Thursday 4^th June – Valletta, Malta - Marzamemi, Sicily

36:43.979N 15:07.247E

The wind was due to quieten overnight, which it finally did at about 1am; so this morning we were up early to set off for Sicily, taking advantage of a short weather window.  We set off just before 7am for the 62 mile passage.

As ever, in the Med there is either too much wind or no wind…  from the weather forecast, we were expecting to have to motor-sail during the morning before the wind filled in but the wind remained light all the way across to the Sicilian coast; the swell started out moderate on the beam but eased during the passage.

The wind filled in a little around lunchtime but as it did so it came round behind us, so we were not able to make way very fast; however we managed to sail for a while over lunch so that we had a break to enjoy the sunshine in peace.

We had settled into the expectation of a quiet time when we reached Capo Passero on the SE corner of Sicily and the wind started to build to a F5.  At first we took advantage and ran downwind on our genoa.  As we rounded the cape, the wind came onto the beam and so we pulled out the main as well; but we were soon reefing as the wind continued to build swiftly to a F6, particularly as our point of sail came onto a close haul as we cleared the fish farms and headed in towards the marina.

We were hoping that this was simply a coastal effect, like Calshot Spit at home, but as we approached the marina it was still blowing hard; the thought of berthing in this wind was not making me happy and I was examining the option of continuing up the coast overnight.

I called the marina on the radio to ask if there was space for us.  Unfortunately the marinaro spoke no English, he said he only spoke German (apart from Italian of course); I was a bit flustered and we actually both conversed in French instead.

Having sorted out that there was a berth and he would be on the pontoon to indicate where it was, we decided to go in and take a look at the conditions, with fenders and warps everywhere in case we came in bows-to instead of stern-to because of the weather.

What a surprise; yes, the wind was blowing a hooley but the marinaro had picked a fabulous berth where I had plenty of space to turn and get Pyxis into astern, and the position of the berth meant I was reversing into the wind so the boat stayed straight, right into the berth – a perfect spot – and to think I was panicking.