Expecting conditions to improve as we progressed westward, the initial wind and sea state was no surprise. However, as the wind lightened to below 10 Kts out of the northwest for most of the day, although it never turned north as predicted, the sea state got rougher, with short steep waves, which was not in any forecast. If anything, it was supposed to be calm. Regardless, we were beating to weather again making for a very uncomfortable and unpleasant motor-sail.
By 1700 nothing had changed; we were still beating to weather in very confused seas, increasing our frustration levels with the forecasting in this part of the world, but there was nothing we could do about it, except to soldier on. We did, however, wonder if the sea state was current or tide related or, if indeed, a weather system had developed to the north of us.
On the bright side, we had clear sunny skies, warm temperatures, plenty of ships plus one other yacht for company and we both managed to nap. In fact, Roy had a morning and an afternoon nap. It was a real shame, though, that we could see the air pollution on the horizon so clearly around us.
Fortunately, by nightfall, at around 2130, the seas had started to settle, although the wind backed to westerly at around 2330, which resulted in us motoring.
Another observation we’ve had about “sailing” in the Mediterranean is the lack of VHF radio etiquette. Besides the lack of protocol, we’ve heard people talking over each other, people chitchatting incessantly instead of switching to another channel, people whistling over the radio, playing music and burping, all on the hailing channel 16. We know our memories are fading, but we very seldom encountered this elsewhere during our circumnavigation.
Nonetheless, under a clear starry sky, with a waxing gibbous to light the way, we continued west.
