Gummy sharks and other tales
| Vessel Name: | Amble |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Beneteau Oceanis 43 |
| Hailing Port: | Sydney |
| Crew: | Jane and Brett Campbell |
| About: | |
| Extra: | 'Gummy sharks' is a ref to my fear of dying slowly. Good to be positive! In the early days of coastal sailing I was worried about drowning slowly if I fell overboard. The thought of a shark speeding things up cheered me up—but, bother, no teeth. |
23 July 2014 | Zante Town, Zakynthos
Calm to chaos (unusual?!)
Here we are in Zante Town It’s a surprisingly big place, which shouldn’t be a surprise as it’s the capital of Zakynthos. Then again, Argostoli is the capital of Cephalonia and, other than great yacht and knee services (and people), not much there. Altho lots of watermelons! Great fruit and veges. Anyway, [...]
20 July 2014 | Ay Nikoloas, Zakythos
Dimitris Theodosis
It is just so wonderful to meet met men such as Dimitris Theodosis. Nothing is too much trouble for him, and although young (I'm getting old!) he's endlessly patient helping, if need be, yachties moor their boats on the town quay; his domain it seems. We even watched him row out to yachts, climb aboard [...]
19 July 2014
Washing machines, Zakynthos
Being Saturday (now that took awhile) we've been on the island of Zakynthos for three whole days. Two of which here in St Nikoloas, a tiny village of about two tavernas and a tourist shop -- and quite a few boats, caiques, that take tourists to the Blue Caves.
17 July 2014
Navagio Bay, Zakynthos
Up at dawn to sail with the tide. Or not! Up at 7 to have a cup of tea, and then leave Argostoli about 7.30 for the five-or-so-hour motorsail to NW Zakynthos. The weather's looking great, which is handy, as the prevaiing winds are from the NW so rather not get caught on the west coast in bad weather. [...]
15 July 2014 | Argosotlli, Cephalonia
Relay part for anchor!
Well, my vocabulary might not be increasing but context is. 'Relay' being my new word of the day.
Relay part for anchor!
And my new favourite boat bit being the anchor. Almost. The anchor is now coming second after the engine. (Knocking my hotwater bottle to a distant third.) You stop taking things for granted when they stop working. An anchor is a handy thing really, and ours has been working extra hard of late, Greece being the home of crossed anchors.
Marinas further west, which also cost a lot more, have 'lazylines', ropes that you pick up after reversing into the quay. You collect them up from the stern, trot them up to the bow of the boat to pull them tight before fastening them to the front cleats. These lazylines keep the front of the boat straight and secure while the stern lines tied to the quay do the rest. No lazylines in Greece! You drop your anchor instead, and those who can't reverse straight back to the quay drop their anchor at an angle, thereby dropping it over the anchor chains of other yachts. Makes picking up the first chain dropped an interesting exercise. Our poor anchor had just had enough, so had a hissy fit by refusing to let more than what seemed liked a millimetre a minute, Not good! (Especially when averaging 40 metres of chain at a quay.)
Conveniently we were going to Argostoli as I had a second knee appointment with the orthopod and, being the large town/city it is, there were several yacht services on hand. Diagnosis 'relay' (after Brett had tried cleaning terminals and stuff I've conveniently forgotten about). A part was ordered from Athens, or somewhere!, and later the next day, tadaaaaaaa, a smiling, jolly anchor. What a relief.
Argostoli is a great place! Excellent, I hope, medical system as well. Not much in terms of tourism but friendly people and . . . a Greek town. That has coached two world champion gymnists. And a rhythmic gymnist who on the gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (I accidentally met the coach.)
Turtles also terrific and all in all a Good Place to be.
(Also a rather lovely Doric lighthouse. Pic above.)
