Day 1 - Corfu (Kερκυρας) to Mourtos-Sivota (Μουρτος-Σιβοτα)

Sunday, September 26
Travel time: 6 hrs, Distance: 23.5 nm

The rain continued throughout the night. We awoke to a dreary, windy day. It was blowing outside the harbor, and all the boat captains considered whether it was "doable." David Kory had left the previous day, and the other eight boats in our flotilla were still in harbor.

Leaving Corfu

Do you really want to go out into this gale?

After taking quick showers, seven boats, including us, departed Corfu in the rain. After about 30 minutes we heard a call from the first boat, which had left about a half hour ahead of us, that the winds were 30-40 knots and waves were 4-6 feet. After consultation with the crew, we continued onward.

We raised our mainsail and motor-sailed since we were going into the wind. Having the sail up gave us a little more speed and stabilized the boat.

Yep, after about 20 more minutes, the waves did increase and the winds picked up. We saw four boats turn back. The skippers of those boats announced that their crews were getting seasick. Two boats were ahead of us, and kept going.

Sailing the waves

The weather was not scary. It did take close attention to negotiate the waves and keep the boat from pounding in the wave troughs. One could steer 3 to 4 waves well and the next one would come in from a different angle and we would hit the bottom of the trough with a "BOOM" sending a shudder through the boat. But everyone was still cool.

"It was a dark and stormy..."

On the bright side, the air temperature was warm and the water even warmer. When a wave came flying across the front of the boat, found the narrow slot between the dodger (spray shield) and the bimini top, and hit the helmsman straight on, it was nice to be a little warmer for awhile. Luckily, Mike and Kelli brought their tropical foul weather jacket and pants, and Kevin had a water-resistant jacket. Even with the warm temps, after awhile of being wet, we did get cold and kept adding layers of pants, under jackets, and then fleece.

Kelli steered for the first two hours (12:00 p.m.), then handed off the helm to Mike for the next 1.5 hrs (1:30 p.m.) By then, the winds were bouncing between 35 and 40 knots and we decided to reef the main to slow the boat down (we were indicating 9 kts.) (A back step for a side note: On the Moorings boats, when the mainsail is lowered, it gathers in a "stack pack" attached to the boom. On our boat, there was a hole at the front of the pack and one of the fiberglass rods was poking out a little when we got the boat.)

So, as we tried to lower the sail for reefing in 30+ knot winds, the sail was blowing all over the place. The sail wasn't going down enough to reef (another Moorings maintenance issue) so we raised the sail. Then we saw it... the tear.

Someone's having a ball!

The mainsail had a tear from the first batten down to the second, about 4 inches from the leech (back edge.) Great.

The main needed to come down, so Kevin and Mark donned PFDs, safety harnesses, and tethers and moved forward to stand at the mast and pull the sail down. With that done, and everyone wet, we motored on with bare poles.

Then the winds eased dramatically. It was pretty sudden. At 2:30 the sea was nearly flat and the winds were 7 knots! Kevin took over the helm and we motored south heading towards the mainland of Greece. Time to find a harbor for the evening.

Calmer seas

Kevin and Kelli in the rain

We had been navigating toward Igoumenitsa, a ferry port on the mainland opposite the bottom of Corfu island. Mike and Laverne were in the cabin researching harbors. Laverne read the Greek Pilot description of Igoumenitsa and decided we should find something a little more "charming." So Mike and Laverne browsed the Pilot for another harbor and picked Mourtos, a small village on the mainland adjacent to the Sivota Islands. Mourtos was an hour south of the ferry harbor where two of the other Tradewinds boats were heading according to the radio chatter. A vote was put to the crew who voted unanimously to press on to Mourtos.

After passing Igoumenitsa it started REALLY raining! Captain Kelli claimed that she had never seen it rain so hard. The sky opened up. It rained like this for almost an hour with the rain bouncing off the ocean surface creating a mist about 6 inches high. And the sea remained flat. Very strange.

Med mooring

We got to the Mourtos harbor at 4 p.m. and the winds were 10 knots. Hmmm... 10 knots of wind for our first Med (Mediterranean) mooring. But on the bright side, the rain had stopped.

Didimos Med-moored against the quay in Mourtos

Med mooring is a method of parking the boat where you start backing the boat up to a quay, drop your anchor, continue backing, tie up the stern to the quay, and use the anchor to keep the boat perpendicular to the quay. This little maneuver is not used much in the United States. But it is used, naturally, all over the Med. We decided to just sit outside the harbor, look over the situation, and plan a strategy.

Poseidon was watching over us. The winds calmed, we motored into the harbor and did a very good first Med moor. When we arrived, there was one other sailboat in the harbor -- David Kory, the owner of Tradewinds, with his Moorings catamaran Tonina. David helped us with our stern lines, the anchor was holding, and we shut down the motor. A couple other sailboats, not in our flotilla, arrived shortly.

What a trip, what an experience! Everyone was happy and Mourtos-Sivota seemed to be the perfect place to stop. We double checked to insure that Didimos was secure and walked to one of the nearby tavernas for a celebratory Mythos beer.

Our first Greek port town

It was nice to get off the boat for awhile and wander around town. Mark and Laverne went off to scope out a restaurant for dinner, and Kevin and Sue searched for a hardware store and pharmacy. Kelli and Mike searched for and found an umbrella. It was probably the only one in town. It was interesting to note that the shops were packed with summer items -- beach towels, sunglasses, beach toys, sun dresses, and sunscreen. The storm had caught everyone off guard.

Mourtos-Sivota was our first introduction to the delightful, waterfront towns of Greece. Cozy harbors, med mooring against a quay, and cute villages and friendly locals within 20 paces. Every town has a grocery store, pharmacy, bakery, and many tavernas (cafes.) Most had water for the boat and many had fuel.

We had dinner at a small taverna with wonderful service. We enjoyed our first traditional Greek meal, with the minimum four bottles of wine, and the rain started again and came down in sheets several times. The restaurant owners knew that we were interested in the weather, so when the weather report came on at 9 p.m. they called us into the back room and translated for us. Geez, it is going to rain for at least two more days. The storm made big news on the local station with footage of Corfu that afternoon with waves crashing over the breakwaters. Gosh, that's where we were when we decided to go sailing...

Relaxing after the first day

After the Mythos, the surprisingly good Greek wine, and a good meal, the contemplation and discussion of the exciting day led us to name our crew Team Sivota after the truly wonderful spot, not on our original itinerary, that we had found. We had not turned back, we had handled a gale (well, almost a gale), we had med-moored successfully, and we had landed in an incredibly picturesque spot. Moreover, Kevin regaled us with stories of what had happened here millennia ago at the Battle of Sivota. For the rest of the cruise, we were Team Sivota.

We all finally got warm, took showers, and were in bed at 10:30 p.m.