At sea, sailing from Palermo to Sardinia. 12th-14th September 38:57.54N 010:08.43E

Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Fri 30 Sep 2011 07:57
Leaving the begrimed Palermo was somewhat of a relief as the harbour although safe is a little windless. The heat had started to build by mid morning when we left after putting away all the provisions purchased  at the local supermarket. Yet again little wind but as we motored out of Palermo bay and along the coast we spotted several nice sandy beaches to be explored next time. A little wind arrived for a brief sail to dusk but then as usual it died and we motored on into the night. The following day was much of the same with the occasional ship to dodge but otherwise fairly uneventful. During the next watch however Tony and Tina reported seeing a small flashing light which they thought may be a lost lifebuoy. However no details on Navtex so they did not investigate closer. However towards the end of their watch more weak radar signals were spotted some with flashing lights. At the change of the watch much discussion about what these could be. Collective minds finally sorted out that these were probably lit fishing nets of some sort without a fishing boat. These clearly required a careful watch.
 
On we trundled through the 13th mostly motoring or motor sailing. Sardinia was getting closer and finally I spotted land at 19:22 still a good 30 miles off. It got dark as we approached the shore aiming for the lighthouse at the south west point of Sardinia and what we thought may be a good anchorage until dawn. About 15 miles off we had quite a lot of shipping activity which was approaching and leaving Cagliari. Most were missing us by a reasonable margin and required no action but a group of ships on our port bow seemed to be moving onto a collision course.
 
As is usual I waited to about 6 miles to see if they would move for us as we were stand on vessel. They seemed oblivious to our position so I gave the one ship with an AIS signal called Bad Bevesen a call. After 4 attempts I finally got an answer from a German sounding radio operator. I asked him to confirm he had seen us and as we were stand on vessel what was his intentions to avert a collision. He seemed flustered at this request and asked me to stand by. After a minute he came back and said he was a part of a NATO convoy and had no orders to change course. He asked that I call another member of the convoy, Turkish Warship Aktibolog? who was lead vessel of a 3 vessel convoy and give my message. I duly did this and  received a similar stifled response to wait. The atmosphere was growing tense on Tioram.
 
By this time Tony was up for our normal watch change to witness the Nato convoy turning sharp right to take the appropriate avoiding action. with 3 miles to spare. However no radio message from them to confirm what they had done nor had they seen us or even a friendly Exocet to blast us out of the water!
 
Well this incident raised some serious doubts in the minds of the crew aboard Tioram. If NATO can’t spot a sailing yacht 5 miles away  and take evasive action then what hope the defence of Europe against a determined aggressor.
 
After that the final approach to Sardinia did not caused any major problems. The first bay we chose to anchor in would have been a bit rolly so we motored onto a bay just short of Cagliari harbour and dropped the hook without problems at about 4.00am on 14 th.
 
John.