Crossing the straight of Messina, the aftermath.

51.4 knots!

Crossing the dreaded straight of Messina was easy. However, as we went through the straight the wind build from just a few knots to a steady 46 knots. That is 1 to 9 Beaufort, in the span of 3 hours. Needless to say that the anchorage just downwind the straight, which had looked very nice if we would have the predicted 3 Beaufort would be untenable now.

The blow set a new record, with strongest gust recorded of 51.4 knots, with a good average of 9 Beaufort going. Time to reef! The Genoa had been reefed down to the last reef, just a handkerchief really. Time to reef some more. This time the Bimini top.

SaltyPaws was doing just fine in the 9 Beaufort. On the way to the new anchorage we had selected we spotted a beach with clean sand, downwind a cliff. In no time at all we had Excalibur down in 5 meters of very nice clean sand, connected to 50 meter of chain. On anchor, the average wind had significantly dropped. However the wind was gusting between 3 and 8 Beaufort. Now is not the time to worry about whether the anchor is big enough. With the knowledge of Excalibur holding in an unbreakable grip, and the anchor alarm on, just in case¹ we had a very good sleep. Any dragging, our failure of the anchor system would have blown us out to sea, where we would have plenty of time to recover.

Excalibur withstood the test, and by some time I woke up and the wind had calmed down to a steady 2-3 Beaufort. We set sail in the morning in a very smooth and calm sea. I checked the bridle, and while it has stretched some, I deem it fit for one more storm anchoring session. We did not know at this time, but this one would soon come.

1It is not Excalibur I am worried about relinquishing his death grip. I am more worried about the bridle rope breaking, or some of the pins of the harps coming undone.