Map


View Aegean 2011 in a larger map

Total Pageviews

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Nisiros & on to Kos

We put the Spinnaker up in anticipation of a gentle blow to Nisiros. In the event, we had a couple of sessions where I thought the wind was strong enough and deployed it but they only lasted half an hour and we had to take it in again in favor of the iron topsail! L reserved judgment and looked smug.
Of course the moment we reached the Island, up came the wind.
We got into the large harbor to be greeted by a huge flotilla of 20 yachts crewed by Ukrainians and Russians. There were no spare spaces at all. Fortunately, they took pity on us and we & Fiz took a place along side one of their boats.
On Wednesday, L spent hours scrubbing the decks while I did some work. Overnight it blew up an un-forecast hoolie and dumped volcanic grit all over the nice clean decks. It's enough to make you cry.

We set off from Nisiros on another promise of a gentle waft to Kos with a following wind. Well follow us it did but not exactly gently. We had gusts of nearly 30Knots and sustained winds well over 20 knots. We put up a single reefed main which swept us along for an hour or so - and then the wind died to 10 knots. We shook out the reefs but didn't really trust the weather so avoided the Spinnaker - which was fortunate as an hour later 20 knots suddenly came in again. We put in 2 reefs again - and in an hour - guess what?
Finally gave up sailing 40 minutes short of the marina.
We're not great marina people - but I have to say, Kos marina is really impressive. Nice clean facilities, friendly staff and for our 10.6M boat - €21 per night with free water, electricity and WiFi. Instead of the planned 1 night we will stay 3 maybe 4 and take the chance to explore the Island by car with Bill and Lynn on Fiz.

No comments:

Post a Comment