NIGHT SAIL TO CALABRIA WITHOUT GEORGE, SUMMER SOLSTICE AND UNSETTLED WEATHER – Days 58 and 59

NIGHT SAIL TO CALABRIA WITHOUT GEORGE, SUMMER SOLSTICE  AND UNSETTLED WEATHER – 21 and 22 June, Days 58 and 59

We could have stayed a week in Siracusa, as we did in 2016, but we have small sailing mountains to climb to take the rest of the 300 nautical mile journey to Greece. In particular there is a deadline of a family visit in July which seemed so far away but with challenges of unseasonal weather and many high winds from the North it becoming increasingly difficult to find weather windows and sheltered anchorages to break the journey.

Thursday and Friday offered such a weather window to take the longest step from Siracusa, Sicily, to the East coast of Calabria which is beautiful but lacks places to anchor and to find shelter. The shortest plan at just under 100 nautical miles was to anchor next to a marina at Roccella Ionica or if the anchorage was experiencing swell, to pay to be inside, at 57 euros a night (reducing). Having already spent 6 extra weeks in a marina, and having bought a new outboard motor, saying and paying in marinas is not the plan.

After thunderstorms of Wednesday Siracusa was still threatened on Thursday but the weather radar showed the forecast to be inland from the coast. A southerly wind was expected at about lunchtime and we weighed anchor (raised it) at 13.30 under a dark sky. “George” the autopilot again refused to work leaving us the job of steering by hand. That is tiring and restricts our ability to be fully on top of navigation and other tasks.

Earlier the Guardia Costiera (Italian Coast Guard) came to each anchored boat to take some information. They were pleasant but I do not always find them to be helpful. Anita took exercise on her step machine before as we prepared.

It was a good start. We were making 3.5 knots in the right direction without adverse swell. As we distanced from the land there was some rain, but thunder and lightning stayed over the land. I was resting on the bed while Anita was steering when the wind came round a full 180 degrees, so I came up to keep the boat properly trimmed. Anita has sailed with me for two summers but has not had much steering experience, nor had she made a night passage.

In the late afternoon the wind strength and direction changed giving us three hours of fast sailing before dying back for the evening which is normal. Mount Etna appeared in the distance and the sun was setting next to this giant volcano.

We continued good sailing with comfortable following sea until 0250 when the wind died and we needed to start the motor. It stayed on until we docked at 11.30. We had made good 60 miles under sail in about 13 hours which is not especially fast but the boat is laden with water and provisions.

The sunset with Mount Etna was wonderful, but so too was this Summer Solstice dawn and sunrise revealing the beauty and ruggedness of the Calabria landscape. The swell from the south stayed with us making potential anchorages unavailable so we entered the marina at Roccella Ionica for one night and check the weather.

It is a small and sweet marina with lovely shade on the shore under rows of pine trees. The pontoons have English style finger pontoons which is unusual for the Mediterranean.

We checked the weather predictions and with low pressure systems passing over the area we don’t see the solution yet to moving on to Greece. To someone on the land the weather is hot and windy. To us it creates major challenges.