Visitors and the Meltemi arrive

C. I enjoyed a quiet couple of days in Kos old harbour, just me and Summertime, while M. travelled back to the UK.

I did a few jobs, found a bar that sold Stella Artois and became mates with the barman, and generally recovered from the rigours of a negotiated existence.

I did some rubber caulking on the teak in the cockpit and sugar scoop at the stern. That involved hacking out all the old rubber, masking the wood with tape, applying the black Sikaflex and smoothing it off. That all worked quite well, indeed M could not find the bits that had been fixed. Success!

Worked

I also attempted to fix some hairline gelcoat cracks. I had bought a spray product in the chandlery, sold as the perfect stuff for this problem (17 Euros). My GRP guru on line, Andy from Boatworks today, says you have to use a Dremel to widen out cracks and fill them with proper colour matched Gelcoat but I thought it worth giving this a go.

I taped up all around the various cracks, in three of about a dozen areas that need fixed, and applied two coats of the white spray as instructed in French on the tin.

Didn't work

This did not work as there was a new layer of gelcoat about 0.5mm proud over each cracked area after removing the tape. I tried gently sanding it with wet and dry 400 paper but this produced a grey mess. I then tried gently rubbing off the excess with a cloth and acetone. This removed it very effectively, but I was now back to square one. 17 Euros down the drain.

I then set about the deck and topsides with oxalic acid solution. This is magic stuff that I believe is the basis of all the expensive boat cleaning products but costs about £5 per kilo on ebay. 
What is less good is that there are a whole variety of instructions online as to how to mix it, and an even wider range of views on its toxicity. Some seem to believe you should just wash your hands after using it, some having spent a career in industrial labs pipetting it by mouth, while others state it is a powerful chelating agent that binds irreversibly to the iron in your haemoglobin and requires full body protection. Being that it was 35 degrees the full body protection consisted of rubber gloves and shoes and socks.

All that is required is to dissolve your chosen concentration in a bucket of warm water and brush it on the offending surface. Apparently it is important to add the powder to the water and not vice versa, but I am not sure why. Certainly this should be done in a well ventilated area (outside), the water should be hand temperature and not steaming as the fumes can be very nasty to the bronchial mucosa if breathed in.

I then brushed the solution over all the deck surfaces, left for 20 minutes and hosed down – voila – the whitest boat in the Med. It is particularly effective at rust stains that everyone gets on the foredeck around the chain locker and otherwise are almost immovable.

I then brushed some on some brown staining around the prow and along the waterline that had been annoying M, and again a miraculous outcome. I hope to be very popular and achieve a world record of Brownie points.

Our visitors

Our visitors, son Chris and partner Ebba, were due to arrive at 5.30 am on the ferry from Piraeus. I offered to meet them but they insisted they would prefer just to sneak on board and have some sleep. This was very decent of them so I reluctantly agreed and described how to find the boat, which was only a couple of hundred yards from the ferry terminal.

Of course when you know something like this is pending it is difficult not to wake up at the appointed hour, which I did despite myself.

The night was very still and I felt a slight movement of the boat. Was it them or was it just a passing vessel’s wash? I thought I heard some movement but I was expecting to hear the companionway steps squeaking loudly as they descended – nothing. I waited a while longer – a slight sound, but nothing very definite and not the cacophany I expected.

I then decided that having left the gangplank in place and the washboards open, this was an open goal for a passing miscreant. Was my bum bag and wallet still attached to the companionway hand rail or was my account being emptied at the ATM as I lay there wondering? I was just about to get up and check when I heard a quiet familiar whisper and chuckle and I realised they were safely aboard – and back I went to sleep. But if you need a bit of stealthy catburglery work done I can point you in the right direction. Very impressive sneaking skills.

Kos to Leros (green route)

After M’s return that night we set off the next morning. The forecast was for the Meltemi to become established as far ahead as can be seen. However that morning the winds would be lighter allowing the best opportunity of heading N. We enjoyed a nice reach along the N coast of Kos before turning between Pserimos and its offlying islet of Plati. We then did a long tack to approach the S end of Leros. This all went well until were about 6 nm from our target when the winds backed to the W and S through the gap between Kalymnos and Leros meaning we were getting nowhere, and we ended up motoring.

Xerokambos sponge diver

We moored on a buoy in Xerokambos bay and had a meal ashore at the Taverna. Very friendly and reasonably priced.
 It was a breezy night with a lot of noise from the rigging. I got up several times to try different angles of tying back clanking halyards, but it is difficult in the dark to work out which was the offending one and in the end I opted for the pillow on each side of the head trick. Noone else seemed too bothered, I think they were all still catching up from their travels.

Who's driving?

Familiar position

The forecast was for several days of strongish NW winds, i.e. the Meltemi had properly arrived. I planned to sail down to the bottom end of Kalymnos to the main town harbour which is well sheltered, and best to do this before the sea state got too lumpy. It was either that or wait where we were which might have caused cabin fever after a couple of days, and at least we could get ashore in Kalymnos. The trip South was under Genoa only and was quite relaxing despite the following 20+ knots of wind, the sea state was fine.

The harbour guy in Kalymnos welcomed us in as old friends. It makes such a difference if these chaps both know what they are doing and are relaxed in their role.

We spent a couple of days in Kalymos. The crew went on a bus trip to a beach while the skipper considered matters nautical onboard. Meals were eaten, sleep occurred and a pleasant stay was had.

The predicted strong winds seemed to be accompanied by the occasional violent gust however we were in a well protected harbour and it was difficult to tell whether the experience out in the channel would have been something we would have enjoyed or not.

Beneteau 411 ahead

But not for long

Finally the forecast seemed auspicious and we decided to stick our nose out. The plan was a short trip round to the E side of Kalymos to Vathi. We set off about ten minutes or so behind a Beneteau 411 crewed by a German group. The wind was blowing 20-25 kts NW. They were going for a canter down wind, unfurled the full Genoa and off they went. The 411 is the immediate predecessor of our boat so is very similar in terms of sailing characteristics.

As we were planning a beat to windward we hoisted the main with a reef and the Genoa with about a third of it reefed. We headed S out of the harbour but as soon as we were beyond the protection of the land a series of strong gusts hit us making us round up and drop wind out of the main to prevent losing control. We put the second reef in the main and revised the plan. With this strength of wind a beat to windward would be a bit of a mission so we set of after the German boat SE towards Kos. It was interesting that despite their full Genoa, the sail plan we had up of heavily reefed main and Genoa was much faster and we belted past them doing 7.5-8.5 kts with 20-30 kts of wind on a beam reach. Great fun!

Sad Greek jet boat

We arrived in Kos and announced our presence on VHF Ch74 to the Marinero ashore. He replied and ushered us towards a berth. We also received a cheery “Kalispera Summertime” from Zoe in the kiosk. I have to say Kos is one of the friendliest harbours we have been to.

We had a good night ashore in a restaurant beside the archaelogical excavation sight, surrounded by Bourgonvillea. Lovely.