69 hours, 301 nautical miles, average speed 4.36 knots
Accountant Ashley has a spreadsheet for all this as well as miles since last oil change and miles per litre!
Rounding the north end of Cephalonia we met the tail end of the swell from the day before, a little uncomfortable and looking back on it now, a doddle compared to what would come.
The first day and night passed fairly uneventfully, a little sun, a shower or two, light winds in the right direction. Oh and a little swallow visited twice, both times flying inside the boat, becoming confused and then flying out again.
The second day out we were doing well, so well in fact that we decided to head for Malta instead of Sicily, it really seemed possible.
The wind stayed just of our starboard bow so with full sail we were flying along at 5 knots, lovely. Dolphins visited on several occasions, a couple of boats passed and life afloat went smoothly UNTIL…………
When I came on watch at 6am-ish on the third morning Ashley wondered about reefing in. The wind had increased quite a lot and we were heeled over.
After a little debate we decided to stay as we were and make the most of it; mistake!
No sooner had Ashley nodded off than the wind increased, Otto (autopilot) struggled and cut out a few times due to weather helm…..he couldn’t cope. I decided to reef down, clipped on and made my way forward. After wrestling around with both foresail and main for the next half hour, sweating buckets, who needs a gym, I finally got everything running smoothly and most importantly Otto happy again, thank goodness,
Later that morning we were visited by about 8 little dolphins playing in the waves and 
surfing around the boat. Rufus and Anya got up to see and I went forward to take photos where my poor camera and I got slapped by a wave, much to the amusement of the twin teens. hope my camera survives the dousing.
As the day wore on the wind increased and our new wind speed indicator topped 32 knots at one point, that’s Force 7, more than enough for us. The swell had increased a lot by then and things were getting pretty uncomfortable.
On Ashley’s watch he was forced to lay-off which would mean tacking to Malta.
What to do? We really wanted to go to Malta, BUT tacking into a Force 7 is horrible and almost impossible in a wee boat like Rowan. Our speed had dropped dramatically and we had the engine on to help.
By late evening we decided that, despite our huge desire and sterling effort Mother Nature had other plans and we had to concede and let the Malta idea go for now. Boo hoo!
Heavy reefing
Where could we go though? The nearest port sounded too difficult to enter at night plus not somewhere we wanted to get stuck plus we couldn’t make it on one tack so Syracuse was the answer.
It’s no joke making that sort of decision late at night in big seas and strong winds but even more so because it would take six more hours to get there!
There was nothing for it though so off we headed. By this time we were heavily reefed down and getting pretty wet, all the leaks showing themselves again, yuck.
We knew we had made a good decision when we saw lightening flashing through clouds right where we would have been going.
By now the wind was a steady Force 7 gusting more than that, at deck level. Bigger boats may have kept going but for us out in such an open sea seeking safety was the best option. Later that day we discovered that the ferries to Malta had been cancelled because of the bad weather; if they couldn’t go?!
Steaming light reflecting on the sea at night
4.30am saw us tied up safely in Marina Yachting in Syracuse, and very, very glad of it too. Manoeuvring into the berth had been a little challenging and I actually began to shake; tiredness and adrenaline taking their toll. It took me three attempts to throw the rope to the guy on the pontoon while Ashley held us onto the boat next door and then sorted out our bow lines.
I have never been so glad to get to bed in all my life!
Rufus and Anya, by the way slept through the whole thing, oh to be a teen again.
