Paros – – – – – Oinousses – Mytilini () and back in TO KYMA III: June 2013

448 nautical miles across the Aegean in 17 days Iacovos (Koos) Lubsen

The last day… The crew…

I am sitting on the terrace of a Cycladic villa near our house on , . S and I had been invited to an evening concert to Most celebrate the full moon that was going to be bigger than ever as it has never been closer to the earth. Daylight had almost gone. I der hear the sea but can’t see it because the terrace is surrounded by a lush garden. That same morning, we had left Mykonos in To Kyma III to go back to the port where we had started from 16 days ago. As a van ©Robert Mozart song performed by our hosts (an opera singer from New York, accompanied on the piano be her husband) fills the air, I close my eyes. The inside of my eyelids becomes a video screen. I see the mountains of Mykonos and the beach where we had been anchored for two nights in as little depth as we dared in a M: look-out, sheet puller, cook, very strict cabin organiser. howling off-land wind that often reached 35 knots (Beaufort 8). This morning, we had raised the anchor again, and were blown straight away out into the open sea by a gale that stirred up huge white crests. The deep blue see, the white crests, the blue silhouette of in the morning light, you can’t film or pho- tograph it, let alone describe it, or catch it in poetry. Nobody here (except one or two who have been at sea themselves) can possibly share these visual and visceral emotions with me, as they are so different from any other human experience. But let me start at the beginning…

Q: first mate, heavy weather To Kyma III June 2013: daily runs helmsman, bosun, deck hand, n.m. = nautical mile (1 n.m. = 1852 m); Ag. = Aghios (saint); O. = chief engineer, Jack-of-all-Trades. Ormos (bay); K = Kolpos (gulf) Thu 6/6 Paroikia (Paros) – Ag. Ioannis (opposite 10 n.m. Naoussa, Paros) Fri 7/6 Ag. Ioannis – O. Panormou (Mykonos) 30 n.m. Sat 8/6 O. Panormou – Ikaria 49 n.m. Sun 9/6 Ikaria – Pythagorion (Samos) 39 n.m. Mon 10/6 In Pythagorion - Tue 11/6 Pythagorion – Emporeios (Chios) 60 n.m. Wed 12/6 Emporeios – Oinousses 24 n.m. Thu 13/6 Oinousses – K. Geras (Mytilini) 38 n.m. Fri 14/6 K. Geras – Mytilini port 11 n.m. Sat 15/6 In Mytilini port - Sun 16/6 Mytilini port – K. Kalloni (Mytilini) 38 n.m. Mon 17/6 K. Kalloni - Oinousses 39 n.m. Tue 18/6 In Oinousses - K: skipper, here getting soaked by Wed 19/6 Oinousses – Emporeios (Chios) 25 n.m. spray blown up by gusts off the S Thu 20/6 Emporeios – O. Aya Anna’s (Mykonos) 60 n.m. coast of Mykonos. Does not do Fri 21/6 At anchor O. Aya Anna’s - much, but sees it all. Sat 22/6 O. Aya Anna’s – Paroikia (Paros) 25 n.m. Total 448 n.m. 1

Oinousses

Fournoi

Source: Wikimedia.org

2 Prologue… The boat… For reasons she couldn’t help, TO KYMA III spent the summer of A Pilot Cutter is a type of fore-and- 2012 ashore in Paroikia, dreaming of her last voyage to the Do- aft gaff-rigged sailing vessel with a decanese in the fall of 2011. I arrived on Paros in early May, and straight stem and a long bowsprit first spend two weeks on revising a chapter in a textbook I had that arose around 1850 during the last days of sail. These vessels got helped write several years ago. When that was done, I asked the their name because they were boys of Afros Yacht Services to launch TK III again. A long- used to put a pilot on board a standing sailing friend of mine had come from Holland to help Windjammer racing towards the getting her moving again. To my great satisfaction, everything English Channel before the SW- worked (boats are like human bodies, everything that isn’t used lies in the Bay of Biscay. atrophies). Before winter storage in the fall of 2011, I had spent To Kyma III (To Kyma = the two days to take all sails, sheets, halyards, blocks, etc. off and to wave in Greek) is a Pilot Cutter 30 store everything below; all lines coiled and marked with labels, built in 2005 by Cornish Crabbers in Cornwall, UK. Her lines are blocks etc. stored in plastic bags marked with the function of the similar to those of the pilot cutters item(s) concerned. There are lots of different lines and ropes on of yore. Without the bowsprit, she TK III. Unless you mark everything before storage, you will need is 9.15 metres long and carries 56 days to figure out where everything has to go. m2 of sail. At about 6500 kg, she is On Monday May 27 we were ready for a late afternoon trial heavy for her size. She has a sail. We went out in a sweet N wind, and sailed an hour or so powerful diesel engine, which is towards to the WSW of Paros on a silver sea. Everything much needed given the variable worked, amazing! The sails looked as beautiful as ever, the en- winds around Greek islands. Her shallow draft of just over one me- gine ran as smooth as ever. Even the batteries had survived! Not tre allows anchoring much closer yet having decided where to go tomorrow, we anchored in the inshore than other yachts, which is evening off Livadia beach at the E end of the bay of Paroikia. I a great advantage. While her lines cooked my favourite pasta-with-zucchini dish, and we tucked in are traditional, she is built of mod- for a first quiet night on board. ern materials and her equipment is One a.m. next morning, my phone rang. A very old and dear complete and up-to-date. She car- friend had died in Holland the evening before. Because of this I ries all the modern safety gear wanted to go home again, if only because someone had to an- expected these days, such as a life raft that inflates automatically, swer the phone there. and an EPIRB (Emergency Posi- A few days I will not easily forget followed. Around one a.m. tion Indicating Radio Beacon). Wednesday night, I was woken up by an excited group of neigh- Unlike most sailing yachts seen bours, friends and a policeman. “Fire, get out as quick as you in the Med, To Kyma III does not can!” A huge forest fire was coming down the mountain behind have the vast deck space required our house, propelled by a Beaufort 7 SE wind that had suddenly by sunbathing girls in bikinis, or started. I got in the car and drove away to a safe observation the large Bimini-protected cockpit spot. It is quite scary to see your house almost engulfed in 30 suitable for al-fresco wining and meter high flames. dining. Nonetheless, she turns heads wherever she goes and is Continued next page much photographed. After all, she is much prettier than any girl on Afros Yacht Services… the deck of a plastic-fantastic! Was founded more than 20 years ago by Alexis Bisbas in Paroikia, Paros to act as turn-around agent for Greek yacht charter compa- nies; and to provide maintenance and winter storage services both to charter boats, and to privately owned yachts. Today, the compa- ny is run by Yorgos Kastanas. Graeme Hole (who is from the UK and is a whizz-kid in repairing anything that can go wrong on a boat) works for Afros, as does Sakis Christidis. If you get to Paros on a boat and need anything, first ask Yorgos Kastanas (YK) and his boys. Phone numbers: +30 22840 23625 office, mobile phone YK: +30 694 4209624. VHF channel 73. Email: [email protected]. Website www.islandsailing.gr/english/afros.asp. The Afros shop/office is located above the Marina Café of Kostas and Rachel directly opposite the port of Paroikia and next to the Vidalis Supermarket. Someone from Afros can usually be found during lunch time at the Marina Café. 3 Continued from previous page Two dear friends staying in our house battled heroically with buckets to keep the fire out of our gar- den. Five or six fire trucks (also the big one from the airport) tried to stop the fire’s frontline moving further, and possibly reaching the village of Punda. Dox o Theos (thank God) it didn’t get that far, and only limited damage was done to our garden. The house itself wasn’t touched although some ash had blown inside through windows that weren’t entirely closed. The land where our donkeys graze on the other hand was burnt entirely. Dox o Theos again, the donkeys survived as they had been let lose by a neighbour, and were later found back somewhere in the land. By six o clock in the morn- ing it was all over. I thanked the firemen personal- ly; they had done a marvellous job and did so without pandemonium. These men are real pros! We could go to sleep again, but next day one fire truck stayed until the late afternoon in the land behind our house to put out remnants of fire that flared up again. “Enriched” by this experience, my old sailing friend left again Saturday morning June 1 on the Blue Star to Piraeus. After seeing him off, I went to Aghios Ioannis Monastery opposite Naoussa to remember the beloved one who died on Monday, together with a few friends who had known her Inside the church of Aghios Ioannis Monastry here on Paros. We did this at the same time she was laid to rest in Holland. Old salts like me are superstitious, and much affected by symbolism in the coincidence of events. And this was also a good moment to ask the voyage-to-come to be blessed. Dutch fishermen do that also… Sunday evening June 2, TK III’s still missing crewmembers arrived. While TK III was moored alongside the inside of the pier of the port of Paroikia, we spent the next few days preparing for a trip of up to three weeks,. There is always a list of things that need to be repaired or attended to. We checked everything again carefully, and decided that the one navigation light on top of the mast that we couldn’t get to work was not essential. While Q and K were working on this, M did her shopping. We always take a large stock of bottled water on board, put some deep-frozen meat in the fridge to help its cooling system, and take as much food as we think we will need. Quite a bit of beer, soda and wine disappears under the settees in the cabin. Only for the evening hours though, as we never drink while underway, not even one can of beer! In Paroikia, there is water and electricity on the pier. The batteries were fully charged, using the shore power unit, and the water tanks were filled (we can take 300 litres). Diesel fuel is delivered to yachts in the port by a small truck. We can take about 140 litres of diesel, sufficient for about 200 miles of motoring, leaving a reasonable safety margin. For her size, TK III has big tanks. Filled up with water, diesel fuel and enough food, we can stay away from a port with three on board for at least a week. This is quite a bonus in the as there are few convenient places to fill up your tanks again! While going about all this, we spent pleasant hours on the terrace of Kostas and Rachel’s Marina Café directly opposite the port. That’s were you meet sailing friends, discuss the crisis, and exchange information on everything that relates to boats and the sea. AB was spending a family holiday on Paros this summer. It was soooo good to see him! Living now in Australia with H and the kids, we don’t see each other very often. The last time was summer 2012, when we had to burry our mutual protégé and dear friend from Paros YK.

“There is only one way to do it right, and there are a thousand- and-one ways to do it wrong” “Unless someone has fallen overboard, you always have five minutes to think before doing something stupid” “If you don’t do the dishes before you raise anchor, it will blow Beaufort 9 within an hour”

4 Thursday June 6: Paroikia – Aghios Ioannis (Paros) Finally almost ready to go! But not quite yet. Some last-minute errands still to do, and I still had to bring the car back to the house, returning to the port with Athanasi’s taxi. Everything always takes more time than you think, and it was not before 6 p.m. that we let go our mooring lines. It is a beautiful quiet late afternoon, with very little wind and thin high clouds. In the evening sun, we motor from Paroikia along the rugged and almost uninhabited NW coast of Paros to the light- house on the NW entrance to the bay of Naoussa. The silhouette of that lighthouse is very familiar. In the early seventies, I had visited it several times with Kostas, then one of the keepers. At the time, the light came from a shining copper and steel 19th century French-made installation consisting of a pressurized paraffin gas lamp with a mantle, and rotating Fresnel lenses to concen- trate the light into a narrow turning beam that also determines the character of the light used by seafarers to recognize the lighthouse. Standing with your back against the wall of the tower and looking up during the night at the light beam as it swept the horizon had been a fascinating experi- ence. Starting up the gas lamp at sunset, keeping the Fresnel lenses turning by a mechanism of weights and a regulator much like that in a wall clock, making sure there was a continuous flow of paraffin to the lamp, etc. kept the keeper-on-duty busy the whole night until sunrise. After he had extinguished the lighthouse, I used to go fishing with Kostas, and learnt that you have to take the nets in just before sunrise as oth- erwise crabs eat all the fish, guided by the early morning light. Today, all this is gone. There is no longer a light- house keeper, and the light is a flash from an elec- tric lamp. After less than two hours of quiet motoring we reached the bay of Naoussa, and anchored close to the monastery of Aghios Ioannis. So familiar, and therefore so dear. There is a joy in discovering new things and places, but also in coming back to what has become dear and familiar. The evening was very quiet indeed. We ate the Pasticcio that had been given to us this morning by a well-wisher, and tucked in for the first time on Aghios Ioannis Monastery opposite Naoussa, board of TK III again. Always a special moment… Paros. The lighthouse mentioned in the text is about 10 minutes of walking away

The Paros I knew… From the decks of the ELLI (The first “modern” Greek car ferry, built in 1967. It could take about 850 pas- sengers and 125 cars, and served Paros three times/week*) I set foot on Paros for the first time in the summer of 1969, guided by love. Coming from a World that was in turmoil during the second half of the 1960-ties (remember May 1968 in Paris?), I found very different vibrations here indeed. The junta (1967 – 1974) had totally isolated Greece. On Paros, the only recent change had been that the local fisherman now had diesel engines in, rather than sails on, their boats. Farming methods hadn’t changed since the birth of Christ. In Western eyes, this was an egalitarian, peaceful and almost static society. Nobody had anything, nobody was poor, and everybody had kefi (that indefinable omnipresent Greek spirit). Daily life was ruled by age-old Orthodox traditions. Every other day there was a panigiri, bringing the local economy to a grinding halt. The morning after a wedding, the mothers would inspect the bed linen and shout form the balcony of the new house (that the poor father of the bride had to pay for…) that all was endaxi (OK). The men then fired guns in the air. The local economy was much based on barter-trade. The fisherman and the farmer exchanged fish for eggs. Few houses had electricity. Water was kept in containers. There were no cars, only two taxis, and a rickety old bus between Paroikia and Naoussa. Donkeys were as common as a means of transport as motorbikes are today. Foreigners could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Essential goods came from Pireaus to Naoussa not by truck on a ferry, but by the Kaïki of Capt. Leonardos. At the time there were hundreds of these plying Greek seas, transporting goods and people to, between and around islands and coasts that had no roads (only one Kaïki survives here: the Panaghia, have a look in the port of Paroikia). And the pristine beaches and the blue sea were still free of flotsam! Things have changed. It would still last at least a decade before Paros was rudely woken up by tour- ism, and divided by money and greed. But make no mistake, the kefi remains, as do under the surface the very strong traditions and family loyalties. And it is still beautiful! * www.adriaticandaegeanferries.com

5 The boatyard near Aghios Ioannis opposite Unblocking the tell-tale spout in the cooling Naoussa, Paros system…

Friday June 7: Aghios Ioannis – Ormos Panormou (Mykonos) High clouds over Naxos coloured red from below by the rising sun greet us when we take a look on deck after a quiet night. Q hoists again the Greek courtesy flag in the starboard rigging, and then puts the red ensign (TK III is registered in the UK) on its pole back on the transom (nobody else observes flag etiquette these days anymore…). The Greek weather forecast of this morning predicts winds from the ESE that turn later to the NE, Beaufort 4 – 5, locally six. This is somewhat unusual, but helps to make headway towards the N. The cooling system of TK III’s engine has a tell-tale seawater spout that can be seen from the cockpit, and provides an essential check that the system functions normally. After breakfast, we first unblock this from the dinghy, and then store the latter bottom-up on the foredeck. By this, we save space in the quarter berths. Around 10 a.m. we raise the anchor, raise the mainsail, and set a course for the E tip of Mykonos, but leave the engine running as there is very little wind. The sea is still calm after a windless night. The heavy grey and white high-rising clouds make me wonder whether there might be a thunderstorm later today. The forecast doesn’t mention this for our area, but does so for areas more to the N. Then more waves appear from the SE. The SE wind comes later. We unfurl also the staysail and the jib, and have a nice sail for the last two hours or so to a small bay just W of Cape Kalafatis, where we anchor around 2 p.m.. The hotel here is opening up for the season but there is nobody under the parasols on the beach yet. When the Meltem blows from the N during summer this a perfect anchorage with good holding because of the sandy bottom. Today, the SE wind causes a nasty swell. TK III is pitching and rolling, with her stern towards the beach and her bow towards the SE. By majority vote we decide not to stay, but to sail anti-clockwise around the island to that big deep bay on Mykonos’ N coast: Ormos Panormou. This is a favourite spot for diving, windsurfing and spending a day on the beach, with a couple of hotels on its W side. Not a good anchorage though in the Meltem. But in a SE-erly it’s perfect. While entering the bay, we take care to leave the dangerous rocks to starboard and then anchor in the late afternoon along the beach S of Aghios Sostis. The SSE- erly here is quite strong and there are white crests in the bay. But this anchorage is safe and quiet, at least for the moment. The afternoon weather forecast predicts that the wind will turn to the N. We’ll see what is going to happen. If the wind turns during the night, we’ll have to move again…

Saturday June 8: Ormos Panormou (Mykonos) – Ikaria Early morning June 8, the predicted wind from the N is already blowing quite strongly into Ormos Panormou. A Greek in a small boat knocks on TK III’s deck and warns us that we have to get out of here. We had already come to same conclusion and quickly complete our breakfast and tidying-up routine. We then put one reef in the mainsail, hoist the anchor and tack out of the bay towards the N, using also the engine to help us to make quick headway against the swell. As per usual, the swell helps to locate the dangerous rocks here as the sea breaks on these. Out of the bay, we can steer away from the wind and also unfurl the foresails. Continued bottom next page

6 Why go to Mykonos? Everybody knows Mykonos. It is beautiful, has bespoke beaches, but is very busy during the summer in- deed. Whether you want to go there depends on one’s taste and purpose. I never considered it very pleasant to visit with a sailing yacht. The old port on the W coast is picturesque, but not free of swell when the Meltem blows. There used to be a lot of wash in the port from entering and leaving ferries. Being moored there “Mediterranean Style” could be a somewhat stressful experience. During the Meltem, you are better off anchoring somewhere along the S coast. A new port and marina for yachts has been built around 2 km north of the old one. The marina appears not have been finished completely at the time I write this. With TK III I haven’t been there yet. If you want to visit ancient (a must!) and didn’t come to Mykonos by sailing yacht, you have little other choice than going there first by ferry or plane. From Mykonos port, it is a short crossing in a rolling and pitching tourist boat to the breakwater on the W coast of Delos, from where you can enter the well- guarded and protected site. Legend has it that Delos was left floating because of the wrath of Hera after Zeus had impregnated Le- to, who gave birth here to Apollo and Artemis. Apollo chained Delos to the bottom of the . It should therefore not surprise us that in antiquity Delos was the most important port in the Cyclades. Rod Heikell writes in his Greek Waters Pilot that the bay of Naoussa on the N coast of Paros (some 12 miles S of Delos) should have been a better site for a port and centre of trade and commerce. I don’t agree. To the W of Delos, there is a much bigger island: Rinia. Between Rinia and Delos, there is a narrow N-S channel that is very windy during the Meltem. But the sea is shallow and therefore flat. Tim Severin describes in his The Jason Voyage (1984) how he builds an ancient Greek ship, and rows and sails it through the Darda- nelles into the Black Sea in search of the Golden Fleece. For such a ship, it should have been safe in the Meltem to enter the channel between Rinia and Delos from the N, and then moor in the port. After having completed its business, an ancient ship could then leave again towards the S, even when the Meltem is blowing. That wouldn’t have been possible from the bay of Naoussa as it is difficult to imagine how an an- cient Greek ship could get out of there against the Meltem. Windy is about halfway from Sounion to Delos. Might that be the reason why the ancient Greeks located Aeolos there? A sailing yacht can visit Delos. But there are all sorts of restrictions and a visit should therefore be well- prepared. Several years ago, I had a glorious sail from to the N-tip of desolated and almost uninhab- ited Rinia. For the night we anchored off the E coast of Rinia in shallow water. Next morning, we got up early, went through the channel between Rinia and Delos taking care not to hit any of the multiple rocks there, and then anchored for a couple of hours just N of the breakwater so that those sailing with me could go ashore and visit the site before arrival of the first tourist boats from Mykonos. An unforgettable TK III experience! With a yacht with a deep keel you wouldn’t have been able to follow her…

Continued from previous page It is a greyish morning with high clouds. But the visibility is good. The contours of Ikaria cannot be missed in the East. Between Mykonos and Ikaria, we have a good Beaufort 5 form the N over the deck. TK III flies in these conditions, and we tremendously enjoy the presently absolutely perfect sailing conditions. Of course I listen at one p.m. to the Greek shipping forecast on the VHF radio. NNW 4-5, locally 6 in the E. In the early afternoon we pass to the S of the W-tip of Ikaria. As per usual, the wind blows with considerable force around the cape, and then close to the coast becomes fluky and variable in- between strong gusts coming down from the mountains. Unsuitable for sailing. We could have avoided this by staying at least 5 miles away from the island, but didn’t do this. Motoring close to the coast in a flat sea with all sails down has its attractions too. Ikaria is a majestic 21 mile-long (from WSW cape to ENE cape) and 5 mile-wide island that pro- tects the islands to the S and E against high seas like a breakwater. From the sea it looks high and barren in places. But it hides its reportedly considerable and variable beauties. Its inland valleys are green. A friend of a friend has declared this his preferred Greek island, peaceful, not touristic, and full of local tradition and history. To the seafarer it doesn’t offer much, other than – at times – strong winds and rough seas. There are few ports or good anchorages. The main town is called Aghios Kiri- on the SE coast. It has a small harbour that offers only limited protection. For a good three hours we leisurely motor along the coast. Fournoi is clearly visible to the E, with Samos behind it, and more in the distance and to the SE. There isn’t a lot to see though on Ikaria itself. As said, the island hides its attractions…

7 We pass Aghios Kirikos, and are impressed by the beauty of the lush hills behind the village, faintly brushed yellow in places. The breakwater of the port is clearly visible. Shortly after Aghios Kirikos we pass Therma. Its hot mineral springs were already known in antiquity. We pass a big sailing yacht coming from the SE that is heading for Therma’s small well-protected port. Other than this one we haven’t seen any other sailing yacht today! We decide that we are too lazy for an exercise in “Mediterranean Style” mooring in a small port, probably crowded with local fishing boats, and continue for another 1.5 miles to a small bay that is marked on the chart plotter as an anchorage. The bay is not much more than a bend in the coastline. But there is a nice little sandy beach, with at the end a cape with rocks that looks like offering some shelter (Ak. Daimonopetra, as so often a name that tells-it-all! Would Odysseus have given this cape that name?). As the weather seems settled and there is not a lot of wind or swell anymore in the late afternoon, we decide that it should be safe to anchor here for the night. Pleased with today and our- selves, we have a beer. The setting sun colours Samos, Fournoi and distant Patmos red. M cooks couscous, always a favourite on board TK III. After sunset, the wind increases somewhat. As there is no moon or light ashore, it is difficult to judge visually whether the anchor is really holding. Modern technology has a solution for this also: the iDrifter app in K’s iPhone (see anchoring). It doesn’t sound its alarm, so we have a quiet night…

Motoring along the SW coast of Ikaria, here the The breakwater of the port of Aghios Kirikos, wind is gone but there may always be gusts from Ikaria. the mountains!

Anchoring… As soon as we have anchored, I launch the iDrifter app (www.greenturtleapps.de) on my iPhone. Using the latter’s inbuilt GPS chip, the app plots the boat’s position on the phone’s screen every second. Today, GPS is so precise that this provides for a reliable alarm when the boat has dragged more than the limit you have specified when you started the app. You can also tell the app how far your anchor is from the bow, and in which direction. You can then set a sector from your anchor within which the boat can swing before the alarm goes off (see screenshot). The app doesn’t need internet access to function. Very, very useful indeed! My cruising philosophy is: never go into a port unless absolutely necessary. You can only avoid ports if you have anchor gear that is up to the job, also when you are close to a lee shore and the wind has suddenly piped up during the night. Sitting up the whole night in an icy cold near gale while manipulating in the cockpit the power handle of your running engine to prevent your anchor from dragging is no fun whatsoever… Few topics are so hotly debated in bars of Yacht Clubs or in boating journals as anchoring. My advice is this: find from a table from a trusted source the an- chor weight recommended for your boat’s size and the chosen type of anchor, and multiply this by two. Also multiply by two the recommended chain length, and add two millimetres to the recommended chain size. Then choose an anchor winch that can handle all this. Remember that tests have shown that cheaper look-alikes of established anchor types tend to perform less well than the genuine original. Use the same thinking when choosing an absolutely essential second anchor. You will spend a lot of money, but will sleep very well indeed! 8 Sunday June 9: Ikaria – Pythagorion (Samos) The weather forecast of this morning is the same as yesterday’s, but at our anchorage the morning breeze has turned to the SW. We are now lying with our stern towards the beach and we better go! In the early morning sun, we first motor a couple of miles along the SE coast of Ikaria towards the E-tip of the island, and then set sail. It is a magnificent Aegean morning: bright sun and a clear blue sky, a deep-blue sea with gentle waves crowned by a touch of white, the grey-blue silhouettes of other is- lands visible in the distance. At the E-tip of Ikaria, we find a perfect Beaufort 5 from the N to fill our sails and propel us to Samos. It rarely gets more beguiling here for sailing than this! From the E-tip of Ikaria, the SW-tip Passing the N-tip of Fournoi… of Samos is no more than 11 miles away to- wards the E. Keeping a safe distance from the N-tip of Fournoi, we cover this in less than two hours. No other sails to be seen anywhere. We only pass two small coasters steaming N. Around midday we round the SW-tip of Samos (Ak. Doménikos). Here, the wind in- creases and blows more from the NW. With furled foresails, one reef in the mainsail, and the wind from behind, TK III surfs over the white-crested waves with a big moustache, doing 7 knots. Glorious sailing! After rounding the cape, the usual inter- play between wind and land starts. Initially, there is no wind at all and the engine has to help. But after passing Ak. Makriá Poundá (the cape on the SW-coast of Samos that marks the W-end of the Bay of Marathokám- bos where Samos’ best beaches are), the wind comes back, and again from behind. From here it is another 18 miles along the coast of Rounding the SW-tip of Samos… Samos to Pythagorion. After passing the small island of , the wind becomes fluky again and we motor the last five miles. This gives Q and M ample time to take down and neatly store the mainsail, and prepare for mooring, before entering Samos Marina. A small ANEK ferry coming from (the island to the S of Samos that we visited last time when we were here, sweet memories) and heading for Pythagori- on passes just before us. Samos Marina is within walking distance just E of the port of Pythagorion, and is a much quieter place than the port of Pythago- rion, which in the summer is always very busy. TK III’s skipper prefers that: safer, elec- tricity and water assured, and no risk that someone else fouls your anchor or damages your topsides.

Sailing along the S-coast of Samos…

9 Helped by the harbour master, we moor around 4 p.m. Then a late lunch and a couple of beers, fol- lowed by a siesta that is so relaxing after this fantastic day of sailing! Early evening Q and M go ashore and come back with less-than-pleasant news. Anna’s really excellent so-Greek restaurant that served us here so well last time is closed, as are all other shops that were here before. Only a café and a small supermarket remain open. Even the fuel station at the entrance of the marina had to give up because of the crisis. Bad news if you need fuel! M procures a quantity of deep-frozen shrimps in the “supermarket”, and serves an excellent dinner. Then we tuck in, deeply satisfied by the splendid sailing days we’ve had since leaving Paroikia, but in need of a good night of sleep without the risk of being disturbed by the shrieking sound of iDrifter (see Anchoring), and followed by a day of house- hold chores.

TK III in Samos Marina… Despite EU “help”, Greece has no money any- more to operate this coast guard vessel…

Monday June 10: In Pythagorion (Samos) We’ve been here before for two days, in the fall of 2011. Then, we rented a car and explored the many sites and attractions of Samos. This time we plan to stay only one day to take a shower, wash- ing our clothes, washing TK III’s deck and cockpit, etc. using the excellent facilities provided by the marina. We are lucky. Around 9 a.m. a man appears with a small fuel truck. Although we don’t need much, we fill up with diesel as we want to leave for Chios and Mytilini with a full tank. A sailing yacht keeps you busy all the time, even when at anchor or moored in a port. There are always things that need to be checked, improved or repaired. Better do this as soon as there is an opportunity. Otherwise, you end up with a dysfunctional mess. This time, Q and I decide that it is time to check the bilge alarm as we have fresh water from ashore that can be used to fill the bilge until, if all is well, the alarm sounds. It doesn’t. We even get water from the bilge on the floor of the cabin! That’s not a great disaster as the bilge itself is clean (there is a tray under the engine that catches oil and diesel fuel spilled during maintenance), and the water is quickly pumped away by an electric bilge pump-that-works. To empty the bilge again, we also use the manual bilge pump in the cockpit. Under pressure, that pump explodes in two parts as the plastic ring that keeps the two halves together disintegrates. I am both surprised and disturbed by this. How can a pump with such an important function fail in such a disastrous way after only eight years? Why are such pumps approved by the surveyors who have checked TK III’s seaworthi- ness several times, or are allowed by the European Recreational Craft Directive (RCD)? Surveyors don’t let gas hoses, lifejackets or flares pass when out-of-date. But no one ever warned that this type of pump might fail after a couple of years. Although the chance that you suddenly need that bilge pump while underway is small, the conse- quences can be disastrous. Getting a new pump of the same type would take at least a week, I guess. So Q and I set to repair the pump as best as we can. Sparing the reader the technicalities, we succeed after trying various options, using the spares and tools we have on board (TK III is very well stocked in this regard). Never mind that the job keeps us busy for a good three hot hours. Q and I always deal with challenges like this head-on and straight away, if we think we can.

10 Apart from the broken pump, another disaster is that because of the heat of the sun the dinghy on the foredeck became over-pressurized, and developed a tear between a tube and the bottom. This is something we can’t repair. M goes ashore to see whether the Samos Diving School people might help. However, their office has never opened this year because of the crisis. We roll up the dinghy and store it out of sight. We’ll have to do without it during the remainder of this voyage. Although the marina is quite full with large well-kept yachts of the well-off, the crisis has touched this place visibly. Last time we were here, there was quite a bit of maintenance work going-on on boats ashore. There were charter boats waiting to be hired. There was a Greek coast guard vessel in the port that tried to stem the tide of destitute immigrants from Asia trying to reach the Walhalla of Western Europe through Greece, helped by a contingent of Dutch border police equipped with a 4- wheel drive and a fast inflatable motor boat on a trailer. All this is no longer. I ask M to take a picture of the Greek coast guard vessel, now standing ashore, for this log. While Q and M visit the village in the evening on foot, I read Herman Melville’s short story Benito Cereno, given to me by a very dear friend on Paros who had to clear his bookshelves. A riveting story about slavery and sailing ships that ends in quite unexpected manner (I always carry books by Mel- ville, and a translation of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad). I do so in the heat inside, thereby avoiding the risk of being offered a beer by the German loner in a Contest 29 next to TK III, and having to talk to him in return… As the sun sets, Q and M return with delicious food. They have found Anna’s restaurant, now on the quay of the port of Pythogorion amidst all the other tavernas vying for business from strolling tourists. That prepares us for tucking in early, as we want to leave directly after sunrise tomorrow morning to cover the distance to Chios.

The evening sets over the busy port and the sleepy streets of Pythagorion…

Tuesday June 11: Pythagorion (Samos) to Ormos Emporeio (Chios) Apart from reading Melville, I had also reflected yesterday afternoon on how to get to Chios. You can pass either through the narrow channel between Samos and , or first go W along the S coast of Samos. From Pythagorion, the distance is about the same. My pilot books warn for overfalls and strong currents between Samos and Turkey. So I decide to go W first, and then steer for Chios. A quarter of a century ago I had been one afternoon in Chios’ main port, not a very attractive port-of-call at the time. I searched the internet for Chios Marina, and concluded that this as yet unfinished project has nothing to recommend it. There are very attractive anchorages on Chios’ W coast. But these are quite far away, coming from Samos. So I decide that we will head for a small bay just 2.5 miles N of Chios’ S tip on the SE coast of the island, Ormos Emporeio. The morning weather forecast predicts variable winds Beaufort 3 -4, soon SE 4 locally 5. Ideal for crossing from Samos to Chios!

11 In Samos Marina before leaving for Chios… Tidying up while leaving Samos Marina…

At first it is a bit of a grey morning, with high clouds that filter the sun rising over Turkey. We leave around 8 a.m. Along the S coast of Samos, we have a bit of a favourable wind and unfurl the staysail. A W-going current of about one knot pushes us forward also and we reach the W-tip of Samos before noon. After rounding the cape, we set a direct course for our destination on the autopilot (see How we find our way next page). The channel between Fournoi and Samos can be a very windy place when the Meltem blows in force from the N. Today there is a gentle Beaufort 4 from the SSE, exactly from behind! The so-called apparent wind speed and direction over the deck of a sailing yacht is quite different from the true speed and direction over the earth’s surface. If you are sailing downwind in still water with a boat speed of 5 knots in a true wind speed of 12 knots (Beaufort 4), the wind speed over deck is only 12 – 5 or 7 knots. Currents affect apparent wind speed and direction also. Sailing downwind can be exhilarating and deceptively smooth at the same time. The waves seem gentler than they real- ly are. Breaking waves lift the stern without climbing on deck. So you don’t get wet. But a so-called “dead-run” under sail requires quite a bit of wind as the speed of the boat “kills” the wind. Sailing on a “dead-run” requires that you let go the sheet of the mainsail as far as the boom can go against the rigging. TK III’s wooden boom is very heavy and tends to come over to the other side when the boat rolls in too little wind. That’s dangerous and can vandalize the rigging. In conditions like today, you have therefore two options. One is not to sail straight downwind, but zigzag to catch the wind. While this adds to distance to be covered, you may actually reach your downwind destina- tion faster because of the greater boat speed. The other option is to keep the engine running, and haul in the mainsail to the middle so that you have a steadying rather than a driving sail.

Continued bottom next page

Approaching the W-tip of Samos (left picture), with Fournoi and Ikaria to port (right picture)

12 How we find our way… The Chinese invented to compass, Columbus knew how to determine latitude by the Pole Star, and suffi- ciently precise clocks to determine longitude became available only at the end of the 18th century, or so the story goes. The way we use a sextant today to determine a so called LOP (line-of-position) was de- scribed by (American) Capt. Sumner in 1843. Radar and radio beacons became available to navigators only after the Second World War. I would still be perfectly happy to navigate only with a sextant, a patent log (to measure distance trav- elled through the water), paper charts, pilots, dividers, rulers, pencils and erasers, as we did it in the 1960 and ‘70-ties. Today, we do it differently. I no longer have a sextant on board. Instead, To Kyma III is equipped with a chart plotter. This instrument has electronic charts inside, and determines the current po- sition from satellites by GPS (Global Positioning System). The picture shows the plotter after we had rounded the SW tip of Samos, and had set a course for Emporios on the SE coast of Chios. Before we left, this destina- tion had been marked in the plotter as a so-called way- point. From our current position (indicated by the little black boat), the direction towards this waypoint is 320 degrees (BRG = bearing), and the distance is 39.0 miles (RNG = range). Here, To Kyma III is steered by the autopilot. In tracking mode, the autopilot determines automatically the course to be steered to follow a direct track towards a waypoint (the dotted line on the left part of the screen). The pilot does not steer 320 degrees but 313 degrees (COG = course over the ground) to cor- rect for the fact that we are 0.01 miles off course to starboard (XTE = cross track error). The velocity made good in the direction of the waypoint (VMG Wpt) is 5.9 knots, or about 11 km/h. The course steered by the magnetic compass is 309 degrees (Heading). That this is more towards the West than the COG is be- cause there is a weak current that sets us towards the North. The only other thing needed is a good source of information about ports, anchorages, etc. For many years Rod Heikell’s Greek Waters Pilot has been on everyone’s chart table. Alas I have never met the au- thor. He must be a fascinating man (see www.mediterraneansailing.info). Recently, I have also come to highly appreciate the Greek Sea Guides (www.eagleray.gr) compiled by Commodore Nicholas D. Elias (Greek Navy, retired). Very well done indeed, packed with information obtained from local fishermen, and very easy to use!

Continued from previous page On most modern sailboats, all sails can be set and reefed (reduced in size) without leaving the cock- pit. TK III is rigged like an old gaffer. Almost everything can be done from the cockpit. But to reef the mainsail, someone has to go on deck to tie down the forward reefing eye to the gooseneck (the swiv- el by which the boom is attached to the mast), and tie in the foot of the reefed sail. In a steep heavy sea this can be tricky. All of us always wear an automatic lifejacket as soon as we come on deck. We use state-of-the-art lifelines when this seems wise. Nonetheless, the risk that any of us falls over- board is always there. Lifelines may snap, or may make it more difficult for someone who remains attached to a moving boat to keep his or her head above the surface. Getting some- one who went overboard on deck again on a boat that violently rolls and pitches in a heavy sea can be very difficult indeed. Like the old sailing ship captains, my primary concern is to bring my ship to the next port safely and without damage to sails, masts or yards. I am therefore risk-aversive…

On a “dead-run” towards Chios in SE winds, leaving the channel between Samos (left) and Fournoi (right) behind. Just too little wind to stop the engine… 13 On long trips like today, we always leave with one reef in the mainsail, even if there is not a lot of wind in the morning; the argument being that we need to use the engine anyway to cover 60 miles or more in light airs before it gets dark, and that TK III is easier to steer when the wind pipes up. As a rule of thumb, we stop the engine as soon as we have a favourable wind of 10 knots or more appar- ent. On today’s “dead-run” from Samos to Chios, we don’t have that alas. The mid-day weather forecast is the same as this morning. The wind remains light, and from be- hind. Helped by a N-ward current, we do about 6.2 knots over the ground. The whole day, we see no other yachts and only three small ships. Under the afternoon sun, the sea with little white crests col- ours silver. Chios is a blue-grey silhouette on our bow; the Turkish coast is to starboard. There are very thin high clouds. Gentle waves come exactly from behind, so we don’t roll at all. Around 5 p.m. we pass the big rock 1.5 miles south of Chios. The entrance to the little bay where we are heading for is clearly visi- ble, and straight-ahead. GPS and an autopilot make life so easy… Under a watery late- afternoon sun in the W the sea and the SE coast of Chios are grey. The wind increases a little and we unfurl the staysail. The swell from the SE increases. Behind us there must now be more wind at sea. Coming closer to the narrow entrance of Emporeio bay, it ap- pears that there is quite a bit of white-crested swell in the entrance. One yacht has anchored in the bay. Although at this moment the bay is on a lee shore, conditions in the bay can’t be too bad. Otherwise that other yacht wouldn’t be there. So we decide to give it a try. In one Heading towards our destination along the S coast of coordinated smooth movement-without- Chios… words, the staysail is furled, the bowsprit is topped, TK III makes a U-turn to starboard, the anchor is dropped and TK III comes to a standstill in exactly the right spot. All this is done under the watchful eye of the man in the cockpit of that other yacht (a Najad with a UK flag, nice boat). He first had to put trousers on in a hurry… Ormos Emporeio is smaller than I had expected, really only a hole in the rocks with an opening towards the sea. Ashore there are a few houses, two tavernas, two little jetties and a couple of small local boats pitching and rolling in the swell on their permanent moorings. Not a lot of room for yachts to anchor. TK III pitches and rolls also but the anchor seems to hold. We consider whether it is safe to stay here. What if the wind that blows straight into the bay increases during the night? Should we put out a second anchor? Bring out a long line to a rock near the entrance? Move else- where? Continued bottom next page Anchored in Emporeio with our stern towards the shore. Note the swell… In the evening, M calls the home front…

14 How to find that bay without GPS… Before having GPS on board, I found it often not easy to identify that bay where I wanted to anchor on the silhouette of the island I was steering for. The diagram shows how to solve this problem. The dashed ar- row as drawn on the chart shows the direction in which you are steering for the bay you want to reach. Draw two lines parallel to this direction, one through each tip of the island as seen in the di- rection you are coming from. Also, draw a line perpendicular to the- se. Now, measure A and B with a divider and determine A/(A+B). Then, relate this to the island’s silhouette of the island as you see it on the horizon (represented in the diagram in grey). For example, if A = B, A/(A+B) = 0.5, the bay you are steering for must be in the middle of the silhouette on the horizon. When there is no crosscurrent and no drift, you can now steer visually for this point on the silhouette. When there is a crosscurrent and/or drift you have to correct for that, and steer the corrected B course on the compass. At the same time, you must verify with a hand-bearing compass that you stay on the same track towards the point identified on the silhouette from A/(A+B). A I have never seen this explained in this manner anywhere. It’s probably too obvious…

Continued from previous page I consult again the weather forecasts and wind charts. Thunderstorms are not predicted and the wind is expected to veer from SE to W as a depression moves away. So I decide that we’ll stay. This having been decided, we eat a leftover from two days ago; drink another beer and an after-dinner ouzo. Not so smart if you have to get on deck quickly because the anchor is dragging... We start iDrifter (see Anchoring) and try to get some sleep. Q gets up to have a look on deck whenever woken up by a particular vio- lent movement of TK III. The bay is faintly lit by a watery new moon behind grey clouds. The moon sickle is tilted so that it can “hold water”. As a child I was told that this means that it will rain. It was indeed going to… Unstable evening sky over agitated water in Or- mos Emporeio…

Wednesday June 12: Emporeios to Oinous- ses Around 5 a.m. the swell in the bay abated, TK III stopped rolling, and we finally slept like a log until 8:30. We are now lying with our bow towards the shore: the little wind-there-is had turned as predicted! As the picture shows, it is a peaceful morning. We are in no particular hurry to leave, take our time for breakfast, and prepare sandwiches for lunch. The time-of-departure is set at 10 a.m. (we always determine this together as soon as we get up so that all on board can plan what to do before leaving). 15 Leaving the whirlpool… Clouds over Chios…

While leaving, the man on the English yacht that was already here yesterday when we came asks whether we had slept well. I reply “not really, we were rolling quite a bit”. He shouts back “yes, a washing machine”. We nickname Emporeios from now on “the whirlpool”… It is a somewhat grey morning with high clouds. We set sail immediately, stop the engine, and sail in a gentle breeze abeam towards the NE along the beaches of the SE coast of Chios. The island is green, with high mountains and valleys that offer a glance inland from the sea. The coastline is specked with holiday homes, many as yet to be finished. Towards the E, the Turkish mainland is visi- ble. In the distance we spot one sailing yacht, sailing in the opposite direction close to the Turkish coast. Chios is the fifth largest Greek island. It has a very turbulent history indeed, culminating in the 1822 massacre of the Chiots by the Sultan’s Ottoman troops that came from the other side of the strait between the island and Anatolia. Today, it is a busy shipping centre, home to ship owners and sailors, and exporter of agricultural products that include its unique masticha (mastic gum). The lat- ter is used as a medicine since antiquity, and is exported all over the world. The Greeks call it “tears of Chios”. It lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, and is said to have many other salutary health effects. The bustling main town and harbour is built on the remnants of what was left after the worst earthquake in modern Greek history in 1881, and is therefore mostly modern and not attractive. The tourist industry is relatively underdeveloped, as the local economy doesn’t depend on it that much. Nonetheless, Chios has a lot to offer to visitors. The 11th century monastery Nea Moni with its ex- traordinary mosaics is a UNESCO world-heritage site. At Cape Katoméri, just S of Chios town and bustling main harbour, the SE coast of the island turns towards the N and runs exactly N-S from that point onwards. At this point, the channel between Chi- os and Turkey is only 3.5 miles wide. Following the coast, we change course while keeping a good distance from the shore because the sea is shallow here. Hence, we don’t see much of Chios town. We can now steer directly for Oinousses, a barren but reportedly most enchanting cluster of one larger and eight smaller islands that lies like a large breakwater in the N entrance of the channel be- tween Chios and Turkey. This is one of the few places I have never been to in 30 years of sailing in Greece! After Cape Katoméri there is no wind anymore so we cover the last 10 miles or so by using the engine. Just before arriving in the port, a huge rain- cloud discharges itself in pouring refreshing rain. Can’t be too rare in this part of Greece, otherwise Chios wouldn’t be so lush and green! About 20% of the world’s merchant fleet is Greek- owned. Niarchos and Onassis are well-known names. However, according to Rod Heikell’s guide the richest shipping dynasty of them all is the Lemos family, a name few people have heard of, even in Greece. Its founding fathers came from … Oinousses!

16 Few inhabitants live on the island permanently; most are at sea somewhere around the world, a few run their shipping conglomer- ates from London offices. Taken together, the islanders are im- mensely rich and maintain the place where they came from well. That’s immediately obvious. While turning to port to enter the har- bour, a dangerous low rock must be avoided. To warn for this dan- ger to navigation, a voluptuous mermaid with glorious breasts has placed herself on this rock! She has a crown on her head, and a sail- ing ship in her left hand. For which lover is she waiting? A pier, a quay and two little islands with churches and a monas- tery on them form the island’s harbour basin. The narrow entrance faces E. Hence, the harbour is very well protected indeed even during the worst winter storms. We enter and then moor along the quay while the islanders are having their siestas. What a delightful, seductive and picturesque place this is! And how peaceful! The little blue ferry that connects Oinousses to Chios once daily (which crossed our course while we were heading for the island) now sleeps along the pier until tomorrow morning.

The N-S pier on the E side of the harbour basin, To Kyma III moored along the quay with the small ferry alongside As it is siesta time, nobody pays any attention as we moor. There is ample space as there are few other yachts. We chose a spot close to an electricity pod on the quay. It works without having to pay first. The water tap doesn’t however. We have a siesta too, and then M and Q go ashore to explore the village that slopes up behind the quay. I stay on board and watch the local fishermen painting their boats before these are put back in the water again after wintering ashore on the quay. Apart from their chatter, there is not a sound to be heard. As it gets dark, Q and M come back full of enthusiasm. The village is pretty. Many houses have been restored. Others are still in ruins. There is a naval academy, the only private one in Greece; and a maritime museum, now closed for the afternoon. In the little shop near the main church, they were greeted in perfect English. “Are you from Holland? I have been to Amsterdam and Rotterdam many times when I was a sailor. Now I am retired and have opened this shop.” A young disinterested harbour police woman appears, writes down the name of our boat, and tells us that we have to visit her office at W end of the har- bour near the naval academy before leaving. We may want to leave early again tomorrow morning, so Q goes straight away with our passports and ship’s papers. He comes back with an impressive receipt and seven euro’s poorer. While we have dinner, the local youth makes a lot of noise just near us with their chatter and their motorbikes. There isn’t a lot to do here. The evening sky (see picture) foreshows thunderstorms. At 23:30 p.m. the noisy youth packs up, and peace and quiet returns. We tuck in. As we fall asleep, thunder rumbles in the distance.

17 Local fishing boats are always picturesque… … and are wintered ashore on the quay.

A few hours later I am woken up by lightning and thunder right above us, and the machinegun-like sound of hail smashing on the deck. M and Q are so deep asleep that I have to wake them up while closing the hatch above the chart table and the galley. That marvellous Greek Sea Guide was lying open at the page on Chios and Oinousses on the chart table, and got quite wet. These now wobbly pages will remind me in the future of my first-ever visit here.

Other yachts in Oinousses basin, with Chios in the background. The wall of the monastery on the island has the contour of the deck of a windjammer (better visible in the left picture). The yacht at anchor to the right of the monastery (right picture) is a Dutch-flagged Dick Koopmans design. The yacht with the dark hull moored at the end of the pier (left picture) is a Czech-flagged (!) “Bestevaer”, designed by Gerard Dijkstra. Dutch yacht building is well represented here!

Thursday June 13: Oinousses to Kolpos Geras (Mytilini) After the boisterous thunderstorms of last night had abated, we slept very well until woken up by Orthodox prayer and chant. It is Orthodox Ascension today. The priest’s voice fans out all over the village and the harbour from powerful loudspeakers affixed to the big church in the village. Purified by this and de-stressed by the peacefulness of this place, we depart early, promising to be back soon! We leave the harbour towards the E, say good-bye to the Mermaid on her rock, and then turn to- wards the W. Only now can we really admire the morning sky: high cloud formations in all shades of white and grey that mostly hide the sun, and discharge brief pouring rain showers while we motor along the SW coast of Oinousses in very little wind. We pass several ship-owner’s mansions, and a large monastery built by the Pateras ship-owner’s family that lies under a huge cross on top of the island’s spine. Ascension must have occurred from here this morning! In less than an hour we are in the narrow strait between the N-tip of Chios and the W-tip of Oinousses, set sail and stop the engine. The forecasted NNW Beaufort 4-5 hasn’t started yet. To make some speed, we have to bear off along the N coast of Oinousses towards Izmir. That’s not where we 18 want to go today. So we start the engine again, and set course for the large town and harbour of Plomári on Mytilini’s SE coast, some 27 miles towards the NNE. I go inside to check on the charging voltage of the batteries, and find it about one Volt too high. That brings back bad memories of many years ago when I was taking a brand new boat built in Denmark on its maiden voyage from Borkum to Terschelling. On a windless day and in the mine-swept shipping line in the German bight, the cab- in filled with acid vapours coming out of the engine bay. Because the regulator of the engine’s alter- nator didn’t work, the batteries were cooking! I could solve the problem by unplugging the excitation wire from the alternator. Might we have the same problem again? I stopped the engine, turned the main battery switch from “both” to the “starter battery” position, started again, and the voltage re- turned to normal. So I decided that the most likely cause of the “problem” was static electricity somewhere in the system left behind last night by a thunderstorm. Would be nice to know whether this is plausible. Always think five minutes before you panic... The sky clears almost completely and around noon the NW breeze is strong enough to sail. Myti- lini is rapidly coming closer. About ten miles from the coast the wind veers and we can no longer steer for Plomári. In the afternoon, the wind suddenly turns to the NNE. Heavy grey-black clouds cover the island. Thunderstorms again? In this kind of unstable weather you want to spend the night in an anchorage sheltered all-round. I find one behind a cape (Ak. Kavourolimni) on the W-side of the entrance into Kolpos (bay) Geras, the Eastern and smaller one of the two big inland seas of Mytilini.

Ormos Kavourolimni (channel into Kolpos Geras), looking NE towards the entrance

The entrance is shallow and you must carefully find your way between sand banks, guided by buoys and marks ashore. After dousing the sails, Q steers. I con him in from the chart table. The big fish farm marked on the chart in our chosen bay is not there. Around four p.m. we anchor in this extraor- dinary tranquil place. Grand old olive trees cover the bay’s steep shores. High lush-green mountains are all around us. There is absolutely no wind, a brick on a length of fish line as anchor would have kept us in place. Ashore one concrete white building, with a steep footpath to a little pier. One little red boat on a permanent mooring. The bay ends in a nice little walled beach, with olive trees directly behind (see picture below). Two men clean the fish and octapodi they have speared this afternoon there, and then disappear in a jeep over a steep rocky track. Then we are completely alone… Q and M take a swim, and then we all have a sies- ta. While we eat M’s pasta dinner al-fresco in the cockpit, the setting sun colours the clouds in the evening sky from below, first orange, and then deep red. The crickets become silent. In the distance goat bells chime. After sunset, the evening star and the sickle of the new moon disappear under the horizon too. Then there is no light to be seen anywhere any- more (except the anchor light on top of TK III’s mast), and no sound to be heard. Only the stars above us remain. No surprise that we sleep exceptionally well. Tomorrow we’ll go to the main harbour of Mytilini.

19 Friday June 14: Kolpos Geras to Mytilini port The star-filled night sky turns into a beautiful morning in Ormos Kavourolimni. In no hurry whatso- ever, we raise the anchor and navigate between the shoals in the entrance of Kolpos Geras towards the SE tip of Mytilini. From our anchorage it’s only 11 miles to Mytilini’s main port, or two hours un- der engine as there is no wind at all. We stay as close to the coast as is seamanlike, and have a look at the beaches and the houses below high green hills. That all houses along Mytilini’s coast have four- sided sloping Mansard (French) roofs with red tiles is both striking and characteristic.

Inner harbour Venetian fort

Marina

Source: wikipedia.org

The busy main port of Mytilini is only about 6 miles away from the island’s SE tip. While passing along the coast, you can’t miss it as the town was built behind a big Venetian fort that overlooks the strait between the island and Turkey. There is an inner harbour, surrounded by the town, and an outer harbour towards the S. In the SW corner of the outer harbour, a modern marina has been built. Contrary to some others around Greece, this marina is fully operational. Around noon, we enter the outer harbour. I announce sailing yacht To Kyma on the VHF radio on the channel the marina listens to. A young assistant harbour master appears in a dinghy, assigns us to a place alongside the outer pier (see picture), and helps us to moor. I introduce myself, and ask his name: Kyria- kos. I give him a decent tip so that we will be treated like a VIP whenever we come back here. Then the usual routine: water, electricity, keys for the showers and toilets, a visit to the marina office and the port police (in the same build- ing!) with the ship’s papers and our passports. Everybody is as friendly and helpful as reported in blogs by previous visitors. Exactly at the agreed time, a man appears to look at our damaged dinghy. He can re- pair it, but it will only be ready next Tuesday morning. So we decide to continue without the dinghy.

20 Directly behind us, a podium has been erected with all the paraphernalia for a rock concert. The whole afternoon, sound engineers are busy with fine-tuning the microphones and megawatt amplifi- ers. Tonight, the first concert will take place of a three-day cultural festival that brings together Greeks and Turks from both sides of the narrow strait that separates the two countries here. After siesta, we all walk to the town. Mytilini is a very busy slightly chaotic city with an inescapa- ble Levantine atmosphere. On the way to the inner harbour, we walk through a wooded area, passing a site marked on the port plan in the Greek Sea Guide as “bus station”. There are busses, but none of them operational. It’s a permanent bus graveyard, rather than a temporary pick-up point for passen- gers! The area is shabby, with lots of cars haphazardly parked under trees. Some of them serve as living quarters for gypsy families. Close by, big Ro-Ro ferries unload trucks with supplies for the is- landers. After passing this rather destitute place, we reach a string of attractive and very busy res- taurants, bars and ice cream parlours along the S-side of the inner harbour. Before choosing one for dinner, we walk further along the W side of the inner harbour, and inspect the Greek Navy and Coastguard vessels moored here. Some of them would not be out-of-place in a maritime museum, but there are modern fast patrol boats too. Yachts can moor along the N and E side. There aren’t that many. It wouldn’t be a quiet place in any case… On the way back, we have an excellent dinner in one of the tavernas on the waterfront. It’s very busy; we are the only tourists and prices are lower than on Paros. Then we walk back to the boat. The festival is in full swing. Around the marina, market stalls have been erected. A bewildering array of articles is to be had: local delicacies, holiday homes on the other side offered by Turkish real es- tate agents, tractor tyres, second-hand yachts moored opposite the market stalls. Age-old traditions are kept alive by folk dancers in beautiful costumes. The official programme states that all this is or- ganised by the Greek-Turkish Chamber of Commerce. To reach the boat, we have to fight our way through the crowd that has come for the concert. As we fall asleep, a melancholic bouzouki sounds…

Saturday June 15: in Mytilini Marina First, we move TK III to another place as far away from the music stand as possible. We then reflect on what to do today. The island of Mytilini (perhaps better known to many as Lesbos) has a great deal to offer to visitors. It is the third largest Greek island. In antiquity, it was the birthplace of many lyric poets, Sappho among them. Subsequent civilizations and occupiers have left layered remains (excavations have shown that the fort that overlooks the harbour was built on top of a sanctuary of Demeter). The petrified forest in the W is unique, and very well presented to the visitor. Its beaches are eponymous and its landscape is breath taking: in the W dessert-like plains with wild horses, in the E lush mountains and valleys; two large inlands seas, paradise for bird-watchers. There are forts, monasteries, churches and museums to visit. Despite all this we decide not to rent a car. There is just too much to see-and-do for one day, and we have quite a few things to do here also. After a late breakfast, a man comes wit a fuel truck to fill our diesel tank. He asks where we come from. “From Holland? Great! I have the only Frisian stallion on the island. You know about Frisian horses, don’t you.” I confirm that I know everything about Frisian horses, and give him a good tip, for his horse. He laughs. M and Q disappear to go shopping, I stay on board. In no time a lady appears to bring back our laundry, and a man carrying a truckload of water and beer on his shoulders. I chat to Kyriakos – he will come back tonight to have an ouzo with us on board – and to the Turkish owner of the Beneteau Océanis moored beside us. His’ and may other Turkish-owned yachts here carry the American flag, and are registered in Delaware. Are the Turkish tax authorities really that ignorant? Other than this, Greek and Turks mix perfectly well here. No need to wear a burka. Mytilini Marina is owned by a Turkish company (SeturMarinas), but staffed by Greeks. I ask my neighbour what his hopes are for the future after the current unrest in Turkey. Alas, he doesn’t speak enough English to enter into that kind of conversation. Punctually at the agreed time, Kyriakos appears in the evening with a small bottle of very special ouzo produced by a company started 105 years ago by a great-great-grandfather of his. What a pleasant, polite and well-educated young man! The four of us talk in a mixture of English and Greek. He finished school two years ago and works this summer for Setur. His father is a senior port police officer in the harbour. He dreams to follow suit. The family lives in Loutra on the E shore of Kolpos Geras, very close to Mytilini town. He loves Rebetika, the folk music that arose in the slums of Pirae- us in the 1920-ties among the Greek refugees from Anatolia. Monday night a very popular rebetika 21 group will play here: Café Aman Istanbul. The group comes from Istanbul, and sings both in Greek and in Turkish (www.cafeamaninstanbul.com, YouTube). We should stay, and join him to the con- cert! We talk about the crisis too. I explain to him that crisis reigns everywhere in Europe, not only in Greece, and that Greece is not the only country where corrupt politicians enrich themselves. I hope this makes him feel less isolated. We invite him to join us for dinner. No, he wants to go home as he starts work at 7 a.m. Sunday June 16: Mytilini Marina to Ormos Apothikes (Kolpos Kalloni) Alas we can’t stay for the concert of Café Aman Istanbul; we still want to try to get to Limnos be- fore we have to head back to Paros again in due time for M and Q to fly home. The weather fore- cast suggests that we might be getting relatively strong breezes from the N. It would be nice to go along the N coast of Lesbos, and stop for the night at Mólyvos; according to Kyriakos and others the most beautiful place here. But we also want to visit the larger of the two inland seas (Kolpos Kal- loni). Its entrance is on the S coast. If it really starts blowing from the N, Mólyvos might not be a very sheltered anchorage or port. So we decide to Leaving Mytilini Marina… go W along the S coast today. During morning tea, I make a list of things to do before we go: top up water tank, detach shore power, store wheelchair, take garbage ashore, settle final bill in the Marina office, return shore pow- er adapter and keys, notify port police of our departure, engine oil level etc. check. All this being done, we let go. On the radio, I say farewell to Kyriakos. He waves at us. It’s a beautiful morning, azure sky, no wind. On the engine we follow the coast. We pass again the entrance to Kolpos Geras where we anchored when we came from Oinousses. Impressive how olive trees grow on quite steep slopes upwards from the sea. We motor along beautiful beaches, mostly deserted, only here and there a few houses with French roofs. In the early afternoon, high clouds ap- pear. We pass Plomári, the 2nd largest town. It has a very good harbour with all-you-need, and looks very attractive as we pass. Next time we’ll go here rather than to Mytilini. W of Plomári, we pass miles of beach again until a cape called Aghios Fokás, about halfway along the SW coast. Here the scenery suddenly changes. No gentle green slopes anymore that end in a long white sandy beach. A steep dark rocky slope instead, with barren hills behind.

Plomári, seen from the South Heading towards the entrance of K. Kalloni after passing Ak. Aghios Fokás. Note the steep dark rocky coast and the barren hills behind. At Aghios Fokás, we suddenly have Beaufort 4 exactly on the nose, and are pitching a little into the accompanying swell. We pass the little island that marks the S-side of the shallow entrance into Kol- pos Kalloni. 22 I go inside to con Q towards our chosen anchorage in Ormos Apothikes, passing through a channel marked with red and green buoys, helped by marks ashore, and aided by an excellent chart in the Greek Sea Guide. After a couple of turns to avoid the shoals and a little island, we anchor in the late afternoon sunlight close to the little pier of a small village. What an enchanting and serene spot again! A little beach with some trees, two other yachts, a small river ending in a marsh nearby. Beyond the pier with local fishing boats, a couple of scenic houses with red-tiled French roofs. The sound of goat bells ashore. We have now reached the W part of Lesbos, which has a quite different landscape than the E: lower rolling After sunset, Q lowers the Greek courtesy flag. hills covered by bushes rather than trees. Have we passed the tree line? During the night there is not a sound to be heard. Just before sunrise, I go on deck to admire the fading stars in the early morning light.

Monday June 17: back to Oinousses The morning weather forecast predicts “strong N winds over the Aegean”, not for today but for to- morrow. We haven’t yet given up on going to Limnos. Limnos is the famous island where during the First World War, when Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, amphibious forces were assembled before the Dardanelles attack. I had been there once many years ago, and wanted to visit it again. So the weather forecast is not good news as Limnos is about 60 miles or 12 hours away towards the NW from where we are. If it really starts to blow from the N the coming days, it would be a long way back to Paros over open sea and without many suitable places for an overnight stop: isolated (where I had been once) is about 65 miles away from Limnos towards the SSW, (never been, W of Chios) even 75 miles to the SSE. From Skyros it would be another 120 miles back to Paros, passing along the E coasts of Evvoia, , Tinos and Mykonos. When the Meltem blows, there is a lot of wind E of these islands and a high sea, and very few if any sheltered anchorages. Because of this, go- ing downwind to Psara first would be a better option. We consult again the wind charts for the coming days on my iPhone (even in this remote spot there is a 3G network!), and discuss the options, one of them being to go back to Mytilini to join Kyr- iakos tonight at the rebetika concert (I love rebetika)… Eventually, we decide with regret that we will give up on going to Limnos, and go back to Oinousses today. That’s after all a fabulous place where we can stay a few days if forced by bad weather. From there we can go S further between Chios and Turkey before going back to the Cyclades. So around 10 a.m. we raise the anchor and start finding our way again between the shoals to- wards the open sea. At the little island, we hoist the mainsail but there is not enough wind to stop the engine yet. Then, we set a SSE course for Oinousses, some 30 miles away.

The buoyed channel from K. Kalloni towards the The village of Apothiki in the morning sun open sea

23 M steering a leisurely “dead-run” from Mytilini to Passing the big monastery again on the SW Oinousses… slope of Oinousses. Touched by forest fire? Around noon, a light breeze picks up exactly from behind. We pass several big ships en route to, or coming from, the big port of Izmir on the W coast of Turkey. The wind increases and for the last 12 miles we have a fine sail to the strait between Chios and Oinousses, and then along the SW coast of Oinousses to the port. If she had looked, the mermaid would have seen us gybe and then douse the sails. Around 5:30 p.m. we moor at the same place as before. A French lady and a man from New Zea- land take our mooring lines. There are now more yachts than before, among them a good-looking Olivier van Meer-designed Dutch motorsailer. The owner appears to have a look at TK III, and chat with us as yachtsmen do. His boat is the Pietje van Kan (www.pietjevankan.nl). He built it himself.

Up the streets to the village…

Early evening M and Q walk up the streets of the village to the taverna near the church so that M doesn’t need to cook. “Hi, back again? Where are you going now? To Paros? Stay here, much better than Paros! Paros only fasaria, too many tourists, too much stress, and only mooney, mooney…” While dinner is prepared, M and Q talk to the people on the yacht from New Zealand. Nice people, they have a yacht here, and another one down yonder. So they sail in the summer all year round. Not bad… The owner of the taverna brings M and Q back to the harbour in his car without a number plate. Most cars here don’t have number plates. The dinner is very, very Greek, as is the couleur locale in the village! And left-overs don’t end in the garbage…

24 ‘Pietje van Kan’ and ‘To Kyma III’ in Oinousses. Varnished traditional boat, s shipping magnate’s tribute to his fisherman-forefather? Tuesday June 18: in Oinousses Not in a hurry anymore we decide to stay here for the day. Q puts the sunshade over the cockpit and the cabin top to keep us as cool as possible. For breakfast, M comes back with still warm fresh bread straight out of the oven, a delicacy. Otherwise a lazy day, a little walk, a little shopping, a little swim, a little chat to fellow yachties, a bit of cleaning and a few small repairs here and there (a broken hose clip on the engine air filter included). I finish Melville’s short story Benito Cereno, a masterpiece. As it gets dark we try again whether by cleaning the deck plugs we can get the tricolour light on top of the mast working again, but don’t succeed. While doing this, I make a sketch in the log to identify the purpose of each of the six deck plugs. Dinner comes again from the taverna, and is delivered by car. Delicious stuffed fresh squid! Sleep comes easy as soon as the local youth has stopped being noisy.

Wednesday June 19: Oinousses to Emporeios (Chios) Today, we’ll go no further than somewhere close to S tip of Chios, about 25 miles away, as a “spring- board” for a crossing back into the Cyclades. So we take our time to go through the usual list of jobs before leaving a port. The morning weather forecast is NNE, Beaufort 6 – 7. While being waved good-bye by Marleen from the Pietje van Kan, we let go and set sail immedi- ately outside the port: the mainsail with one reef and the jib. We keep the staysail furled as on an al- most downwind course is doesn’t do much. It is a beautiful morning: deep blue sea under a clear sky, white crested waves, Chios to starboard, the Turkish mainland to port. We call conditions like this “prima To Kyma”. In a Beaufort 5 – 6 from behind, TK III surfs over the waves, sometimes reaching 7 knots. On days like this, the wind has a tendency to follow the coast, and change direction according- ly. With the mainsail to port, very attentive steering is required to avoid an accidental gybe while also staying a safe distance away from Chios. We furl the jib as this makes it easier to keep TK III be- fore the wind without gybing. After passing the cape S of Chios town, the wind increases and we are really over-canvassed. That we haven’t put in a second reef much earlier turns out to have been a mistake, and a very classical one at that. Running down the wind always looks so easy, unless it is too late... Too close to the coast to put in a 2nd reef without gybing first, I decide to take the mainsail down, and continue only under the staysail for the 10 miles max still to go this afternoon. So I turn the boat almost into the wind. The mainsail starts flapping violently as TK III suddenly rolls and pitches in the short Until the cape “prima To Kyma”…

25 steep seas. The gaff is a particular violent beast to get down if something goes wrong in circumstanc- es like this. Somehow the gaff gets caught in a backstay and Q can’t prevent that the pivoting claw that keeps the gaff attached to the mast as it slides up and down is slightly bent. This was the wrong manoeuvre: bad skipper today, K! Order having been restored on deck, we keep under staysail alone close to the pristine wide sandy beaches along the shallow bay called Ormos Kalamotis on the SE coast of Chios. These beaches extend below the sea’s surface for quite a distance, thereby providing excellent holding for anchor- ing. When we were here on the way to Oinousses last week, I had spotted a charming little port pro- tected by a breakwater: Limeniskos Komis. The port appears full of small local boats, and really too small and to inconvenient even for small TK III. So we anchor just W of the entrance as close to the beach as we dare. A great spot for a holiday on the beach, far away from mass tourism. Nonetheless, after a few hours we decide that there is too much swell here to stay overnight. Hence, as the sun sets we move on to the “whirlpool” at Emporeios, just 1.5 miles away, and anchor there. At Emporeios, there is one other yacht as we enter the bay. Just before its gets dark completely, a big modern French yacht with three men on board comes in also. We angrily shout at them when they drop their anchor very close. They don’t even look at us. We are lucky because with their dinghy they bring out a long line to the shore. That keeps us all at a safe distance. You are not always that lucky. Charter skippers with paying guests on board sometimes drop anchor so close that their boat drifts against your own. Protesting this usually falls on deaf ears. The only thing you can do is mov- ing away yourself to a less attractive place. That wouldn’t have been possible here as this bay is so small. This will never become one of my favourite places; next time we’ll go to one of the bays on the SW coast of Chios that look marvellous indeed on paper in the Greek Sea Guide. At this late hour too far away, alas.

Thursday June 20: Emporeios (Chios) to Mykonos We get up at 6 a.m. after a less-than-quiet night, but ready for a long “dead-run” over open sea to Mykonos, about 50 miles towards the SSW. The morning weather forecast is NNE, Beaufort 6 – 7, as yesterday. The wind charts show that there will be quite a bit of wind SW from Chios, then less NW of Ikaria, and then more again to the E of Andros and Tinos. To avoid that we have to reef the mainsail on the way, we put in the 2nd reef while still at anchor, and prepare the reefing lines for putting in the 3rd. You never know on days like this. The Meltem can become very strong in the afternoon. At 7 a.m. we are on the way and set sail. Near the S-tip of Chios we gybe as we pass a big ship coming towards us, and then set a course for Mykonos. With the double-reefed main sail, the two foresails and a little help from the engine we surf over the waves towards the SSE, doing seven knots over the ground. If it goes on like this, we’ll make a fast passage! As predicted by the wind charts, the wind eases as we get further away from Chios around noon. Two big ships cross our course, other sails are nowhere to be seen.

Approaching Mykonos from the NNE in the Meltem over a deep-blue sea, an ineradicable panorama…

Mykonos Tragonisi

26 As is often the case when the summer Meltem blows, the sky is blue and clear, but the visi- bility is bad. The silhouette of Ikaria can’t be missed in the SE. Towards the SW, only the top of Tinos, covered with a little white Meltem cloud, is faintly visible. Predictable, the wind increases again in the afternoon. With the wind from behind, the going is easy over high but deceptively well-mannered waves. However, very attentive steering is necessary to avoid an accidental gybe. We keep Tragonisi, the little island to the E of Mykonos, to starboard. Had there been less wind, we would have passed between these two. Not now, as it might be rough there. We pass Tragonisis around 4 p.m., and then steer W along the S coast of Mykonos. Here the wind gusts down from the mountains with enor- mous force. Under close-hauled mainsail and engine with the wind now abeam, the spray from the white crests blows horizontally over TK III’s deck. We get soaking wet during the last four miles towards Ormos Aya Anna’s. Everywhere Cycladic houses thrown around like a pinch of salt, a big super-yacht in one of the bays. Otherwise no yachts to be seen. Around 5 p.m. we anchor close to the beach. The howling wind comes straight from the beach but there is no swell. As the anchor digs in, TK III stabilises with her bow towards the beach. In- side it’s comfy and peaceful now. We get out of our wet clothes. Then a beer and a late siesta, entirely satisfied after a long but beautiful ride over deep-blue seas…

Friday June 21: anchored in Ormos Aya Anna’s (Mykonos) Before sunrise, the wind had abated, but not that much. As we get up, the gusts come down from the mountains even stronger than yesterday afternoon. Not really wanting to go back to Paros in any case, we decide to stay here. As confirmed by iDrifter, the anchor holds. Hence, it’s not necessary to bring out another anchor. Outside the wind howls, inside it’s peaceful. The beach remains almost empty, too much wind I suppose. A big Perini ketch anchors close to us for a couple of hours. After it’s gone, we are alone again under the night sky. The moon is almost full, but the pole star can still be seen ahead of TK III’s bow.

Weather conditions and forecasting in Greek seas: Summer weather in the Aegean is characterised by the Meltem, a predictable etesian wind pro- pelled by the heat of the sun. The latter heats up the landmass of Turkey and SW Asia. Hot air is thin and dry. Hence, pressures over Turkey are low. Combined with high pressures over the Bal- kans, this results in NE-erlies in the N Aegean, N- erlies in the central Aegean, and NW-erlies in the S Aegean. The picture to the left is fairly typical for this wind pattern. Of course the ancient Greeks knew this. Philips the 2nd of Macedon planned his military operations during the summer so that the Meltem prevented the fleets of his enemies in the S from reaching Macedon. Even during settled summer weather, conditions show great variability during the day and according to your vessel’s position relative to islands and coasts. The Meltem is strongest in the afternoon, and dies down during sunset. If the wind comes back again after sunset, it will usually blow the next day. Around sunrise you may have a few hours to make good headway on the engine into the direction of the wind later during the day. Islands affect conditions profoundly. The wind always blows around capes stronger than at open see. On the upwind side of islands, waves are usually high and steep but the wind has a tendency to be deflected upwards, and therefore to be light at sea level. On the downwind side on the other hand, the sea will be flat but the wind comes down from the mountains in gusts of great force with a variable direc- tion, alternated by no wind at all. A sailing vessel can only avoid these effects of islands by keeping a dis- tance of at least 5 nautical miles, or using its engine…

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How the wind can vary locally is shown by this screenshot from the skip- per’s iPhone, which shows the wind pattern as predicted for midday local time (09:00 UTC) by www.poseidon.hcmr.gr on the day we came back to Paros from the S coast of Mykonos. The top left corner of the picture shows the SE tip of Evvoia. From there in SE direction, the first island is Andros, the 2nd Tinos, and the 3rd Mykonos. The light-brown colour indi- cates that along the NE coast of these islands a Beaufort 7 blows in the direction shown by the arrows. Although the detail isn’t sufficient to see that, this always means that Beaufort 8+ gusts come down from the moun- tains on the S side of Mykonos. And that’s exactly what we had when leav- ing! To the SW from Mykonos in the sea area between Syros (W of Myko- nos) and Paros (SSW of Mykonos) you see a light blue area, indicating that it blows there no more than Beaufort 3. And that’s exactly what we had also on that day… Since I started sailing in Greek waters in the early 1970-ties, perhaps the most fundamental change has been the availability of weather fore- casts. In those days your only access to weather forecasts was a SSB short-wave radio to capture coastal radio stations such as Radio Iraklion. But who had a good-enough radio on board to receive these? Things improved when NAVTEX (a teletype messaging system for shipping) came along in the late 1980-ties. To- day, you have almost everywhere access to internet through a portable phone network. So you can check the weather forecast on a smart phone several times a day. On To Kyma III, we rely on the Greek shipping forecast either received four times a day on the vessel’s VHF radio, or accessed by iPhone on www.hnms.gr. On this site you also find useful wind and wave charts. www.passageweather.com (see picture on top of this page) has recently become the favourite means of looking ahead up to seven days. Weather forecasts can never predict whether you will be struck by a squall during a thunderstorm in an hour from now. So one should always watch the skies for warning signs of things to happen, and reduce sail or put out another anchor before being struck. Greek sailors and fisherman predicted the weather based on age-old wisdoms such as “when the wind turns from S to N through E, then the weather will worsen”, on visual clues from cloud formation on mountains, etc. Commodore Nicholas D. Elias beautifully compiled these wisdoms and clues in his Greek sea guides (www.eagleray.gr).

Saturday June 22: back to Paroikia At our anchorage off the S coast of Mykonos, the gusts are coming down with about the same force as yesterday but less wind is forecasted. No use to stay any longer here. I want to be back in Paroikia early in the afternoon, hoping that there will be space for us in the port after charter boats have left in the morning. Around nine we raise the anchor, and are blown out of the bay towards the open sea. Under bare poles (without any sail up) we do more than 3 knots! This doesn’t last very long though (see wind chart on top of this page). Sad that it’s almost over, we take it easy and unfurl only the staysail. The visibility is much better today than two days ago when we came down from Chios. We enjoy the so familiar blue silhouette of Naxos to the S, and steer for Paros. After passing the light- house N of Aghios Ioannis, we follow the coast, and reach Paroikia just after noon. I call Yorgos Kastanas on his mobile phone. He tells us to wait as there is no space in the port yet, and promises to call back. Just as we are about to pick up a mooring in the bay to wait until he calls back, the phone rings. A space has been freed up! Around 2 p.m. we manoeuvre into the same corner of the port where we had left from. TK III is not easy to manoeuvre under engine, we don’t have a bow thruster. From the foredeck, Q throws a line exact- ly at the right moment. Yorgos Kastanas picks it up. In a smooth move and helped by a line from the stern thrown by M, TK III slides alongside the pier. It’s over...

28 Everybody comes to greet us. “How was it? Where have you been?” “To Mytilini, great trip”. Nice to Most be received and feel welcome like this! r It was a fantastic trip indeed. We went to plac- es we’d never been before, and made new friends. We covered more miles under sail alone than usual. The disappointment that we didn’t make it to Limnos fades. Looking back, we would have de van ©Robert made it on the day we went back from Mytilini to Oinousses, and would then have had three days of exhilarating down-wind sailing all the way from Limnos to Paros. Sometimes, I am perhaps too risk aversive… Back in the port of Paroikia… In the evening I join S at a concert. The next day, M cleans TK III inside. Q and I take off the jibs and prepare the deck so that the boys from Afros Yacht Services can put her on a permanent mooring in the bay of Paroikia until we come back again.

About the author… Jacobus Lubsen started sailing in the summer of 1942 on the Frisian lakes in the Netherlands, three months before he was born. This was about 80 years too late as he would have much preferred a career as master of one of the legendary flying-P liners (Pamir, Passat, Preussen, Pozen…), the big “Cape Horn” sailing ships operated around 1900 by the Laiesz line on the route between W Europe and the W coast of Latin America. As a kid, he learnt sailing around 1950 at a sailing club in the Amsterdam area. In those years he also got his first sailing dinghy. As cabin boy he learnt the basics of seamanship on board La Vague, an 18- metre cutter owned by a family member who had started his career as a bridge officer on steamships, and had been interned in Germany during the 2nd World War. To avoid another similar experience, La Vague had been built in the early 1950-ties to escape across the Atlantic “when the Russians come”. As an ap- prentice seaman, he made long trips on this vessel to the W coast of Scotland and to Bergen, Norway. Other crewmembers included a talkative former KNSM captain; and a taciturn former chief engineer who served during the war on Shell tankers, and had survived two sinkings by a German sub-marine while en route in convoy from Scapa Flow to Moermansk. An apprentice had a lot to learn about ships and the sea from men like this. They knew how to handle ships and sails, how to predict weather and wind from looking at the sky and the ship’s barometer, and how to find that unlit outer buoy of a rarely used passage be- tween sandbanks after a three-day crossing over open sea without the help of any of the electronic naviga- tional aids that we have become used to today. In the early 1960-ties, the author skippered a Van de Stadt designed 9-metre Pioneer (the first sea- going glass fibre-reinforced polyester series production sailing yacht, still a legend today) during races around the Dutch coast and across the English channel. He crewed during the 1963 Fastnet and other Admiral’s Cup races on Tulla, the top Dutch ocean racer at the time. After a period ashore, he took up rac- ing again in 1970-ties, winning the North Sea Race as navigator on Twende in 1978. Coming to Paros for the first time during the summer of 1969, he made his first trip in Greece in that year, sailing from Paros to Patmos and back on a 7-metre Ecume de Mer. During the 1980-ties, he skip- pered several big sailing yachts, crossing the Bay of Biscay and then from Gibraltar to Greece. Since the early 1990-ties he has had three sailing boats on Paros. To Kyma III is the last one of these. She arrived in Paroikia in September 2005, after crossing the Bay of Biscay from Falmouth (UK) to Porto (Portugal), passing Gibraltar, and then crossing the Mediterranean. On this trip, the late YK from Paros accompanied the author. YK’s death in the summer of 2012 was one of the saddest moments in the author’s sailing life. [email protected], mobile phone: +41 79 200 93 23

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