The challenge of cruise planning

Today we want to share with you a part of sailing life that is often overlooked. We’ll take you with us on our week, which constantly had to be replanned because of the weather and ultimately ended unpleasnt.

Our original idea was to sail all three bays of the Peloponnese and rarely sail more than 20-30 nm to the next stop. That has now been cancelled. The beautiful early summer is taking a break. The temperatures are cooler and it’s raining a lot of sand. We could wash down our boat every day.

Our main issue, however, is the forecast 40-54 kn wind (approx. 80-100 km) in the part of the Peloponnese where we are currently travelling. Coupled with a swell of 2 metres – that’s a lot in the Mediterranean and unpleasant because of the short waves.

two weather models, same time same place, speed in knots

The weather reports in this region are of a particularly poor quality, we might as well be reading tarot cards. Nowhere else were the models so far apart and changed so quickly. Double or triple the wind speed from one model to the next is the rule rather than the exception. Not ideal for trip planning. But this time all the models agree: it’s going to be dark red to black on the wind charts. Friday is the full programme, we have 5 days to move to calmer waters.

Around Peloponnes, left wave, right wind

A boat is slow, even if it feels different with full sails. We usually plan to cover 50–70 nautical miles in daylight, depending on conditions and length of daylight. That’s why any non-masochistic crew needs to plan ahead. And this is what our week was like:

Saturday

We are moored in Kalamata Marina – at the northern end of the first bay of the Peloponnese – and see a lot of dark red and black in the weather forecast, starting on Friday. That means a lot of wind at 45 knots+ and high and short waves in our current location. In the worst case scenario, we have 160 nm ahead of us to get to safer waters. As things stand today, that would be Navplion in the third Peloponnese bay. Navplion looks spared in all models. Crete and Milos will also be hit, so there’s no point in heading to the Aegean sea. The alternative: stay in the (still) sheltered marina in Kalamata for another week – or pedal to the metal — or rather, sails up and full speed ahead. But then we would miss many places or only visit them briefly. We decide to leave the berth and set sail tomorrow.

Sunday

The weather forecast remains unchanged. We therefore cancel our first destination of Limeni, 25 nm away, when we leave Kalamata and save a day. Too bad, it’s supposed to be beautiful. We set course for Porto Kagio, 50 nm away, at the entrance to the second bay of the Peloponnese. This is just under a third of the maximum distance and keeps our options open for alternatives. Porto Kagio is a beautiful and sheltered bay, albeit not a harbour – as the name suggests – but a picturesque anchorage in the current conditions. Kagio was on our list anyway, but for a few days. In 4-5 days, the peaceful bay will probably turn into a boiling pot.

When we arrive at around 4.00 pm, there are 4 boats in the bay. 5 more arrive later. We have good holding and enjoy the impressive mountains around the bay, with plenty of fortresses and small villages. We have a mediocre dinner in a restaurant that was unjustifiably praised on Navily, but with the most beautiful view. With the winds still light, we turn round 360 degrees several times during the night. It remains a calm night, with a little rain. Unfortunately, it has to stay one night and an extended visit to the shore has to be cancelled, a shame for this beautiful place. We have to move on.

Monday

Where to from Kagio? Plan A is our next getaway destination Gythio, in the north of the second bay of the Peloponnese. Plan B remains Navplion, 110 nm away in the third bay. Four days to go. The weather update makes plan A obsolete, because now the north of the second bay is also dark red, 45 kn wind and strong waves, with undisturbed fetch from Libya, 230 nm away. That promises rodeo.

We skip the second bay and head for the island of Elafonisos, 30 nm away. Our anchor drops in the dream bay of Fragko. It would be paradise in summer, with sunshine. Perfect anchoring sand, soft beaches, clear water, completely secluded and a nature reserve. 5 ships anchor with us for the night. It hurts the sailor’s heart not to be able to experience this beautiful place in good weather and for longer. It would easily be good for 3 days.

As the day draws to a close, we see the good news that the bad weather peak has been postponed until Saturday. Friday is just a prelude. All we need to do is arrive somewhere safe on Thursday afternoon. We now have three days for 90 nm. We can now even plan a second night in one place. But it won’t be Elafonisos, because we want to remain more flexible.

Tuesday

The weather has changed again, Friday is again the peak day with up to 54 knots and Saturday with 42 knots. It seems the strong wind is settling into a groove — 30 to 40 hours, give or take.

There is no plan B this morning. We decide in favour of Monemvasias, 30 nm away. A special place on the western side in the south of the third bay. There we are at least out of the roughest swell from WSW, because we are ‘round the corner’. Only 1.50 m waves are forecast here. That makes quite a difference compared to 2.00 metres.

We arrive around 1 pm and quickly decide not to anchor but to moor in the harbour of Gefira near Monemvasias. It’s actually just a few concrete jetties without water and electricity, but we don’t need that anyway. Incredibly, however, the mooring costs nothing. Free of charge. Thank the EU, because it financed this harbour and because it’s not finished yet, nothing can be charged. I would be surprised if it was ever finished. Other sailors also check the weather and so the harbour is pretty full.

Wednesday

We are moored alongside in the harbour, apparently protected from the open sea. Our plan is to anchor a further 30 nm north in the bay of Leonidi on Thursday. 8 weather models are now predicting winds of between 35 and 54 knots – optionally from different directions. Kalamata, which was spared on Sunday, is now fully in the wind field. At least it was a good first decision not to stay there.

According to the forecast, Leonidi is expected to be spared the strong winds, but the cape value (thunderstorm and lightning activity) is very high.

We use the day to visit the old town of Monemvasias. The lower old town at the foot of the mountain is a real gem and reminds me of the old town of Kotor (Montenegro). You can only visit it on foot and we hike all the way up the mountain. If you have good shoes – it’s very slippery – you can climb the mountain and visit the Upper Town, a ruined city with the Hagia Sophia church and an unrivalled view over the rest of the world.

The next weather forecast confirms Friday as the peak day. Saturday should be calmer and the wind forecasts for Friday are also more moderate. However, Naplion – our original destination – is now also in the wind. The situation continues to ease and only two of the 8 weather models are above 50 knots (ICON7 and ICON13).

We talk to a few locals from the village of Gefira and they say the harbour is a safe place and everything is easy. Anyway.

Thursday

Change of plan: we stay in Gefira harbour. Saturday is predicted calm – just one more day to blow the dust off the boat. Our sailing friends Camilla and Tom decide to head north. Apparently it doesn’t matter what we plan anyway, because there is a weather model with pros and cons for every possibility. And they also change every 6 hours. If we had stayed in Kalamata, we would have lost a week, paid a €770 mooring fee and still ended up in the wind. If we had gone to Navplion, we would have been caught by the wind – as it stands now. We believe the assessments of the locals, who are still very relaxed. There is still little wind, but it is spooky with sand clouds, the sky is low and ochre-coloured. The clouds announce ‘weather’, its Scirocco time.

Friday

The first gusts come during the night and we rock on the mooring. The mooring lines and fenders creak, we have 10 hanging on the starboard side of the dock.

The wind is constantly shifting, but in the morning it comes in at a maximum of 20 knots, it should be much more. But the swell has increased considerably and is already above the maximum forecast by midday. That’s worse than wind. It’s choppy in the harbour basin and our mooring lines are earning their keep.

upper left: Thursday afternoon, rest: Friday morning

Mateo, sort of our harbour master, promises calm waters in the harbour basin in the afternoon when the wind changes – ‘like in a pool’. Nothing could be more wrong. Later, I’m annoyed that I believed him.

We go for a bite to eat in the early evening, that turned out to be a serious mistake. The wave in the harbour has now reached 3 metres. A clown had obviously planned the wave protection in this place, because the breakers crashed unchecked into the harbour. Our neighbour Andrea comes to fetch us to the restaurant. The Rivercafe is riding a rodeo on the jetty.

Rail Away

First 3 fenders are destroyed, then our railing poles break. We have to stretch support lines in the dark to get the Rivercafe away from the dock. But we can only do that now because Andrea has moved his boat next to us. In the dark of night, in the bubbling water and with the Rivercafe pitching, we deploy two 30 metre long lines and reattach the fenders. At least this way we keep the Rivercafe a bit away from the dock. Sleeping at night is out of the question. At 3.00 am, breakers are still rolling in, completely flooding a waiting shelter on land. It’s a nightmare. It’s noisy and pounding until the morning. Then, in the course of the morning, the haunting ends.

Mateo obviously has a guilty conscience because he immediately organises a metalworker to take care of our railing. It will take a week to repair the damage. That’s how long we have to stay in this harbour. And so the free of charge harbour turned out to be a particularly expensive one for us.

Ka`s processing of a terrible night

In the end, we only had half as much wind as forecast, but more than twice as much swell. The weather forecast is really helpful when it says things like: it might be more or less windy, swell somewhere between 0 and 5 metres, and everything else is just… somewhere. Of course, it might also be completely different. I think we’ll cancel the expensive weather services and getting ourselves a canary. / Holger Binz

P.S. More on the last three destinations in the next report.