Leg 72 of 97 · Passage plan · RYA Yachtmaster standard
Porto Garibaldi to Venice
North past the delta of the Po, the lagoons of Chioggia and the long sandbar of the Lido, through the Lido inlet into the Venice lagoon and along the Bacino di San Marco to Sant'Elena.
07:30 CEST from Porto Garibaldi. 1 hour 30 minutes after sunrise (05:58 CEST), after the rest day at Porto Garibaldi.
Arrive
About 17:37 CEST at Venice. In the late afternoon, near low water at Venice, with about 3 hours of daylight in hand (sunset 20:37 CEST).
Tides
Range about 1 m at Venice: the stream in the Lido inlet matters. See Tides
Wind
Sea breezes; a bora or scirocco is the danger
Boat
35 to 38 ft sailing yacht, 1.9 m draught, 6 kn under sail, 5.5 kn under engine
Crew
Skipper and 3 crew, all hands on deck in the lagoon
Track and waypoints 1 to 6, with ports of refuge as squares.
Go or no-go
Decide at 06:30 CEST. Go only if all of these hold:
No wind above force 5, and no bora or scirocco above force 4: either makes the inlet rough against the stream.
Sant'Elena berth confirmed.
Visibility 3 nm or more.
If the weather is wrong, stay at Porto Garibaldi. Chioggia, inside the southern inlet, is the alternative.
Route and waypoints
Waypoints are planning positions in open water, checked against a 1:10m coastline to be at least 1.5 nm off land except at the harbour ends. Distances and courses are calculated from them. Plot every one on the current chart before use. Courses are true.
#
Waypoint
Latitude
Longitude
Course
Leg nm
Total nm
ETA
Notes
0
Porto Garibaldi
44°40.6′N
012°15.0′E
07:30 CEST
Depart.
1
Porto Garibaldi approach
44°40.6′N
012°16.5′E
090°T
1.1
1.1
07:41 CEST
Out of the canal.
2
Off the Po di Goro
44°46.0′N
012°28.0′E
056°T
9.8
10.9
09:19 CEST
3 nm off the delta. Mussel farms inshore.
3
East of the Po della Pila
44°58.0′N
012°37.0′E
028°T
13.6
24.5
11:35 CEST
3 nm off the delta's easternmost mouth.
4
Off Chioggia
45°12.0′N
012°24.0′E
327°T
16.8
41.2
14:22 CEST
3 nm off the Chioggia inlet. Ships.
5
Lido approach
45°25.0′N
012°27.0′E
009°T
13.2
54.4
16:34 CEST
Outside the Lido inlet.
6
Lido inlet
45°25.6′N
012°24.6′E
290°T
1.8
56.2
17:01 CEST
Through the San Nicolò channel. Slow speed, no wake.
7
Marina Santelena
45°25.6′N
012°22.0′E
271°T
1.8
58.0
17:37 CEST
Position from the marina.
Tides and time
Porto Garibaldi · Mon 2 Aug · CEST (UTC+2)
LW
05:12
-0.3 m
HW
12:09
0.5 m
LW
17:21
0.2 m
HW
22:48
0.6 m
From the Ravenna station.
Venice · Mon 2 Aug · CEST (UTC+2)
LW
04:47
-0.3 m
HW
11:44
0.8 m
LW
17:00
0.2 m
HW
22:36
0.8 m
From the Venezia station.
Monday 2 August 2027. Tides. The northern Adriatic has the largest tides in the Mediterranean: about 0.5 to 1 m between high and low water here. That matters at the canal and river-mouth harbours, where the depth at the entrance changes with the tide, and at the inlets of the Venice lagoon, where the stream runs hard. Wind and air pressure can add as much again.
Porto Garibaldi uses the Ravenna station.
The Lido inlet. The predicted low water at Venice is at about 17:00 CEST. Arriving in the late afternoon, the yacht meets the last of the ebb running out of the inlet: allow for it, and keep to the edge of the San Nicolò channel out of the ships' way.
Tide times are predictions made for this plan from the TICON-4 harmonic constants (DGFI-TUM) with the Neaps tide predictor, because the official 2027 tables were not yet published when it was written. Tested against the official APDL table for Leixões on 23 July 2026, the predicted times were within 8 minutes and the heights 0.1 to 0.2 m lower. Heights are above lowest astronomical tide. Check every time against the official 2027 table before sailing.
Daylight. Sunrise at Porto Garibaldi 05:58 CEST. Sunset at Venice 20:37 CEST.
Weather
Low coast of delta and lagoon, hard to see from offshore: navigate by the lights and buoys.
Wind against the ebb in the Lido inlet raises a steep sea.
Forecasts to check
Italian forecasts: Aeronautica Militare Meteomar and gale warnings (avviso di burrasca), meteoam.it. Forecast areas Ionio, Adriatico meridionale and Adriatico centrale. Zone names and issue times: Check the pilot book
NAVTEX: Italian stations cover the Ionian and Adriatic; check the station letters and times on the receiver. Check on the chart
Italian coast radio VHF weather broadcasts: Check the pilot book
Hazards
Entering the Venice lagoon. The Lido inlet has 2 channels: Treporti (north, 6 m) and San Nicolò (south, 12 m), with the MOSE flood barrier between them. Every canal in the lagoon is a slow-speed zone with no wake, and speed limits are enforced by cameras. When the MOSE gates are raised for a high tide (forecast above about 110 cm, mostly autumn to spring), small craft use the lock on the Treporti side. Whether a yacht must call port control on entering, and the speed of the stream in the inlet, could not be checked. Enter near slack water or with the flood.
Mussel farms. Long-line mussel farms lie off the coasts of Romagna and the Veneto, marked with yellow buoys. Their positions could not be checked: look for them on the chart and keep outside the marks. Check on the chart
The Po delta. Shoals extend off each mouth, with mussel farms and fishing gear. Keep 3 nm off.
Ships use the Chioggia, Malamocco and Lido inlets. Listen on VHF 16 and keep out of their way.
Ports of refuge
Port
From the route
Use it when
Notes
Porto Garibaldi
Start
Within the first hour
Canal harbour.
Chioggia
Waypoint 4
Weather turns
Marinas inside the inlet. Check the pilot book
Venice, Sant'Elena
Destination
First choice
Marina Santelena, VHF 77.
Pilotage
Leaving Porto Garibaldi
Leave the canal and head north-east to clear the Po delta by 3 nm.
Into Venice
Enter the Lido inlet by the San Nicolò (southern) channel, keeping to its edge.
Inside, follow the channel west past San Nicolò and the Lido to the Bacino di San Marco: slow speed, no wake.
Turn north for Sant'Elena, behind the Biennale gardens. Call Marina Santelena on VHF 77 (+39 041 520 2675).
Italian harbour ordinances (Capitanerie di porto) could not be read for this plan: guardiacostiera.gov.it was unreachable. Check the pilot book
Tides: predictions from TICON-4 harmonic constants (Hart-Davis, Dettmering and Seitz, DGFI-TUM, 2025, doi 10.17882/109129) with Neaps (openwaters.io). Check against the Instituto Hidrográfico 2027 tables.
Sunrise and sunset: calculated (NOAA method).
Lights: The Lighthouse Directory (Rowlett), ibiblio.org/lighthouse, Portugal pages revised August 2024. Cross-check with the IH List of Lights, volume I.