sailoppopotamus
Active member
As it turns out, we'll be participating in the Ionian Rally this year, so we'll end up in Katakolo, Greece on the 6th of August. Crew and I are somewhat unsure of where to go to next, and one of the ideas I've floated is crossing over to Italy. The way I see it there are basically two ways of doing this: (A) Head North to Corfu, cross to Brindisi, or (B) Cross directly from Katakolo to Siderno or Sicilly.
The boat is 30ft, we have VHF, AIS, EPIRB, no life raft, no MF/Navtex/satellite coms. Crew of 3-4, all relatively inexperienced. No holding tank.
Plan (A) minimizes the maximum distance from safe harbour. But we've seen most of the Ionian already. Also, without wanting to sling mud at the place, Brindisi is perhaps not the finest Italy has to offer, so we'd probably try to go south along the coastline from there. I have my reservations as to whether it's a particularly scenic journey, and it seems like ports and anchorages are quite hard to find along the way (a typical day sail for us is 30-40 miles at best).
Plan (B) seems to take us straight into the more picturesque cruising grounds. We'll also have to sail non-stop for nearly 300 nm, something which we've never done before (or even close, a 60 nm motorsail is the longest passage we've done so far). Personally, I think this is more appealing than finding ourselves "in Italy" and then having to struggle to get south with sparse stopping points. I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of being so far from land without a liferaft, so I think I'd buy one in time for the journey. On the other hand, it's only a 2-4 day trip, so weather forecasts should be somewhat reliable, and we have the luxury of time to wait for a favourable weather window.
I'm just curious as to what more experienced cruisers would have to say about this.
As for the bureaucracy: (i) Is the lack of a holding tank likely to be a realistic problem in Italy? (ii) I have a Greek 'skippers' license, but no ICC certificate or any other internationally acknowledged qualification. Are either of these points likely to be a problem? The boat is flagged in Greece.
The boat is 30ft, we have VHF, AIS, EPIRB, no life raft, no MF/Navtex/satellite coms. Crew of 3-4, all relatively inexperienced. No holding tank.
Plan (A) minimizes the maximum distance from safe harbour. But we've seen most of the Ionian already. Also, without wanting to sling mud at the place, Brindisi is perhaps not the finest Italy has to offer, so we'd probably try to go south along the coastline from there. I have my reservations as to whether it's a particularly scenic journey, and it seems like ports and anchorages are quite hard to find along the way (a typical day sail for us is 30-40 miles at best).
Plan (B) seems to take us straight into the more picturesque cruising grounds. We'll also have to sail non-stop for nearly 300 nm, something which we've never done before (or even close, a 60 nm motorsail is the longest passage we've done so far). Personally, I think this is more appealing than finding ourselves "in Italy" and then having to struggle to get south with sparse stopping points. I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of being so far from land without a liferaft, so I think I'd buy one in time for the journey. On the other hand, it's only a 2-4 day trip, so weather forecasts should be somewhat reliable, and we have the luxury of time to wait for a favourable weather window.
I'm just curious as to what more experienced cruisers would have to say about this.
As for the bureaucracy: (i) Is the lack of a holding tank likely to be a realistic problem in Italy? (ii) I have a Greek 'skippers' license, but no ICC certificate or any other internationally acknowledged qualification. Are either of these points likely to be a problem? The boat is flagged in Greece.
