waves were already kicked up. We were beating hard for about 6-8 hours in rough seas and a very wet cockpit. I warned Charlie, who follows me in shift rotation that he needed to dress in either a swim suit or his foul weather gear. I was soaked the majority of the time but dried over and over again because the wind was blowing so hard that dried I out quickly. I was a salty dog at the end of my shift.
I went down for a rest after my shift and within an hour I heard the engine start up. The wind had died completely and the seas were calm as we passed beyond the edge of the straits. We ended up motoring for a few hours. Before the sun set, the wind picked up from a nice direction and the evening shift was just wonderful sailing. I cooked us up a nice dinner after my shift and went to get some sleep before my midnight shift began.
I came out at midnight and we were motoring with very little wind but quite a few small boats all around us. None of the lights I could see were on AIS which meant they were probably local fishing boats. As it turns out they were. And I soon found out there were things going on that I did not understand. The lights on the fishing boats appear to be placed for functionality rather than for navigational purposes. I studied and studied the lights of the fishing boats and could rarely ever determine which way the boat was going or what they were doing. I did my best just to avoid them at a good distance. One set of lights passed my to starboard and everything seemed fine. I thought we were doing well. Another boat started getting close to us so I angled about 20 degrees in towards land to give him some space in case he was pulling a net or something. He kept getting closer so I kept going further into land to get out of his way. Soon it looked like he was getting pretty close, like closer than comfort so I ran down and called Don up because it was getting a bit confusing. By the time we got back to the cockpit they were on a interception course with us and basically blocking our path, like driving right in front of the boat. We stopped and tried to communicated at this point because there was a lot of yelling in Italian going on. We stopped the boat with them and had a discussion. After some communications work we realized they had a net out that we needed to go around. They agreed to escort us around their danger area so we followed them until all was safe. We could see the two lighted ends of a big net stretched out across our path. I'm glad they came out to intercept us because we would have driven right through the net. It would have been messy for all involved.
After we left that group of boats we could see quite a number of lighted boats ahead of us and we decided to just go way out to sea to get beyond them and give them some room in case more nets were involved. We did not want to go too far out into the shipping lanes so we found what we believed to be a happy medium between the two. By the time my midnight shift was over the fishing boats were no longer a danger and it was all dark in front of us. I was ready for a little sleep at this point. In less than an hour as I was trying to sleep the seas started picking up again and getting pretty bounce. We were on a port tack and I had not put the lee board up yet. It was challenging to stay in the bed during some of the rolls going on. We had now moved out into the open space of the "sole" or the foot and the winds began to howl down the bay of that space. Needless to say sleep was not likely through the night and by six AM for my next shift I awoke to 4-5 foot seas and high winds again. The sun was just coming up and began to warm the air. Yet, by the end of my shift, things had settled down again and Charlie asked me why we were not sailing when he came up to relieve me.
We unfurled some sail and got in a nice morning sail. As you can see there are quite a variety of conditions out here and the influencing factors are still mysterious to me. The Ionio Sea has some very unique weather conditions and sailors need to pay close attention when navigating these water.
.