25- 29th March 2017- Corfu Boat Yard to Gouvia.
Best laid plans and all that. We left home, me with the usual heavy heart and Mike with the heavy bags, flying through the night and into Corfu for the Saturday morning ready for our re-launch in the water.
We had chosen the boat yard all be it a little rough on the basis they would polish and anti-foul the boat ready for our return. Because nobody does it quite like you would, we did all the preparation work before we left, scraped all the barnacles off the bottom, painted the leading lines etc so the job was easy for them. When our flight from Athens was delayed Mike telephoned Vagelis to explain we may hold up proceedings, “no problems, it is a bank holiday, so you will be lifted in on Monday”. Great, 2 days on a boat, in a yard, how boring, how wrong.
We arrived at the boat tired after our 24 hour journey, hungry and in need of sleep, until we saw her that was. Polished, which bit? this was Greek style. She was filthy and certainly the polish was not what we had hoped for. Once unlocked we found we had suffered multiple leaks, apparently this had been the worst winter for rain they had ever known. The clothes were damp and had the beginning of mildew and would all need washing. This was the first year we had not been able to leave the dehumidifier going and you could tell the difference. “Can I sit on the floor and cry please?” That wasn’t an option as the wet areas needed to be dried, the clothes needed washing and the boat needed polishing. One blessing was the yard had a free washing machine, otherwise we would have been paying €8 a load.
All this work makes you hungry, trouble is it is a Bank Holiday and there are no shops open and no food on board. Fortunately there was a road side kiosk and Mike managed to get milk, a sandwich and a bag of crisps, what a feast. The following day, Sunday, I set off on foot to find the one shop that would be open according to a local, mmm, I didn’t find it and returned after two hours walking with a block of Edam, a cheese sandwich and a tin of chopped tomatoes, I don’t even like cheese. We spent the day polishing the hull, me applying it and Mike taking it off. Feeling very tired and in need of some proper food we decided to blow the budget and head out for a meal to the restaurant across the road, we had earnt it and it was Mothers Day after all. Exhausted and after a hearty meal we fell into bed at 20:00hr.
The following morning everything seemed to be going to plan, we were moved into position, it was like a game of Rubik’s cube, a strict order of who was to be moved first etc. Once in the water Mike went to start the engine and nothing happened, he tried again and nothing other than all the lights turned on. They regardless, were casting us adrift, they had our money and we were now back in the water. Franticly “When this happened last time love, what was wrong?” “Have you turned the Isolator on?”, “I thought I had”, “Obviously not” as the engine roared with the turn of the key. We were off, a short motor to Gouvia marina to put the sails up, get our new canopy fitted etc. Donna and Ricky who we hadn’t seen since Portugal, 18 months ago were stood waiting to greet us. An early celebratory drink had to be had before they departed the following day.
The canopy was fitted and we were really pleased with it, windows we could once again see out of. Time to put the main sail up, Mike retrieved the sail bag and secured the top of the sail and I started to winch it up. As the sail raised we started to scratch our heads, where are the pockets that the batons feed into? we were both sure there should have been some at this point. A little more winching and Mike says “oh bugger”, “what ?” I’ve got the original sail out, not the one we use, hence no pockets”. I know somewhere I could shove the batons ! Down it came and after rolling about on the pontoon like a female wrestling team we managed to get the sail back into its bag, time to start again with the right sail. All up and we were ready to plan our first trip on Wednesday.
Prior to leaving the boat whilst she was out the water, we had fitted all new pipes to the toilet however once back in we noticed they were weeping over the toilet floor. There’s always a job to be done but this is definitely one for the captain. After all that practice rolling around on the pontoon he can now roll around in the toilet compartment in yellow coloured waste.
Wednesday morning came and I set off to the supermarket to make sure we had enough food for being on anchor for a few days. Upon my return Mike said “ you know when to disappear, I’ve had a fire on board” Mike had been busy working in the cockpit when he smelt burning, looking down into the cabin he saw it was full of smoke. Turned out it was the battery charger that had burnt out, he was not impressed at having to buy a new one at €350.
Our departure was somewhat delayed as a result of the events but by 13:00 we were on our way to our first anchorage, Iggy Creek. The sun was out and the winds were light, but enough to get the sail out. As we approached our destination we saw a familiar yacht, “Patience” with Donna and Ricky on and heading in the same direction. Think that’s another excuse for a social drink then.
It has been the usual eventful start to our sailing year flood, famine and fire what lies ahead.