Saturday April 14th
After our enforced stop at Trevira, and much refreshed after a full night's sleep and rather too much wine, we slipped early for a planned three-day passage down the coast of Italy, through the Strait of Messina, and along the south coast.
I had planned a slight detour to take us past Stromboli, an active Volcano about four hours sailing north of Sicily, and planned the arrival for dawn. It was an uneventful passage, keeping watches, but the arrival at Stromboli really was impressive.
A glassy sea, a fairly heavy sea mist, and Stromboli loomed out of the mist, honouring us with a small eruption as Lyn and Paul, bleary eyed after a night watch, stumbled up on deck to see the impressive volcano. We were not quite alone - a cruise ship had the same idea, and another yacht motor-sailed quietly past us in the mist.
Night sailing often presents more of a psychological barrier than a practical one: you can't see what you're not hitting, and the business of watch keeping can be daunting at first. I prefer a modified four hour system for a three-person delivery team.
We keep four hour watches during the day: eight till noon, noon till four, and four till eight, then two hour watches with eight till ten, ten till twelve, twelve till two and so on until eight am when we revert to four hourly watches.
This gives everyone two slots of four hours to sleep, and not too long on deck at night. It also means that everyone keeps the same watch times, which I believe helps the body adapt more quickly to the disruption of the watch keeping system.
The sail (or rather, motor) to Messina was uneventful, and the traffic separation scheme in the strait was easy to negotiate, but re-fuelling was anything but easy.
The fuel pontoon just north of Messina is a narrow metal jetty, no more than twenty feet wide, and too shallow to go alongside, so we had to T-bone at the end of it in a northerly force seven, a wind induced by the funnelling effect of the strait. An introduction to ferry-gliding against the wind was in order, but it was marginal, and not something one would do from choice.
Once fuel had been taken on, and after a quick sprint up the pontoon to a local supermarket and veg stall for provisions, we were off again. At last we were able to sail, under genoa, on a direct run south out of the strait. As expected, the wind died as soon as we got to open water, and we turned left to motor along the toe of Italy.
The marinas in this part of the country are few, far between, and not really recommended (the pilot even warns about incidents of aggravated burglary against visiting yachts in one) so the decision was to continue for one more night to Crotone, and then rest up.
Crotone is not a particularly nice place. Not yet finished, there are no showers, no electricity, no toilets. Well, none that were open or working. And we were charged a high price for a single night's stay.
We went ashore for drinks (which included a kind of tapas) and a meal at a local fish restaurant, and after a quick trip up the mast to replace a broken signal halyard, we set off early the following morning for a day sail to St. Maria de Leuca, which is where we are now.
A totally different experience. We had all rested well, and despite gale warnings in force in sea areas all around us, we had zero wind and a glassy sea crossing. We spotted turtles, dolphins and swordfish. We had visiting birds, a swallow attempting to nest inside the forward heads, and an easy 'alongside' berth in a well ordered and beautiful marina.
Lyn even decided to cut Paul's hair - a fascinating experience when the clippers ran out of battery half-way through the job.
So today is the final leg to Greece. We set off in about half an hour or so for a night at anchor at one of the small islands to the north east of Corfu, then on tomorrow to Gouvia marina, where the delivery part of the job will be done.
A few days instruction to get the family up to speed on their sailing skills, an ICC examination for them both, and then back to the UK for the next job, whatever it will be.
The voyage, of over 1,000 miles, from the windy and unpredictable Gulf of Lyon, across the Ligurian sea, through Messina, and across to Corfu, would stretch most people.
For the Hanbys, who only had two weeks' sailing experience in a flotilla holiday before the voyage and have never been on a yacht this size (45 feet) before, it has been a huge learning curve.
Lyn has taken particularly well to navigation and pilotage. Paul has enjoyed night sailing and watch keeping, and is clearly mastering the basics. An assisted passage is a great way to gain experience and to learn the skills of yachting whilst getting a delivery done at the same time.
For more information visit www.yachtmovers.co.uk
