It was just off the SW tip of Ikaria! We survived the storm and ended up at a safe haven of Fourni island! I was so happy to be alive, but I told Jeff that the threshold of a successful journey could not be mere survival! Two days ago, we got into a storm and the threshold of survival for at least a few hours of sailing in 50 knots of winds, seemed high!
This summer we have encountered some really bad weather, huge waves, and stormy winds. No matter how much effort we put in reading the weather forecasts and try to combine and cross reference 2 or 3 different sources of meteorological information, we never get an accurate weather forecast. When we were in the storm in Ikaria I was looking at one of the weather apps showing me that we should be getting 12 knots of wind and we were experiencing 40! The problem is that this uncertainty creates a recurring state of stress, which is extremely needless since the point of choosing a sailing life is to eliminate most possible sources of stress…and just be happy. The life we have been leading this summer has certainly offered us the chance to be ecstatically happy to reach a safe haven alive!
Last year in Kythira we had big winds for a few hours at night reaching 40 knots, but we were already anchored at a protected bay and happy to find out that our anchor was holding just fine under those conditions. Two days ago, we were at sea, 5 nm away from Ikaria Island and the wind was reaching 50 knots, the waves were at least 2 m high and angrily crushing on the boat, water was coming in the cockpit in buckets and there was no safe bay to anchor. After sailing most of the day from 6 am for almost 7 hours, had traveled around 40 nm already just fine, and we were now almost at the end of our trip, we got into this storm!
The bay we had selected the day before as our first anchorage was no bay at all and completely exposed to the fierce winds. We had no choice but to travel upwards to the next possible harbor. Usually when we travel, even when we get big waves and strong winds, when we approach an island, we find some protection and the conditions improve. Not at Ikaria. Exactly the opposite happened! The island is located right in the middle of the Aegean east of Mykonos and the Cyclades and west from Samos and the rest of the big eastern islands. The shape of the island is long and narrow and is horizontal like a tiny barrier to the fierce northern summer winds of the Aegean, the famous meltemia. For some reason the SW and the SE tips of the island accelerate the winds at least 2 or 3 times creating local storms. In the boat, in these conditions you can actually do nothing but pray for the boat to hold and the winds to subside. And that’s what I did while Jeff was steering through huge waves and from time to time exclaiming “Jesus” when endured another attack from the waves that were determined to flood our cockpit.
We got to the second bay, winds still at 40 knots, and dropped anchor. When I went to the front of the boat to untie the line we use to secure the anchor when we travel, I thought I’d get blown off the boat! The noise was unimaginable! It sounded like the entire boat was ripped to pieces and I kept looking around to see if things were still in place. The lines on a sailboat usually make some noises even in light breezes…what we were experiencing that night at Ikaria was a constant “imminent end of the world” sound! No relief! No pause! No stop! Obviously sleeping was out of the question, I was up and down all night making sure the rest of the boat was still there and marvelled at the fact that Jeff could actually rest in the midst of the END OF THE WORLD!!!
It’s an absolute blessing to have a captain that keeps his cool in distress. It makes it seem not only possible, but even probable, to survive the storm. Which we did! At around 6 am the winds went down to 27 knots (!!!) and the sea seemed calmer, at least no white mist was visible. So we raised anchor and started travelling towards Fourni. We only needed to do 25 nm and it seemed doable! About half way to our destination, the wind had dropped to 8 or 9 knots but the waves were following the surreal pattern of a huge invisible storm! Waves were coming from all directions and seemed they were becoming bigger and bigger! The boat was having the starboard side rails in the water and immediately the port side was in the water next. We could see the islands of Fourni right in front of us and we couldn’t get there soon enough. I felt exhausted and by now I had settled in the habit of crossing myself every five seconds as it seemed that it worked since we were still breathing…
We got to a bay called Aspa and the water was calm and the winds were down. This is Paradise! PARADISE!!!!! I am never leaving this bay! Until the sea is what we call “as calm as oil” (λάδι) we are not sailing out of here! To all of you out there that care for us, please go light a candle at any church on my behalf, I am sure I promised a huge number of candles and I need help delivering!
A couple of days at this lovely bay and I am still so euphoric about living that I took another shot at fishing and …it worked!!! I got fish and Jeff cleaned them and I fried them!! this is really PARADISE!
Caught some fish at last…!
Adventures on Spruzzo 