Bird's Eye View

On our trip down the Gulf of Amvrakia we had decided not to anchor in strong winds on a lee shore in unfamiliar territory with reported poor holding. Definitely the right decision making.
On turning to motor into the blow there was a bit of flogging of the main sail while we stowed the genoa. M started to tighten the topping lift prior to dropping the main sail. Strangely it was pulling through in unfamiliar quantities and I yelled at her to stop!
Too late  - the shackle holding the topping lift to the boom end had lost its pin and the line, with shackle still attached, was streaming behind us from the mast head.
I hoped we might be able to retrieve it once hanging groundward but soon the line had retreated back inside the mast. Fortunately it had got wrapped around the shroud at the mast head, so still retrievable, but only by climbing the mast.
The next morning, back in Preveza, we discussed support from our next door neighbours. As we were back where we started we already had some rapport with the couple in a Beneteau First 345 on starboard and the boat of ladies to port.

A long way down!!!

Paul, the Dutch chap, offered his services which we gratefully accepted. M, as the lightest crew member was volunteered as the payload.
M got kitted out in the climbing harness. Once we got it the right way round, we attached two spinnaker halyards to her and Paul and I controlled one each. Up she went, bravely, she manoeuvred around the radar dome and slowly reached the top. As M grabbed the errant line the shackle dislodged itself and dropped to earth. It bounced with a loud report off the coach roof of the yacht to port, and flew straight towards my head. "Howzat " yelled I as I caught it deftly in my left hand. I think this was all Greek to Paul however.
This confirms the reasoning for having a second deck crew for mast climbing. Had it hit me between the eyes it could have been bad for the climber as well as me.
By this time M had had enough, as the harness was causing pain and her legs had gone numb so she was quickly lowered back to deck.
In retrospect she says she quite enjoyed it which is the optimal outcome. Fortunately there was no damage the the North Wales team's boat. The topping lift is now safely shackled to the boom and the pin held in place by Ormiston siezing wire. That won't come undone again!

Preveza back streets

A long standing issue that M has been vexed by  is the pressure cooker and it's gasket.  There is a very fine Fagor marine pressure cooker on board that she has been trying to bring into service. The argument being that less fuel is used in cooking, particularly stews and casseroles. The problem has been that it did not have a gasket in the lid. She has spent the last year researching, writing phoning the manufacturers, stockists, trying to order on line, even considering making one. Amazingly in her perambulations through the back streets of Preveza she stumbled across a specialist pressure cooker gasket shop. However they did not have one, but knew where one could be sourced in Patra where we had been planning to go. Unfortunately we did not make it. So on this trip to Preveza M called on her old friend, the pressure cooker man, and he arranged for the parts to be delivered. He kindly fitted it and we now have a functioning cooker! One more thing I don't have to wake up sweating over at night time.

Preveza to Paxos 15kt SW

On leaving Preveza we headed N towards Corfu. A nice SW breeze came in and we sailed nearly all the way to Paxos.
We berthed at the main town, Gaios, which was much quieter than when we were here in June. A lovely spot, with excellent waterfront restaurants and interesting back streets.
The next day we motored out and headed further up the gulf to Plataria on the mainland opposite Corfu.

Looking cool

Another quiet little town which is the turnaround base for Sailing Holidays. We had a great holiday out of here many years ago in a fleet of little Jaguar 27s, so this brought back some good memories.

Gaios (Paxos) harbour

I have been fiddling about with the single line reefing system. I cannot get it to work properly. There is a single line that runs through the boom and the reefing points at the front and back of the mainsail. The idea is that both the front and back reefing points can be pulled down onto the boom by pulling this single line from the cockpit without the need to go forward onto the heaving foredeck in adverse conditions. The problem however is friction, I cannot get the line to run freely enough for this to work properly. I may either have to replace the lines, which are fairly old, or alternatively change over to have separate fore and aft lines, which is probably a better system.

Sunset at Plataria

A bit like anchoring however this is a topic that takes on religious connotations in yachting forums so I await comments.