Onwards and upwards

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Yacht Summertime Voyages
Onwards and upwards
We had intended to sail with Livianda to the Greek island of Tilos, epicentre of Dodecanese sustainable energy and recycling. Indeed M had been collecting all our beer tins for the last 4 weeks to deposit here and the niff in the aft cabin was becoming a bit overpowering.
However on reviewing the weather, there was some significant clouds and rain, forecast to arrive in 24 hours or so. We therefore took the decision to part company at that point. We would head for the fleshpots of Kos, and Livianda, having achieved their statutory mission of entering Greece from Turkey, returned to the simple splendours of Symi town.
It was great to have sailing company,and fun evenings together, but we were now off on a longer adventure.

Monastery Panormitis
A brisk SE wind was forecast as we set off on the 35nm trip. We were sailing down wind pretty much on a dead run most of the way and were Goose winged [with one sail on either side of the boat]. While this looks very pretty it is an unstable point of sail and takes a lot of concentration to avoid inadvertent jibes.
The problem with an inadvertent jibe is that the boom suddenly swings across from one extreme end of its arc to the other picking up huge power and momentum as it goes and can destroy kit. i.e. break the boom, and indeed heads, rip out the traveller, etc. So we rigged boom preventer ropes on both sides of the boat, from the boom to the mid ship cleats and leading back to the aft cleats.

Goose winged with preventers
This worked well and a few episodes of disaster were averted.
The waves increased as we rounded the point of the Datca peninsula and became disorganised and unpleasant. I have learned that this means there are waves coming from different directions and interfering with each other (remember physics). It also means that if the wind is currently light, strong winds are projecting the waves ahead of them and are coming.

Approaching Knidos
So we reefed down which seemed a bit incongruous as we were not under pressure, but we were glad we had as a strong blast hit us from the E and a full cavalry charge of white horses appeared. The next 3 hours were fast and furious as we approached Kos town.

Symi to Kos wind E
The waters around Kos shallow significantly and the waves were heaping up. We surfed down these, glad of our preventer. Eventually we bore off and furled in the Genoa, turned up wind to drop the main. M went forward heroically to bring down and secure the halyard as we hobby horsed prow into the waves. We then started the engine and bore away for the final approach.
I glanced around the cockpit and realised that the starboard preventer line was absent. I could not remember M removing it. It was in the sea!!!!
This could have been a serious error. Had the line wrapped on the prop we would have been in breaking seas, close to a lee shore with no sail up and no propulsion. Eeeek.
I put the engine in neutral to stop the prop catching the line and all was well.
We have had to rethink the strategy of having a preventer on both sides of the boat as the redundant one will always be vulnerable to being taken by a wave as probably had happened here.

Mediterranean weather
The serious rain arrived the next day. Wind, dark clouds and proper deluge. The weather has not been kind so far. The locals are complaining bitterly that it has never been as cold as this at this time of year before. It seems climate change has a long reach.

Bad weather preparedness
More poor weather was forecast but in a lull of brighter condition with with brisk NE winds forecast, we made for Kalymnos town. We had a gentle sail until we crossed the large bay in front of the town. There is a large mountain on both E and W of the town with a big gap to the N. The forecast wind decided to blast down this gap, [scented with a strong smell of rosemary], and we suddenly found ourselves in25-30kt wind, somewhat unprepared.

Kalymnos from E mountain
However it was good reefing practice and we flew back and fore as we tacked into the harbour.
We previously had a single line reefing system which meant that one rope controlled both the front end and back ends of the sail, travelled the length of the boom and then came back to the cockpit. When this was pulled it brought down the reefing points together. In theory. In practice it never worked terribly well as there was just too much friction in the system.
I changed this to separate lines for the front and back which works way better and the pair of us can now put a reef in the sail in under a minute, whereas before we were cranking away for ages, and never got it right. Its good to have these things simple and easy when under some duress.
We berthed in a familiar spot on the harbour wall and felt as if we were arriving at the home of welcoming friends.

Kalymnos is a nice but rough working town. There is a long history of sponge diving and fishing. Indeed there are still loads of crippled old blokes from the bends.
One of the traditions is dynamite. There is apparently a load of it on the seabed from the war which is dragged up in fishing nets. There are two main groups of miscreants in the town. They each have an affiliation to one of the mountains. They fling dynamite off their mountain on either side of the town to celebrate weddings, funerals Easter, being drunk etc. There is apparently a significant mortality rate.
We were sitting minding our own business when there was suddenly multiple huge bangs close by. I emerged into the cockpit to see smoke issuing skywards about 50 yards away.
They were throwing dynamite off the mountains on either side of the bay at each other.
Well each to there own!
We were also privileged to witness a meeting of the KKE. A full scale public political meeting with banners, rows of chairs, lectures and discourse. It all felt a bit of a mixture of speakers corner, Sunday school and Aristotle. I suppose it is all in keeping with Greek tradition of democratic debate which is to be admired and commended.
The KKE also have adverts on the TV. There is something reassuring about this in the post truth populist authoritarian world. Here endeth the lesson.
There is also a great Sushi restaurant.
M
We’ve been to Kalymnos several times before and always loved it. Its a busy, thriving, working town that tolerates, rather than being dominated by, its tourists. Its ancient twisty passages wind through layers of backstreets, busy with potted plants, bicycles, washing, gaudy tables and cats.

Backstreets and cats
Before setting off to explore, I had the task of negotiating the port police. I’d like to think I have this down to a fine art by now but every time its a slightly unpredictable event.
The chief was instructing a new recruit who appeared rather daunted and scared of the imposing boss. He took my papers without grace or eye contact and started barking out a litany of demands to the junior. Firing questions …. is your boat Fibre glass or GRP ?? What exact time did you arrive and when exact time will you leave ? He seemed somewhat irritated.
We planned to go to Leros next, which has an official port but planned instead to anchor in the lovely bay of Xerocampos for one night. He didn’t like this plan. ‘No if you go to Leros you MUST sign into the port police…
I risked a wee challenge ‘ But we’re not going to the port and on anchor I think we can stay without seeing the police, and then check in when we next go to a port in Amorgos? ‘
There was a long silence and thunderous look. The junior quaked.
‘ Are you related to Alex Ferguson ? ‘ ….
’No’ I replied . If I was, then we’d have a bigger boat!’ . He laughed and redirected his humour by shouting at the terrified assistant, who by this time was visibly sweating over the photocopier. He conceded with a shrug and duly stamped our papers.. Job done… Amorgos !
Every time we’ve been in Kalymnos I’ve noticed a tiny church far up on the hill above the port. However I’ve never found a route to access it. Google and hiking maps do not show any path to it, yet I’ve seen people peering down from it.

Onwards and upwards
So I went off for an exploration. The chaotic backstreets climb steeply up the hill, then peter out . I tramped on until they changed to a partly constructed path zig-zagging steeply up the hill. Since its not too hot yet, I felt it was worth the climb. Like all climbing, it seemed that the summit was just round the next corner, but up and up it teased until I was high above the town with a view over the summit to the bay of Vathi. All very well but nowhere near the church. I branched off the path and gingerly walked along the ridge, through spiky Maquis and abundant thyme. After about 300 tricky yds I could see over the edge and found that I was getting close to the church, but above it!
What a fantastic viewpoint over the town and well worth the leg power in reaching it. From this point I still could see no path directly to it. It was obviously built as a labour of devotion and involved a lot of hard graft. On the way down I found a different route back to the boat and found a sign to the ‘ Italian path’. Apparently, the zig zags are part of this trail that continues through the mountains for the hardy walker, or Italians.

Wee Church. Closer to God
On the technical front, the outboard was not running properly. It would start and run but would not get up to speed properly.
I pulled the sparkplug and it was overly clean. It was running lean.
So The carb obviously neede cleaned, again.
There was an amazing amount of rusty debris in the bowl and the main jet was partially blocked.

Rusty float chamber
During previous dismantlings the lug holding the throttle cable in place had bust and it had been repaired with epoxy of some sort. However this had come adrift again so I drilled a hole and used the No. 7 wire solution. A tribute to Indian mechanics.

No.7 wire solution
We had an issue furling away the Genoa. It was M’s turn on the winch (we fight over who gets the life enhancing physical exertion) and she was making a meal of it with lots of groaning and grunting. I thought something unpleasant was about to occur.

It turned out the furling line had become caught under a stanchion on the pulpit at the front. The policy of not throwing things away was again affirmed by the judicious placement of last night’s cork.

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Colin Ferguson
11th May 2023
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