On our way toward Rome we left Gaeta a little later than we wanted to. The wind was again pushing us from the starboard side at about 15 knots and we really had to be on our game to get out of there quickly without fouling our prop – particularly since we were only 150 feet off the rocks if we messed up. As soon as we dropped the bow I applied bow thruster to keep the bow pointed left but it wasn’t going to last long, so I belted the motor and we squirted out of the poste haste. It must have been quick because Ross came back to me and said “I didn’t know the boat could accelerate that fast” .. perhaps it was my panic vision of being piled up on the rocks with a fouled propeller that got Tara moving quickly that day.
We had hoped to watch some of the Italian Match Racing Championships but they were slow setting up and we needed to get going because Nettuno was some 40 miles away. We decided the wind was OK to sail so we cut the motor and got going. There is some weird geographic thing happening along that coast – it was a convergence of 2 wind systems … so we would sail along getting headed 90 degrees, then tack, then head back out only to have the same thing happen on the other tack – basically think like you’ll never get to where you want to go. Anyway, we headed out quite a ways and finally hooked into the wind.
Once we were close to Nettuno – near Anzio, the landing site for a large WWII force, we pulled in the sails and motored in. We called on the radio, came in slowly as there were a couple of makeshift buoys out (usually showing that the channel has silted up in that area) so we approached it dead slow. I felt the unmistakable bump of hitting sand – “Marina, we just hit bottom” … “are you sure” … “yes – let’s hope ….” And then we slid into the silt and stopped. I gunned it in reverse, nothing happened except for the boat spinning left with prop walk (a boat will turn with the torque of the propeller before the rudder has water pressure over it). I helped swing the bow around with a lot of bow thruster so we were pointed heading out of the harbour but still couldn’t get off – even giving full power in forward. Fortunately the Ormeggiatore came out in a 4 meter RIB with a 50 HP motor, stuck his bow on our stern and gave us a push – and thankfully we came off. He said we could anchor in Anzio but the next alternative was Rome. After giving him 10 Euros (all I had in my pocket – I wish I had 50!) we were on our way. Anzio is 5 meters deep a mile off shore. It was very open and we decided, let’s head to Rome. If the wind holds we’re fine, so we took off. It looked like we’d get in right at dusk.
Once we were close to Nettuno – near Anzio, the landing site for a large WWII force, we pulled in the sails and motored in. We called on the radio, came in slowly as there were a couple of makeshift buoys out (usually showing that the channel has silted up in that area) so we approached it dead slow. I felt the unmistakable bump of hitting sand – “Marina, we just hit bottom” … “are you sure” … “yes – let’s hope ….” And then we slid into the silt and stopped. I gunned it in reverse, nothing happened except for the boat spinning left with prop walk (a boat will turn with the torque of the propeller before the rudder has water pressure over it). I helped swing the bow around with a lot of bow thruster so we were pointed heading out of the harbour but still couldn’t get off – even giving full power in forward. Fortunately the Ormeggiatore came out in a 4 meter RIB with a 50 HP motor, stuck his bow on our stern and gave us a push – and thankfully we came off. He said we could anchor in Anzio but the next alternative was Rome. After giving him 10 Euros (all I had in my pocket – I wish I had 50!) we were on our way. Anzio is 5 meters deep a mile off shore. It was very open and we decided, let’s head to Rome. If the wind holds we’re fine, so we took off. It looked like we’d get in right at dusk.
Well the wind gods being what they are we went from a close reach, to close hauled, to motor sailing, to powering into a 15 knot wind and a steep chop. Powering directly into wind and waves usually kills about a knot of speed – and over 4 hours that knot or so translates into another half hour—which meant we were going into Porto Turistico di Roma at about 9:30 or thoroughly after dark. We have some SeaClear charts but they’re not very detailed so we were somewhat blind – with an aggravating factor that the GPS waypoint in the Imray pilot book is inaccurate – being about a half-mile off the entrance. We slowed down, looked at all the lights and figured out where the entrance was … did we mention that it’s shallow here 3-4 meters deep. When I’m swimming I like the water to be shallow – when sailing, I like it to be deep!
We motored slowly through the entrance watching the depth sounder get to 0.5 meters under the keel as we glided through, the Ormeggiatore met us at the dock and we quickly tied up, had a cocktail to our success, hooked up power and water and had a nice, long sleep.
We motored slowly through the entrance watching the depth sounder get to 0.5 meters under the keel as we glided through, the Ormeggiatore met us at the dock and we quickly tied up, had a cocktail to our success, hooked up power and water and had a nice, long sleep.
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