In the Mediterranean, it is common knowledge that you can’t sail in the winter. The winds are too strong and the seas are too punishing!
This is what everyone who sails there says, but most people who sail there have “only” sailed there. Bad conditions exist everywhere so it’s a bit of a stretch to say that “this is the worst”. When I read accounts of circumnavigators who sailed the Mediterranean in the winter, they did so on “good days” and said it was rough but still manageable.
So the two types of stories are: “Can’t be done” by people who haven’t sailed elsewhere and this is their first large body of water and “It’s really rough” by people who have crossed an ocean before.
Being how we have weathered a storm off Cape Hatteras and faced Force 11 winds in the middle of the North Atlantic, we felt that we could confidently manage the conditions of the Mediterranean in this winter season.
We waited for what seemed to be a calm period between punishing storms. We were in the middle of the Alboran Sea (the first sea in the Mediterranean) and the conditions became very punishing.
While the winds reached Force 10 with gusts of Force 11 and 12, the waves were only 12 feet high! The problem was that the waves were very close together and very steep, not giving the yacht time to rise and fall over the waves; instead the waves crashed over the boat with punishing blows every few seconds.
Modern European production boats with low build quality would begin to break apart from such relentless pounding, as the deck/hull joint would begin to break open and wreck the whole yacht. Most of the people who only sail the Mediterranean are also cruising on these European production boats and are wise to not venture out into the sea if they wish to return alive and with their yacht still floating! We are cruising on a very old and very heavily built yacht that can take a pounding and keep going. It’s low freeboard means that it offers less of a face to a crashing wave and its heavy construction allows it to resist such punishment.
One thing is being able to do something and the other thing is being nonsensical about such decisions. Just because your car has bullet proof windows doesn’t mean you shoot at it every time you get the chance!
We decided that enough was enough and this punishment was not necessary or worth it!
