Sunday, September 8, 2013

Sardinia? Mallorca? Menorca? A Storm and Other Adventures


Wednesday was a lovely day in Marsala, even though we were woken up at 5:00AM by a light rain.  It soon cleared up and we did a major shopping and were able to check the weather and the internet.

We got diesel at the very tiny fuel quay (even though there was not much room and the wind was pushing us towards the dock, with the guys on the dock pushing, Frank got us off beautifully) and left around noon, intending to go to an island about 20 miles away and stop there for the night before heading to Sardinia.

Well, the course of this sailing trip never did run smoothly, to shamelessly paraphrase Shakespeare.  When we got to the island we saw that the harbor was way too small and shallow for us to get in (the chart was inaccurate on this point), so the only thing to do was to head for Sardinia.  The bad thing about that was that it meant sailing overnight (which I am not crazy about), but we did not have a choice.

The next day we had good winds and were able to sail all day without the motor, so we decided to head for Menorca, which required another overnight.  We are on a time schedule and were sailing without the motor and had good weather with the waves helping to push us, so figured we would just keep going.

There were some clouds, but no rain and they looked like fair weather clouds.  Anyway, we had checked the weather before we left and there were no storms or rain predicted.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that we can necessarily trust the weather.  Max was just about to beat me at chess--again--when I looked up and saw a waterspout coming from one of the clouds.  Suddenly everything had changed.  The clouds had gotten darker and more threatening and it was looking like we were going to be in for a big one.  It was too late to head for a harbor or to change course for Sardinia again, so all we could do was to batten down the hatches and prepare the boat.

Frank is afraid that people will think he is incompetent because of all the things that have happened to us, but I can assure you that he is not.  As long as there is no blood involved (if there were he would probably pass out and make me steer the boat--and no one wants that!), he is fantastic in a crisis.  He just refuses to panic.

We all put our life jackets on and we quickly brought in the sails while Frank was deciding which was the safest way to go.  We didn't think we could outrun the storm and it was such a big system that there wasn't any way that we could miss it completely, but we hoped that staying near the edge of it would mean that we missed the brunt of it.

Max was not afraid at all.  He stayed downstairs, calmly eating sandwiches and reading a book while Frank and I anxiously watched the sky.  We hightailed it out of there as quickly as we could and were much relieved to see clear skies ahead and even a few stars as the sun set.

The sunset was in some senses the scariest part of all.  I have never seen a light like that.  The only way I know how to describe it is that it was a MEAN light--yellow like a legal pad with a little brown mustard mixed in.  There was a stripe of dark gray clouds above it and a very angry, defiant-looking sun.  It was truly eerie, but it was behind us and ahead of us we saw clear skies.

We did get some rain and wind; Frank was wearing full rain gear and had harnessed himself to the boat in anticipation of very large waves (Max and I were downstairs).  However, none of it was nearly what we had been afraid of and after about 45 minutes we were entirely clear of the storm save for the lightning which was fast receding behind us.  Max had fallen asleep in his life jacket, so I left it on him for a couple of hours before I finally got him to go to bed.

The next day the wind continued favorably and the weather was good so we decided to keep going and try and get to Mallorca, about 40 miles further than Menorca.  It was an uneventful day and an uneventful overnight sail without using the motor.

Friday was a different story, however.  A beautiful day, but an unsailable headwind so we had to motor all day and all night.  That meant a lot of diesel consumption and at 5:30AM Saturday I heard ominous sounds coming from the motor.  We still had 50 miles to our destination (once Frank calculated how much diesel our un-looked-for motoring necessity had consumed we had given up on Mallorca and changed course again for Menorca) and still no wind.   We shut off the motor and waited till daylight, at which point we added our 20 liters of diesel from the jerry can.  Now we are very hot and very slowly heading for Menorca, wishing for some wind to speed us up and save some diesel--apparently our couple days of really good wind was all we are going to get!

Frank Under the Boat

We are to be spared nothing on this trip, apparently.  We left Siracusa under cloudy skies and on rocking waves, intending to get as far as we could and then anchor.  Unfortunately, along the way we picked up a fishing net and were dragging it behind us.  We tried with the boathook to dislodge it but it was too deep and we couldn't move it.  We thought that maybe it was wrapped around the keel.  Since we were sailing without the motor we figured we would deal with it once we stopped to anchor.  The waves may have been left over from the low pressure system which had been hanging around and wouldn't lift, but they would not let up and we watched the one boat we saw anchored leave the anchorage we were considering and head for the nearest harbor, which was only about two miles away.

Unless we wanted to spend the night rocking like those things on TV that the lottery balls get shaken in we were going to have to go in the harbor too, but we were afraid to start the motor with the net still down there. There was no choice but for Frank to go down and look.  It's unfortunate for him, but I am no help in situations like this because I can't see anything without my glasses.  The bad thing was that the seas were rough and it was going to start getting dark soon.

Fortunately it was shallow enough that we could drop the anchor, although without the motor we were not entirely sure it had set.  Frank tried for at least half an hour but could not dislodge the line; it was wrapped around the propeller.  It was very scary to watch him bobbing around in the waves, especially when he had to go under the boat.  Since he couldn't find a swimsuit quickly he went in naked.  The bright white where his swimsuit usually is made him easy to see against the dark water, at least!  I was watching from on deck and I kept envisioning him being knocked on the head by the boat.  He was tied to a line, but it was still terrifying.  (His comment later:  "If I die, you should go in [to the dock] bow-first.  It's much easier and since you have a hard time steering going forward anyway, you would probably get confused in reverse.").

He did manage to cut it short enough that, with luck, the motor wouldn't jam and we would make it to the harbor where we could get a diver to go down and finish the job.  If it hadn't been so rough Frank could probably have done it, but it was impossible with the waves the way they were.

Success!  The motor started, did not jam, and we made our way SLOWLY into the marina.  The next day it took a diver ten minutes to get it off and we were on our way.  Today (Tuesday) we are heading for Marsala, where we will get provisions, shower, and fill water before starting the trek to Sardinia.

Catania and Siracusa

Thursday the 29th of August dawned a little cloudy, but not too dark so we set off from our anchorage at about 5:30AM heading for Catania.  There is a Waldorf school there, so we were curious about the city.  Things were relatively uneventful until the afternoon, when the wind picked up.  Suddenly, with the wind pushing us and the waves for once working in our favor, we were flying!  At one point we were going 8.5 knots solely under sail!

Every cloud does not have a silver lining, though.  It started to rain and a little later we were in the middle of a full-fledged thunderstorm--pouring rain, waves, and little visibility.  It was especially nervewracking because we were only about three miles from Catania and so should have been able to see the harbor entrance clearly.  Frank did not want to go into the harbor blind, so we were forced to slow the boat down and wait it out.  Fortunately it was only about half an hour before things started to clear up and we could approach the harbor.

For some reason, Italian marinas are horrible about answering when we call them on the radio, so we had to go in hoping rather than knowing that there would be someone there to help us moor.  A stern-to mooring is very difficult to do without help because Frank has to back the boat into what is usually a very narrow space towards the dock rather than coming alongside, so it's nearly impossible for me to jump off with a line.  Once he gets into the space, he also has to contend with the bow of the boat swinging around and possibly hitting the boats on either side until someone on shore can pass someone on board the anchor line (a line which is attached somewhere either on the dock or to the bottom and is then secured tightly to the bow of the boat to stop the boat from swinging and/or going forward).  All these things are complicated by wind and the fact that this boat does not really like to respond all that quickly in reverse.

Given the circumstances, we were not looking forward to mooring by ourselves, but we had no choice.  Someone somewhere likes us, though, because the wind died down and there was a wide space just waiting for us.  Usually the marina prefers to tell you where they want you, but it looked like more rain and we couldn't get anyone on the radio, so we took the space.  Frank made a masterful mooring.  We did not even touch the boats on either side and he was able to get boat close enough to the dock that I was able to easily get off and secure the boat. Frank took care of the anchor line, Max tossed me the other stern line, and we were in!

Catania is a pretty city, much nicer than Palermo.  It had very few tourists, but it has lots of narrow streets, old buildings, and lots of restaurants.  The maria was not very conveniently situated and it wasn't that easy to orient ourselves, but Frank managed fine, of course.

There were lots of people sitting outside, at bars and cafes and on benches and in the squares.  Italians are very social and like to sit outside in groups, especially the old men.  Max got a good picture of a bunch of old men having an animated conversation on a park bench.  We had a yummy pizza (we had promised Max that we would have real Sicilian pizza) and went to bed, planning to get up early and sightsee.

The next day we went into town and ate breakfast.  Frank and I had croissants and Max ate tiramisu.  It's a good thing we are not out for breakfast every day!

We needed groceries and it was Saturday, so the market was in full swing.  It took up two full blocks and was like something out of a movie with all these people crowding around the vendors and everyone talking at once.  The produce was wonderful, though!  We were even able to get broccoli, which we have not seen for weeks.  Some of the vendors even had corn on the cob, but I distrusted it.  It looked old and tough, so we passed it up.

Siracusa was only about 30 miles away, so we headed there at 11:30.  This was by far my favorite city so far.  It was not touristy and had interesting buildings and narrow streets.  It was especially pretty with all the clouds in the background.  We saw some guys playing what looked like water polo in kayaks.  Siracusa is also very clean.  It does not, however, have a Wegmans!

We will anchor tonight.