So its not all sunshine here in Greece. After spending a couple of weeks exploring the North West of Corfu and the islands that are off that coast, we became aware of what seemed to be a bit of a low front that was coming our way. The West coast is a bit exposed so being the prudent types, we decided to move back to the north east corner of Corfu to a well protected bay called Avlaki. It is only about 16 nautical miles so an easy hop.

All was going swimmingly, we weighed anchor and hoisted the main (with 1 reef just incase) and unfurled the Genova. After about 40 minutes we rounded the top left corner of Corfu and hardened up into a beam reach. But the wind was all over the place swinging around 30 or 40 degrees within the space of a few minutes and blowing 8 knots then 23 knots then 4 knots. The autopilot couldn’t cope so it was hand steering time. Fortunately the wind was blowing offshore which meant that the sea was flat so when we got going, we were flying.

Then about 3/4 way across the top of Corfu, there is a headland, once past that we needed to start going east south east for only about 4 more nautical miles to our destination. But that was not to be!! We went round the headland and got completely pummelled by 30 knot plus winds and a seriously short steep sea. We are retired and old and don’t do “suffering” any more so after about 5 minutes of that we decided to do a 180 degree about turn and run back around the headland to the relative protection of the bay.

We decided to drop the sails and anchor to see what happened with the wind and have a cup of tea. It was still really blowing but then there seemed to be a silver sheen on the sea moving towards us. It was a rain squall which we could count down its arrival. The heavens opened and huge volumes of water fell for at least 45 minutes. Torrential doesn’t describe it.

However once the squall had passed the wind swung round more to the west so we set off again in the hope that the sea state had been flattened by the rain and the change in wind direction. It had so about an hour later we arrived in Avlaki and tucked ourselves into the corner close to the beach for what we hoped would be a nice protected night.

Ashore we went for our customary “Benji Beers” as the evening walk and stop at the local taverna for a sundowner is known. We were sitting there enjoying the evening with a few other people when multiple phones started pinging at once. It was a text message that had been sent by the Greek Authorities to all citizens. It read…

“Special Dangerous Weather Events Bulletin (HWECF)

The Weather Emergency Bulletin with A.A 12/2022, according to the latest forecast data, is upgraded to an Emergency Weather Alert Dangerous Weather. A low barometric pressure will be created in the Ionian Sea which will move eastwards and cause "GENESIS”!

What the hell is Genesis I thought, turns out that this was a “Named Storm” much like the Hurricanes of the Caribbean.

Now everything is very eerily quiet in the bay. There were probably 12 boats taking cover and with the wind forecasted to be from the South East, we were well protected.

But Zeus, the God of Thunder had different ideas.

Night fell and all was quiet then at about 10pm, the wind went from SE 4 knots to NW 30 knots in about a minute. 12 boats all swing round on their anchors 180 degrees and instead of being blown off the shore, we are being blown onto the shore.

Now there are 12 skippers on 12 boats all outside with 12 flash lights looking at anchors, looking at the other boats and looking at the shore. Thankfully, all the anchors were well dug in so nobody dragged and ended up on the beach. Then the thunder started and soon developed into a phenomenal electric storm.

The sky was being lit up, forks of lightning were snaking down into the sea, the land and it turns out later, into a few boats. Having a 21m metal mast sticking up skywards during an electric storm isn’t funny. I sat up until about 01:30 just watching it all unfold. Eventually things started to calm down enough to feel ok about getting some sleep. But not after setting multiple anchor alarms and taking my Navionics tracker to bed.

Another squall then hit us again at about 03:30 but by 08:00 all was calm again. After a quick run ashore, we set off again bound for Corfu. We had heard that Mobile network provider Cosmote had launched their “12 Euro Unlimited Data Sim” Summer Promotion and we wanted one!

The wind was pretty light and again all over the place but at least we were sailing and making progress in the right direction.

At the north east corner of Corfu the gap between Corfu and Albania is pretty narrow and the wind was funnelling through that gap making us beat to windward. But we were doing ok until the dreaded rumble of thunder started again. Then the sky darkened to a very dark shade of grey and before you knew it, that wind swung and hit us hard. This time we were with full main and Genoa in wind gusting 30 knots. I managed to feather the main and reef the Genoa sufficiently to be ok without a reef as the front edge of the squall passed us.

Then there it was again, that silver sheen on the sea that signalled rain incoming. For the first time this season, the wet kit jacket was donned just before it hit. Again torrents of rain came down, I was soaked and the iPad which is at the helm station and is in a casing that is supposed to be waterproof just decided to stop running the navigation software (backup system) and start playing a You Tube video.

So that was dispatched into the cabin where Pen and Benji were taking cover. Fortunately, Pen managed to dry it with no damage caused.

Eventually the squall passed, the rain stopped and the wind calmed down to the degree that we were able to get to Corfu Bay without any further interventions from “Genesis”.

We heard that a Lagoon 450 was struck by lightning and it fried both of their engines. Friends of ours on another Lagoon 400 who were further south in Corfu said they had been in a hailstorm with marble sized stones. They were convinced their solar panels and hatches were going to be shattered. Fortunately they are made of sterner stuff!

Thankfully normal weather service has resumed and Zeus has not reappeared but I will forever be a little more wary of his power. But I have to say, he did an amazing job of cleaning the boat. Thanks Zeus!