Sunday, January 5, 2014

Day 88

12/27/2013


Yesterday force seven winds beat against the coast and howled between the masts all day.  The sea had transformed into a ferocious beast.

The sky was dark and the rain broke through in the evening and poured deep into the night.  But by morning, the sky cleared and the wind spent.  The sea was still a little rough, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

I launched and began my 22-mile paddle by crossing a three-mile bay.  There were small waves rolling across medium waves rolling across large waves.  They all seemed to be going in different directions at different times.

And sometimes, they all lined up in sets of towering waves.  One set of waves broke at the top just as I was up there and washed water over my skirt.  

My skirt was closed.  I think I found a way to reduce the chafing by rolling up the inverted tube so that my pants are below and not under it.  This has caused my pants to fall down twice now while exiting the cockpit, but underneath the skirt I can discretely remedy the situation.

I was bracing every few minutes and I had to pee but didn’t want to stop.

As I rounded a sheer cliff peninsula the waves grew ferocious.  Ahead of me I could see them, at least seven or eight feet high, breaking far away from the rocks and hurling white watery death against the cliffs.  If I got caught by one of those without my helmet and rocket pack I’d have a problem.  My helmet is in Tel Aviv and I don’t own a rocket pack.

I gave them a wide berth.  Once around the corner of the peninsula I found myself being jostled along and angled towards the cliffs.  I was not comfortable.  I expected the cliffs to continue along the coast for the rest of the day, so when I saw a beach in an inlet guarded by a medieval tower, I took the opportunity to get off the water.

The people in the house above the beach were happy to let me stay on the beach for the weekend, and while walking the roughly 10 kilometers to the super market, I found the friendly people at Pizzeria la Quercia, and they were happy to let me use their wifi connection.

Nautical miles paddled: 3

Total since Naples: 356.5


Current location:  38.898519,17.095483


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