The Bays That Are Not on the Chart

Read the bottom, not the postcard

Sand holds, weed does not, and the difference is visible from the bow in this water. A patch of clean sand between weed beds is worth circling twice to find.

Fetch is what keeps you awake

A bay open to the north with two miles of water in front of it will roll all night in a meltemi even if the wind is moderate. A tighter bay with high land upwind is uncomfortable in gusts and quiet in swell — pick the discomfort you can sleep through.

The wind after dark is not the wind at six

Air cools over the hills and falls; a bay that was flat at sunset can have katabatic gusts by midnight. Set for what might come, not for what is happening.