Tri cruising

Mediterranean and now Atlantic wandering in a Kelsall trimaran

Peloponnese Tour 96

PELOPONNESE TOUR 96


Aqua Blue my Kelsall 39 tri was lifted out at Preveza
Marine on the west coast of Greece just above the Levkas canal.
This is one of not many yards in the Med that will make light
work of hauling a multihull exceeding 7mtrs beam. There are
frequent summer charter flights to nearby Levkas/Preveza
airport,which early this summer had a crashed Nato AWAC on the
beach at the end of the runway!! This necessitated a detour to
Argostoli on Cephalonia from where a hastily arranged coach and
ferry brought me to Nidri on Levkas in the early hours of Tuesday
morning. I eventually squeezed into a taxi with all my luggage on
top of me, along with four other yachties who were late for a
charter in Levkas town. A further few miles with the seemingly
kamikaze driver, who I think was trying to stay awake by driving
at high speed on the wrong side of the road, eventually deposited
me outside the gates of the boatyard. Nearly 48hrs after leaving
Brighton since I had already spent one delayed night at Gatwick!.
Danny Keane amazed me by stepping out of the shadows and picking
up my bags. He'd been expecting me telepathically and had risen
from his bunk on Moody Magic.

This was Aqua Blue's first winter out of the water since
leaving Brighton in '89 so I spent two weeks on much needed
maintenance below the waterline, as well as fitting a new log and
wind instruments.In particular Danny helped me refit the
overweight centreboard in it's rather tight slot. My regular crew
Humphrey and his partner Nicola arrived just as the boat was
being launched from the blistering heat of the yard onto the
relatively cooler sea, where we filled up with water and backed
out to pick up one of the few buoys. We then sailed down the few
miles to Levkas town to have the Isotherm fridge compressor
refilled with freon (arranged by Theo at the Levkas Marine Centre
on the front with 24hrs notice), and to stock up in an air
conditioned supermarket. While we were there I became concerned
about a small water leak coming through under the shaft log which
was necessitating frequent pumping. Danny and Sue drove down to
see us and when he'd inspected the leak Danny kindly offered to
seal it with underwater epoxy since he has scuba equipment . So
we returned to Aktion the following day and he successfully
reduced the inflow to a managable trickle, celebrated with now
ice cold retsina!! We followed this with a trip into the gulf of
Amvrakia with Moody Magic for a barbeque near Vonitsa, whose
fort we visited in the morning, mainly for some photos of Aqua
Blue through the battlements. It's a very pleasant spot with
just enough development to make it enjoyable and more passing
yachts should detour into the gulf. We had a good beat back
against the prevailing northwesterly, keeping an eye on the echo
sounder since much of the gulf is very shallow, and I was able to
feel the benefit of the freshly antifouled hull.

In the evening we rejoined the Keanes in Preveza for the
annual sardine festival and ate in a fishermans restaurant which
only serves sardines and retsina. No menu required! On Sunday
4th August I taxied to the airport to pick up Stella and our
five year old daughter Louise. Surprisingly they were only 2hrs
late!!

In the morning a large Brown Searunner "Lady Jolliboy"
moored nearby. After lunch we said our goodbyes and motored out
of the fast flowing channel, with the fan belt suddenly
screaching as we crabbed past the channel buoys. Once clear of
the shallows we hoisted sail and reached down to Sta.Maura fort
in up to 20kts of the prevailing northwesterly. The bridge opened
wide for our 25ft beam thankfully, we always give the operator an
enthusiastic wave to encourage him. With the fresh wind blowing
past Levkas town we were able to motorsail right through the
canal to the lighter winds beyond. In the early evening we
dropped the hook off Elena's restaurant in Vliho bay, much
quieter and cleaner than Nidri, and a great place to unwind.
Anchored nearby was the 50ft Freebird "Victory of Melfort" (RORC)
and the yellow Prout Quest "Sundown II".

We returned to Nidri for shopping in the morning and promptly
left for Ithaca. We motorsailed down the Meganisi channel and
picked up the northwesterly which blows quite strongly near
Ithaca. In fact it got up to 26kts as we close reached at good
speed past Frikes and Kioni which are hard to identify from
seaward, and on past Port Vathi to anchor in the indifferent lee
of Pera Pighadi island on the southeast coast. Once we'd laid two
anchors Louise demanded the beach and we whiled away the rest of
the day here. In the evening our cockpit dinner was interrupted
by the arrival of a nudist Scandinavian yacht beating into the
bay. Stella played Prokofiev to suit the rocky grandeur of our
anchorage below the "Raven's Rock". I slept only fitfully since
the gusty wind didn't die till dawn.

We rose early and started motoring south down the east coast
of Cephallonia. Eventually a light northwesterly carried us
across to Zakynthos, where in the late afternoon we anchored off
the beach just north of the harbour entrance for clean swimming.
Later moving on to the shallow south end of the town harbour,
near some broad steps,the best spot for a multi.

Humphrey and I bought diesel in the adjacent garage whilst
Stella and Nicola shopped, before we headed along to Porto Vroma
at the NE tip of Zante for a lunch stop. Afterwards we left the
Ionian islands for the Peloponnese. Five hours of motor sailing
and drifting brought us to sleepy Katakolon. Commercial traffic
seemed to be non existent and we joined a few other yachts on the
harbour wall. A large modern cruising tri coming up from the
south preceeded us in and anchored over the acres of shallow
ground here. A taxi driver immediately accosted us since this is
the port for Olympia, before we had a meal ashore in one of the
many summer restaurants on the front.

Up reasonably early for shopping (fresh or frozen meat was
becoming de riguer with a functioning fridge), we headed south.
It wasn't till nearly midday that we raised the ghoster and
silenced the engine in a light westerly that was forecast to
increase. With the sunshade still over the boom we were managing
4kts in 8kts apparent wind. At the end of a long day, with a good
Thai chicken by Stella inside us , we passed inside Nisos Pilos
and motored past the rather open town harbour to the newly
constructed marina at the south end of Navarino bay.

In the rather cloudy morning we went ashore and paid our
respects at Admiral Codrington's statue. There were no facilities
in the marina, so we motored round to the town quay and managed
to fill several water containers before we were shooed away by a
port official. Backing out again we sailed through the anchored
fleet of freighters to anchor at the north end of Navarino, just
off the isthmus connecting Nisos Sfaktiria to the mainland. The
large Australian yacht "Bianca" was here as well as the French
yacht "Kerguelen". Bianca's skipper told us he was six years into
a four year circumnavigation, and by his own reckoning not yet
half way round! After our lunch stop we had to tack down to
Methoni in a southwesterly and came round the Turkish tower on Ak
Soukouli, to anchor off the beach under the imposing Venetian
fort. Including ourselves there were eight yachts in this
beautiful spot.

With high pressure from Poland to Libya the night was
relatively cool, and in the morning we toured the fort and tower
before iced coffees in a taverna on the beach. When the wind
returned at noon we ran southeast to Ak Akritas and turned north
into the Gulf of Messinia to anchor off the thankfully shady
beach at Koroni ("the second eye of the Venetian republic"). A
swimmer asked me if Aqua Blue was a seaplane!!! He'd obviously
never seen a trimaran before. We moved across to the rather open
harbour in the evening to facilitate eating ashore, which we did
in a tiny taverna serving small traditional kebabs. Louise was
fascinated by a family of housemartins right over our table. We
didn't have time to explore the even bigger Venetian castle here.
On starting the Seagull for the dinghy trip back to the boat, the
ripcord did not release from the flywheel and span rapping my
knuckles, whilst I stared stupyfied at it to the amusement of the
tables above us. A northerly blew into the harbour all night
keeping me in that irritating state,between sleep and imaginary
anchor watch.

The wind died at dawn again and we motorsailed and drifted
across the gulf towards the impressive mountains of the Mani. I
spent half the crossing checking electrical connections with
Humphrey's help, since the weatherfax printer had run down the
instrument battery enough to stop the GPS. We spent a much calmer
night in the completely open anchorage of Limeni. There was no
other visiting yacht here, although one on a summer mooring. We
didn't go ashore.

I was woken in the night twice by the Navtex though. The
first time it was a speedboat missing off Gozo, and the second
was a Mistral warning for Corsica from Toulouse! We pottered down
the coast diverting into Diros to see the cave entrance. Then on
beneath the 800ft Capo Grosso to pause in the heat for
photography at Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of
mainland Greece, only Tarifa in Spain is further south. There was
wind in the Gulf of Lakonika and we close hauled up to Porto
Kayio for the night. There were camper vans and motor bikes on
the beach since this is the end of the road, and a few motor
yachts stern to the primitive quay.

With good weather in this rather exposed area I pressed on
in the morning and crossed the gulf to anchor off a beautiful
beach in Ormos Frangos on Nisos Elafonisos. We were surprised by
the number of people, how did they all get here? In the early
evening we motored over to Neapolis on the mainland and tied to
the unprotected town quay, which would be untenable in the
slightest sea. However good fresh water is available by hose for
a small charge. I was summoned by the port police and had to wait
30mins in an office to pay 1770 Drachmas, although these charges
are rarely levied normally. We had a good meal on the front
despite a rare language difficulty, since Neapolis is not a
tourist resort, but the main town for this part of the
Peloponnese. In the morning we explored the town up to the church
where we listened in the courtyard for a while to sung Mass, it
being the Feast of the Assumption.

We now left for Ak Maleas to enter the Aegean Sea and I was
mentally prepared to do battle with the Meltemi! In fact it took
several hours on the wind with a reef in the main, in company
with a large Scandinavian yacht "Windfall" from Jacobstadt, to
even reach Ak Maleas. Whereupon the wind dropped and we motored
most of the way to Monemvasia. There was no room in the tiny
marina, so we anchored in the shallow water just off the fishing
harbour. There is a mole on the north side of the Isthmus as
well, where Windfall had backed up. Monemvasia is well worth a
visit and we stayed a whole day for sightseeing on the peninsula
which is like a miniature Gibraltar only much more tasteful!! We
had our first experience of the strong evening katabatic wind
which can blow off the eastern Peloponnese whilst at anchor here
and six other yachts joined our anchorage. Fortunately it was
dying off somewhat by the time we went ashore for dinner, since I
was about to cancel the shore excursion! When we do go ashore I'm
always keen to find a restaurant with a view of Aqua Blue at
anchor. I find I enjoy my meal more that way! On our return to
the boat we found the oven hot blast had returned (or at least
seemed stronger after the shelter of the restaurant). And it was
90F in the cabin till 4.00am, during which time Humphrey and I
were up and down checking the holding, as well as the arrival of
hungry mosquitoes.

To compensate Aqua Blue was in the shade of Monemvasia
peninsula for a cooler early morning. After a photography session
from on board we headed north and found a pleasant lunch spot in
the SE corner of Kiparissi bay, by a tiny chapel on an old
fishing quay.We pressed on and raised the spinny in a freshening
southerly to make good progress with the sun awning still up, my
favourite rig! The wind reached 21kts true by Ak Yeoryios and we
dropped the spinny in our usual ham fisted way (we just don't get
enough practice). We dropped the hook in 50ft in tiny Leonhidion
but later moved to the wall after a whistle from the port
captain. I've been trying the Turkish method where you drop the
bow anchor and run over plenty of scope to go bows to, picking up
the cable from the stern with the boathook. Although in summer I
may dive in to a clean harbour and attach another shorter line to
the anchor cable and bring it up to the stern and a winch.After
dinner on board we strolled ashore for the usual ice creams but
soon returned to our bunks. The inevitable nightclub music wasn't
too loud, but I was woken in the early hours by fireworks so loud
as to resemble gunshots!

In the morning I obtained the key of the nearby water tap
from the port police and much washing of hair and bedding ensued.
When you gain access to fresh water in the Med you make good use
of it! We motored north with the decks festooned with drying
washing and by midday had the spinny up again for a fast run up
the length of the Argolic gulf. In fact we had to drop it again
at 20kts true. The sock won't pull down at this windspeed without
releasing the sheets on one side and there were a few warm
fingers before we had acomplished it. I'm not so sure about the
suitability of a full size masthead spinny for a family crew in
the Med, where the wind can quickly increase from 5 to 20kts.
We paused for clean swimming in Ormos Karathona, and then motored
round to the very smelly harbour at Navplion, where there were
only a few yachts tied to the wall, conveniently close to the old
town and restaurants.

Up early for sightseeing we reached Tiryns by taxi at 9.00am
and spent some time admiring the huge walls with
grumbling Louise. The city apparently outlasted much larger
Mycenae and a few archeologists believe it was the home of the
"sea peoples" whose piratical raids are recorded on Egyptian
hieroglyphs. It wasn't long before the heat drove us back to the
shelter of a bar in the old quarter, not far from the boat.
Sauntering in the narrow shaded streets we found a good family
restaurant "Old Mansion" for the evening. After a short siesta we
took a taxi up to Palamidhi, the huge Venetian fort above the
town with it's commanding views of the Argolic gulf. We could see
Aqua Blue in miniature below us and also the spreading stain of
sewage from the town drain! We descended the 800 steps past a
fitness fanatic who was running up!!!! Humphrey and Nicola had
managed the climb at a slower pace, as I myself had in 1971!
After a pony and trap ride for Louise we did indeed have a good
meal in the Old Mansion whose English speaking owner told us he
was open all year round. We were pinned to the quay by a
thunderstorm in the early hours which sent the holidaymakers
scurrying home, leaving a quieter night for us. On the second
morning we spent an hour in the town museum which has a suit of
very striking bronze armour over three thousand years old!

After recovering our ropes without dropping them in the evil
water we motored round past Tolo, a pleasant little fishing
harbour fast becoming a tourist resort, and on to anchor in fjord
like Khaidari. It's a sleepy place with a few Brits at anchor.
Twenty five years ago I looked down on a Piver Victress wintering
here, from the wheel of my TR2. A defining moment, from then on I
had to build a trimaran, a decision which was to lead me to Derek
Kelsall's house in Sandwich, and four years work on Aqua Blue.

Outside Khaidari the fresh afternoon southeasterly had
returned and we had a good thrash to windward with a reef in the
main. Later tacking into the entrance of the broad shallow
fishing harbour of Koiladhia, where there were only two other
yachts on the 20th of August. After a very quiet even cool night
we motored round to nearby beautiful Korakonisia island for a
"swimming lunch". A brief siesta was followed by another beat
down to Spetsai island where we entered crowded Balitza creek,
and anchored just off the boatyard where Tim Severin's replica of
a bronze age galley was built. In fact a half submerged caique
was being soaked alongside us. Ashore we had a good meal on a
balcony overlooking the anchorage and a tour of this part of the
island by "Gharry" seeing many new villas in construction In fact
there was not a derilict building in sight. Back on board we
found a Gin palace too close for comfort and we realised we were
now at the end of the milk run from Athens.

On the landscaped east side of Balitza Louise was entertained
by the metal animal sculptures before we motorsailed to Dhokos
island to laze away the afternoon to the sound of goat bells. We
continued east to Idhra and entered the crowded town harbour just
to photograph the delightful setting, before moving on to much
quieter Mandraki bay to anchor in 30ft off the beach hotel. My
attention was caught by an Italian yacht named "Valium" and
Louise's by another with a large Dalmation on board. We hoped
they appreciated some Bach on the cockpit speakers,during
"retsina hour". After a morning stroll ashore we motored under an
initially overcast sky through the Poros channel past the busy
town, to spend the afternoon off the beach in Neorion bay, not
far from Villa Gallini where Henry Miller wrote the "Colossus of
Maroussi". Humphrey and Nicola easily visited Poros by bus whilst
Louise amused herself on the beach, where as well as some
essential tree shade there were several reasonable restaurants.

We visited sulphurous Methana the next morning where I
dallied on a very short scope whilst the others went shopping. I
improvised a game of cricket down below along the length of the
galley and saloon to amuse Louise. In the corner of the harbour
was a hideous trimaran, the sort of boat that gives multihulls a
bad name! Later we paused to swim at Moni island before entering
the newish outer harbour at Aegina and moorng bow to the rough
stone breakwater,with Humphrey acrobatically tying huge bowlines
to the boulders. I was surprised how little the waterfront had
changed since my last visit on a Piver Lodestar in 1980. Despite
it's proximity to Athens we had a good cheap meal ashore. A lot
of charterers make it their first stop. In the morning after
recovering our lines, we motored round to see the large temple
above the cliffs at Aghia Marina on the east coast of the island.
A very good bathing beach here although the anchorage gets a
little choppy in the afternoons. Stella had a plane to catch, so
we sailed up to the mainland coast in the afternoon sea breeze.
After passing a futuristic looking, possibly a Dazcat, "Cloud
Nine", we anchored in the northeast corner of Vouliagmeni bay by
a small private harbour and the sea was flat by dinner time.
Ashore I managed to find a taxi rank and even book one for the
early morning.

True to his word the driver was waiting for us in the dark at
5.30am! We had some difficulty locating the "new' charter
terminal, but Stella and Louise successfully checked in. And
after a Kamikaze taxi ride back I was trying to wake Humphrey
from the quay and was back on board by 8.30am. We soon motored
out and by mid morning were sailing past the distant Athens
skyline. Later we tacked through nearly thirty ships anchored
east of Salamis. I discovered while reading the pilot that the
Corinth canal was shut for maintenance every Tuesday so we
pressed on using the engine to keep up speed. By teatime I was
talking to Stella in Brighton, I suppose the cost of the mobile
is worth it! There is almost no provision for visiting yachts at
Isthmia and we eventually tied to a rusting barge in the tiny
harbour and I had to row across the canal entrance to pay (cash
only) a hefty sum to the authorities. The sight of two cruise
liners emerging from the cliffs like corks from a bottle was
quite extraordinary. After a wait of several hours we finally
transited in the dark ahead of a Russian freighter. I was glad
Danny's work on the fuel pump meant we could maintain 5 knots. We
managed to find our way into Corinth harbour in the pich black
and found a space on the end of the wall outside a surprised
German yacht. A very long day!

I was only awoken by a bump as the yacht ahead left. We
found a supermarket ashore but no fuel or water within reasonable
distance. I suspect this harbour had more facilities two thousand
years ago! There was little wind in the gulf of Corinth and we
motorsailed under various rigs through another long day till we
arrived at Trizonia island in the early hours, pottering past the
weak light to anchor under Lizzie's yacht club. In the morning we
were surprised by the new concrete marina, used by several
passagemakers, so we motored in to try the local shop, but
Lizzie's will have to wait for another visit. The Prout cat
"Veligunda" was in, as well as "Tequila Sunrise" a Moody from
Southampton. No fuel, but a tap at the mini-market. It's very
sheltered although rather remote spot, a good place to write a
novel one winter!

By lunch time we had sailed up to the entrance of Navpaktos
but I decided against entering the tiny harbour with a SE4
blowing straight in, despite our need for fuel and water. We took
photographs and ran on under genoa alone. Approaching the narrows
at Andirrion we saw a band of white water across the straits, and
indeed we surfed through with up to 30kts behind us, I was glad
the main wasn't up. Two hours later we drifted round Ak Evinos in
very light airs and commenced motor sailing to find the buoys
marking the long channel into Mesalongion. We motored in gawping
at the stilted houses many with flowers on their balconies and
eventually tied to the wall in the distinctly whiffy commercial
town harbour. For only the second time I had to pay modest
harbour dues, but outside the port police was a tap watering the
shrubs, so Humphrey and I staggered there and back with a couple
of jerry cans. Ahead of us was an Italian yacht with two
Windbuggers on the transom and an expensive Italian windvane ,
not to mention three cats and a dog. We had a good meal ashore at
one of the street cafes in the unassuming little town. There was
virtually no sign that Byron had died here.
A quiet night although in the early hours someone seemed to be
apologising for falling into the filthy water! We retraced our
steps down the channel and started motorsailing west into a lght
headwind until we exited the Gulf of Patras by passing inside
Oxia island, which was in a tranquil mood although I understand
it can be a windy place. The wind gradually died until we were
creeping through between Kouneli and Makronisos islands. Later in
the early evening a light nortwesterly returned and we hoisted
the lightweight MPG. However as we approached the lee of Kastos
island I could see a small flotilla heeling towards us. We were
shortly hit a katabatic blast off the island and I was soon
holding the sheet in my hand. The flying headsail was sagging off
several feet and when the anemometer indicated 28 kts and the
leefloat was porpoising along the surface I let go, and we dashed
forward to jump on the multicoloured flogging sail. When we
regained the cockpit I was surprised to see Aqua Blue was still
maintaining 7kts under the small main only

We dropped that too and motored into the small harbour to compete
with the Dutch flotilla and a few English charterers for
anchoring space. As soon as several of the flustered skippers
managed to sort themselves out the wind dropped. That's sailing!
I burnt a bag of mini sausages for dinner and drank too much. It
was nice to be back in the Ionian sea. In the morning we walked
round to the tower on the headland and found a new stone bar
serving fried breakfasts to the Dutch crews. We limited ourselves
to coffee and orange juice, I don't know why. The friendly owner
spends the winters in Patras and he was quite surprised my
previous visit had been in '83. We beat quickly in the southerly
back down to the SW tip of Kastos and then ran slowly north under
a cloudy sky. We drifted the length of the west coast of Meganisi
passing the "submarine cave" and anchored just inside the
Meganisi channel in one of the few shallow spots, rather too
close to the shore. Humphrey went snorkelling but something made
me stay on board, thankfully Nicola did as well. I was at the
chart table when I thought I heard a distant shout of "help".
Back in the cockpit I could see Humphrey happily swimming and my
attention was drawn to a stationary yacht out in the channel from
where the shout seemed to have come. Looking beyond this yacht to
the steep slopes of Levkas I saw dark clouds descending and white
water below them, and indeed the more distant yachts were heeling
towards us.

I shouted to Nicola to start taking in the anchor cable and
reached for the starter button, praying the diesel would fire
immediately. Thankfully it did and I raced to the foredeck to
find Nicola on her own had the chain fairly spinning over the bow
roller. I hauled behind her and as soon as the anchor broke the
surface I left her to cleat it off, and scuttled back to the
cockpit to engage gear. I opened the throttle with the bows
already turning towards the rocky beach and after a few leg
weakening seconds Aqua Blue moved forward and I could turn away
from the shore. Humphrey was barely aware of all the excitement
and we had to shout to him to swim out to where we were circling
waiting for him. He was glad he was wearing a facemask as the
onshore waves were already building, and it was several minutes
before he gained the boarding ladder. Nicola was very pleased to
see him reach the deck.

We then motored over to the stationary yacht in absolutely
torrential rain (in fact we could no longer see the islands).
They were still slowly drifting with a capsized dinghy astern but
the crew in the cockpit refused to respond to our shouts of "are
you OK?", so receiving no acknowledgement of our questioning
thumbs up we left them to it, and slowly pursued a compass
bearing towards Nidri, as the visibility slowly improved and the
lightning lessened. It was the only time that summer we wore even
oilskin tops.

Passing Tranquil Bay we noted the Iroquois "Indigo Ray" and
entering Vliho we passed again the 50ft Freebird "Victory of
Melfort". I enquired of a crew member in the cockpit if they'd
been out since we saw them nearly a month before, and he replied
they hadn't. Vliho does have a few long term residents. Also in
harbour was the Australian steel yacht "Bianca" whom we'd last
seen in Pylos. We anchored in 5ft off Elena's restaurant again.

After pausing in Nidri we entered the Levkas canal and the fan
belt promptly started screaching again. Humphrey had to steer
through under sail whilst I feverishly tightened the belt. We
only ran aground once but the centreboard saved us as usual! As
a finale our last anchorage off Aktion was strobe lit by the
flashes of another Mediterranean thunderstorm.

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