Lipso to Arki
C. After a settled
night on Lipso we had a late start. The berthing costs were 7 Euros
per night, plus 3 Euros for rope handling fees. I doubt this covers the costs of employing the personnel
involved. It would seem that the town quay fees are all very
reasonable but occasionally you get a Marina that stings you.
Sadly, M has to
return to the UK for the funeral of a family member. After some
research it seems that flying from Kos is the best option so we will
have to change our plans to accommodate flights. It means I will be
single handed on Kos for 4 days and there is not really any
alternative but to berth in the Marina. However at 42 Euros per night
it is a bit steep. I am surprised the market sustains this given
costs elsewhere.
Our plan for the
next period is just to reconnoitre the islands and their anchorages
to find nice spots to bring our visitors. Lipso is definitely on the
list.
 |
| Cutter Rig Configuration |
Our next stop was
Patmos, a short distance to the NW. We had a light wind from the SW
so sailed gently across. This was a good opportunity to try an
experiment I had been thinking about. This was to try sailing the
working Jib off the inner forestay and see if sailing as a cutter rig
is feasible.
The inner forestay
is removable and normally sits anchored to the port shrouds base
plate. It has a large bottle screw type arrangement with an inbuilt
handle for tightening . This works well and I think is
preferable to the Highfield clamp many will be familiar with many.
The working jib is
quite lightweight and sailed surprisingly well even in the light
breeze we had. I was surprised to find that unfurling about 50% of
our large Genoa gave what seemed to be an excellent cutter rig
configuration with both sails filling nicely. We experimented with
different configurations and I am convinced that sailing up wind in
light airs with the cutter configuration gives more power than with
the full Genoa out. I think this is because the main sail is allowed
a greater role without the overlap of our 140% Genoa. However tacking
with the inner forestay in place is a real palaver requiring the
furling of the Genoa and unfurling on the new tack. So generally it
is a bit impractical.
 |
| Patmos Monastery |
Patmos is a larger
town with a long town quay suitable for 40+ yachts, so there was
plenty of room. The port itself is quite lively with a nice central
square with several bars and Tavernas for watching the events of
life unfold. There were few tourists but a lot of Greek people on
holiday, or maybe locals just having a good time.
Originally a
notorious pirate island, it has benefited from more apparent resource
and infrastructure than it’s immediate neighbours. There is quite a
large Chora on the mountain overlooking the harbour with a large
imposing medieval Monastery as the centre piece. We spent a few days
here and enjoyed the ambience.
 |
| A bit of a statement |
Without wanting to
open ourselves to comment or criticism I must confess to flying an
oversized EU flag. I admit to getting the measurements wrong when I
ordered it on ebay, and we now seem to have taken on the mantle of
the main opposition to Nigel Farage in the Mediterranean. I had
considered taking it down as it might be seen as making a bit too
much of a statement but M has been insistent it should stay. It has
however been a good conversation starter and in almost every location
it has triggered someone to approach and comment. On both Lipso and
Patmos we have been approached by Brits to congratulate us on its
manly dimensions. On Patmos Bryn from Cardiff and Nick from Canada
had an in depth quayside discussion with us and we all left with our
preconceptions comfortably reinforced.
We were due to turn
S again and a brisk SE wind was forecast so we decided to delay our
departure until that had gone through. The inlet at Patmos is open to
the SE and I was expecting a bit of wind and swell would come up the
channel. I was therefore quite pleased when a large Gullet berthed on
our windward side giving us a nice bit of shelter from the 25+ kts
gusty wind. The Captain and his crew of another older bloke and young
lady were obviously very accomplished but he was anxious and placed
extra up wind mooring lines and paced his deck. Suddenly in the
middle of his guest’s lunch he let go his lines and was off. His
anchor had dragged from the side pressure and he was falling onto us.
He gunned his engine as he made his exit and the stern missed us by
not a lot. Now that we were fully exposed I realised how strong the
side wind was, and we were leaning a bit on the Finnish boat next to
us. Fortunately the Gullet returned to the same berth and our
protected status was restored.
 |
| Patmos Harbour looking E |
There was a Regatta
of some sort going on in the channel and suddenly, late afternoon, a
host of yachts entered the harbour to take up berths. With the brisk
wind, chaos ensued. Little quarter was being given as the yachts all
tried to claim the limited number of remaining spaces. Some boats
that had extra mooring lines out were hanging fenders on them to try
to prevent new arrivals, and crews were again standing on foredecks
trying to shoo away the new arrivals.
I have to say I
don’t get the thinking behind putting out more and more lines to
prevent your boat being blown across wind. The physics is that unless
your anchor is holding and the chain tight, no amount of shore lines
will prevent the bow going sideways, and all that happens is the
downwind stern quarter pivots shore-wards – which is exactly what
you don’t want to happen. Bryn, Nick and I stood watching several
crews putting on more and more shore line, pulling themselves closer
and closer, until the waves were graunching the stern on the harbour
wall! We sagely shook our heads and sucked our wise teeth at the
folly we were witnessing. But you try giving advice – they won’t
have it. Perhaps I have come to that certain age.
 |
| Friendly Gullet lifts our chain. |
As we were about to
leave in the morning, I was approached by two young blokes in
leather jackets and shades. They got off a moped and sauntered
towards me with significant swagger. I was wondering what they were
going to try to sell me when one produced an ID. card from his hip
pocket and declared himself to be the Port Police. This is a very
different aspect on law and order from that in Paros, where military
fatigues and kicking boots were the order of the day, but still a bit
sinister.
We sat on the quay
side and one went through my papers very diligently, while his
colleague stood off to my side just out of vision. I was anxious.
Registration, Skipper’s License, Ownership, previous ports,
insurance (including Greek version) and DEKPA. I was glad I had
that. I proudly tried to show him my TEPAI, but he did not want it or
indeed seem to know much about it. I felt a bit cheated. I get the
impression these guys are probably on payment by results in terms of
identifying felons that brings in fine revenue.
 | |
| Marathos Tablecloth |
When we left the
plan had been to turn S however the predicted W wind was still well
in the S so again, plan B was invoked. We redirected to Arki, the
most Northerly of the Dodecanese. This is a short sail, some 10 miles
from Patmos and we had a nice broad reach the whole way. Just to the
SW of the main island is the smaller island of Marathos. There are a
couple of Tavernas on the beach in the protected bay and the owners
have laid moorings for visiting yachts. This is a lovely tranquil
spot, with the accompaniment of goat bells and gentle waves. We ate
ashore at the Pirate taverna, complete with service by the Pirate
King. Well someone has to do it. A thoroughly recommended spot. |
| Fake News |
On a technical note
I have a product comparison to share. Our bimini and spray hood have
long since lost any vestiges of waterproofing. Indeed in the rain it
is best to put them away as all they do is store the water for a
while in order to prolong the dribbling down the back of the
helmsman’s neck. So I decided to splash out on some top of the
range re-waterproofing materials. I invested in a bottle of Fabric
Guard 303 which I had heard discussed on a forum. The blurb on the bottle states “Exceeding
expectations since 1980”, it is said to “restore water repellency
to factory new levels”. From the wordage you might guess it is not
a UK product but is made in the USA and it comes “manufacturer
recommended”.
 |
| Canine's Cahunas |
I carefully sprayed
it on the Bimini, left it to cure for 48 hours as suggested and then
tested with a light spray from the hose. I have to say there was
absolutely no difference in the bimini’s “water repellency”
from the previous state. A message for Mr Trump, if you are going to
make America great again, you are going to need better products than
this, and better advertising text.
I had read somewhere
that someone had used sealant used for cement and brick to waterproof
canvas with success. So when we were in the "best hardware store in
the world" on Paros I went looking. I came across a product called
Sikagard for building purposes. Knowing Sika as a good manufacturer
from it’s Sikaflex range, I bought a bottle. We removed the Bimini
and painted it on by brush. It is completely invisible and completely
waterproof. You could go to sea in our bimini now. Highly
recommended.
 |
| Ancient Artefacts - No - Garden Centre |
 |
| Marathos |
M. At first, my
impression of Patmos was of a dusty road and a noisy quay but a short
wander along the road brought me to the little port village. It’s
central square was lovely with vine covered tavernas providing a
focus for groups of smartly dressed girls, old men and cool guys in
shades , all being targeted by rampaging kids thundering past the the
tables on bicycles, throwing firecrackers and little girls climbing
the trees. A wander out of the centre took me into the
twisty twiny
backstreets overflowing with bougainvillea,oleander and jasmine.
 |
| I think this is what is happening |
 | |
 |
| Sunrise at Marathos |
As I arrived the
regatta berthing carnage was going on, but it was all sorted
out in the end without calamity. We swithered about hiking up to the
monastery that dominates the skyline, surrounded by the chora, but
decided to leave this for a return visit. One can be over
monasteried.
 |
| Why do goats stand on walls? |
 |
| Because they think they're stones? |
 |
| M. really close to old goat. |
The pirate bay on
Marathos was a tranquil gem...or at least it would have been had the
large boat of blokes not piled in carousing from 5pm until the
small hours. Their laughter however was accompanied by the symphony
of goat bells … quite a happy mix. A walk round the island
gave breathtaking views of the Aegean and surrounding islands. I
visited the tiny church at the summit, guarded by some rather fierce
looking goats, a waft of incense on the breeze mixed with wild thyme
and juniper. Hot sun, and the cicadas have started up their constant
buzz in the background… summer is here at last.
Comments
Post a Comment