We are now definitely having a jugo, as the S wind is known here. Typically it started as a gentle breeze and gradually gained in strength. Nothing to worry about, apart from the fact that we planned to move SE towards Hvar. This time of the year the yugo does not normally last more than two or three days, so we are just going to make another short hop hoping it will ease soon. Our aim is Milna, on the SW of Brač.
With the excuse of untying the shore line, I started the day with a dive into the crystal clear water in my birthday suit. Ahh, what bliss!
After breakfast, we start off in the light (too light) wind. Passing Supetar, at the E tip of Šolta, seems to take forever, but finally we get the yugo blowing from the Splitska Vrata, the channel between Šolta and Brač. For a while the sailing really gets fun. Close hauled, making good speed, we get in collision course with a container ship. Will they respect the col-regs and give way to tiny Mekicevica going under sail?
Apparently they had no intention of doing so (OK, the channel is relatively narrow, they have an arguable case of being restricted) so we give way. And suddenly the wind stops! I had never seen such a sudden change. There I was planning to shorten sail and in just a few seconds we were just bobbing in the swell with no wind at all!
It seems that the two islands close by create really weird wind patterns. At some stage, closer to Brač we were close reached and heeling a lot, watching a boat just some 200m away going the same way and running goose-winged!
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| Approaching Milna. |
For the last part of this passage we had to beat into Milna, with full main and reefed genoa.
After leaving Mekicevica at another overpriced ACI marina we went for a swim and to visit the town.
Milna is really a nice town with beautiful houses. It just seems to lack a bit of TLC. Why some towns get all the tourism (Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik) and places almost as interesting like Milna are left to decay is a mystery.
