Mediterranean - can it get really nasty?

[onesea]

Personally I would say NEVER underestimate ANY stretch of water

Water depth, currents, lee-shores, fetch, cross seas, wave length just about every sea has its dangers for almost any boat...

They might be different but they are there

It might be a duck punt in a Canal (nothing personnel Dylan) but in a force 8 you would you really want to really be play?

 

[nickf]

If you think the Mediterranean is benign, look at this video, from November last year, of a very sudden tornado in what, until then, was thought to be one of the safest anchorages in the Mediterranean, :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSB8zE-guFs&feature=player_embedded

Note the wind direction in the early section of the video and that the wind blows right to left and at 2: 55 as it changes very dramatically and swings 180°, a classic sign of a tornado!

Was September not November!!

 

[westernman]

The weather in one of our regular cruising areas:-

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/cadaques

 

[Neil_Y]

Yes, in my experience shorter steeper seas as they build quickly. Much harder to sail into and make progress than the larger ocean swells and this was within 100miles of Corsica and Italian coast. Further out the swells will develop, I've had some good surfing on the North coast of Majorca some years ago.

 

[MapisM]

Another example.

 

[MissFitz]

If you want to know about Med weather this book is fab:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mediterrane...0683/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328005887&sr=8-1

Might scare you off ever going near it tho - F6 & over 20% of the time in the Golfe de Lion in winter...........

 

[binch]

Med bad weather

I was once mate of a salvage tug based in Malta.
There was plenty of work to do standing by aand/or assisting big ships in trouble north of Cape Bon.
We had to toww in a large cargo liner who had her bridge pushed back onto her poop.
I think much of this damage was due to the reluctance of merchant ship masters to ease speed so as to be in tune with the wave formations. This used to be a necessary precaution in the days of low-powered ships and sailing ships. It is a precaution that seems to have been replaced by "plough on regardless."
Actually much the same applies in cruising yachts.
And in racing yachts, oh yes. Better to arrive safely.
Work with the sea not against it. It will always win in the end.

 

[binch]

And another thing

In a different part of my professional career, I was navigating officer of HMS Cumberland (the old 3-funnel job)
Ordered to proceed with utmost despatch ( full power) one night from Genoa to Gib, we did so and did £2,000,000 worth of damage by morning.
That is what a mistral can do to a 10,000 ton ship at 32 knots.
You do have to do some daft things in the navy. It teaches you a lot.

 

[haydude]

I haven't sailed much in the Med, but as others have said bad conditions can happen there. But, I would say there are differences between the Med and the middle of the Atlantic.

Distances are shorter, so you are more likely to have a reasonable weather picture for your whole trip before you leave port. You have the option of remaining holed up if you don't like the forecast. Not so in an ocean crossing - you will have to deal with what you get.

I am afraid your perception, common to those not experienced with the Med, is one of the reasons why most get caught out.

As already been said, the Med is the theatre of brief and violent storms. The morphology of the territory surrounding the Mediterranean basin not only is the cause of these storms, but also what makes predicting them very difficult because in the worst cases these are local phenomena caused by microclimatic variations.

With some experience however one can see the signs and anticipate what is coming. Hot, windless and sticky summer afternoons near mountains are the prelude to spectacular thunderstorms with storm force local gusts exceeding any possible forecast.

The sea too can get nasty in these cases with steep and short waves.

As a general rule: beware of sailing near mountains, and watch out for humidity (abnormal high) and pressure (sudden drops) when anchored near mountains.

 

[Roberto]

some pictures

a couple if impressive pictures of bora wind in the Croatian side of the Adriatic, fetch is basically zero, one wonders if a person could even breathe in the middle of that

more pictures here

http://www.crometeo.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6826

 

[binch]

Med winter

Nevertheless, bad weather in the winter is ten times more likely than in summer.
Another aspect is cold.
During the gregaale in Malta (it starts off as the bora in Yugoslavia) you can get temperatures close to zero (C)
People often forget that the Med has all sorts of weather and if going to sea in small vessels you will need all the precautions and gear applicable to the North Sea.
Of course this hardly applies to a Sunsail holiday where you never navigate further than a heaving-line's throw from a taverna. In case you get lost.

 

[MissFitz]

Of course this hardly applies to a Sunsail holiday where you never navigate further than a heaving-line's throw from a taverna. In case you get lost.

But it's worth paying attention to the weather even in August, or you could find yourself dragging your anchor in a surprise F8 in the middle of the night & spending the rest of it motoring round in circles with a dinghy flying madly over your head. Not, of course, that I would do anything so daft as forget to check the forecast - at any rate, not twice........

 

[CHKIWI]

Look at this

I say just get me home
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=T4FIS1FnOQg

 

[Lakesailor]

I remember reading somewhere a truly horrific tale about a large cat which inverted in the Med some years ago, and there was only a single survivor. Worth reading, sorry I can't remember any more details. It made me realise that the Med is not all sun and fun.

Erm.........You can read it here Shhh!