Sailing time again
I took my first week’s course in the UK in the middle of May; weather was great boat full of Comp crew and our first day out was a F7. Not the best weather to teach comp crew but it was a great sail. The following day I managed to teach the rest of the stuff needed and everyone finished the course on a high.
Teaching in Greece …
I jumped on the plane and headed for Athens; flying with Olympic airways the plane was 2 hours delayed leaving Heathrow, which then meant I had missed the last ferry to Egina. I grab a hotel for the evening and tried to get the first ferry out to Poros, they we both full but I eventually made it to the Island. I was met by Ian the chief instructor and was thrown in at the deep end and took over teaching some of his guys to come alongside. It’s been some time since I’ve had to do this with someone watching me, it was funny. I then stayed with the boat and joined his crew for the trip back to Egina. Ian kindly pointed lost of things out along the way. I then spent the next few days planning the route I was goring o take my crew on. Of course there was lots of nice food and drink in between this.
Sunday 3rd June My crew arrived, 2 English guys and one Spanish. After a safety brief we headed out to get to know each other over some more nice food and drink.
Monday 4th June Slipped our lines and headed for Poros, the weather had turned a little for the worse and the sky was very overcast. We headed out under motor to a place called Russian bay were we stopped for lunch. After lunch the sea breeze picked up and it was time to play on the approach to Poros. With full sails up we spent a good couple of hours just tacking and jibing up and down the approach. Around 18:00 we dropped anchor and med moored in Poros. That evening was spent again finding nice food and drink.
Tuesday 5th June We were woken early to the sound of thunder and very heavy rain. I think we all thought sailing in Greece was going to be warm, at this point I felt like I was back in the UK J the rain stopped just as we were ready to go, and we moved the boat to enable us to fill up with water. Poros has a very nasty sewerage pipe in one of the mooring and we picked it J we left Poros heading for Ermioni. The skies were very overcast but it wasn’t raining, however within 20mins of us leaving Poros I had my first seasick crew (Stuart) as he was starting to feel really bad I decided to try and find us somewhere to stop for lunch. The only option open to us was very rough, we stayed there for about 45 mins, just long enough for everyone to eat some food. As we headed away the rest of my crew went down with seasickness. The wind had picked up and we just about managed to get the sails up before they all fell asleep. Her I am at the helm and all the crew fast asleep. Within hours they were all feeling much better and with the wind still up we had a nice play before we turned around and came alongside in Ermioini and again headed out for the food and drink.
Wednesday 6th June Tonight is going to be our night sail, so the plan was to find a nice stop to spend the afternoon and head back out early evening. We managed to sail and found a nice little bay and with the sun now shining we had a nice lunch and went in for a little swim, I say little as the water was very cold. That evening we were ready for our sail and headed out, our destination was Porto Heli. The winds were really light and we ended up under engine for nearly the whole sail. The trip in was really nice, the navigational lights a few and far between however the ferries and the water taxis are in abundance. We finally made it to Porto Heli at around midnight and everyone really enjoyed the trip (no seasickness) dropped anchor and moored in the only stop left. This time we had to cook our own food, which we washed down with probably the worst bottle of wine I’ve ever had.
Thursday 7th June This morning we woke to a glorious blue skies, this was more like it… Today we were heading back for Poros, this was to be our longest distance. We decided to eat lunch on the move but as we were making good time we called into Idra on the way back as we wanted to come into Poros as the sun was going down. Idra is a lovely little place, with the only means of transport being donkeys. Once back at Poros we moored up, this turning into a bit of an effort as there were a few charter boats next to us. We dropped anchor and were told that we had dropped on someone’s chain, I told them this won’t be a problem and that we would get off it in the morning. The boat next to us managed to mess up there anchor and had to leave and try again. At this point we left to find nice food again and drink again.
Friday 8th June The boat that we had “laid” our anchor on had left, then it was our turn. The boat that messes up there anchor last night had laid their anchor on ours… Our only option was leave the anchor down and park again, I asked the boat next to us if they could give us some more chain, the answer was “No”, I then asked if they were leaving , “No” was the reply. Nothing like helpful people... My only option was just to go for it, and if we rip up there anchor so be it. With a little effort we were free, off we motored (no wind) for our last leg of our journey, stopping for the last swim along the way. Back in Agina, more food and drink …
Saturday 8th June Flying Dolphin, Taxi, Flight and then back home…