Change of Plan
20th April 2025
"Make a plan and stick to it" – that’s the saying.
Well, that task is nearly impossible when sailing. So many factors come into play when passage planning, but the main one on the day, of course, is the wind. Too little, too much, wrong direction… it can be a real game changer.
When planning our sailing route for the whole season, there's a huge list of things we consider:
What sort of adventure do we want to have? Where do we want to go? What’s the shelter like? Is it open to swells? Is our bow thruster working? What kind of winds will we be dealing with? Could we anchor, or would we have to use marinas? What do the marinas cost? What’s the check-in/out procedure? How long can we stay? What is there to see and do? What's the water like? Is our bow thruster working? Is the area well set up for sailors? What are the beaches like? Can we take our dinghy ashore? Is there an airport so we can fly back to the UK? Is there somewhere we can leave the boat when we fly? Is our bow thruster working? 😅
(I just asked Stew what else we consider when we're planning our season and he said, "I don't know, I just get told where we're going!" Ha ha 😊)
Our plan for this season has always been to sail east around Sicily, up through the Messina Strait, visit the Aeolian Islands, continue around Sicily past Palermo, then cross to Sardinia where we'd cruise along the east coast, hang out in the Maddalenas for a while, then pop over to Corsica. After that, maybe the French Riviera or the Balearics. Honestly, life is hard when you have options!
So here we are, less than two weeks before we’re due to set sail from our winter marina, and we both realise there's this little niggle. A niggle that’s been casting doubts over our intended route, throwing a shadow over Sardinia. A niggle that stealthily slips the idea of going back to Greece into our minds.
For months now, it seems that everyone we talk to about Sardinia mentions the lack of shelter, the bad swells, the difficulty bringing your dinghy ashore, the expensive marinas... And it seems like 95% of the people we know are heading the opposite direction – to Greece. Are we daft to ignore that?
Granted, we’ve heard great things about the Maddalenas (northeast Sardinia), BUT it’s a long way to sail for just one part of an island.
In Greece – every place we sailed to was amazing! Shelter was easy to find, anchoring was simple, and there were loads of kid boats. From what we’re hearing, Sardinia doesn’t offer the same experience.
After taking a knock last year when we got hit in Montenegro, it wasn’t the best season for us, and it left a bit of a bad taste. We didn’t meet many kid boats, never made it to Croatia (which was meant to be our highlight), and the sailing life lost a lot of its shine. So this year, as it’s our last year, we want to do everything possible to end on a high. We’re after rainbows and unicorns, sunshine and candyfloss! We want sheltered, safe anchorages, lots of other kid boats, clear water, easy sailing, great weather, good food, cheap beer, delicious ice cream, no accidents, no breakages – just fair winds and blue skies.
Is that really too much to ask?!
Now, I don’t love the idea of going back to places we’ve already been. I want to move forward – visit new countries, see new sights, meet new people, eat new foods… This is our one big adventure, and I want to make the most of it. I really want to explore Sardinia and Corsica, BUT at the risk of swells, strong winds, and dinghy difficulties? Hmm. I’m not so sure.
If it were just Stewart and me, then for sure, we’d be off to Sardinia (after all, Stewart just goes where he’s told, right? 😄).
BUT when we factor in the kids and what makes them happy – it’s meeting other families, spending their days in the water or on the beach, and going to bed at night without worrying if they’ll be woken by Mum blasting the foghorn to alert an unaware captain whose boat is being pushed towards us by a sudden squall… or by Dad rushing topside to grab the bimini before it rips to shreds and blows away.
I don’t want Izzy so paranoid about storms that she’s constantly checking weather apps or sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night when the wind picks up (although I must admit – I do love the snuggles). Hudson takes his sleep very seriously – I don’t want to wake him to wrestle him sleepily into a lifejacket because all hell is breaking loose on deck.
We had that several times in Montenegro last year – and it wasn’t fun.
I know, I know – first-world problems, right?
“Oh, woe is us, which beautiful Mediterranean islands shall we sail to on our yacht this year?” 😊
Granted, we can’t pick the weather, but we can choose to sail a more sheltered route.
So at this stage, we're thinking… change of plan. We're going back to Greece!
(We do seem to have become known for our plan changes and crazy ideas though… so watch this space!)