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course, this is assuming that one knows how to
read the chart. But if one does not, then it is
dangerous set out to sea at all, let alone try to get
somewhere.
Sailing into the Gulf of Kvarner from Porer is
much harder if there is a strong bora or sirocco.
Both waves create big waves here, and anyone
who does not know the direction of the currents
will find his own movements quite a mystery. In
both cases, then, the uninitiated would do well to
return to Pula.
If one had to choose which is the least pleasant
wind here (for neither is dangerous per se), one
would after all plump for the bora. The waves
from the sirocco, however large they are, will
always give us some choice: to go back to the
safety of one of the bays in Istria, or attempt to
push through to some part of Kvarner out of the
way of the southwind.
But unlike the southerly, the bora will attempt to
shoo us out of Kvarner. At any rate it is good to
have your passport with you. The Adriatic is not
so big that if we get caught by bad weather we
might not opt to tie up on the neighbouring coast,
that of Italy. After the seventy miles that separate
our coast from theirs, the bora will be found to
have lost some of its strength.
We might remind the more obstinate, or those
who for some reason or other cannot put off
crossing the Kvarner, that there are some fifteen
miles to Unije, the first certain refuge. Motor
vessels will find it hard to put up with the waves
from the bora because they come straight from
the beam. Sailing ships will have to sail very
close-hauled indeed, adjusting the course with
plenty of manoeuvres. Somewhere around half
way across Kvarner the bora will start blowing
from a direction more favourable to those using
sail-power, and when we have got into the lee of
Unije, the crew is very likely going to agree to stop
and have a good rest on the island.
This is an opportunity to say a bit more about
these well-known Kvarner storms. For coming
from the direction of Porer, the most open part of
the Gulf is before us. Twenty miles is quite
enough to be surprised by a summer storm.
There are various proverbs that tell us how to
behave at sea when we are overtaken by a storm.
Although at the beginning of this guide we said
how much we valued the centuries-amassed
wisdom of the local sailors, now is the time to say
that times have after all changed, and that some
experience cannot be applied to contemporary
craft.
First of all, one has to say that surprises are
increasingly a rarity, for meteorology has become
a remarkably exact science. The signs of a storm
brewing are also easily visible.
When the