Our plan this summer was to cruise Croatia again, the last time we were there was in 2014 and we loved it.
Christine had only been back for a day when we sailed to the island of Othonio, one of the most northern Greek islands. From here it it 178 miles to Cavtat where we needed to check into Croatia. Although Croatia is part of the EU it's one of the only countries in Europe where yachts have to clear in.
It had been been blowing southerly for a while which is unusual for this time of year but it's the ideal weather for us to go up north .We spent some time studying the weather sites to find a good time to set off .There were a few thing we needed to take into account: firstly we couldn't leave much before 2am the following morning as it had been blowing a good force 8 and the seas where going to be very rough. Secondly , around early morning near the coast of Vlora, Albania, wind was going to increase again to a force 7 so we needed to pass that point before or wait till late afternoon once it had calmed down again. Our last problem was that come very early morning on Saturday, the wind was going to get light and then turn to the north, which would mean in a light southerly we would make no head way and would have to motor and once the wind would turn north we would be motoring into it. Of course the forecast is just that, a forecast, nothing it written in stone.
By 1.45 am we were up and by 2.15 so was the anchor. We set off with a reef in the main sail, boom secured with a preventer and the genoa still rolled up. It seemed fine until we were away from the lee of the island, at which point Isabelle took off in flight touching 6.5 kts. The further we got away from the island the bigger the seas got. Christine returned back to bed.
We were making good time to get past Vlora before it got too bad and by 07.30 we were leaving Vlora behind us. Running away from the wind we didn't have a true reading what the wind was, but considering we were moving now between 7.5 and 8 kts and the wind was reading 22 kts, our guess was it was in the regent of 30 plus , the seas by now had increased to over 2 metres. We were skewing a lot now so we decided it would be safer to bring the main sail down and unfurl the genoa. Heading to wind was much fun and then dropping the sail with seas now acting to come aboard, but it took less than a couple of seconds to perform the manoeuver and be back on our way
.
Eddie went down below and found a place to wedge himself in and try to sleep through the noise of the sea and wind. Christine and I settled in the cockpit in our life jackets and safety lines. While Christine read, I took the odd note to write this blog. Now and then the seas would drop and so would the wind and we would take the chance to make drinks or something to eat. Down below was a bit wobbly, you really needed three hands to make a drink; one to hold the kettle, one for the cup and one to keep yourself from falling over.
By 13.00 we had sailed 79 miles at an averages of 7.1 miles an hour. Considering we normally work out our trips on an average of 5.5 knot , 7.1 isn’t bad. Of course we didn't expect this to carry on and that at some time the wind would drop and our speed too. Well I know I shouldn’t have said anything, at 11.30 the wind dropped and the engine had to do some work, but by 02.30 we were under sail again, cracking along at over 6 kts. Christine took over the early morning watch while I had a sleep. At 05 00 Christine woke me ,she had a ship on the radar not transmitting any AIS. By the time I arrived on deck it was only a mile off , still half a sleep and not taken in all the info, we decided to make a shape turn and go a stern of the ship was our safest bet .Ahead of us, just two miles away, was Cavtat and our trip was coming to an end. By 06.00 we were tied up on the custom quay. The last time we were here a guy tried to charge us for mooring there, this time there was a sign saying there was a 13 euro charge for mooring service. Now if you wonder what that is, it's for taking your rope. Luckily when we got there, there was no one around. If there had been, we would have just refused to give them the lines and would have done it ourselves. That way they couldn't charge us.
Once moored, we decided - thinking it around 07.00 - to report to the port police. A knock on the door and a groan could be heard inside. We waited a while and then the door opened and a young female police office appeared, mane looking as if she had been asleep and we’d woken her. At this point we found out that Croatia was an hour behind Greek time, the time now was 0600. It wasn't till 08.00 local time that we managed to clear in. Then we anchored in the next bay, where we were both ready to chill and have breakfast.
Christine had only been back for a day when we sailed to the island of Othonio, one of the most northern Greek islands. From here it it 178 miles to Cavtat where we needed to check into Croatia. Although Croatia is part of the EU it's one of the only countries in Europe where yachts have to clear in.
It had been been blowing southerly for a while which is unusual for this time of year but it's the ideal weather for us to go up north .We spent some time studying the weather sites to find a good time to set off .There were a few thing we needed to take into account: firstly we couldn't leave much before 2am the following morning as it had been blowing a good force 8 and the seas where going to be very rough. Secondly , around early morning near the coast of Vlora, Albania, wind was going to increase again to a force 7 so we needed to pass that point before or wait till late afternoon once it had calmed down again. Our last problem was that come very early morning on Saturday, the wind was going to get light and then turn to the north, which would mean in a light southerly we would make no head way and would have to motor and once the wind would turn north we would be motoring into it. Of course the forecast is just that, a forecast, nothing it written in stone.
By 1.45 am we were up and by 2.15 so was the anchor. We set off with a reef in the main sail, boom secured with a preventer and the genoa still rolled up. It seemed fine until we were away from the lee of the island, at which point Isabelle took off in flight touching 6.5 kts. The further we got away from the island the bigger the seas got. Christine returned back to bed.
We were making good time to get past Vlora before it got too bad and by 07.30 we were leaving Vlora behind us. Running away from the wind we didn't have a true reading what the wind was, but considering we were moving now between 7.5 and 8 kts and the wind was reading 22 kts, our guess was it was in the regent of 30 plus , the seas by now had increased to over 2 metres. We were skewing a lot now so we decided it would be safer to bring the main sail down and unfurl the genoa. Heading to wind was much fun and then dropping the sail with seas now acting to come aboard, but it took less than a couple of seconds to perform the manoeuver and be back on our way
.
Eddie went down below and found a place to wedge himself in and try to sleep through the noise of the sea and wind. Christine and I settled in the cockpit in our life jackets and safety lines. While Christine read, I took the odd note to write this blog. Now and then the seas would drop and so would the wind and we would take the chance to make drinks or something to eat. Down below was a bit wobbly, you really needed three hands to make a drink; one to hold the kettle, one for the cup and one to keep yourself from falling over.
By 13.00 we had sailed 79 miles at an averages of 7.1 miles an hour. Considering we normally work out our trips on an average of 5.5 knot , 7.1 isn’t bad. Of course we didn't expect this to carry on and that at some time the wind would drop and our speed too. Well I know I shouldn’t have said anything, at 11.30 the wind dropped and the engine had to do some work, but by 02.30 we were under sail again, cracking along at over 6 kts. Christine took over the early morning watch while I had a sleep. At 05 00 Christine woke me ,she had a ship on the radar not transmitting any AIS. By the time I arrived on deck it was only a mile off , still half a sleep and not taken in all the info, we decided to make a shape turn and go a stern of the ship was our safest bet .Ahead of us, just two miles away, was Cavtat and our trip was coming to an end. By 06.00 we were tied up on the custom quay. The last time we were here a guy tried to charge us for mooring there, this time there was a sign saying there was a 13 euro charge for mooring service. Now if you wonder what that is, it's for taking your rope. Luckily when we got there, there was no one around. If there had been, we would have just refused to give them the lines and would have done it ourselves. That way they couldn't charge us.
Once moored, we decided - thinking it around 07.00 - to report to the port police. A knock on the door and a groan could be heard inside. We waited a while and then the door opened and a young female police office appeared, mane looking as if she had been asleep and we’d woken her. At this point we found out that Croatia was an hour behind Greek time, the time now was 0600. It wasn't till 08.00 local time that we managed to clear in. Then we anchored in the next bay, where we were both ready to chill and have breakfast.