Our second overnight crossing

A week after our first overnight crossing, we performed our second. I still need to report on things we did and saw in Italy in between, but I wanted to post this while it was still fresh…

We hadn’t planned on another overnight crossing, but a day or so beforehand, it became the best option. We are still taking all the weather windows we can as we are trying to make our way all the way to Licata, Sicily (our winter berth) and making the most of the time we have with Cuala and Olivier onboard, all while trying to get them to their exit point of Catania, Sicily. So, we prepped again for another long haul.

We left Leuca at 2:15pm with expected good winds (of 15-20 knots) most of the way, which we had. What we didn’t expect was the swell to be as big as it was (1-2 meters high). Bummer. Our goal was to make an even bigger trek than before – 127 nautical miles – and land at Roccella Ionica, which is in the middle of Italy’s toe. There was something kind of neat about sailing from Italy’s heel to its toe. However, this proved to be a more eventful journey than our last.

Within the first hour, we lost two things. First, we heard a smash on our starboard stern deck, only to figure out that our radar reflector must have fallen and flown down from mid-mast. The radar reflector helps other boats see us on radar. Not terribly important as radar isn’t used nearly as much as AIS (the Automatic Identification System which relies largely on GPS). More importantly, Olivier noticed that our port engine was showing no signs of life from our helm dash. No idea when it cut out, but we were down an engine. Cuala and I manned the helm while Conor and Olivier spent nearly three hours trying to troubleshoot. No luck. Conor called ahead to the marina in Roccella Ionica to let them know we’d be needing help docking once we arrived and we’d love it if they could find us an engine mechanic. They have been very helpful. They weren’t sure if they could find a mechanic on a Saturday, but they were going to try. Fortunately, we have two engines and our starboard engine, along with our sails, have been stars.

After several hours bobbing around in the engine locker, even Conor asked for a Dramamine. He was fine. I took a Dramamine preemptively this time and also cooked dinner early while it was still light outside. That all helped a ton. 

We took up the same shifts as our last crossing, so Conor and I started off until 11pm. We were making good progress with our one engine and both sails up and reefed. Still averaging 15 knot winds and 5.5-6 knots of speed. We had a warmer wind this night and a much cloudier sky. Stars appeared then disappeared. The Big Dipper made its appearance, strong and steady. We had a beautiful quarter moon that shown bright on the sea when it was out, though it was also mostly behind the clouds. What we did see was lightning storms on shore about 30 miles away. The watch was easier as we were not in a commercial shipping channel nor needing to cross one this time. We had several other boats out, though, and it was a comforting neighborly feel to see them on AIS and see their lights in the distance. 

Cuala and Olivier took over for a relatively uneventful watch just adjusting sails with drops in wind. We kept the sails up the entire night to get as much push as we could. The seas had calmed a bit by then too. Conor joined Olivier at 2am. On their watch, they experienced a bit more excitement. For some yet unknown reason, our first reefing line snapped. This sent the main sail out and it once again snapped a jack line that holds the sail bag up. They were able to contain the main sail, and now we were down to one engine and one jib sail. The lads also reported many more lightning storms in all directions. Fortunately, we never had to cross through one. Conor investigated the broken lines in the morning light and felt he could fix them handily enough once we were at port. 

I got up at 6:30am, though was not really needed as the sky was brightening and the lads had everything under control. Cuala was up at 9am, and during the morning the lads either took naps or drank more coffee. We were rewarded with a calm, sunny morning and finally a much calmer blue sea like we were used to seeing this summer. We hadn’t experienced easy rolling swell since we left Montenegro a week ago. We were grateful our one engine was still going strong and the jib was doing a great job as well. The wind kept up perfectly, so we were able to keep timely progress throughout the whole passage.

To complete our 23 hour journey, we had an interesting entrance into the marina. We had to head toward a shallow beach with beautiful turquoise water and crashing waves. Conor maneuvered the boat perfectly, surfing the waves and staying clear through the middle of the narrow channel to the right. He called in to the marina and requested a side dock tie as that would be easiest to manage with our single engine. They obliged no problem and helped us land Sabática safe and sound. We also learned that an engine mechanic was expected to come by this afternoon. Fingers crossed!

Conor said he learned a lot last night and was so relieved once we landed. We continue to learn from Olivier and are forever grateful that he and Cuala have been here to make all of this possible!