Next Stop Greece… Lets go!
Wednesday, July the 15th – 23:00 – St Maria di Leuca / Italy
Le Castella to Crotone yesterday, Crotone to St Maria di Leuca today. The trip yesterday was only about 20NM but since it was beating to windward at F4 – F5, it took a while. We arrived in Crotone at 18:00. The trip to St Maria di Leuca today was longer. 75NM. We had to start early in the morning (06:30) in order to arrive before 20:00 and get a chance to look for a replacement bottle of Campingaz before we leave for Othonoi and Ereikoussa, the two first little islands in Greece where we will drop anchor. When we left, just at the entrance of the harbour where the depth was supposed to be 3+ meters, the boat suddenly stopped. We had run aground on sand. The harbour had silted up at the north side of the entrance. With some effort I managed to turn the boat 90 degrees facing to deeper water and finally got free again. Lesson for today: NEVER trust harbour plans!
Most of the sailing today was close hauled at F4 to F5. With the main and the genoa hoisted, we had a bit too much sail up from time to time and the bulwark was often under water. We were constantly making more than 6 knots through the water which is quite good for that point of sail. Then I saw some water sloshing above the floor at the walk through to the front cabin and thought “oh… not again!” I tasted and it was salt water. I checked the bilge… it was dry (uffff….). It wasn’t much fortunately but it was salt water. Where was that coming in again? I wiped up the salty water and dried the area in order to check where it was coming from. It was the anchor locker. There is a leakage and we were taking in about 500ml per hour. There was always some water coming in there depending on the point of sail but it has never been that much. Anyway, this is another thing I would have to check after arrival at my final destination but fortunately, this does not present any safety issue.
Santa Maria di Leuca 1
Santa Maria di Leuca 2; Matilda in the background