Debs Story - Greece to Sardinia - N41:06.50 E09:26.54
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Thu 22 May 2014 13:01
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I have sailed in Greece with my husband Pete for
many years and we have a boat based in the Ionian. We met Tony and Tina in a
storm in Little Vathi on Meganisi two years ago, had a great time with them, and
have kept in touch ever since. When we were invited by Tony to help him sail his
boat to Sardinia, and we realised we could go at the time he needed, we jumped
at the chance.
I have never done a passage making trip before so I
was a little nervous but looking forward to the experience! This is my
story....
I joined Pete and Tony in Corfu, Pete met me at the
airport and we walked to Garitas Bay at Corfu town, only a 15 minute walk,
to join Tony in the dinghy for a very choppy and wet ride to the
boat!
After one night here we sailed south to Sivota
Mourtos on the mainland for the last night in Greek waters. We celebrated with a
meal ashore in the town at our old favourite 'The Steak House'.
The next morning, we sailed out passing the north
of Paxos with dolphins coming to see us off! We sailed for a few hours but as we
were heading more to Lefkas than Sardinia, we soon changed to motoring to keep
on course.
As the night closed in I still felt ok, no nerves
and no sickness when downstairs, maybe thanks to Stugeron I had been taking
since I landed, just to be safe. I also had complete trust in the guys to
look after me.
I didn't do the night watches but stayed up late
with Pete who did the first shift, who was thoroughly enjoying the experience,
then rose early to join Tony before the madness set in, plying him with coffee
and jam toast to revive him. I sent him off to bed then and I did the watch
until Pete joined me, enjoying the calm mornings.
I had soon mastered the AIS and kept a look out for
any boats but apart from some in the distance, none came near us until close to
the Messina Straits at the tip of italy, when Pete and Tony had a busy night
doing avoidance manoevres. It was good to see land the next morning after a
beautiful sunrise! Mount Etna was in view but mostly shrouded in mist. We zoomed
through the Messina Straits with the wind behind us and the waves pushing us,
and the final heavily disturbed water at the top pushed us out whilst we were
avoiding the fab kite surfers zooming in and out.
We sailed part way to the Aeolian Islands as the
wind died then reading about Rod Heikell's experience of the 'Aeolian Triangle'
area and it being a place where a gale can come from nowhere, I just wanted
out of there! We survived and headed into a dark, gloomy night under engine. We
managed to eat well on the trip but with the main staple being bacon, sausages,
tuna and salami, and no, I had not been involved in the food
shopping!
We managed to sail at times during the day and used
the spinnaker and cruising chute as the winds were light, which was great to
experience for the first time. Helming was more of a challenge but I managed
well and was complimented on my excellent helming skills by Tony.
We became like the arc on the trip, attracting 3
pods of dolphins, 4 birds, 1 butterfly and moths who were miles offshore. One
particular bird stayed for a long time, enjoying staying in the cockpit with us
and eventually going to sleep behind my heels. I picked him up with no
struggle from him and he went back to sleep as I stroked his head, lovely
moment! Not wanting him or her, we didn't know, to get cold in the night, i
placed him underbeath the cockpit table in the opening underneath and he seemed
to settle, however he was gone by the morning :(
The weather has been good to us with calm seas and
light winds but we could have done with more wind to sail, and most of the
days were cloudy and gloomy and cold unfortunately, but no dramas which was
great!
One the last day, our spirits up knowing we were
nearly there, the sun came up and 4 large dolphins played on the bow waves to
welcome us to Sardinia! As we got closer the land was invisible as it was
shrouded in a haze and as we couldn't see it only 5 miles out, we were beginning
to think it wasnt there! We finally saw it shrouded in clouds and as the
imposing island of Tavolara came into view it was like the scene from King Kong
when they reach the island. We finally anchored in a bay sheltered from the SE
winds, whilst still light, ate and had a celebratory beer on a very successful,
enjoyable trip with no issues!
I have really enjoyed the experience, much to the
relief of Pete, and Tony has been a fantastic skipper who we have both learned
so much from! I am happy to say that my confidence levels have gone to a
new level!
Now to enjoy the delights of Sardinia, after this
current 30-40 knot gale and rain has passed that I am sat in writing this,
before heading back to Greece to enjoy more sailing!
Ciao!
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