Barb and Art of Badger wrote in their newsletter:
"About 7 am we left riposto after fueling up and headed north for the straights of messina; we had calculated that the water would flow north in our direction 1 hour and 40 minutes after high tide at gilbralta...we found the time on the internet. we figured it would flow north from about 8 am to about 2 pm...somehow we got it wrong because we had lots of turbolence and made about 2 knots with strong winds behind us...until we got to the very north end when the current threw us out at about 6 knots. It was about 3 pm with more than 30 miles to go to Tropea, the best harbor nearby. So we called Tropea to see if there were any slips available and there were and we set out for a long trip. The winds were against us from the north...it was a port tack...we did about 5+ into them and sometimes 6+, getting into Tropea at 8:15 pm, just as it was getting very dark. Their man was there to direct us in and catch our lines. He parked us just to the left of a boat from england and we all sat on deck and had a drink celebrating our long trip.
Today we walked up to the hill town of Tropea...the views of the Tyrannean sea are beautiful from the top....."
Howard [ Just Imagine ] 09-May-2010