Safety First

The sail out of Turkey and into Greece truly made me realize the importance of respecting the power of the wind.  It also made me understand why Dad has me carry a pocket knife in my pocket while we are out sailing.  (I did not have to use it thankfully, but it was super clear how easily a line could get wrapped around anything ranging from my hair to my arm and the importance of being able to cut myself free.)

The second half of the Dardanelles was amazing.  We had about 20 knots of wind pushing us from behind, we had a 4-5 knot current pushing us along and at one point the Pipedream was going 10 knots over the ground which is a new record for this boat.  Now with the 4-5 knot current it was really only going 5-6 on its own, but it was still impressive to see the double digits on the screen. 

I was taking a nap when we actually exited the Dardanelles and could feel a difference in the swell down below.  It had been building up with the meltemi (the storm like winds that blow through the Mediterranean during the months of June – August) and was pushing us from behind which made the boat roll from side to side rather than go through the swell from the front.

We had the full main up, the jib out and the auto pilot began to get cranky.  A combination of wind and wave would push the boat off course and the auto pilot literally lost control for a few seconds and would make a lot of squeaking noise to get it back on course.  At this point Dad decided it was high time to put a reef in the main and take the head sail in a little bit.  We managed, with a lot of yelling and holding on, to put a reef in the main in 27 knot winds.  A reef probably should’ve been put in at around 20 knots of wind, but we were being lazy and waited and as a result had a much harder time accomplishing the goal.

The second time I really understood the power of the wind was when we wanted to take the head sail in.  We had a full jib out because there was no wind at all and then all of a sudden, wham! It came out of nowhere.  There was too much wind for the big sail at that point and when I released the sheet (the line that controls the sail and tells it which way to go out and how tight) the sail went crazy!  Dad was trying to roll it up with the control line that is supposed to pull on the roller furler, but nothing was happening.  He went up to roll it by hand while I was trying to keep enough tension on the sail that it didn’t hurt anyone.  The sheet was whipping through the air and dipping into the water and then as the wind would catch the sail it would snap out.  It kept coming towards the cockpit and wrapping around the winch handle while the sail was moving all over the place.  This is one of those situations where the line literally acts as a whip and managed to knot itself.  Watching it one can only imagine what would happen if your arm or hair got in the way.  Not to mention it took a lot of strength to keep it around the winch and part of the cleat I was using to steady it.  Nobody was hurt or in any real danger because we did pay attention and used the boat safety tools we had learned along the way, but it was an eye opener.

By the time we made it to Limnos we were ready to stop.  We anchored on the southern side of the island, Ormos Ay Pavlou, and decided to save the final 10 miles until the next morning.  We toasted to being in Greece which an Efes which felt sort of wrong, but knew would have an official toast the next day on land.