sySpringDawn

Whilst we've been on our travels, along the way we've been fortunate enough to meet and make friends with lots of people. Some are merely acquaintances and with others, that acquaintance develops into a friendship.

Because we decided to have some work carried out on the boat in the way of a new stainless frame and the fitting of solar panels, we've spent a considerable amount of time in one area, namely Vliho on Lefkas. Vliho has a bit of a reputation of being one of those places where sailors arrive and sometimes never leave and is, therefore, known locally as 'Velcro Vliho'.

We arrived in Vliho on 26th June and our first stop ashore was the Vliho Yacht Club. At the bar there were three men, Chippy, Owen and Mike, who all greeted us warmly and we fell into easy conversation with them. Chippy in particular was full of good local advice and pointers and keen to make sure we had all available knowledge to hand. Chippy first came here 28 years ago on his yacht and has never left. He sold his boat two years ago and moved ashore continuing with his work as a carpenter and craftsman and with his social life as singer, musician, raconteur and panto star!

Over the course of the next few weeks, we popped into the Yacht Club frequently, for a drink, for a meal, to get laundry done, to collect packages that we'd arranged to have delivered there and on those occasions, if Chippy was there (which he generally was) we had a chat and a laugh with him.

Sadly, Chippy passed away suddenly last week and his passing has very obviously left a big hole in the local community. Although we'd only known him a very short time, we had developed a friendship with him and therefore felt it was appropriate to say farewell to him at his funeral.

We walked to the tiny hamlet of Paleokatouna, just inland of Nidri where there's a little chapel on the hill and joined in the very simple burial service in the early evening, where the local ladies choir (made up of mostly British ex-pats) sang a song, the Greek priest said a few words and people placed flowers on the grave. A wake was held at a nearby house where Chippy's friends took the stand and related anecdotes about him and his life. We left after a couple of hours just as a band of Chippy's friends were setting up their instruments and from what we've heard subsequently, the wake went on into the early hours giving Chippy a jolly good send off.