The main image shows the predicted wind in our area. The Red and Orange areas you want to avoid or be snugged up in a protected harbour waiting for them to go away. *We were to the east of this in Lesvos, but the system was not moving because of an ‘Omega Block’. I don’t know what this is, and I was concerned that when it stopped the weather would move towards us, so Victoria and I decided to head south to better protection while we could. We would go to Samos which is quite a long trip for us, 68nm, and would take us 11 or 12 hours depending on the conditions….and since there is just over 12 hours of daylight now and we don’t want to arrive after dark we would need to hustle.
We left just at first light at 6:30am and it was already blowing 25 knots in our harbour. We got out into a channel between Chios and Turkey and things started to get interesting.
Almost immediately we had 30 to 40 knots of wind and 2m breaking waves….but they were directly behind us! The wind is much less harsh when it is pushing you because your boat speed reduces the relative speed of the wind, and the waves are not bashing you, they are pushing you along. We had the genoa out on a pole and taken in about 50%, and we were still doing 7 to 8 knots which is maximum for the boat. We were zooming!
We received a broadcast distress call on our radio while we were in the channel…the radio gives off an awful emergency screeching sound to get your attention. It was a ‘person overboard’ but the GPS coordinates were north of Lesvos and far from us so we couldn’t help. If they were close I would have turned around.
You cannot see this on the google map, but in the most narrow part between Chios and the Turkish coast there are 2 small islands, marked with a beacon, and the depth goes down to 12 meters between Chios and these islands. This is very shallow. I wasn’t really sure how the 2m waves, with this amount of wind, would behave over such a shallow area….but it turned out to be OK. I steered us through the deepest parts I could and stayed away from the rocks.
After we made it through the scary narrow passage we turned south east to the eastern tip of Samos. We stayed on this course for about the next 8 hours. The winds varied a lot and we had to motor for several hours to keep on schedule. We had intended to stop at an anchorage on the north side of Samos but when we got close it didn’t look very protected from the north winds, so we decided to add another hour to our trip and head around the corner which turned out to be a great decision.
We anchored peacefully and safely near a nice beach. Turkey is very close, and the Turkish coast is giving us wind protection from the north and east. I went to bed at 8pm totally exhausted after a very long day. I’m not entirely sure why a day of sailing is so tiring. It might be because you have to be paying attention all the time, or it might be because you need to be using muscles to keep upright against the movement of the boat….but in any case it is exhausting.
After a day of rest we decided to continue on a relatively short 33nm trip to Arki. The winds were forecast to be 15 knots or less…..but this turned out to be a guess as usual.
As we were leaving Samos we went past a Turkish patrol boat. Turkey is very vigilant about monitoring their borders.
We also went through a narrow channel between Samos and Turkey….and we had an opposing current! Currents are not common in the Med because the tides are so small (5-20cm usually) but this area had ‘turbulence’ marked on the map, and I could see our motoring speed was about 1.5 knots less than expected. My ‘water speed’ sensor gets clogged with growth so I only have ground-speed data.
After we got past the shore we began to sail. We started with light winds from behind, so we polled out the jib, and eventually had the main-sail out on the opposite side (we call this wing-on-wing) and I had the mizzed out as well. The boat would have looked very pretty I wish I had a side picture. We were not in a big rush because we only had 30 miles or so to cover, and we had the entire day to arrive so we could afford to sail at 4 knots without worry. Sailing is definitely more restful than motoring,
Eventually the gentle winds from behind died out, so we took our sails in and started to motor, but soon we had very strong winds and waves from the side. We had winds up to 30 knots, so I had the jib out about half-way, and we were sometimes seeing 3+m waves and rocking over about 40 degrees but could easily do 6 knots of speed. I think this is more fun for me than Victoria. I’m still convincing Victoria that the boat won’t tip over.
Eventually we arrived in Arki. Arki has a permanent population of 20…… but 4 tavernas….it is a very small island. If you want somewhere quiet this is your place The public dock has room for about 10 boats. We were given permission by one of the tavern owners who seems to manage these things to dock in a spot reserved for a tour boat. I told him that if it was too much trouble we could go to Lipsi, another small but slightly bigger island just south of them….and he said ‘Oh no, don’t go to Lipsi (population 800) we will make room for you here!’. We will probably stay here for a few days before heading further south.
Arki is 500m wide(!!) and 4km long. We are anchored roughly in the middle. If you were a runner you could do a morning jog from one end to the other. I noticed a few very old looking abandoned structures….this is the oldest in the front right foreground. I think it is a foundation of something.
Mostly the ground is rock Here is a field that literally looks like a rock farm. I suspect the rocks have never been cleared from here:
The island has tough vegetation that can survive without much water. I’d like to meet the people who first arrived here and decided to stay. They must have been very unhappy with their current living arrangements.
Victoria and I have sailed over 3200 nautical miles, or just under 4000 km in Spruzzo! I don’t think I’m any better at tuning a sail for maximum performance….but I definitely know my way around a boat better than when we first started.
Adventures on Spruzzo 