BLOG 29 JUNE
Catching up with jobs - never ending but do feel we keep improving the boat and particularly getting it well set up for cruising. Some jobs are just repairs eg getting sprayhood sewn where stitching had given way, fitting new tap to salt water deck wash pump, fixing loose connection in nav light; but others are new items eg setting up gybe preventer, fitting protective covers to checkstays, fitting a better block/shackle to jib; and others are dealing with new issues eg some of electricity points have the polarity reversed! so we now have a polarity tester and will get a connecting plug wired up with the live and neutral reversed so that if supply is wrong we can use the connector and get polarity back to what it should be!
Now taking a break to watch Murray at Wimbledon!
Best wishes
Helen and Iain
ps so thinking about which type of job is more satisfying - repairing a fault, improving an existing item or creating/adding something new? Need to re-read Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance or perhaps will write Zen and the Art of Boat Maintenance!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Levkas Town with Graham and Ann-Marie
We’d motored most of the way from Paxos to Levkas but had a fantastic sail on the way back – perfect conditions. In fact we’ve had probably the best sailing conditions this week we’ve had anywhere – just wonderful. Passed along the coast of Anti Paxos (Paxos and Anti Paxos are two very attractive, largely unspoilt small islands 8 to 10 miles south of Corfu) – stunning aquamarine blue water in the anchorages – but as it was a Sunday too many boats – we’ll go back mid week. Tried to anchor in Mongonisi on Paxos but bottom here is covered in weed and the CQR anchor we have does not seem to dig through the weed. It lives up to its name when it is dug in well but really isn’t good with weed. Anyway after 3 or 4 attempts we gave up and went on to Gaios and moored up to the town quay. This turned out to be entertaining as our neighbour’s anchor was on top of a tripper boat/ferry’s anchor – the ferry won! As you’ll gather, anchoring is a major issue in a cruiser’s life and the merits of different types of anchors are the hottest debates among cruisers. Now thinking we might get a better anchor!
Heading back to Corfu tomorrow – jobs to be done incl repairing the sail bag for a second time (I know I should have dealt with the cause not just the symptom when first repaired). Also have to change the lead for the tack line as it now rubs on new boarding passarelle (another cruising philosophy – one change leads to another). Anyway must go now to find a bar with US Open golf on tv –– very keen to see McIllroy win. We’ve watched world cup football when we were in Spain, the Tour de France when we were in Portugal, but it will be a challenge in Greece I think to find golf on tv.
Have a great week.
All the best
Helen and Iain (Mingus)
12 TO 19 JUNE
Lovely week cruising down to Levkas to visit friends Graham and Anne-Marie who are spending the summer on a mooring there on their yacht, Lady Polgaro, in Vlikho bay – a wonderful anchorage almost completely land locked so very sheltered and the whole bay is 7 to 8 metres deep with a bottom of lovely thick soft mud – great anchor holding! (Not so great though when lifting the anchor as our deck wash pump is out of action!) Lovely to meet up with Graham and Anne-Marie and we had a great time sailing/swimming, a few drinks/dinners and an interesting visit to Levkas Town. Entering the Levkas canal is challenging with a shifting sandbank on starboard (and unfortunately the starboard marker missing!) and a rock, position unmarked and unknown, to port – we crawled in through the narrow entrance rather slowly – me up the mast trying to spot the rock and Helen on the helm concentrating hard on the depth meter! Then we had to wait 45 minutes for bridge to open (I should say “floating bridge” which is apparently very important as Levkas is an island – there are suggestions this has something to do with subsidies for the islands!) so we tied up to a fishing boat to wait. Unfortunately when we came to leave Helen was left on the fishing boat (my excuse is the wind was gusting strongly) – I think she said something in Greek but I did the honourable thing and circled round to come alongside and pick her up again. She then took over the helm!
The buildings in Levkas are also interesting – after the 1953 earthquake which apparently flattened most of the town, many buildings now are concrete only on the ground floor – upper floors are corrugated iron. Main street is named after Wilhelm Dorpfeld one of the archaeologists who discovered Troy then spent much of his time trying to find evidence of Odysseus on Levkas (which he was convinced was Ithica in Homer’s Odyssey).
Lovely week cruising down to Levkas to visit friends Graham and Anne-Marie who are spending the summer on a mooring there on their yacht, Lady Polgaro, in Vlikho bay – a wonderful anchorage almost completely land locked so very sheltered and the whole bay is 7 to 8 metres deep with a bottom of lovely thick soft mud – great anchor holding! (Not so great though when lifting the anchor as our deck wash pump is out of action!) Lovely to meet up with Graham and Anne-Marie and we had a great time sailing/swimming, a few drinks/dinners and an interesting visit to Levkas Town. Entering the Levkas canal is challenging with a shifting sandbank on starboard (and unfortunately the starboard marker missing!) and a rock, position unmarked and unknown, to port – we crawled in through the narrow entrance rather slowly – me up the mast trying to spot the rock and Helen on the helm concentrating hard on the depth meter! Then we had to wait 45 minutes for bridge to open (I should say “floating bridge” which is apparently very important as Levkas is an island – there are suggestions this has something to do with subsidies for the islands!) so we tied up to a fishing boat to wait. Unfortunately when we came to leave Helen was left on the fishing boat (my excuse is the wind was gusting strongly) – I think she said something in Greek but I did the honourable thing and circled round to come alongside and pick her up again. She then took over the helm!
The buildings in Levkas are also interesting – after the 1953 earthquake which apparently flattened most of the town, many buildings now are concrete only on the ground floor – upper floors are corrugated iron. Main street is named after Wilhelm Dorpfeld one of the archaeologists who discovered Troy then spent much of his time trying to find evidence of Odysseus on Levkas (which he was convinced was Ithica in Homer’s Odyssey).
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Great week sailing with Terry and Jenny. After a day relaxing by the pool, we set off to visit a few of the most popular spots in the northern Ionian around Corfu – Lakka on the island of Paxos, the Sivota islands on the mainland coast, and Kaloura (where Durrell family lived) and Agni bays on the NE coasts of Corfu island. All great with lovely swimming, good restaurants and beautiful scenery and good breezes for at least a few hours a day to give us some good sailing. Recently we’ve had stronger winds – gusts up to 33 knots on Thursday evening! The Ionian has a reputation for very light winds but its not been true this week. We had anchored in Agni bay but on Thursday as the wind got up and swung round we had to re-anchor and this time we reversed up to the restaurant jetty and tied off there as well. Then we put out a kedge anchor - actually the ferryboat man agreed to drop it for us which was great as it would have been difficult for us in the dinghy, but although we had 10m of chain and 80 m of rope he dropped it only 30m to 40m away. We hoped the kedge anchor would stop the bow being blown down wind in the gusts which blasted down the valley from the mountains. We thought we should be fairly secure but then the restaurant owner came out to check on the jetty as he was worried it might give way! Wondered whether to stay or leave and head back to Gouvia marina for shelter – but concerned winds might be even stronger out of the bay and berthing in Gouvia in these winds would have been extremely difficult (heard later of 40 knots plus in the channel!) – so decided to stay and got up every couple of hours to check our position and ensure we hadn’t dragged our anchors. So a rather disturbed night but anchors (and jetty!) held and winds had died down by early morning. Otherwise we’ve had relaxing easy sailing – ALMA goes very well with any reasonable breeze in the calm waters in the channel here between Corfu and the mainland (even with a reef in which we have at the moment as main halyard is chafing with the full main up – only a nuisance in the lightest winds but we just accept it as a handicap when we’re sailing on the same course as other boats (not racing of course!). Only other concern has been with charter boats. They have a bit of a poor reputation which I’d thought might have been unfair. But having seen how close some charterers go to other boats and how badly some of them anchor (we’re beginners too and have some difficulties anchoring but hopefully not as bad as some of the charterers we’ve seen) , I’m now very wary of them. Don’t want to be anchored downwind from charter boats in a strong wind!
Enjoying Greek food esp grilled fish (wonderful bbq’d sea bass), roast lamb, lamb kapama, beef stifado and of course greek salads. Beer (Mythos or Alfa) good, local wine OK and getting a taste for Ouzo! Had a surreal evening at Nikolas in Agni bay – Greek dancing, music, singing, plate smashing etc – thought this only happened in movies. But all the restaurants we’ve been to have been great – not cheap (EU prices!) but good food, good service and friendly. Just as well as our fishing has not been successful to date – even with our new lures and with Terry’s expertise we drew a blank! Target for the summer is to catch a sea bass – just one, even quite a small one, would be fantastic! (our goals are really quite simple now in retirement – food, water, secure anchorages, good sailing, laundry etc – very simple life. Oh and of course staying fit and trying to slow the inevitable process of growing older)
Swimming improving and managed a swim “marathon” of 40 minutes this week – aching muscles the next day; need to keep up the training! Have also resolved as part of our keep fit program not to use the outboard engine on the dinghy unless really necessary. So rowing now part of our daily gym work!
Now resting up for a day or two – and of course all the normal domestic jobs boat cleaning, shopping, laundry emails etc etc. Had a hair cut this morning too – which is an interesting insight re Europe’s economies – a haircut costs me about E20 in Reigate, E24 in france, E3.60 in Malta and E12 in Greece. Hope UK hairdressers are reading this!
Hope if weather good we might be able to sail to Levkas next week to meet up with friends who are moored there in Vliho bay while they get some work done on their boat. Then we’ll come back to Corfu before our UK trip 22nd to 27th June. Looking forward to catching up with many of you in the UK.
All the best
Helen and Iain
Enjoying Greek food esp grilled fish (wonderful bbq’d sea bass), roast lamb, lamb kapama, beef stifado and of course greek salads. Beer (Mythos or Alfa) good, local wine OK and getting a taste for Ouzo! Had a surreal evening at Nikolas in Agni bay – Greek dancing, music, singing, plate smashing etc – thought this only happened in movies. But all the restaurants we’ve been to have been great – not cheap (EU prices!) but good food, good service and friendly. Just as well as our fishing has not been successful to date – even with our new lures and with Terry’s expertise we drew a blank! Target for the summer is to catch a sea bass – just one, even quite a small one, would be fantastic! (our goals are really quite simple now in retirement – food, water, secure anchorages, good sailing, laundry etc – very simple life. Oh and of course staying fit and trying to slow the inevitable process of growing older)
Swimming improving and managed a swim “marathon” of 40 minutes this week – aching muscles the next day; need to keep up the training! Have also resolved as part of our keep fit program not to use the outboard engine on the dinghy unless really necessary. So rowing now part of our daily gym work!
Now resting up for a day or two – and of course all the normal domestic jobs boat cleaning, shopping, laundry emails etc etc. Had a hair cut this morning too – which is an interesting insight re Europe’s economies – a haircut costs me about E20 in Reigate, E24 in france, E3.60 in Malta and E12 in Greece. Hope UK hairdressers are reading this!
Hope if weather good we might be able to sail to Levkas next week to meet up with friends who are moored there in Vliho bay while they get some work done on their boat. Then we’ll come back to Corfu before our UK trip 22nd to 27th June. Looking forward to catching up with many of you in the UK.
All the best
Helen and Iain
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