STORM STORY: Vis Island, Day 2

OMG. HUGE. SCARY. STORM.

Our boat dragged its mooring ball and went adrift — while we were at dinner.

We are in Rukavac, a peaceful little cove surrounded by hills. At a much needed dinner…

We sat down, ordered, and just as our food arrived… so did a massive uninvited guest.

Rukavac Cove, VIS Island - Croatia

A bora windstorm — sudden, violent, and blinding.

It hit like a freight train.

And as it intensified dishes shattered. Chairs blew. Children cried. The guests and staff all crammed into the kitchen for shelter. It wasn’t chaos, just a collective moment of realizing:

We are not in charge. Nature is.

Our weather app was lit up red. Visibility dropped to zero. And then came the moment:

We couldn’t see our boat. Or the ten others behind it.

Bora windstorm — sudden, violent, and blinding, VIS Island Croatia

As soon as the rain let up just enough, we bolted to our dinghy — already full of ankle-deep water.

We raced toward the mooring field, soaked and scanning the water…

But — no boat.

You know that feeling when you walk to a parking lot and think, “Wait… where did I park?” No beep, beep, beep of your clicker alarm that you are using to “hear” where you’ve left the car…

Now imagine that. But your “car” is a 40-foot 8.5 ton catamaran. In the dark. In a storm. In the Adriatic Sea.

A few terrifying moments, then, we spotted it. Across the bay. 

Moving. How could that be? We left it securely attached to a mooring buoy?

But there she was... drifting toward the rocks — mooring ball in tow.

Panic didn’t help.

Quick thinking did.

We got back aboard and saw we were indeed still attached to the mooring ball  — but the mooring ball and its concrete block itself had been dragged across the bay.

Waves were hitting us sideways. Rain was still pounding.

Two local men — the same guys who run the mooring field — sped out to help.

Michael was at the helm, maneuvering our cat between boats now swinging like pendulums.

And me?

On the bow. In the rain. Grabbing and tying lines while the wind whipped us around like a kite.

Was it terrifying?

Yes.

Was it badass?

Also yes.

We re-secured the boat to a new mooring, hearts pounding but intact.

And here’s the kicker?

This was only Day 2.

A little perspective:

The storm that hit us brought 35–45 knot winds (that’s 65–85 km/h), in what’s called a Bora wind — famous for coming out of nowhere, especially here on the Adriatic.

These gusts are classified as Beaufort 7 — near gale force.

Enough to drag anchors, snap lines, send dinghies flying — and humble even the most seasoned sailors.

We’re safe now. But we’ve learned what our boat — and our nervous systems — can take.

Sailing, it turns out, is not for the faint of heart.

But it does make for one hell of a story.

I’m giving Michael and me both medals for this one.

Stay tuned. Still 5 islands to go.