WAITING FOR THE RIGHT WEATHER AND HIGH WINDS OFF THE CAPE - DAYS 121 - 124

WAITING FOR THE RIGHT WEATHER AND HIGH WINDS OFF THE CAPE 27 – 30 AUGUST, DAYS 121 - 124

I rowed ashore on a calm Monday morning and immediately found the petrol I needed from Big Blue boat rental company. The young Albanian employee siphoned from a 20 litre tank into my 5 litre cans. I paid 33 euros, equivalent to 1.65 per litre, but as he filled the cans full it was even better. The last fill was in Ithaca at 1.82. Food shopping is more expensive here except for a lovely loaf with sesame seeds at 90 cents. The Wave café has become our wi-fi and equipment charging point and also gave us a tub of ice for the fridge.

The weather is not the settled weather we have enjoyed in previous days, instead the blasts from the north we experienced trying to come from Italy to Greece.  There was much rain over the mainland. There are windows of opportunity with light wind but we want to make a few miles to the north and the winds are coming from there. We have a small boat and don’t want to battle against seas and excessive wind. We wait, watching four forecasts to leave at the best time.

Anita saw a turtle right next to the boat.

On Tuesday morning we had swell from the night and rising wind. We were anchored in a very shallow cove and I felt it best to move towards the main Keri beach.  Nowhere was sheltered and we felt the swell from across 8 miles of this large bay. The bottom shelves gently but we were in the waves. Wind was about Force 5 with the sea covered in white horses.

I used the new anchor again. At 10 kg it is lighter than the old one but Havcat 27 designer Lars Oudrup told me that he always used a 10 kg Bruce anchor in his. My heavy one is a Bruce, this is a 10 kg Hall. It is good to try it to gain confidence in it’s capabilities. We anchored in 3.2 metres over sand and after letting out 15 m of chain and similar or more of warp (rope) she stayed put. Later I swam to see the anchor well dug in.

I had shore plans for the morning but ship security comes first. I had a thought to check a possible anchorage on the mainland that we could reach across to under genoa. There is one to the East but already the wind had come round to NNE and we decided to sit it out, expecting more sheltered north wind later. That took a long time to come. We did not put up an awning until well into the afternoon as it was so windy.

The forecast for Wednesday  was for less wind, and from the north again. It was less but we still rode the waves with white horses on the water, and like yesterday it actually came from the NE making us uncomfortable again.

Finally the wind shifted to west and another calm mellow evening. We went ashore for more charging, petrol and some food supplies.

The plan was to wake on Thursday at 5 am but by 4 I was awake and there was some wind so I readied the boat and left motoring with sails set in the moonlight.  By 5 am we were off the southern coast and with rising wind. The direction was constantly varying round the land. The boat was going too fast and under pressure. I rolled in most of the genoa and Anita came on deck to see if she could help. We were sailing close to the wind at 7 knots. Headlands can be windy places and I had not expected so much wind. I took down the main and we continued west under reefed genoa and some motor until we could be certain of what lay ahead.

All settled down and eventually we raised the main again and with reefed genoa  sailed close reaching in an approximate NW direction along the coast. After 9 am we passed the Wreck Bay again and now close hauled sailed as far to the north and east as possible. The direction changed as we passed the island. Eventually we could hold course for the SE tip of Kefalonia and anchored there in clear water over sand to enjoy a swim. An hour earlier we had seen a tuna jump from the water twice.

Later as forecast the west wind came up and we came around to the East side to anchor for the night in the same place from which we had departed for Zakyntos 8 days earlier. The spell over us was broken. We had escaped from the clutches of Zakynthos and come north again.