Sailing Greece - Part 6

Thursday, 16.5.2019

After a peaceful night, it's time to continue our journey. The sun comes out in the morning, the sky is clear, there is no wind. We slowly count the miles to our home port by motor. The weather forecast shows that the maestral will strengthen during the day. Since it is finally warm and sunny, it's time to lie in the sun and enjoy. Timy sails past Šolta towards Rogoznica, the wind strengthens a bit, and it's time to raise the sails.

The closer we get to Rogoznica, the more wind there is, the waves are getting bigger, and it's time to trim the sails again, as the wind gusts are already reaching 30 knots. Since the wind of 25+ knots has been a constant for the last two weeks, it's time for a short stop and lunch in the shelter of the island of Jaz. While anchoring, we are also visited by the police and the captain's office, where they check our documents and equipment. During the stop, the wind calms down a bit, and sailing continues towards Murter. Finally, the sun shone all day despite the strong wind, so it was a pleasant and beautiful day. In the late evening, the wind died down and with the help of the engine, Timy sailed to the Kosirina cove on the island of Murter. The bay is large, with a sandy bottom, where the anchor holds well, and there were 5 other sailboats keeping company.

Friday, 17.5.2019

Timy leaves Murter and continues his journey past the Kornati Islands, Žut to Dugi Otok, where he needs to visit a shop for some essentials. We stop in Sali, where the port is empty and there is no one, apparently the weather is not yet nice enough for tourists. After a short walk around the island, we continue along the island and Rava, to the Dumboka Bay, south of Božava. There is a bunker dug into the hill about 100m deep, where we tie up to the side. The shelter is well protected against all winds, so the night will be calm. A hurricane-force south wind is forecast for tomorrow, so the next day we want to take advantage of the wind as quickly as possible and sail home.

Saturday, 18.5.2019

As the forecast indicated, the wind started blowing strongly right in the morning, which meant that we had to leave Dugi Otok as soon as possible and move on, because the weather forecast was again predicting rain and strong winds. After just 10 minutes of sailing, we had to shorten the sails, because the wind was getting stronger by the minute, and the reinforcements in the mainsail were already being tested by the previous wind. The wind direction was favorable, because Timy could sail with the wind. Storms started coming from the south one after another, so it was once again varied, everything was wet, strong wind and waves. Near Novalja on Pag, the maximum gust of wind already exceeded 54 knots, so we sailed into the bay with shortened sails, enough so that the precipitation at least mostly stopped. After a good hour and a half at anchor, we continue along the coast of Pag, past Rab towards Plavnik. The sailing speed is good, and when Timy reaches Cape Rab, the wind from the south dies down and slowly turns to a bura, but there is little wind, so in the evening we sail again with the help of the engine to Plavnik, where we drop anchor due to storms and wait for the last day.

Sunday, 19.5.2019

This time we wake up to the sound of rain, only 10 miles to go. During the return journey, the clouds slowly clear, and a ray of sunshine appears in between. Just the right time for the last opening of the sails to dry before heading home. After 21 days, Timy returns to its home port. During this time, Timy has sailed 1311 NM or 2428 km. The maximum measured wind speed was 60 knots or 111 km/h, and the maximum sailing speed was 12.44 knots or 23 km/h.