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Gale
arising in the strait of Vulcano, Eolian Islands.
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Actually, we
had to leave many times, on fishermen's advice, the insecure harbour of
Lipari, exposed to the north-east to winds of force 6 on the Beaufortscale,
to find shelter behind the mole of Pignataro. Or to find shelter in Vulcano,
in the harbour of The Levant, then to be expelled in the late afternoon
by a squall coming from the south-east and to move rapidly to the harbour
of The Ponant that is not protected from west winds that were to blow a
few hours later, and to get under way in a mad rush in the dark in the middle
of the night, to anchor again in the harbour of The Levant where we could
not find permanent shelter. Once, we had even to leave the congested mole
of Pignatoro at about 13 hours in a wind of force 4 to make room for merchant
ships. And as we were busy with extricating anchors, the squall breaks out
and reaches in a few minutes 43 knots while we are arduously beating up
to windward so as to move away from the mole and the coast : the welcoming
Aeolus had gone furious. In view of so sudden and violent shifts of wind,
we can understand that the art of weather predicting takes a great place
in the thoughts and preoccupations of local fishermen. They practice it
in two ways : they predict squalls by deciphering clouds in the sky or,
more commonly, forecast the weather by observing the volcano. 
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