Sat 22 Jun – A seriously gusty Delfini Beach

We left the tranquility of Fikiada bay and set off north up the west side of Kithnos. The wind was forecast to build from the north so we wanted to reach the tip of the island before that set in. Motoring into a headwind is no fun. After an hour or so we rounded the corner, set the sails and turned towards the northern tip of Syros. Both the wind and the sea state started to build and soon we had large waves on the beam and gusts of 30 knots. We tucked in the 3rd reef and continued on our way, with big waves soaking us as they splashed over the bow. The joys of sailing a small monohull. 🙂

Our chosen anchorage was Grammata and when we arrived we were pleased to be in calmer waters, although there were gusts still rolling off the hill. We’d read in the pilot book that this used to be a haven for big ships in storms dating back to the 1500’s and relieved sailors have inscribed words of thanks along the steep cliff edges. We were looking forward to seeing them but unfortuantely it wasn’t to be. The bay was pretty narrow and we couldn’t get the anchor to set properly so we needed to find an alternative place to spend the night. After a lively sail it’s always a bit demoralising when you need to set off again in search of somewhere new – so near and yet so far!

We continued down the coast and within a few miles found Delfini Beach. Although it was gusty there was plenty of room amongst the other 4 cruising boats so we set our anchor and were pleased to have finally landed. With Bini packed away we went ashore and walked up the hillside to watch the sunset, it was gorgeous.

After sitting on a couple of sun-beds watching the night set in we went back to the boat. We’d just got back onboard when the gusts started, and these weren’t your usual blows. They were what we can only describe as vicious! The wind went from 10 knots to >30 knots, lasted about 10 to 20 seconds, and then totally disappeared. Very bizarre. These continued all bloody night. Although we were still sitting a decent distance from our neighbour, he wasn’t on board. We also had much more chain out than he did so with every gust we were inching closer. We were in no danger of dragging, or getting dangerously close but needless to say neither Tom nor I got much sleep that night.