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We are Sailing
Well the girls eventually left Santorini on the ferry at 2am in the morning arriving in Kos at 8.30 am. On the other hand I managed to beat Brian and Stuart out of bed to get breakfast from the little cafe in the Marina. They were just opening up, so the old lady who ran it was really nice to me and made me breakfast before they were really ready. A cup of coffee and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich was 4 Euro! We were hoping to get away at a reasonable hour this morning, but we had a boat moored to our boat, so we couldn't move until they did. It was a charter boat full of young people, but they lacked a captain. Whilst we waited for them to get organised, and move to another part of the Marina, we took the time to top up our water. Honestly the hose had a prostate problem, and the water only dribbled out. We had the hose running for over an hour, and still hadn't filled the tank. Eventually the harbour master found a new place for the yacht moored to us, and the Charter people found a Captain to move it. One thing that unnerved me a little was their boat had to be refuelled, so the diesel fuel line had to run over our boat. So while they were fuelling, this young girls decides to sit down and have a smoke on the deck about 3 feet from where the fuel was being out in. Finally they moved their boat, and we were able to do a tricky maneuver to get our boat out, as we also had one behind us. We were on our way.
Our destination was the Island of Astipalaia, which is halfway between Santorini and Cos. In the early days it had a reputation as a Pirate Island, as it has numerous little bays where boats could be moored and out of site, but also safe from the winds which are could the Meltini. The island is in the Dodecanese group of Islands. As the girls were not with us, it also gave us the opportunity to put the sails up. Up went the headsal, mainsal, and away we went. However, as much fun as it was, the winds were not in the right direction, and probably would have ended up in Africa. Reluctantly we had to take them down. We winched in the headsal, and dropped the mast. Brian then climbs the lower part of the mast to fold the -main down. Now me being the consummate sailor that I am get the job of tucking the sail into its little bag, and zipping it up. Sounds easy, until you are hanging ten while the boat is listing from side to side, and I am thinking about whether my will is up to date. After several goes and failing, Brian decided to move the boom so I could do while leaning on it instead of hanging off it. Pity he hadn't thought about that ten minutes earlier, and I could have saved a few years of my life. As it turned out, later in the trip the winds changed again, and we put the headsal out, which meant we were getting around 8 knots. After about 6 hours of sailing we were approaching our destination. Stuart handed the boat to Brian, and then we set about making our way through one of 3 channels. A little tricky given the wind, but as usual Brian and Stuart did a great job. I took a picture of the town coming in, it is the best I could do, as we always seem to be against the sun. We are in a mooring away from the main town.
Our destination was the Island of Astipalaia, which is halfway between Santorini and Cos. In the early days it had a reputation as a Pirate Island, as it has numerous little bays where boats could be moored and out of site, but also safe from the winds which are could the Meltini. The island is in the Dodecanese group of Islands. As the girls were not with us, it also gave us the opportunity to put the sails up. Up went the headsal, mainsal, and away we went. However, as much fun as it was, the winds were not in the right direction, and probably would have ended up in Africa. Reluctantly we had to take them down. We winched in the headsal, and dropped the mast. Brian then climbs the lower part of the mast to fold the -main down. Now me being the consummate sailor that I am get the job of tucking the sail into its little bag, and zipping it up. Sounds easy, until you are hanging ten while the boat is listing from side to side, and I am thinking about whether my will is up to date. After several goes and failing, Brian decided to move the boom so I could do while leaning on it instead of hanging off it. Pity he hadn't thought about that ten minutes earlier, and I could have saved a few years of my life. As it turned out, later in the trip the winds changed again, and we put the headsal out, which meant we were getting around 8 knots. After about 6 hours of sailing we were approaching our destination. Stuart handed the boat to Brian, and then we set about making our way through one of 3 channels. A little tricky given the wind, but as usual Brian and Stuart did a great job. I took a picture of the town coming in, it is the best I could do, as we always seem to be against the sun. We are in a mooring away from the main town.
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