End of the sailing season in Croatia? 15-20 August

Today we went to Rijeka to discuss with the Furuno representative the repairs needed on Belisama to change the autopilot display and reset the network, which has been down for a couple of weeks now, forcing us to sail with Navionics on the mobile phone. Much to our surprise, Furuno told us that they would not be able to work on the boat as they close after the 15th of August to give their staff a rest at the "end of the sailing season"! No problem, we can wait another 2 weeks. 

But is it really the end of the sailing season?

First boletus of the season in Učka National Park area

First sign that boletus can grow nicely in Istria. What else...?

Rovinj, not to be missed, 9-12 August 2023

Our first destination in August is the town of Rovinj (pronounced "Rovigne" in French, [rǒʋiːɲ] in phonetic spelling, and forget about native English speakers as there is no "nj" at the end of words in English), 40 km north of Pula by car, 17 nautical miles by boat.

Sunset in the bay of Rovinj 

This is certainly one of the most beautiful places in Istria and attracts many tourists in the summer. We sailed there on the 9th of August, probably one of the worst periods due to the large influx of tourists. Let's have a look...

Red sunset, Jugo or Canada fires? 26 June-2 July 2023

Almost 10 days since we reached Pula at the end of our odyssey. I finished the last post with the sunset below, which looks surreal. However, I did not use any "effect" to enhance the colour or saturation. The sunset was just that red!

Sunset over Brijuni island from our terrace in Štinjan 

A few nights later, after reading about it, I realised that the colour of our sunset in the Adriatic was influenced by the smoke from the forest fires in Canada, which crossed the Atlantic and southern Europe, and which we experienced in the northern Adriatic this week...

To Uvala Sesula et Uvala Kasjuni, 15-16 June 2023

In Pakleni, the Jugo caught us well and today we experienced the rain and thunder that Jugo traditionally brings. We were fine there at anchor, but the forecast was for the Jugo to fade away around 17:00 to give way to the sun, and for the land and sea to breathe again.

We left at 17:00, but this did not happen...

To Otranto, 2nd of June 2023

 On the way to Otranto, we came across an interesting cloud formation involving mammatus clouds, as we had already witnessed in 2016. These clouds are always very impressive to see.

And when you see them, you start thinking about what is going to happen to you in the next hour?

What influences the tides in Croatia? - 14 April 2023

Skip if you are allergic to mathematics :-)

In the previous post, I presented the tide chart for Rovinj for the 17 days starting from 17 April as shown on previous post.

 

In an attempt to better understand the interactions that result in such an interesting mixed tidal pattern (semi-diurnal and diurnal periods alternating), I digitized the 17 day series in Excel so as to study it further...

Digitised tide level forecast in Rovinj, 17 days from 17 April 2023

So what factors were found to contribute to the pattern?

Tides and currents in the Adriatic sea - 9 April 2023

Continuing our preparation for sailing in the Adriatic, let's look at the tides and currents there.

In my sailing experience, the tides can be summarised as either huge amplitude in the Atlantic and the English Channel, particularly around the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel where the tidal amplitude can reach 12 metres, or no tide at all in the Baltic due to the very shallow and narrow opening to the northern sea!

What about the Adriatic?

Below is the tide chart for Rovinj (near Pula) for the next 17 days.

Tide-forecast.com

Anything unfamiliar? Let's have a look!

More on winds to expect in May and June in Croatia - 8 April 2023

This post presents the most prevailing winds in May and June in the Adriatic sea, based on the data from 2018 to 2022 in Dubrovnik. These data are taken from the website of the University of Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM). The image below shows the wind rose for an average full day from May and June 2028 to 2023. The size of the bars represents the frequency of winds from each direction, expressed in %. The colour indicates the expected wind strength.. 

Overall, the winds will be mainly from east, north-north-east and west-north-west directions. Let's have a look at the time of day, when to expect them and what this means for our sailing...

Belisama back to France, Dunkirk, 17 August

The journey from Den Helder to Dunkirk was 152 miles long, when planned on the plotter, a 30+ hour ride with the expected back reach winds. This was without counting with a few encounters along the way...

First encounter, the cloud below:

Arcus cloud

Guess what happen when you encounter such things...

Lidö to Lövgrund, 89 miles, 3 June 2019

Night in Lido's, at the jetty, with two other boats in the bay.

The following morning, with 10 to 15 m/s winds coming from south west, we decide to go to Lövgrund, an 89 mile ride.

Chasing auroras in Tromsø - 13 - 16 December

This was my third trip in Tromsø in winter, and as for the two previous trips, we saw nice auroras. Tromsø is certainly one of the very best place in Europe to watch auroras. But Tromsø in winter has much more to offer.

Ersfjordbotn

Days are rather short when we approach the winter solstice, but you can get around from 11:00 to 14:00, giving plenty of time to explore the fjords around...

MOOC on meteorology for sailors on French sailing school - What I learned on clouds, 18 November 2018

Going on retirement, I registered to the French National School for Sailing MOOC on meteorology, a three-week course for sailors wishing to improve their meteorological skills. The first week of the MOOC was devoted to meteorological principles and clouds. In this post, I will highlight what I got out of the MOOC regarding clouds.

From Tromsø to Svolvær, 16 - 22 September 2018

Belisama crew got invited on Cybele 17 for a ten day cruise, from Tromsø to Svolvær. A fantastiskt experience in the late boreal summer. The picture below represents the Fisherman's wife at the entrance of the harbour in Svolvær. A good summary of the ten days: contrasted lights, amazing clouds, impressive landscape and lots of emotions...

Fisherman's wife, Svolvær harbour, Lofoten Islands, Noway.

Moon eclipse and noctilucent cloud summer festival, 25 & 27 July

We arrived in Mariehamn, Åland, on 27 July, just in time to witness the moon eclipse from the marina. Moonrise was at 22:15, but we could not see any moon rising at the time. We would realise after that the moon was so faint that it was not visible along the horizon through the atmosphere. It is only around 23:30 that the moon start appearing when it reach higher elevation over the horizon. By then, it was a remarkable show!

The blood moon in Mariehamn, Åland, 27 July, 23:30 and 23:55

Twenty-five minutes later, the sun started highlighting again the moon. The shape of the highlighted area differed from the normal moon crescent that we are used too, as it is the shadow of the earth on the surface of the moon and not the areas of the moon in the shadow when receiving the light from the sun sideways.

Nynäshamn - Hanko, Finland, 29 & 30 June 2018

Friday afternoon, after work, we depart from Nynäshamn for the first segment of the vacation, from Nynäshamn to Hanko at the southwest tip of Finland. A 165 mile ride directly through the Baltic. Weather 4D was clear that leaving Friday evening with significant northern winds was the best way to get through this. The routage from the app indicated a 24 hour cruise. It took us 25. Not bad app!

Hanko marina, the largest in Finland!

Fata morgana in Huvudskär - 18 - 20 May 2018

Huvudskär is located 31 miles from Stockholm downtown, therefore easily accessible for a weekend.  It is usually the first ride of the year, even though, this year, with the summer starting early May, we have been cruising around to Sandhamn and Utö earlier this year.

Huvudskär, Belisama moored at the Svenskakryssar association buoy.

Nåttarö, preparing for the "cousinades" - 12 & 13 August 2017

Exceptionnellement, ce post sera en français car il s'adresse aux "cousins" qui viendront participer aux cousinades que nous tenons à Nåttarö à la fin du mois.

Voici le ponton au nord-est de l'île. Le barbecue du samedi se déroulera autour de cette plage. Belisama fait toujours sensation dans cette petite baie peu profonde, car les autres bateaux nous voyant approcher avec un pavillon français pensent que nous n'avons pas réalisé qu'il n'y a qu'un mètre cinquante de fond ici. Mais nous n'avons qu'un mètre de tirant d'eau...

Visby to Nynäshamn - 6 August 2017

After having reached Visby last week, we left Belisama at the fiskhamn and took the ferry to be at work for the week. Our friends stayed in Visby in the boat to enjoy the island. By Friday 4 August, we made it back to Visby to get the boat back to Stockholm.

Belisama on her way from Visby to Nynäshamn, 5 August 2017

But this was planned counting on fair weather conditions. Which was not the case... It is always surprising to see how calm the sea looks taken in picture from the big Gotland ferry, when the wind rages over 15m/s!

Klintholm to Rødvig, through Vordingborg - 19-20 July 2017

After years in Sweden, one gets amazed as soon as seing colours in the fields. Denmark is part of continental Europe, and I am getting the same feeling I have when driving from Sweden to southern Europe, that continental Europe starts in Denmark. I realise that I am missing it when I see it, but not at all when I don't. Isn't it perfect?

Blooming fields around Klintholm.

Kristiansø - Sassnitz, 9 July 2017

Sixty-two miles to go, waking-up at 5, at sea by 6. No wind until we pass the extremity of Bornholm. A German couple on a X 38 whom we met at Kristiansø is following us and is taking the pictures. Quite rare to see oneself at sea!

Belisama, on engine