Well knock me down.
05 September 2013 | Vathi Ithica
Pete
Saturday found us sitting once again in the still bay below Nidri. We decided to go to Vaasilikis Bay at the bottom of Lefkas, then sail back between Ithica & Kefalonia the following day. In order to get Tess back to Kefalonia in time for her flight home in 4 days time. We left in a flat calm, so much so we persuaded Tess to helm the boat for the first time. She duly steered out of the bay and all the way down the 'Steni Meganisiou' the channel between Lefkas & Maganisi.
By the time we reached the end of the channel the wind had kicked in. Up went the sails on a close haul in about 11kts of wind. Gradually the wind built and moved round to the west, meaning we were going to have to tack into the wind to make our planned destination. By now we had 18 kts of wind and had taken in a reef on the mainsail. Rather than push on against the wind we decided to bear away a little and head again to Vathi on Ithica. This meant a broad reach, so with winds touching 20 knots we screamed along at 7.5 to 8 knots relishing the breeze 'Argonauta was in her element'.
We shot passed Nisis Arkoudhion an uninhabited island and headed for Kolpos Aetou the inlet on which Vathi sits. As we arrived the winds built up, we were now sailing in 27-29 knots of wind, with two reefs on the jib and one on the main. As we entered the inlet and it got even stronger and we were regularly being hit with gusts of 35 knots. In came the mainsail completely and with only a pocket handkerchief sized jib still up. We shot along making 6 to 7 knots the boat healed well over, her toe rails occasionally pushing to the water. By now Tess was sitting at the back 'wide eyed' like a rabbit caught in the headlights! Her anxiety was probably not helped, when Pete announced that we should all don life-jackets. (Having only been on ferries & cruise ships where putting on life jackets meant 'were sinking' this only reinforced her belief we were about to go down). Shortly after this we were hit by a really big gust of 38 knots Argonauta leaned right over despite the diminutive sail area. Green sea water swooshed along the leeward deck. Pete tried to counter act the movement but the rudder now partially out of the water was having no effect! After this we furled in the rest of the sail and motored! Despite bare poles she still healed a couple of times in the big gusts.
Thankfully the entrance to Vathi is quite straight forward. Once we turned our stern to the wind we were pushed in through the entrance at 6 knots, despite the engine only just ticking over. It took two attempts to anchor. First time found us drifting rapidly onto shore as the anchor failed to bite and had to be hauled up again. Motoring round in circles for a time, we eventually found an alternative spot, dropped excessive amounts of chain & dug in. We retired below as the wind howled through the rigging.
About three hours later the wind started to die down and things got more comfortable. Not before we spotted a twister travelling across the entrance to the harbour, just where we had come in a hour or so earlier. Thankfully we had not experienced one as we entered.