We Hate Catabatic Winds!

We left the wonderful haven of Linaria on Skyros to head towards Mykonos with the main goal of seeing the ancient ruins of Delos.  We were doing this 100+ nm trip in two hops.  (We are still very much day trippers here in the Med.)  Our first hop, Skyros to Batsi on Andros, was our longest to date on Songster, 13 hours and 68.5 nautical miles (Yes, this trip could be done in 1.5 hours on land in a car – such is the lunacy of sailing!).  The miracle in the Motorterranean was that we were actually able to sail the whole way!  The Mediterranean is a wonderful sailing ground in many ways – no tides, good summer weather, beautiful and plentiful anchorages – but the winds are usually too much or too little so that the window for perfect sailing winds is often very narrow.  But on our passage to Batsi we had that wind window and it was delightful.

Perfect conditions, lovely views

Since we arrived late we did not go ashore but the anchorage was very pretty and inviting.

Batsi, Andros

Early morning start

The next day the winds were predicted to be about 8 knots and we anticipated another pleasant sail.  Instead we received a baptism to some serious Catabatic Winds, notorious along the lee side of the islands of Andros and Tinos.  Catabatic winds or down slope winds are winds that swoop over the tops of mountains and come rushing down the other side (lee side).  They can reach gale force strength and are gusty and form whirlwinds so can be quite unpredictable.

Going along the coast of Andros was fine but by the time we reached Tinos the gusts along the lee side of the island were ferocious.  We were sailing with a handkerchief of a genoa sail out and still doing 5 knots with 20+ knots of gusty wind.  The waves were splashing up on the beam.  It wasn’t dangerous but it certainly was not pleasant either.  Some sailors thrive on this type of excitement but Bob is not one of them.

The chop, which never looks as bad in photos as it feels, off the island of Tinos

Our heavily reefed Genoa

But enough sail to keep us going along quite nicely

 

By the time we arrived at Mykonos harbour Bob was at the end of his tether and the harbour nearly did him in.  What a polar opposite to the helpful and well organised harbour of Skyros!.  Mykonos harbour is total chaos – Large ferries coming and going every few minutes, even larger cruise ships blocking visibility, yachts coming and going from every direction around a closely packed pontoons, crossed anchor chains, snagged anchors, charter boats everywhere with crew of minimal experience and a harbour master whose main function seemed to be to wave his arms and yell at you insisting you can only stay for one night.  (As we got to know the harbour master, Nikos, we found out he was really a very nice guy who has been put into an impossible position of single-handedly managing a totally inappropriate harbour.)

We tried several times to go stern to but with the wind against us, Songster just could not go backwards in anything near a straight line.  We eventually went bows to and deployed an anchor off the stern.  Not an ideal situation for us but our only option with the wind freshening in the harbour.  After spending an hour trying to get ourselves onto the pontoon after a fairly rough and uncomfortable passage Bob was definitely not a happy chappy!   

Okay, deep breath (and a strong drink).  This was an installment payment for all those beautiful anchorages, brilliant sunsets and wonderful friendships with fellow sailors.  Tomorrow there was another new island to explore.

Mykonos