When is a forecast not a forecast... when it becomes a reality!

June 2018 Zante to Lakka

Last time I wrote we were moored nicely on the Hotel Iris Pontoon in Nidri awaiting some strong southerly winds. What I had not told you was about our journey from Zante to Nidri. 

We left Zante Town Harbour, not expecting much in the way of sailing, but for once, we were greeted with winds and strength all in the right direction and speed. We had a lovely sail for the first the two hours, and a very pleasurable motor sail for the final one and a half hours. 

We arrived back in Poros, Cephalonia, to be greeted by Fonda, the dock master’s, smiling face again, ready to take our lines. The people on the boat on our port side were an English couple, relatively new to the Ionian who had many questions to ask. Best we take them to the bar set in the rocks!

Just as a small aside, many years ago sailing friends told us of a book friends of theirs had written about sailing in the Mediterranean, its called 'On The Nose' by Bob Cooper. In that book he describes eloquently the three different winds you get in the Med. 

1) Surlenez - On the Nose. 
2) Intrafundamentale - Up the Chuff/from behind. 
3) Nofuchinaventi - Buggerall wind. 

And these are the only three winds you will encounter.

The following day, we planned to take the ten-mile trip up to Ay Eufemia, a small harbour we had checked out in the car. Having left later than planned (helping the new neighbours with their engine issues), we motored into strong winds, straight on the nose (Surlenez), but not a problem, we’re only going ten miles. As we rounded the headland into the large bay, at which Ay Eufemia sits at the head, the wind continued to increase, fortunately with no fetch. 

We readied the boat, for what looked like would be a difficult stern-to mooring, in a cross wind, only to be told by the harbour master “we are full, there is no room”, even though the quay was empty. Clearly, you have to phone ahead a book a place on the town quay now!

At this point, we had two options, (three if you include hindsight and we’d stayed in Poros). We could turn south for two miles, and go into Sami (probably not a great place with the wind in this direction), or north for twenty miles and go into Sivota (excellent protection in these conditions, when we get there). I had one stipulation to going north, we only go if I can phone one of the restaurants who have a spot on their pontoon and I don’t have to cook dinner! Our ten mile, two hour trip was now turning into thirty three miles and six hours, with nothing prepared for lunch or dinner. 

Fortunately, Stavros had a spot, and north we went. The first part of the journey was through the channel between Cephalonia and Ithica, where the wind is funnelled and we were head on into Force 6-7 winds, again with little fetch, fortunately. As with all things Perrett, we fully expected the wind to die when we reached the open sea and would have to motor the entire twenty miles (Nofuchinaventi). But no! We had the most perfect sail across from Cephalonia to Lefkas, a beautiful two hours, with only one other boat in channel (it was now 4pm and most boats are tucked up for the day by this time). So, into Sivota Bay we went, tied up on the pontoon and had a lovely meal ashore, after G&Ts of course.

The following day we motor-sailed up to Abelike, on Meganisi, where ours friends had been sensibly sitting out the strong northwesterly winds for the past few days. It was good being in welcoming company again. However, more bad weather was forecast, and one of our friends was heading home for a few days, so a safe spot was needed for his boat. We all left Abelike and headed for Vlicho Bay, a well-protected bay, but does have its issues in certain conditions. However, we opted to put ourselves back on the Iris Pontoon (having checked they had space), and our friends made their way down to Vlicho. We stayed three nights, while the strong winds passed. Everyone was safe.

This was the first of the three weeks of forecasted weather... that became a reality.

Another of our problems whilst sailing around for the summer, is where to watch the F1 and Qualifying! We know of certain places who guarantee to show both events, and so we and Steve headed over to Alex's Pontoon on Meganisi again, hoping we could get to stay for two days, but to no avail, Alex’s was fully booked for Sunday, but we managed to watch qualify in comfort in her bar. But where to watch the actual F1. 

We know Iris is always booked on a Sunday, as this is changeover day for Sailing Holidays on the pontoon. We also knew that the next batch of bad weather was heading our way and we need a safe haven. So, off we went again, back to Vlicho. We can anchor safely in the northerlies, and watch the F1 at the Yacht Club. However, as David and I passed the Iris Pontoon, I spied two empty spaces. A quick couple of phone calls later, revealed they were ours for the taking – horray! We can watch F1, and if they don’t have a flotilla in tomorrow, we can stay safe on the pontoon in the bad weather. 

And my goodness was it bad weather.In the words of our friend Steve, it was biblical.

Weather warnings were issued by the Athens Met Office, torrential rain, storm after storm after storm. But thankfully, both us and Steve were safe. Now this is a first for us, and our friend, Steve. In September, there is always a storm (as there is in May), and in September, the storm always comes in the third week, from the south, and always, always at 3am! Here we are in June, and the, admittedly forecasted, but not normal, storms are arriving during the day, allowing us to sleep at night, and be rested for the storm the following day. 

In all, we stayed eight nights on the Iris pontoon, only being asked to leave when two flotillas were arriving. A very pleasant place to stay when the weather turns nasty.

The weather for Monday looked promising, in fact sailable! This is becoming a bit of a habit for us; this will be our fourth sail, that’s normally our annual quota!  

As agreed with Steve, we would head up to Preveza, catching the 1pm bridge through the Lekfas Canal, so we could stop and pay our deposit for our winter boatyard in Preveza. And, as forecast, the weather became a reality, and we sailed from the bridge up to Preveza, even down the channel into the bay. 

We managed to arrange a spot for both boats on the quay, and then it rained again, with thunderstorms going on around us in the mountains.

The following day, the weather conditions would not be comfortable to stay in Lakka; more strong north westerly winds forecast. They unfortunately come straight in the bay and can cause a horrible swell. A new plan was greed, we would head up the mainland and spend the night in Two Rock Bay, a bay, fifteen miles away, noted for its, yes you’ve guessed it, its two rocks. Although there are in fact quite a lot of rocks, but two predominant ones, hence its name. We had a good sail (yes, again), albeit we had some sail difficulties to contend with on route. 

However, upon our arrival at Two Rock Bay, we could see that the swell was making its way in to the bay, and it would be a very uncomfortably night. Change of plan. Right we will go up to Fanari Bay. This is a bay we visited back in 2013, when we went up the River Armounia (which supposedly leads to the River Stix, and the Ferry Man). 

Both boats find favourable anchor spots, and a BBQ is planned on Steve’s boat that evening... until of course the rain came and the thunderstorms appears, and it gets cold and I have to find my slippers, and then Steve reports he has a leak! It just keeps getting better. At least the sunset after the storm was worthy of a photo!

The night was tenable, if not a bit rolly, and Wednesday saw David and I motor over to Lakka, and Steve go all the way back to Preveza to get his leak fixed, he would join us when he could, were his parting words.

Lakka, on the island of Paxos is glorious, delightful, beautiful, and every other superfluous descriptive word you can find to describe it, when the weather’s good! We anchored in a reasonable spot, knowing we would move when a more suitably comfortably spot became available as people moved on. We knew we would be here a while as Steve has friends visiting on holiday. 



Lakka’s problem is its popularity, due to its beauty, and amazingly clear blue water, therefore everyone one comes here – wait til July and August when it get really busy! 

Having watched the local Port Police charge a large catamaran for taking lines ashore to the beach, and moving other boats away from the swimming area, and having had two boats get very close to us in the anchorage we decided to move to a better place the following morning. We then spent two hours driving around, dropping and picking up the anchor when we realised our chosen spot was not suitable. 


And then, as luck would have it, a boat departed from one of the most perfect spots for taking lines ashore. Quick as you like, we were in. Perfect. The next day Steve arrived with his leak fixed and we popped him along side us. Excellent. Now we can sit and watch the forecast and hope that the strong force 7’s and thunderstorms don’t become a reality...

Saturday morning, two spots on the town quay became available. Without hesitation, Steve grabs the first, and we grab the second. The positions are slightly awkward, and not very deep, so we leave Alhambra off the dock by a dinghy width and will use it to get ashore. We’re in, and we’re not going anywhere while the winds are forecast. 

Unfortunately, from Sunday through to Tuesday the forecast became a reality, and the rain fell, the wind blew, and the swell came in and we bounced and swung, and got rained on, and watched the lightening on https://www.lightningmaps.org. 

In these conditions, you don’t leave the boat, or don't go very far, you are constantly on watch and it is very stressful. Other boats are always trying to find a spot on the quay that doesn’t exist and ram their way in between boats (a boat along from us had a scratch all the way down one side from an ignorant Polish boat shoving its way in a space too small for it). It is at times like these when the words ‘living the dream’ are definitely not a reality. 

However, the beauty of Lakka shines through when the weather departs...

It is now Sunday, 1^st July and the weather has finally let up. We’re staying til Monday, so we can watch the Austrian F1 today, and then we will head up to Corfu. The forecast for the next five days is unbroken sunshine, but unfortunately no wind, so we won’t be sailing any time soon.

Everyone we have spoken to this season, sailors and locals, have all agree that June in Greece 2018 has not been normal. 

The Athens Met office put out a Red alert earlier this week, a state of emergency was declared in the northern part of Greece as the torrential rains have swept through villages and towns, agricultural lands have been flooded and are ruined for this year, and I have seen reports of at least three people killed who have been struck by lightning. When you read reports like this, you realise that although we had a stormy June, we have not had it as bad as some, and our livelihoods have not been ruined by nature. 

However, as we leave Lakka for Petriti on Corfu, we are greeted by a first in weather sights in our time in Greece - fog!

Let’s hope this is an unusual year, and not the way of things to come. Let’s hope this reality remains a forecast!