Between a Rock and a Wet Place

0A67 MALTARADIO WRNG NO 515/08 MALTA CHANNEL SHIP M/V MAYSTAR LOADED WITH ABOUT 3000 TONNES OF LOGS SUNK IN VICINITY PSN 35-40.05N 15-13.03E MARINERS ARE WARNED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT FOR ANY FLOTSAM WHEN NAVIGATING

It’s comforting to know that Malta radio have our best interests at heart when they send us the ‘notices to mariners’ on our ‘Navtex’ fax machine. Sadly the information concerning the weather was not as regular or very accurate when we left Tabarka. We use several sources of guidence for the weather, the good old BBC being one of them. On this occasion they got it wrong or at least they underestimated the size of the low building over Italy.

Our plan had been to leave Tabarka at 3pm and sail the 165 miles to Kalibia in 24hr’s (or less), thus arriving in daylight and avoiding the problems we had faced in Algeria . All was going well and we were making good progress, I even saw one large Dolphin come up alongside as we left the port, in only 35m. The apparent wind was forward of the beam and fairly erratic in direction but the moon was nearly full and the clear night sky gave us another well lit sea scape to plough through with no other vessels.

At about 7pm the VHF came to life, ‘bridge calling’?… Didn't mean anything to us? Then, 30 seconds later, ‘vessel on position xxyyzz, this is Tunisian Coast Guard calling’. I had been monitoring a vessel that had approached us from the bow showing the lights of a vessel under 50m but as it was inshore I assumed it was a yacht under motor, about 1.5 miles off our starboard side. I checked our position and answered the question, ‘Tunisian Coast Guard this is sailing vessel Christina Lee, Christina Lee, over’

The coast guards in Tunisia use decommissioned navy vessels and look quite intimidating but they do have to operate in some difficult water so size is important. The Guy spoke reasonable English and enquired as to our plans. Having explained that we were on route from Tabarka to Kalibia, he asked if we had an up to date forecast. I told him what I knew of the current forecast but he knew better. The Meterological office has issued a severe weather warning from midnight for the next 24 hours, strong south westerly gales, force 9, 35 knot plus in our region. Thanks! He advised us to keep a good look out and to call him if we had any problems.

The wind would have to veer 90deg to give us a SW blow and we had the land to our south side, keeping us in the lee of the hills. We had to make a plan. Panicking was out of the question though dread was an acceptable alternative. The gales were expected in five hours and we were at least that from any port of refuge, the nearest being Bizerte. Sod it, we didn't want to go there as it was exposed to the wind but at least safe from the huge waves that were coming to get us… I raised the revs 200 and put my wet weather gear on. We both took some Stugeron sea sick pills and ate some food while we could, though I’d lost my appetite at this stage.

The wind has a knack of playing tricks with your mind, especially at night and within sight of the shore. It went up, it went down, it changed direction several times then settled down to about 20kn. By this stage I had reefed the genny twice as it was overpowering my mind but not the boat. Then the wind dropped….classic sign. Do I wait and see what happens or chuck up some more canvas? No substitute for square yards! Out with the genny again and prepare for a wind shift. It didn’t take long to fill in again but still more SSE. The sea state was fine, some water over the deck and a bit of slap but CL was in her element.

I had to spend all my time on deck as the wind was tricky and the sails needed to be adjusted constantly to keep us at 6/7 knots including the knot of tide beneath us. After some time, I became aware of some strange shapes appearing ahead of us that were unlit, though with the moon light, possible to see with the nude eye. In the Bino’s I could make out two huge rocks, more like islands, in the distance. Our chart of the region is in a huge scale and only really used to plot our position every hour. The GPS was not showing the area we were in at this time due to the incompetent operator not uploading all the available charts of this passage to the head unit. I dug the Lap top out from the safe haven it had found in the aft cabin and powered it up. Sure enough, there they were, Les Fratelli rocks, ‘dangerous to navigation’.

One would have to be asleep for a long time and not watching the sea to have crashed into them. The larger of the two stands 65ft out from the sea, about one mile from the shore and both are unlit. Sector lights on the surrounding hills might give some warning but it was hardly adequate! On a coastline littered with the corpses of many vessels I would have thought it wise to have at least one flashing white light? We missed the rocks by one mile, watching them glide silently past like ghost ships in the moon light, us in 100 meters of blue black sea. Gay went back to sleep?

By 2200hr the wind was steady and the barometer had dropped to 1004. The coast guard had said it would go to 1002 so I figured we still had a couple of hours steady weather before the guano hit the extractor. As we came along the coast we had to turn more east to follow it and by Cap Blanc we were heading due East. The wind was now 25kn but more from the south and we were charging along fine, all sails up, watching the lights of Bizerte growing bigger from behind the headland.

As we came under the cape the VHF started jabbering again. ‘Yacht in Position blah blah etc’. I didn’t know our exact position as the GPS was below, keeping out of the rain so I told them who we were from my position at the wheel. They kept calling for a ship in our vicinity and asked us if we had another vessel on our starboard side. I explained that we were alone and gave our exact position. They continued to call for the ghost ship using French, English, Italian and Arabic but got no reply? I’m not sure who they were following but the big dark CG vessel shadowed us for a while perhaps to ensure we made it round the cape before he disappeared.

As we were now having to go dead into the wind to get to the port we got rid of the sails and headed into the blaze of lights that was Bizerte. The port authorities were expecting us and called us as we got to the outer breakwater, very reassuring. It was impossible to make out the lights as there was a huge ship unloading in the channel behind the port. They use the same entrance as the the marina but the ship canal goes inland some miles, under a lifting bridge, to the industrial area and ferry terminal.The port official chap flashed us over to the long term pontoon as there were already two yachts on the visitors wall, taking up its whole length. Thankfully we did not have the full force of the wind as we had to maneuver into a gap across other boats slime lines, catching one against our now stationary prop. Having got tied up using our neighbours bow line, we hit the sack at 2am, shattered.

By the morning the full force of the weather was being felt as we swung about and leaned over under 35kn winds on our starboard side. I was up at 7.30am to check what was happening as I was concerned that the one line holding us and the boat next to us would not take the load and we would both swing into the next yacht, like a crazy line of dominos. The Forcast in the marina office gave 35-45 knot winds, we saw 38 on the boat so it was likely to be over 50 knots in the open sea with monstrous waves, enough to sink a small freighter…..

I’m so glad we had that chat with the Coast Guard!