January 3 – 4, 2018 —
Two new hips in the span of a month and Sara was happily on the rehab. curve back in New London, New Hampshire which allowed me to return to the boat to get things settled for the winter. We would be rendezvousing in Barcelona in another month and this would give Sara just enough time to get fully mobile and me enough time to get some much-needed boat work done back in Kos, Greece.
Returning to the boat after a nearly 48-hour travel marathon, I cringed at the thought of another mind-bending storm like in September (see post: Safe and Unsound), as the winds were cranking up at the marina.
The warning signs were all there: Getting off the ferry in Kos at 0700, I witnessed the most dramatic red sky. Beautiful but foreboding (“red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”). Next came the “high wind warning” alarm waking me from an arrival nap shortly after getting back on board. Following that, was the e-mail from Sara: “are you aware you are having a meltimi this evening?” OK, I thought, the boat has been safely secured for two months without a problem but I will keep an eye on the weather anyway, probably just a run of the mill meltimi. But why the high wind alarm? I pondered. One doesn’t usually have a pressure drop ahead of a meltimi. Hmmm. Now I am thinking, is this going to be something really unusual? A perfect storm?
Checking Poseidon Weather again, I re-confirmed a meltimi storm this evening—but mild. No problem, I thought. Time to get something to eat. Walking back from the restaurant at 1900 the winds were really kicking up. I guess it is coming in a little early. As I rounded the corner turning south-east along the waterfront to head towards the boat, I was hit head-on with really strong winds, not to mention the big seas coming ashore along the walkway. This isn’t a meltimi. Now I get it; we’re having a southern storm, a dreaded Sirocco. That explains the high wind alarm—Poseidon got it wrong. I hurry back to the boat to recheck the lines, and see what Poseidon was saying now. As I log onto the internet the winds are building and the boats were starting to really move around a lot. Kos marina is well protected from most storm events and all the docks are behind a sea wall, but the southern storm is the one weakness. The large seawall doesn’t block the winds, and when the seas get really big they crash over the top, nailing the boats. This usually happens about once every other winter. Just my luck.
As I get connected to the internet, we were being shoved into the boat to our starboard, and the dinghy which is lifted on the halyard is becoming a risk. What do I do: we need lines to other boats but unless conditions are desperate the marina does not permit setting foot on unattended boats. No one is around: no one to get access to boats, and no one to help lift the dinghy back on board. Let´s see what the forecast says now: same thing—that’s odd. We are having a southern storm; Posiedon says we are having a meltimi. Things are slowly getting worse, winds are now consistently 40 to 45 knots and there is a lot of movement, fortunately not much surging.
As I am contemplating my situation and trying to figure out what to do save the boat the winds start to lessen. Interesting… Within an hour we are down to 30 knots and by 0200 it is nearly calm. By 0400 I am sleeping peacefully and by 0600 we are in a full blown meltimi! Fortunately, Kos Marine is well protected from meltimis and just as the forecast said, it was mild and short lived.
The moral to this story is forecasts are usually right, it is often the degree and timing that can be off. Don’t fall into the trap of second guessing the forecasters. What we had, appeared to be the makings of a southern storm which seemed to get pushed out by the fast moving meltimi. I was tricked into thinking the storm was over, and the forecasters got it all wrong. It was also fortunate that it was a meltimi and not a Sirocco. In the Med, I will take a meltimi any day.