When your sunny Greek charter goes wrong...

[alexincornwall]

I see this this amateur video is doing the WWW rounds. Some fairly shocking seamanship going on here but for all of their inexperience, I actually reckon they did alright!

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

The weather in the Ionian and in particular the Aegean can change very quickly so it is good to be able to understand local weather behaviour and able to read the sky and the horizon before things get bad. Turning round and taking shelter behind an island is a very viable solution; in most cases, the wind drops within hours.

 

[38mess]

Very scary. When even atheists say a little prayer.
Our first charter in Corfu in 2013 was hit by a short 'storm' it only lasted for about 45 minutes but we had gusts of over 60 knots, we were on a bav 49 and heading back to gouvia marina about 20 miles away, I was skipper and had a novice crew.
I could see a black cloud at sea level coming from the mainland, we quickly got the sails in and then it hit us, large waves first, then wind, then rain and lighting.
Rain so heavy that the sea was flat and as dark as night, the boat was heeled right over under bare poles. I sent everyone below. One of the older guys started to panic and insisted I head for land but I was heading out to sea to keep away from land.
After an eternity we could see the blue sky in breaks in the cloud, then it was gone and we were back in bright sunshine, everyone laughing and smiling. Scary while it lasted

 

[Praxinoscope]

I would have insisted that everyone on board donned their life jackets and perhaps lifelines Would have been sensible.

 

[st599]

When I was a charter skipper out of Athens, saw a similar storm rip through.

Myself and a Swedish skipper had refused to leave dock in the morning. We had a nice walk on the beach, a BBQ lunch, then sailed as the wind had dropped from 45 to 20. Beautiful sail. Arrived at the next flotilla party stop - it looked like the remnants of the Spanish armada.

Two Dutch crews hadn't even reefed as the didn't know how.

 

[mjcoon]

Very scary. When even atheists say a little prayer.
Our first charter in Corfu in 2013 was hit by a short 'storm' it only lasted for about 45 minutes but we had gusts of over 60 knots, we were on a bav 49 and heading back to gouvia marina about 20 miles away, I was skipper and had a novice crew.
I could see a black cloud at sea level coming from the mainland, we quickly got the sails in and then it hit us, large waves first, then wind, then rain and lighting.
Rain so heavy that the sea was flat and as dark as night, the boat was heeled right over under bare poles. I sent everyone below. One of the older guys started to panic and insisted I head for land but I was heading out to sea to keep away from land.
After an eternity we could see the blue sky in breaks in the cloud, then it was gone and we were back in bright sunshine, everyone laughing and smiling. Scary while it lasted

Did you remember to put all mobile electronics in the oven? Or was everyone else praying to their nearest and dearest?

 

[st599]

Very scary. When even atheists say a little prayer.
Our first charter in Corfu in 2013 was hit by a short 'storm' it only lasted for about 45 minutes but we had gusts of over 60 knots, we were on a bav 49 and heading back to gouvia marina about 20 miles away, I was skipper and had a novice crew.
I could see a black cloud at sea level coming from the mainland, we quickly got the sails in and then it hit us, large waves first, then wind, then rain and lighting.
Rain so heavy that the sea was flat and as dark as night, the boat was heeled right over under bare poles. I sent everyone below. One of the older guys started to panic and insisted I head for land but I was heading out to sea to keep away from land.
After an eternity we could see the blue sky in breaks in the cloud, then it was gone and we were back in bright sunshine, everyone laughing and smiling. Scary while it lasted

Had similar bringing a boat back across the channel, forecast 14-21 bright sunshine, actual 55 with thunder and lightning. Took about 15 mins to change.

 

[38mess]

Did you remember to put all mobile electronics in the oven? Or was everyone else praying to their nearest and dearest?

I don't know what the crew were doing as they were quite elderly, and I sent them below as it was very difficult to stand up on deck. Didn't want to practice my mob drill in those conditions.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Not sure what went wrong ... did the furler on the Genoa jam or did they simply leave too much out to the point where they were overpowered and couldn't roll it in any more?

Looks like they lost it completely in the end and it unfurled.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

You don’t have to be in the Med. Firth of Clyde, Sigma 41. Glorious sunny day, blue sky, light winds, full sail, No 1 Genoa out drifting along. What’s that some one comments? Looking up to windward was a line of white horses heading to us from Loch Fyne. They took their time and we realised that they were still far away but were large. Then the wind hit and the boat was pinned down flat after rounding up. We managed to get the No 1 down, main No 3 reef in and working jib up with a reef in that. Blistering reach up the Clyde still in blue sky with no clouds, about a F8. One of my crew had a fused spine, after years of a degrading illness and was very crooked shaped. A marvellous crew member who crawled up the high side, slid down to leeward, and then helped man handle the No 1 and secure to the leeward guard rail.

 

[Sailfree]

For all their inexperience would anyone have done anything different?

Difficult to know potential actions without knowing position and options.

They did head for the lee of an Island but had the boat heeled due to beam wind.

 

[lustyd]

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[steve yates]

Surely you only get katabatic winds in proximity of mountains and high ground?

 

[Mr Cassandra]

To be fair most of the weather is due to katabatic winds in the Ionian so it's pretty predictable every day even if it does change from calm to storm in 5 seconds

Would you explain your reasoning ?
Thanks

 

[lustyd]

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[Mr Cassandra]

When I've been there the weather was essentially the same every single day. Flat calm with maybe a F1 all morning then about 3pm all hell breaks loose for a couple of hours, and then a calm evening. It's the reason it's popular for watersports because you get consistently strong winds when you want them while also being able to have a pleasant holiday in the sun. For yachting it's less ideal because you'd generally want to be tying up by the time the winds arrive.

In case it was katabatic you were asking about, that's the effect of hot sun on high hills and during the afternoon the air cools and falls down blowing off shore. It's very consistent.

Intesting, So if let's say we are 10 miles south of Antipaxos at around 2 _3 in the afternoon . And the wind gets up to its regular f5 6 .Is this a katabatic wind ? Or just a word picked up from the Ionion water pilot

 

[lustyd]

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[glynd]

Not sure what went wrong ... did the furler on the Genoa jam or did they simply leave too much out to the point where they were overpowered and couldn't roll it in any more?

Looks like they lost it completely in the end and it unfurled.

Right from the start it looks like they had far too much genoa out, with the main reefed quite far in. (About 00:18)
Wind picked up more, and the the furler clearly jammed as so much force on it

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

To be fair most of the weather is due to katabatic winds in the Ionian so it's pretty predictable every day even if it does change from calm to storm in 5 seconds

Its true during tourist season and for a few miles from land, but for the rest of the year it is frequently rough and very rough, especially in the South Ionian and in the Aegean.

 

[lustyd]

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