If one this is for sure about the after season and the weather regarding to it, it is that it can get pretty unpredictable. Where until really the end of September the weather was super stable in the Mediterranean, all of a sudden that changed as the remnants of the hurricanes on the Atlantic passed over Europe bringing their own types of problems with that.
Now normally when you are in a house and stormy weather is predicted, you just make sure that everything outside is secured for a bit or at least dry.
One a sailing boat, well I can tell you it doesn't work like that.
There is this fine line in where it almost feels better to wait out a storm on the water, but when serious wind gusts are predicted that also doesn't seem like a good idea.
Then being in a harbor sounds like a better idea, but there the issue is that there is a concrete wall behind the boat and also you are reliant on your anchor and what you neighbors have done to secure their boat.
All these factors, well....they don't always make it all easier.
Secure
The first thing to be aware of is that when being out on the water and you are on a sailing boat, that means that you have a gigantic electrical current catcher pointing out into the sky waiting for lightning to strike in it.
Of course there are precautionary measures for that to make sure that when lightning strikes you, that not everything gets fried on board. Because in general it won't be you getting fried as you are not grounded to the earth when you are on the water.
But there is a lot of electrical stuff on a sailing boat as well, and when that stops working life is not getting any easier.
That means for us it was time to make sure we were in some kind of sheltered bay before the weather system came rolling in.
And it is always funny how fast this goes. Because literally 10 minutes before these pitch black clouds came rolling in, I was still swimming in a next door bay in the warm sea when the sky really started to turn more than black.
Time to head home to check everything.
Super local
But as you can see these weather systems can be a super local disaster, while literally 1 minute further down the sun is still shining and the color of the water is stunning with the pitch black clouds as a back drop.
I had a text from someone who was 5 miles further down (more in the direction of the black sky) who was experiencing the downpour from the sky as if there was no tomorrow.
And by us? It stayed sunny the whole time, not a drop of water, while you could hear the thunder rolling in and seeing flashed everywhere. But when counting they were never any closer than 3 kms away, which is a decent distance to be secure.
For me in a moment like this there seems nothing more reasonable to do than have a drink and wait out the situation and see what happens.
That is also exactly what is kind of a bit of the weird thing about storms and boats. Because on the one hand everything in your body tells you that you don't want to be on board on a boat when weather starts to turn south.
And then on the other hand, when you are not on the boat you don't have the option to intervene on any given situation that might need attention for you or you neighboring vessel.
Because that is what you do there. You also check if the neighbor is still fine especially when they are not there and maybe lend a hand wherever necessary.
Here you can see for instance that there is very decent tension on the anchor lines, but what happens when the wind all of a sudden comes from the side and dragging the anchor while it loses its traction and stability. You really are all in it together when being next to each other and the shore line.
And the thing is that it is predicted where in general the wind comes from during these storms, and you base your choice of harbor or bay on those kinds of winds. As does everyone else as well.
So these places are magical and just scary at the same time.
But just look at those colors. Isn't this exactly something that almost looks fake because the colors are so vibrant?
Well that is also boating life. I love it!