Time zone UTC + 0.00
Local hour (Italy) + 2.00
Local hour (Greece) + 3.00
05.30 - Departure from Siracusa, 1 Reef on the Mainsail
Coordinates 37º03’486N 015.º17’006E
06.20 - Genoa and we are out of the bay
Coordinates 37º03’026N 015.º19’735E
Heading: 100 degrees
Wind speed: 16 knots
Wind direction: 135 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1014 atm
Cloud coverage: 10%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 5.5 knots
07.00 - Main and Code 0C
Coordinates 37º03’656N 015.º23’552E
Heading: 070 degrees
Wind speed: 15 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees from port
Barometer: 1014 atm
Cloud coverage: 10%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 5 knots
08.00 - Shake of Reef on the Main sail
Coordinates 37º05’668N 015.º28’060E
Heading: 065 degrees
Wind speed: 10 knots
Wind direction: 100 degrees from port
Barometer: 1014 atm
Cloud coverage: 05%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 5 knots
09.30 - Tuna on the line
Coordinates 37º09’231N 015.º37’008E
Heading: 070 degrees
Wind speed: 4 knots
Wind direction: 40 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1014 atm
Cloud coverage: 10%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 5.5 knots
Big Tuna on the port reel, John quickly pulled all the line from the starboard reel and then got on to working on the port reel where the tuna was while I (Ana), tried to slow down the boat. Turning to upwind or to downwind was not working, the sail has a sweet spot where it picks up speed or simply stays as if we hadn’t really done anything so option was to turn downwind and try a furl the Code 0C by myself and hope it wouldn’t form an hourglass. With difficulty the Code 0C got furled, engine started but kept in neutral, swim platform dropped and John could work the reel better but as he was finally managing to bring the tuna in it got caught in a groove on the swim platform. As I was trying to help getting it loose and onto the boat the fish got loose!
It must have been close to 10KG tuna it was huge and so sad to see him away.
When unfurling the Code 0C we immediately found out that although it looked that I had managed to furl it okay, it didn’t. it was now doing an hourglass as unfurling, I (Ana) went to the front to try and control the lines while John would try to slowly furl and unfurl the sail to see if the hourglass would come undone. Between the two of us we managed to get the sail back into good shape.
10.30 - Genoa and Main sail
Coordinates 37º11’263N 015.º45’224E
Heading: 105 degrees
Wind speed: 7.5 knots
Wind direction: 95 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1010 atm
Cloud coverage: 10%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 4.5 knots
14.15 - Main sail 1 Reef, 3 Reefs on the Genoa
Coordinates 37º15’964N 016.º10’045E
Heading: 080 degrees
Wind speed: 14 knots
Wind direction: 150 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1002 atm
Cloud coverage: 30%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: rally with 2 meter waves
SOG: 5.5 knots
Barometer dropped 12 points in 9h.
21.20 - Engine on and main only with 1 Reef
Heading: 080 degrees
Wind speed: 6 knots
Wind direction: 40 degrees from port
Cloud coverage: 30%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: swell 2 meters
SOG: 6 knots
Big thunderstorm on our port side 24nm distance, we can see the constant lightning striking the water in the horizon. Lots of cargo ships in the area of the storm according to the AIS
04.15 - 1 Reef on Main, 2 Reefs on Genoa
Coordinates 37º40’959N 017.º40’141E
Heading: 080 degrees
Wind speed: 13 knots
Wind direction: 150 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1016 atm
Cloud coverage: 60%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 6 knots
06.10 - Full main sail and Code 0C
Coordinates 37º44’633N 017.º50’730E
Heading: 075 degrees
Wind speed: 5.5 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1016 atm
Cloud coverage: 60%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 4 knots
08.10 - 1 Reef on the Main and engine on
Coordinates 37º47’277N 018.º01’357E
Heading: 065 degrees
Wind speed: 4.5 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1008 atm
Cloud coverage: 60%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 6.2 knots
Barometer dropped 8 points in 2h, heavy clouds that looked like a weather front in the horizon.
10.00 - Barometer still dropping
Coordinates 37º52’528N 018.º13’869E
Heading: 065 degrees
Wind speed: 3 knots
Wind direction: 60 - 0 degrees from port
Barometer: 1006 atm
Cloud coverage: 50%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 6 knots
Wind has shifted from Starboard to Port.
12.20 - Full main and Genoa
Coordinates 37º58’577N 018.º27’976E
Heading: 065 degrees
Wind speed: 8.5 knots
Wind direction: 80 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1004 atm
Cloud coverage: 90%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 6 knots
13.50 - Main, Genoa and engine on
Coordinates 38º02’699N 018.º37’488E
Heading: 065 degrees
Wind speed: 4 knots
Wind direction: 60 degrees from starboard
Cloud coverage: 100%
Visibility: 100%
Sea state: calm
SOG: 6.4 knots
Very heavy clouds around us, and we can clearly see the fronts moving sucking up all the wind.
18.30 - 1 Reef on the Main, Genoa and engine on
Coordinates 38º15’334N 019.º06’896E
Heading: 090 degrees
Wind speed: 20 knots
Wind direction: 45 degrees from starboard
Barometer: 1010 atm
Cloud coverage: 100%
Visibility: 100%
Sea state: rolly
SOG: 5 knots
Lightning in the distance
05.40 - The storm caught us
Coordinates 38º41’736N 020.º10’351E
Heading: 070 degrees
Wind speed: 12.5 knots
Wind direction: 30 degrees from port
Cloud coverage: 100%
Visibility: 100%
Sea state: rolly
SOG: 5.5 knots
Storm caught up with us and we are getting lightning strikes less than 2nm from us, it raining hail of 10mm size and pouring ridiculous amounts.
12.00 - Arrival to Preveza
Coordinates 38º57’938N 020.º45’550E
Total hours of the trip: 54.5h
Total hours sailing: 21.5h
Total hours motor-sailing: 24.5h
Total hours motoring: 33h
Average Speed Over Ground: 4.7knots
Maximum Speed Over Ground: 9.2knots
Distance: 294.1nm
***In the spirit of sharing our dreams and experiences we have shared this blog post in the NOFOREIGNLAND.COM website sailors community.
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