crossing Messina strait

[dar]

Plan to sail in June from Catania to Aeolian islands through Messina strait,

Would like to know some tips about streams, current , tide and nevigation

dengerous.

Thanks
Ami



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[Neal]

I\'ve been through just twice....

both times heading North. I certainly would not pretend to be have specialist local knowledge.

The first time we went through, I scared myself silly beforehand, having read about Charybydis and visualising huge whirl pools, strong currents and sudden gusts of wind. I studied Heikell's Italian Waters pilot and carefully calculated tides.

When we got there, I really didn't notice any tide or current at all, not a single whirl pool was spotted, and we shook out our two reefs as we beat up the Straits.

The biggest excitement was when got to the Northern end on a Saturday - the speedboats, dinghies, speedboats, ferries, container ships etc make the Solent on a summer's weekend look deserted. Keep a sharp lookout!

Second time through, last August, was similar.

Certainly, if you want to see whirl pools, I'd recommend leaving the narrows of Strangford Lough at full ebb rather than go to Sicily.

Or maybe we were just lucky?

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[Sybarite]

Re: I\'ve been through just twice....

I can echo that about Strangford : the Routen Wheel can be spectacular. As a kid I didn't know about it and went out through the narrows in a dinghy with an outboard. It was dead calm and I couldn't understand why there was a tidal bore in front. I then saw that it was a whirlpool. I turned away from it to starboard, ran about a 100 yards and.... ran out of fuel in the o/b ! I had spare with me but that was my first and most memorable scare in boating.

The local boatman told me about a 70' engineless ketch, many years ago, that got caught in it - the lough sides are quite steep-to and there can be a windshadow. The crew, to try to stabilize the boat, dropped anchors fore and aft. The boat continued to spin and snapped the chains.

John


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[RichardPerou]

All pilots are written to scare you. I suppose it's an ACE. Treat the Straits as you would any tidal stream. Pick your time and keep a good lookout Plenty of eddys and a lot of fishing boats.

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[Roberto]

When you come near Messina call the port on vhf and ask about tide timing, otherwise look at

http://www.oloturiasub.it/correnti.htm

it can be a bit like gulf of Morbihan entrance, and worst is when the wind is against the tide of course.
Going north, if you have the tidal stream with you it is like a champagne cork, as it has been said be very careful with the zillion boats/ferries around; just keep in the middle of the strait.
If tide is against you, head to the 3m bathimetric line on Sicily side, there is a countercurrent called "bastardo" (sic) running in the opposite direction which will help you go north.

Yes there are swirls, we once were shooting south with 25kt north wind and southern current, spinnaker etc and one swirl made the 8ton boat make a full turn around herself; but I agree that the worst thing to worry are ferries

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