Journey to Malta

Friday November 22, 2024

It’s time to leave Greece, and what an amazing time we have had. We have been in Crete for almost a week and we have been looking at the weather everyday, trying to determine the best weather window for our upcoming 400nm journey to Malta. The last thing we want to do is beat into the wind the whole entire 4 days, so we will try to time our trip so we are either on a beam reach or a broad reach for the majority of the time. It looks like we have an opportunity but will have to travel northwest a bit and then tack to go southwest as the wind changes direction. It looks like it will be a very windy trip, with winds estimated to be get to 25-30 knots. We think it’s still manageable.

So, we start with two reefs in the mainsail and a full genoa. The day so far is quite nice and we are making good speed and getting more west than we thought we would. Mike and I settle into our routine, he takes the 7pm to 3am shift and I take 3am to11am. As usual, the winds should build overnight, so before I went to sleep, we put the third reef in the main and begin reefing the genoa as needed.

The wind definitely increased, as did the seas. It was a rough first night and sleep was only a wish that wouldn’t come true. When I relieved Mike at 3am, the winds were well over 20 knots. We were heading up the southwest edge of Kithira, pinching into the wind. If the winds didn’t change, we would be able to just clear a large rock off the shore. About an hour into my shift, the wind suddenly changed and had moved more northerly, and we ran into a squall. This was not good. I was now heading straight for that big rock, and winds were suddenly increasing. I had no other option other than to tack, earlier than we had planned. As I prepared to tack I pulled in the port side genoa sheet so it would be nice and tight when the genoa moved over. Earlier in the day, Mike had taken both sheet lines off and turned them around. To my surprise the bowline knot he had tied in the port side sheet had worked its way free, so as I was tightening the sheet it just kept coming and soon I was holding the end that should’ve been attached to the sail. Ok Cheri, think fast. I can’t take the genoa all the way in because the clew would be too high on the furled sail for me to reach. It was reefed to storm sail size so I decided just to tack and let it backfill. That rock was getting dangerously close, and the squall….the squall!

Once the boat was turned and the genoa backfilled, I could see that I could easily get to the clew, which was now right at the mast. By easily I meant in theory only. I would still have to go out onto the deck from the fly bridge with pouring rain, 25 knot winds and rough seas, tossing us about, in the dark. Sure, no problem 🙄. Well, it had to be done, so I put on my big girl pants and my lifejacket (well I already had that on) and crawled out onto the deck and, on my hands and knees, made my way to the mast. I held onto that thing for dear life while I reattached the sheet line to the clew, then crawled back into the safety of the fly bridge. I set my course, trimmed the sails and headed back downstairs to dry off and warm up.

The high winds were creating a 3 knot current that pushed us sideways, so even though my heading was west, we were mostly going south. This is not going to get us to Malta anytime soon. But it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, now we have to play it.

The winds continued to build all day Saturday and before we knew it we were right in the middle of gale force winds reaching 40 knots. In retrospect, there’s no way we should have been out here. Honestly, we got a bit cocky. We had made it all the way down from Thessaloniki to Crete traveling in 25-30 knot winds without any problem. What we didn’t account for was the seas and the fetch. Island hopping our way down Greece, the sea was broken up by islands so the seas were never able to get very big, but here there is hundreds of miles of open water for the wind to cross, so the seas are huge and violent. Mother Nature put us in our place. A lesson that will not soon be forgotten.

Poor New L’attitude was taking a beating, as were we. The sea was tossing her around, not like a 20 ton boat, but like a ping pong ball. For the first time, things were being tossed off of counter and walls, nothing was safe. I felt like we were in a monohull. Again, there would only be hope of sleep tonight. And poor Stella, she was so scared that all she could do was shake. As we lay in bed, I put one hand on her, hoping to provide her some comfort. Eventually she exhausted herself with fear, and when I got out of bed for my 3am shift, even though it wasn’t any calmer, Stella was finally able to sleep.

Sunday brought hope of a calmer day. The winds were supposed to decrease throughout the day. Fortunately they did. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, the winds were back down into the 20’s and the seas were subsiding. We were finally able to clean up the messes and assess the damage. During the night, the boat had taken a huge kidney punch to rear starboard side. Everything on the shelf next to the bed catapulted across the room. Upon further inspection, we discovered that the shelf had been torn away from the outer wall and broken clean in half by the blow. I think we will have to remove the whole wall now, to make sure nothing else is broken.

I think that was the only damage we had. We were lucky. Mike gave the boat a much needed fresh water rinse and she now looks like nothing ever happened. The remainder of Sunday was fantastic. We had 15-20 knot winds on a broad reach, with moderate seas. What a difference from yesterday. As Sunday came to a close, we were able to sit back, thank Mother Nature for the lesson and for sparing us, and enjoy the beautiful sunset we were given.

Tonight there would be sleep, well deserved sleep.

Throughout Sunday night, the winds continued to decrease and before the night was over, the sails were put away and the engines were brought to life. No more wind, light seas. It was now time for Mother Nature to sleep. We will be in Malta sometime tonight. It was not the journey we planned, but we will never forget it or the lessons, nonetheless.