Into the Gulf of Corinth

We left Mesolónghion at lunchtime on Friday 15^th August, planning to sail to Návpaktos, about 25nm east, which had been recommended by Nicky’s father and is also highlighted in our pilot book as one of the nicest ports in the gulf. Unusually, by the time we got to the seaward side of the canal there was already 9kts of wind from the southwest and so we killed the engine and got sailing under full main and poled out genoa.

The Gulf of Patras meets the Gulf of Corinth at the mile-wide narrows, over which stretches the Ríon-Andírrion Bridge, apparently the world’s longest cable span bridge.

It is 2252m long and was completed in 2004. Bizarrely, despite the seeming convenience of the bridge there is still a very busy vehicle and passenger ferry service operating between Ríon and Andírrion with ferries seeming to cross every 15 mins; we’d have to time things to dodge the ferries just after going under the bridge. Our pilot book and chart said that we should call Ríon Traffic on the VHF radio for clearance to transit under the bridge when we were 5nm from it. We did and were instructed to go under the southern span ‘with 3 pylons to port and one to starboard’.

As the Gulf narrowed, the wind increased and we were surfing down the waves. To keep things completely under control going under the bridge we decided to reduce sail by rolling away the genoa but we were still sailing at 6 knots as we approached the bridge and made another radio call to Ríon Traffic at 1 mile to get our final clearance to go under the bridge. Looking left and right we could see old forts built to control the gulf at its narrowest point.

air draft of 15m? Not enough for us

The span under which we had been instructed to pass was shown on our chart as having an air draft of 15m (which is the minimum under the span), though our pilot book, and Ríon Traffic, assured us that the maximum air draft was 25m. We decided that we would go through our allocated span but as far towards the left as we could to give us maximum clearance. If the span is 15m at the low point on the right and 25m at the high point on the left we reasoned that anything left of centre would work for our ~20m high mast.

Hit or miss???

Despite the information from Ríon Traffic and our own calculations about the clearance, going under bridges is always a little nerve-wracking and this was no exception. Happily, there was plenty of space for us; it’s just a shame that it never looks that way in the 5mins before you actually get under the structure: it would save a lot of wasted heartbeats!

Once we were through and into the Gulf of Corinth the wind continued to increase rapidly. It was still coming from the southwest and blowing straight into the entrance of the small harbour at Návpaktos, our intended destination. If there were no space in the harbour, or if there were too much surge in the harbour for mooring safely, the only option would be to anchor outside or go on somewhere else. Unfortunately, there isn’t really an anchorage conveniently close to Návpaktos town which is protected from a southwesterly. On balance we decided that it would be better to give Návpaktos a miss this time round and to carry on another 12miles to Nísos Trizónia, where we could be assured of shelter from the wind.

We altered course and had a cracking sail with the wind increasing all the while. After half an hour we took in the first reef and, despite not having unrolled the genoa after sailing under the bridge, we maintained over 7kts all the way to Trizónia, and were frequently surfing down waves at over 9 knots SOG.

We rounded the southern tip of the island and could immediately see the marina from the huge cluster of yacht masts. The marina itself is not really functioning – the moles and the piers are solid enough, and have sufficient mooring bollards and rings, but the services (electricity, water and lazy lines) have not been installed. There are warnings that off the piers, and running parallel to them, there are heavy chains on the seabed to which it was intended that the outer ends of the lazy lines would be attached, consequently, most yachts moor alongside the piers. At night you need to be careful walking along the piers to avoid falling down open manholes where it had been intended to position a water or electricity supply point!

There was relatively little space when we arrived so we took one of the few options available to us and moored alongside the southwest mole, on the inside of the harbour. The wind was blowing us on when we arrived and the following day it blew even harder and held us against the mole even more strongly. To protect BV we put out all our ‘normal’ fenders and also got out 2 of our very large inflatable fenders. Happily, there was little fetch so we were in very still water, which meant that BV didn’t move around too much and wear away at her fenders on the very gravelly side of the mole.

Trizónia is lovely: very peaceful (even with the wind screaming through the rigging as it blew up to a Force 6 in the well-protected marina) and with lots of lush green vegetation around the shores.

The village is small and sleepy and definitely a quiet tourist-type place with lots of tavernas and only a tiny mini-market for provisions. Though plenty of yachts overwinter in the marina, it seems that most shopping for provisions is done in the nearby mainland town which is only a short caique ride away.

With the wind blowing us onto the quay strongly, we decided to stay for a second night, rather than try to fight our way off against the wind and BV’s propwalk, so we spent the day exploring and catching up on jobs and the blog. In the evening we bimbled ashore for a beer in one of the tavernas, all of which were incredibly lively [Ed, where does everyone come from in the evenings? It’s always busy in the tavernas in the evening but very quiet during the day.]

Trizónia