Malta to Santa Maria di Leuca
Posted at 3:44 PM, May. 23, 2007
Writing this in southern Italy on Friday 18th at the yacht club marina in the town of Crotone a well out of the way place but seemingly undergoing something of a revival as a holiday destination for Italians. It is on the western edge of the Gulf of Taranto and a major fishing port. When we arrived late yesterday (Thursday May 17th) the fish auctions on the quayside were well underway and plenty of shops all along the road selling all types of fish until quite late. Having just completed a 23 hour sail we opted for the recommended pizzeria close by – very good but we sure got charged the tourist prices which is disappointing.
The sail across from the island of Comino off Malta turned into a total diesel consuming exercise with not a ripple of wind on the water. This translated into a 12 hour motoring day for the 85 mile passage across to Siracusa on the eastern coast of Sicily. We were here last November and were very impressed with the old town dating back to 5000 BC on the island of Ortiga. So it was great to show Alice around after we tied up stern to on a warm and busy late Sunday afternoon on the quay (free mooring) while the Italian crowds did the promenade thing – lovely well dressed women in impossibly high heels successfully dodging the gaps in the paving stones!
Problem number three ( number one the boiler, and number two the failure of the gel 12v engine starter battery about 4 years too soon) arose on our way across to Sicily when the chart plotter and radar system failed completely. I am not so sure about this Simrad gear! The masthead unit on the wind gear failed last November and was replaced under warranty – but this is in a sense a major and we are just out of the warranty period. Anyway I did establish that we had power to the main screen at the navigatiorium, that there were no fuses blown in the power unit - then tracked down the one and only electronics guy in Siracusa who spoke no English other than “kaput” after various testing that he did. So an email to the Simrad guys in NZ and a quick response saw contract established with the Simrad agents (unfortunately at Via Reggio in Tuscany) and they offered to provide through a sub-agent at Messina a replacement unit. Packed up the main unit and couried to them and stoodby to await the new unit. Anyway after a couple of days we managed to establish that the new unit they offered us (under warranty so they were very good) was incompatible with our system – would not support the slave screen in the cockpit and the plugs were different so it was not a simple question of plug in and play. So we have headed off and they will hopefully repair the original unit and get it back to us in a few days.
Dean and Shelly arrived on board during this drama after numerous SMS’s and a change in flights so they flew into Catania on Sicily rather than Reggio de Calabria on the mainland which substantially reduced their travel time to Siracusa. I think they clocked up about a 38 hour transit time so were tired when they finally arrived at the bus station at the bottom of Ortiga and then a short walk to the boat. Overall 3 nights in Siracusa but that gave them a chance to recover before tackling the 160 mile passage to Crotone and also do plenty of sightseeing around Siracusa. We had one night at the marina when the wind got up and blew right onto the quayside making it pretty uncomfortable. Found ourselves next to a German motoryacht with the skipper bring a kiwi from Auckland - so with the owners not on board we did enjoy watching some of the AC races – albeit with a German commentary. Good to see TNZ heading towards a 5 zip over the Spanish syndicate. Also had a lot of guidance provided by a NZ woman who walked past on the first day – only the second kiwi boat she had seen in Siracusa and has lived there for 5 years with her Dutch husband. She was absolutely delightful and provided some good advice on all sorts of matters – e.g. the best coffee, the best gelato etc.
Our local cafe in Crotone - the morning caffeine hit!
So finally we were ready to head off for the first of several passages being the 160 mile sail to Crotone. Finally got away at around 1800 hrs on Wednesday 16th May with novice sailors in Dean and Shelly on board. First couple of hours motoring, developing pressure out of the SE – not bad, sailing, swung left to the NE, not good – beating, moved further to the left and then NNW with increasing pressure (up to 30 knots) – good sailing at about 60 degrees apparent, reefed headsail and 2 reefs in the main not wanting to push it to hard overnight. Building seas saw Shelly with seasickness developing – saw her about 12 hours later! Declining wind during the early hours saw us motor sailing with lumpy left over seas and then during late morning a building NW to 30 knots again but now at around 110 apparent so with one reef in the main and the full self tacker out we blasted along on a sunny day at between 9.5 and 10.8 knots – got around the gas and oil platforms off Crotone and pulled into the marina at 1700 hours. Shelly lost some weight and is not planning to do the Atlantic crossing with us. Dean handled it well and got onto the handle bars for the fast reaching conditions we had for the last 5/6 hours. During the night introduced Alice to the wheel also and she had a few hours on station in not easy conditions and showed a natural flair for feeling the boat across and through the seaway in nice style
Navigation was back to traditional methods (although didn’t need to break out the sextant – actually have one on board, shame about not having the sight reduction tables!). Paper charts – large scale at that, hand bearing compass and a handheld GPS that gave us our position but not much more. One does get used to the ease of the chart plotter and the ability to plot an efficient (read the shortest) course but we did miss the radar given that all night we probably had at any one time at least 2 ships in sight plus fishing boats with non-conforming lights to add to any confusion.
We were planning to leave Crotone today but an unforecast “gregale” wind blew (this is the name given to the NE wind) and with a passage heading of 55 degrees a 30 knot gregale was not for gentlemen ( bearing in mind the English expression that gentlemen do not sail to windward). A quite decent squall with very heavy rain (our first) passed over a while ago but the barometer is on the rise again so hopefully we will depart here tomorrow (Saturday 19th).
Now for an update – we finally left on Sunday 20th after celebrating Dean’s 30+ birthday the previous night with a flash on-board dinner. The marina at Crotone was graced with our presence for 3 nights while the “gregale” continued to blow. Consequently we had plenty of opportunity to get to know the town and meet a few of the locals at the café/bar that became the morning caffeine hit spot and in the afternoon the beer spot. Crotone seems to be famous as it is where Pythagoras lived in the 5th century BC. ( for those who can remember some old maths stuff). On our final night there (Saturday 19th May) the Madonna 13 kilometre pilgrimage began at 0100 from the cathedral accompanied by 1 hour of rockets that were exploded about 80 metres from the boat – initially we thought it was the offshore oil wells blowing up. The noise was extreme! The Madonna was to arrive back by boat at 2100 hrs Sunday into the marina and then a huge fireworks display was planned. Fortunately we had left by then. This is an annual event and the “Madonna” is a painting that was found in the sea of Mary and baby Jesus and is believed to have mystical powers.
Current planning has us undecided as to whether to sail across the 70 miles to Santa Maria di Leuca on the other side of the Gulf of Taranto or the 115 mile passage directly to Corfu in Greece. Yes change of plans but maybe Corfu then back across to Brindisi to pick up (hopefully) the repaired Simrad gear, drop off Shelley and Dean and then the 120 mile passage across to Dubrovnik in Croatia where brother Ian, wife Barbara and niece Hilary (from London) will join us for a few days.
In the event we did the 71 mile sail to Santa Maria di Leuca, had a very nice sail in 12 knots and got the genaker up for a few hours. No weight losses reported during 11 hour passage. Have abandoned plans to go to Corfu and will head on up the east coast of Italy to Brindisi where we should be able to pick up our repaired electronic navigation gear/toys.
Don’t know when I will get to post this as we are not able to get internet access for some reason but will try for an internet café in town at Santa Maria di Leuca - we are about to go and climb the Mussolini steps which are at the end of the harbour and an impressive structure from what we can see from the boat. (Monday 21st) They were built by Mussolini as the “entrance to Italy” being on the extreme SE corner of Italy.
Dean and Shelly on the Mussolini steps
That’s it for now!
Cheers
Keith
PS posting this from Brindisi (Wednesday 23 May) having got some limited internet connectivity restored on board. Will do another update tonight if I get time.