Lefkas Canal

[artemis07]

Last week I was moored on the wall at Lefkas(awaiting repairs) and started chatting to a "flotilla crew". They had just come through the northern entrance. They had been following the lead boat which, according to them, went on the wrong side of the red buoys and came to a very quick stop, they did likewise. It's always a sudden stop when you hit concrete!

The entrance seems narrower and the sand spit longer, or am I getting older? There is evidence of extensive dredging and the depth is fine as long as you stay close to the sand spit.

 

[macd]

It beats me why so many boats seem to have a problem with the N entrance. It's dredged...by the crane which one can scarcely miss on the a sand spit. The crane never gets its feet wet and it's jib(?) allows a reach of no more than 15 metres (I've measured it). Therefore the dredged channel is no more than that from the spit. So not only keep the red cans to port, but keep them a long way to port.

 

[noelex]

The channel needs better marking IMHO. There are regular groundings. With a strong northerly blowing there is potential for a serious accident.
One difficulty is the shallow visible gradient of the isand spit suggests, incorrectly, that it will be shallow in the vicinity.
Its only possessing the knowledge of the dredging method that the true situation is clear. Many of the boats passing through the channel are charter vessels, with no such local knowledge.

 

[duncan99210]

If the charter companies were switched on, they'd warn folks about keeping close to the spit. We've been through the canal quite a few times now and it's always a bit worrying but there is actually always plenty of water under the keel.

 

[Chris_Robb]

When the wind is from the north west the port hand buoys drift out beyond the huge concrete blocks on the bottom - depth around 1.5 meters. A very hard stop!

 

[sailaboutvic]

Our rudder draw 2 mts as well as our keel so we need to be very carefall at times we found no more then 0.3
Under us going thought there , three weeks ago while we was in the port police office I ask the question who is responsible for the red buoys ? I wished I never asked I was past on to no more the 9 different guys all saying the same thing , nothing , people need to know at times the red cans are out of the channel so keep well away from them .

www.bluewatersailor4.webs.com

 

[macd]

The last two editions of Heikell's Greek waters pilot have shown the same aerial photo of a group of yachts rounding the spit. The entire group is way too far south, a point made by the caption in the latest edition, but not its predecessor.

 

[Borden]

Running on to the Putty!

We've been through the northern entrance several times now and drawing 2m with a 47' boat we do it carefully and slowly. Our depth gauge usually shows 0 at some point but as it's zeroed to 1' under the bottom of the keel there's plenty of room .There is advice in the pilot books about keeping close to the spit so I don't understand why folks choose to take it wide and I've seen boats taking the N entrance of the canal at crazy speeds too. Simple logic says that if you have a choice then it's better to run aground on sand rather than concrete. The other maxim is, if there is a chance of running aground then do it slowly, you'll get off again without much drama. I learned to sail on the East coast in Essex and Kent where it's not unusual to 'touch' now and again so why be so paranoid about touching the bottom so long as it's soft?
Finally, remember the Med isn't tidal so the water around your grounded boat is going to stay exactly where it is unlike UK coastal waters where it's far less considerate.