Paul Cayard Rob Weiland
Reaching through history
Just when you think offshore racing cannot get any more interesting, when following the first ever Aegean 600 race taking place in waters that must have seen sailing developing for close to 6,000 years, I got the Notice of Race for the first ever RoundItaly. No way of course to round a peninsula but the nearest effort, a race from
Genoa to Trieste, covering in its straightest line 1,130 miles, has all the makings of an offshore as divine as well as demanding as an offshore can get. Twice the distance of the famous 600-milers (oops, Fastnet now
700…), I imagine 10 times the major tactical choices of an average Middle Sea Race or Fastnet, all potentially glorious or disastrous, at least till the next parking lot. Hundreds of miles of splendid, fast sailing in glorious conditions in sharp contrast with making better progress with all sails down bar a tiny windseeker, hugging the coast in the search for some thermal effect, imagining and sometimes even smelling great food being served in busy shoreline restaurants. Hearing cars honking horns, fireworks, whatever normal people do, having a good time. Genoa is situated in the Ligurian Sea. Passing south roughly
from Elba one enters the Tyrrhenian Sea, which brings the competi- tors all the way to Sicily where they have to navigate the Strait of Messina to round the toe of Italy... and into the Ionian Sea. The sea names all relate to ancient people and tribes living on
their shores many centuries ago. From the toe to the heel you might venture into the Gulf of Taranto a little to eventually head north through the Strait of Otranto into the Adriatic Sea. Having a short peek at what a navigator could be faced with at
that time of the year (early September), one would hope the pre- dominantly northwesterly breezes would bring the fleet down the Tyrrhenian Sea and at first southerly and later easterly breezes bring the boats back up the Adriatic… but there it could be north- westerlies too, certainly in daytime. Interesting too are the complex surface current systems on both
sides of Italy. Never strong, but having a few tenths up to half a knot with you instead of against you can make quite a difference, certainly in the light stuff. In summer in the Tyrrhenian Sea it looks like a rather large
38 SEAHORSE
collection of gyres (current circulations) most of them clockwise with the main exception a rather big gyre between the Strait of Boni- facio and the mainland at, say, Rome. Quite different from the sit- uation in winter when a northwest current follows the mainland shore. In the Adriatic Sea salinity is low compared to the rest of the
Med. The Adriatic collects about a third of all the fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean with the River Po the major contributor, creating an anticlockwise circulation with an incoming (NW) current along the eastern Adriatic coastline of Albania, Montenegro and Croatia, carrying salt water into the Adriatic, while the fresher water flows out along the Italian coast. The incoming current along the eastern coast is more pronounced in winter, while the outgoing current along the western coast is more pronounced in summer, primarily under the influence of the predominant seasonal winds. The relatively smooth Italian coastline allows the western Adriatic
current to flow smoothly while the coastal currents on the jagged eastern shoreline are more complex, also because of the many islands. It is estimated that the Adriatic’s entire volume is exchanged through the Strait of Otranto roughly every 3.5 years. I imagine the Adriatic is easier to read than the Tyrrhenian Sea for breeze and current, but am sure that in the details there will be enough going on to restrict a navigator to having short naps all the way. The breezes all have names in this part of the world, the summer
ones following the compass clockwise are the Tramontana (N), blowing from the Alps into the Bay of Venice, in summer most likely a nice stable breeze of 15-25kt, but in winter, like the Bora, often a real stinker taking down trees and damaging boats on their moor- ings; the Burin (NNE), a thermal wind blowing during the evenings and nights; the Levant (E), a ‘mountain gap wind’ and usually a gentle morning thermal but if it does not calm at noon and instead intensifies some canvas reducing may be needed; the Sirocco or Jugo (SE), blowing from the Sahara, can reach storm speed and may last half a day up to several days. Passing over the Med the Sirocco picks up moisture which may
result in rainfall in southern Italy bringing a mix of brown-red Sahara dust and water; the Ostro (S) and the Libeccio (SW) can be seen as Sirocco variations, often carrying rain; the Ponente (W) is a modest breeze, much appreciated on land for bringing some relief from the summer heat.
STEFANO GATTINI
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