Will they make it?

Four college students onboard. One airport far from the boat. One crazy bora wind in the way. One determined skipper. Will they make it…??

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After anchoring for the better part of a week in stormy Cavtat, Sabática was ready to move. Her hot water was long gone, and our holding tank was full. So, we collected our son, Rory, and his college friends in Cavtat via UberDing, then hit the seas. Our aim was to head north to Korčula island then leisurely return south to Dubrovnik, much like we did with Laura but in only one week instead of two. That was the plan.

Our first night, we returned to the quiet cove of Plaža Pržina. The sea was not nearly as calm as the last time we were here, but the kids enjoyed the swim, sunset and star gazing. Our second night at anchor was back at Badija islet next to the monastery. This stopover included strolling the perimeter of the island, some gelato, red deer, bees, swimming, and more star gazing.

We next headed to the town of Lumbarda on the island of Korčula, docking at the marina so the kids could freely enjoy land and visit Old Town Korčula. We ended up staying there for two nights due to the arrival of a strong bora wind. We were seeing gusts of up to 50 knots. Boras are common in Croatia, and this was our first of the season. They typically last for 2-3 days, unfortunately. This particular bora was being fueled by a high pressure system over Croatia meeting up with the concurrent low pressure system spinning over Greece.

At this point, we only had three more days to get the kids back to Dubrovnik. At Marina Lumbarda, the boats are packed in tight and there is little fairway room. We couldn’t easily leave with the wind unless some other boats left first. The large catamaran between us and the bay was leaving, so we felt we had to seize the opportunity to exit the marina as well or risk being stuck for too much longer. 

Out in the channel, we took a chance to brave it and try getting to the other side in the shadow of the mainland. The kids were instructed to stay inside the boat as we battled gusts of up to 40 knots and crazy swell. (The predicted wind only showed gusts up to 30 knots.) The hope was that the mountains would provide protection from the strong winds and swell. We were proved wrong. After reaching the far side about an hour later and seeing the winds drop only to about 20-25 knots and the swell still too big, we had to turn around and head back to the cover of Korčula island. This decision was also driven by the fact that we still would have had more open water to cross, and Conor spotted the beginnings of a waterspout in front of us in the distance. No, thank you. We checked out the Badija anchorage again. Not protected enough. We dropped anchor in Luka Bufalo (near Lumbarda), where we had successfully anchored before with Laura. An hour in, we swung too close to shore and the wind was picking up even in here. Conor was not comfortable staying, so we braved the elements again to make our way around to the south side of Korčula island where we knew it would be calm. Sure enough, as we reached Uvula Pržina, the sea was finally calm. We still had about 15-20 knots of wind, but that is completely doable without swell. There were several other boats anchored there this time, so we weren’t the only ones with this idea. Defeated, exhausted, but finally able to rest.

Turns out, Conor didn’t sleep much this night. He was up at 3am, studying conditions, maneuvers, sailing tactics, etc. This was the third day of the bora, and the only real remaining challenge was getting through the gap between Korčula and Mljet islands. If we could just cross that 12 mile gap, we’d be clear of the bora. If we couldn’t, we had a back up plan – the kids could get on a fast ferry in Korčula to get to Dubrovnik where we’d set them up in an AirBnB until their flight. 

Skippy was pretty determined and felt we could make it. He had Sabática completely ready to go with reefing lines in and life lines out. We pulled up anchor at 8am to brave the seas once more. The winds were predicted to be in the 15-20 knots range. Of course, we saw them in the 20-26 range, with gusts up to 30 knots. The swell was around 2 meters high. (20 knots of wind would be great without any swell.) Today, we had to use the sails. The safest way to cross the gap was to do so as quickly as possible. The engines alone just wouldn’t be enough. So, with both the main sail and jib out and reefed twice (made smaller), we saw our ground speed up to 9 knots, averaging around 7.5 knots. Knuckles were white and our cores were tight as waves crashed all over the boat and reached both of us far up at the helm. We needed wipers for our sunglasses. The slams were big enough such that Rory’s cabin ceiling fell down. (Thankfully, he wasn’t there when it happened.) We were hoping the kids were sleeping through all of this, and if they weren’t, they were instructed to stay inside. We were generally safe, just not very comfortable. Truth be told, at one point Conor wondered if we should head back. We were both thinking that we were so done for this season and ready to be land-based. We only verbalized these thoughts later, though.

About 75 minutes later, we had reached Mljet and were through the worst of it. The sea started to calm down and the wind stayed below 20 knots. 20 knots wasn’t feeling so badly after dealing with 30! (Ideal cruising wind is around 15 knots.) We could start to breathe a bit more easily now. We’d done it. Actually, I give all the credit to Conor with his great preparation and skippering. It was the first time we actually had sails up in winds like that, so chalk that one up to experience now. 

We more calmly cruised all the way down to Dubrovnik, stopping at a peaceful islet nearby for a late lunch and swim break before anchoring for the night back in the river near the ACI marina.

The next day, the kids were able to enjoy a full day exploring the stunning city of Dubrovnik while Conor and I restored some order to Sabática. (She has never been this completely covered in salt and so desperate for a bath, but she’ll have to wait until we reach our next marina.) Rory’s friends met their taxi driver the following morning at 8am to trek to the airport. Whew. Mission accomplished!