Stromboli Storm
Posted: under News.
I’m writing this from Lipari after quite a passage. After the guests had enjoyed a night hike up Stromboli the day before to get closer to the action I had heard a bad weather forecast for the area due in the next day at midday. As the anchorage offered no real protection and the pilot-guide said leave immediately in bad weather I was a little worried and I didn’t want to arrive in a busy anchorage on one of the more sheltered islands at night and not be able to find a place so I decided to sleep with one eye open. At 0430 I heard a boat’s horn so shot up on deck to see the wind was blowing only about 12kn but a 40foot charter boat had slipped its mooring and was heading rather quickly our way while its crew were down below. Fortunately for us (and especially the 35 footer he would have hit just before us) the crew was awakened just in time to start the engine and move it away.
At 0530 the wind had built to 15knots and it looked like the weather was coming in early so I decided to wake Clare up and get out of there. The anchor was holding fine and no other boats had left but I had a feeling something wasn’t right. We found out just how not right things were about an hour later as we were motoring into 40kn head winds and one of the most massive seas I’ve ever seen in the med. I was getting very very wet in the cockpit! Thankfully the engine and systems worked really well with the oil pressure, water temperature and exhaust temperature not any different from what they are in mill pond flat water.
It was reasonably hairy for the 3 hours it took us to cover just 14nm to Lipari and we saw two coast guard boats heading for Stomboli. I wouldn’t have wanted to have been there any longer than we were especially if I were in an ill-equipped “bare boat”. In Lipari we docked up without any fuss and relaxed. Thankfully our guests were pretty game and found it all quite exciting although they did admit that they probably didn’t want to do that again tomorrow! The boat behaved impeccably and I now have a lot of confidence in the new changes.
It was a big storm that took a lot of people by surprise. Over the next few hours and the next day quite a few boats came in with a lot of damage including ripped sails, broken booms and lost tenders. Just 100nm north of us 2 people were killed in a harbour in Capri in the same storm. A sobering thought….
Gordon
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Jun 22 2009
Stromboli
Posted: under News.
On the 19th after an easy passage from the beautiful medieval town of Cefalu (pronounced Chefaloo) on the Sicilian mainland we found ourselves anchored in probably the most amazing anchorage I’d been in since the South Pacific. 100 meters behind the other yachts in the anchorage my chart was saying it was over 1000m deep then as the bow got to around half a boat length away from the first boat, the depth sounder suddenly came back from “over depth” to 90 meters. By the time we had drawn level with the boat there was 25 meters under the keel. We eventually anchored in 12 meters in volcanic sand on a very small plateau on the north east of the island with about 12 other boats. The island doesn’t just have a volcano on it, the island is the volcano. If you were to ask a child to draw a volcano, the shape he/she would draw would be the shape of Stromboli. It’s just an incredible sight. Every 20mins or so a black cloud of smoke and ash would escape out the summit, I’m not sure I’d like to own a house here!
Later that night after dinner I took the guests in the tender around to the north west side to see the guidebook’s “fireworks”. At first nothing happened apart from quite a strong smell of sulphur but then after about 25mins a big cloud of flames and orange sparks flew about 100meters into the sky with a big rumble. Red hot rocks came crashing down the side of the mountain towards the sea, then nothing. 15mins later it did it again, then 10 minutes later an even bigger one. Quite awesome in the true sense of the word. Eventually it died down and we headed back to the boat and bed.
Gordon
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Jun 21 2009
Aeolian Islands
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Our first stop in Sicily after a 22-hour passage from the Italy mainland was Riposto at the foot of Mount Etna. The following day the guests invited us to join them on a tour of Mount Etna which Gordon and I couldn’t say no to even with the lack of sleep from passage. Our previous attempts to visit Mount Etna last October had ended in vain when we were informed it was all closed to due weather (it was just a few clouds!). So the minibus picked us all up along with a guide from our agency and off we went learning a massive amount from our guide about the local culture and history. The stark contrast between the greenery and the layers of ash that crept upon us halfway up the mountain was incredible. We then had a ride up the gondola which is used for skiing in the winter (albeit a rather slow one if you’re used to the rapid ones cropping up in the French alps!) and on to a 4×4 large minibus to take us on up to one of the old craters. The size of these craters were overwhelming and there were still a few little puffs of smoke billowing out of certain cracks. We were amazed as to how cold it was up the top and were glad we’d brought jackets with us even though the ground was so hot underneath us.
The summit of "Mumma Etna"
Our next stop were the Aeolian islands for more volcanic activity! Vulcano was the first of the seven islands (although we only managed four of them) and is one of the only active volcanoes (along with Stromboli). We anchored off the bottom of the slope where the guests hoped we weren’t too close to the smoke! Anchoring next to a smoking volcano was somewhat surreal and certainly not something that happens very often! We then headed on to Lipari Island, a mere 500 metres away and anchored off Lipari town under the lovely little citadel perched up above the cliffs. The town itself was a wonderful little place with lots of narrow pedestrianised streets and plenty of shops to browse. There were a couple of very nice delicatessens where I stocked up on some fresh veg and very good fruit as well as a few local items such as a bottle of Malvasia sweet dessert wine made on Lipari and Salina islands, and the small sesame biscuits which are meant to accompany the wine which both went down very well.
Lipari Town at Sunrise
Panarea was the next island made famous by the elite who holiday here for some peace and quiet in its luxury hotels. It was the smallest out of the ones we visited (a tender ride round the island took about 15 minutes!) and unfortunately neither of us managed to explore ashore but the anchorage was very pretty if not a little open so we were hoping the seas would stay calm for us which they did.
Our last stop was the island of Salina which was completely different to any of the other islands. Each island seemed to have its own charm and culture which meant that they were each very unique and offered something completely different each time. Salina was the greenest of them all with picturesque white-washed houses dotted along the seafront. This, according to our guests, was the island to explore by car and they found plenty of interesting villages to look at (including a large medieval village).
It was then a quick rush back to the Sicilian mainland and into Palermo where the guests left two days later and Gordon and I enjoyed a drink up at the Villa Igeia Hotel overlooking the marina and the bay of Palermo (an incredible setting, just a shame it’s been Hilton-ised).
Clare
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Jun 20 2009
New Purchase…
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Just bought a new fishing reel to go with the new shimano 30-50lb rod (I thought shimano just made the gears for my bike!) I found in the lazarette during the winter. For anyone that knows anything about these things (I’ll happily admit I don’t!) it’s a Penn 345 GTI and it’s pretty gnarly! I’ve put 250meters of 30lb mono filament nylon attached to a 250lb swivel, a 1 meter wire leader with a “jet head” squid style lure and hook at the end. So I think I’m on the right track after reading “fishing for dummies” and with my knots and equipment to catch some tuna or sword fish, here’s hoping, I’ll let you know how I get on!
Hopefully more of this: last seasons only fish (a tuna)!
Gordon
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Jun 09 2009
Santa Maria di Leuca (Otranto)
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After having arrived here on Friday afternoon, Saturday was spent preparing for the lunch party the following day where 16 guests would be descending on Concerto for lunch and maybe a quick sail (although we weren’t quite sure of the logistics of the latter). Not the most exciting of places but this was the nearest marina to the two villas up the coasts where our guests for the day were staying. We’d been invited up to one of the villas for a cocktail party on Friday night which had stunning views down the hill and out to sea. The food was very good which meant the pressure was on for me to deliver something on par for Sunday!
Saturday morning was spent stocking up with what felt like half the supermarket including nearly a whole salmon (for some reason the fishmonger wasn’t able to cut it up into fillets so I had the whole lot!) and a lot of wine. The preparations then began that afternoon to conjure up a cold buffet which was to include poached salmon fillets on a bed of mango salsa, spiced beef and grape salad with lemongrass and compote of vine cherry tomatoes amongst other things!
The guests arrived at about midday the following day and Gordon and I were then rushed off out feet for the following four hours talking to guests, showing them around, preparing the lunch, serving drinks and washing up our limited supply of crockery and glasses in order for them to be used again!
The food (and wine) all seemed to go down very well and luckily the consensus was that it was too windy for a sail (I’m not sure how we would have fitted that in as well!). By 4:30pm Gordon and I were left alone to start mission tidy up in preparation for charter the following afternoon after another quick sprint around the supermarket.
Clare
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Jun 08 2009
Delivery from Genoa – Otranto
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So far everything has been working like a dream on the boat with only silly things like light bulbs going and guests blocking toilets for me to fix so I was quietly confident about heading out on the boat’s first offshore test with all its new gear.
The trip, about 750nm, from Genoa in the north of Italy to Otranto right on the heal would take us south along the east of Corsica and Sardinia, leaving Stromboli to starboard before heading through the Straits of Messina (the busiest area of shipping in the med after Gibraltar) and then past the toe of Italy to the heel where the only town that the Romans built on the coast is located.
As we were in a hurry, we had an extra crew member in the shape of an opinionated Irishman, Rob. He is a very good sailor though which is probably just as well as the forecast was for NE force 7 for the whole trip. The sailing was fantastic with the wind on the port aft quarter we were making 9-10 knots and a top speed of 12.6 the whole way sailing with headsail and reefed mainsail and some motor sailing.
Everything worked perfectly apart from one point where the auto pilot lost control, just as well Clare was on the ball and rescued the helm. That problem was fixed pretty quickly as it was just a loose connection on the rudder angle sensor and we were on our way again. The Straits of Messina were easier then I expected as it wasn’t too windy and the radar was giving me a great picture making it straightforward to spot all the ships and small fishing boats and with a 3.5knot following tide we blasted through at 13-14knots.
12+ knots under head sail!
All too soon we arrived in the marina just south of Otranto where the boss was there to kindly catch our lines. Rob and I had (in my opinion) a well deserved beer, while poor Clare was shattered and had already passed out in bed.
Gordon
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Jun 05 2009