The dreaded straight of Messina.

Entering the straight of Messina after our crossing from Corfu, Greece. Notice how flat the sea is at this point.

Road on the mainland shore

A myriad off ferries crossing our path

Container ship next to an electricity pylon. The pylons do not serve a purpose anymore, today, but have been declared a national monument.

In the famous journey that Odysseus took on his way home, from a long battle of Troy, he went to visit most of the Med. The monsters Scylla and Charybdis that he needed to face are probably premised on the dreaded straight of Messina, the little straight between Sicily and the main land. Notice the phonetic similarity between Sicily and the monster Scylla. Apparently the straight was narrower in antiquity, and in any case, any straight with strong winds that needs to be braved without the engine can turn out to be very dangerous indeed. In preparing our trip, we have not been looking forward to the crossing of the straight, as the prevailing wind is against our direction of travel, unpredictable eddies have been reported, an a dense shipping traffic.

However, our crossing through the straight turned out very un Homer like. When we arrived at the straight of Messsina, we found we had favorable condition's, and decided to cross straight away.

With wind and current in the back, and very little in the way of shipping traffic we breezed through. And as a good omen, we saw a dolphin in the middle of the straight.

The current through the straight can be over 2 knots. However, there is always a counter-current, and hence you can always use the current to your benefit. When the main current is through the straight, the counter current is close to the edges (less than 500 meters from the sides). Fortunately the straight of Messina is quite deep, even very close to the shore. This means that when the current is with you (which we had for most of the crossing) you want to be inside the official shipping lane, following the direction of traffic. When the current turns, you want to hug the edges to catch the counter current, and this has the added benefit of the fact that no tankers¹ go this close to shore².

When we entered, there was hardly any wind, and we had to run the engine. The more we proceeded into the straight, the more the waves and the whitecaps were building. There is nothing wrong with waves and whitecaps, as long as they are experienced in the back. Soon no wind at all became 5 Beaufort, and just on the genoa we were running a steady 6 knots over ground. As the wind kept picking up, so did our speed over ground. The target is to be on anchor at Marina Grande di Scilla, at 1600, as the current changes at this time.

As per usual Italian custom, the official procedure is a bit vague, and one can be fined for not calling in with the port authorities, even if the website of said authorities mention that checking in is not required for vessels under 45 meter. Since the fines reported are 2000 euro, we decided to check in via a simple phone call. A very friendly official told us about the currents of the day, and at which point to check in again via VHF. The ferries that we saw were closely spaced, close up, and clearly outnumbering us. However, we never had to stop or move out of the way for a ferry. Perhaps the traffic control was so kind to arrange this?

Other than the ferrys, ferrying people and whatnot from the mainland to Sicily and back, and perpendicular to our course, we didn't encounter much traffic. A container ship, a warship and a superyacht, all going in the opposite direction.

Whereas the crossing through the Messina straight went easy as the proverbial pie, the same cannot be said about what followed next. Stay tuned for part 2 featuring the strongest wind SaltyPaws has faced yet.

1I consider any big industrial vessel a “Tanker”. By the time you can see the function of the ship, you are too close for your own benefit. The same hold true for navigation lights of Tankers, when you can see the Red/Greed color of the navigation lights your are too close. The colors usually begin to show at around 2 and a half nautical mile. Cruise ships are exempt from the tanker rule, as they are lit up like the busy shopping and entertainment area that they are. Usually these lights overpower the navigational lights until you are very close indeed.

2And if they do, you better make sure you are nowhere near, as there is no good reason to end up as a footnote in a major news item.