Get onboard for all the action of our Mediterranean crossing! From lightening storms to dead calms, breakages, repairs and surfing 20 knots… it was an adventure filled with ups and downs!
We picked up our Pogo 12.50, Hermes, in Greece just outside of Athens and headed north to transit the Corinth Canal and cut out some miles of going the southerly route. That’s when the peaceful, easy journey ended and all hell broke lose.
Our second night out in the Mediterranean, we encountered a massive lightening storm, which resulted in 65+ knot winds, 3 crash gybes, a mainsheet injury for Meg and ended with a seasick-ridden night on a sea anchor. But we survived just to encounter another storm the second night, luckily not as bad, but with lightening striking 100 feet from the boat!
A couple days later we made it to the boot of Italy and pulled into the Sicilian port of Messina for some much needed refueling and recuperating… and pizza!
We departed from Sicily into strong headwinds, yet enjoyed a solid 7-8 knots upwind… well not really enjoyed due to all the smashing into waves, but the speeds were at least getting us somewhere. Then we finally got our wind shift and really enjoyed surfing up to 20 knots in 25 knot winds!
But nothing ever stays the same, and we had a day of motoring which led to our discovery of an oil leak problem in our diesel engine. Luckily just an easy o-ring swap out in Gibraltar fixed the problem!
A couple of other challenging scenarios had us letterboxing our A2 when the sock wouldn’t come down and we were approaching a squall with 30 knot winds… but as they say, ‘A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor!’
All in all, an amazing first adventure on Hermes, some awesome sailing and great problem-solving onboard during this Mediterranean madness! Of course all this was accompanied by a solid crew, Meg and Morgen have been enjoying our time with our first Ocean Racers crew – Tom Gayford – who joined us way back when for the O Canada refit in Vancouver. Love when things come full circle!
At time of posting, we are in Gibraltar getting prepared for Hermes’ first ocean crossing (and the crew’s 6th… or 10th… who’s counting?!). Stay tuned for the next adventure, subscribe to our YouTube, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates at sea!
Check out the full adventure video below!
Hi, Sailors: Have a good trip and wish you all the best. We are watching your progress on-line.
Talk to you soon.
Love, Grammy Phil and Opa.