Paul begins his last journey headed for Rome on a corn ship. Navigational practices at the time considered it questionable to begin sailing after September and nearly impossible by November. The ships sets sail sometime in the first half of October (and we know this because of the reference to the Jewish Day of Atonement). The ship would have had a hard time navigating in dark and cloudy weather.
Paul, who may have been the most experienced traveller on board the ship, suggested that they winter at a small town called Fair Havens. But the contractor who may have been anxious to reach a port where he could sell his goods doesn't care for that idea. The centurion, who had the last say, probably wasn't anxious to spend the winter in a dinky little town with nothing to do. So they venture forward.
They encounter storms. And corn ships by their design were difficult to maneuver in storms. So Paul and the crew run a ground.
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