Everything is Leaking!
02 September 2019 | Sigri, Lesvos - 8,049 NM
Lorraine Chapman | Very Hot and Very Windy
We arrived back on Freya in Mytilini, Lesvos a week ago on Saturday evening. All was remarkably well - just a fine coating of dust. Our first day being a Sunday, and in Greece, meant we couldn't do any shopping and so started with a very nice breakfast in the marina restaurant. We then gave Freya a good scrub so that she looked totally shipshape and Bristol fashion but we were totally unacclimatised and it was so hot and humid we needed to hide from the sun. Not a lot else happened until later when we ventured into town for souvlaki on the harbour.
When we left in May we discovered our port water tank was slowly leaking causing a puddle in the bilges for some time - mystery solved. Stratos, in the marina chandlery, thought it could be welded and so we left it with him. We sent him an email a week or so a go reminding him and letting him know when we were returning and he replied letting us know it was ready. We could now see nothing had changed! First job on Monday morning was visit Stratos - 'no problem. Will be done today'. And it duly was but when we got it back it still leaked. The welder was duly summoned - the next day it still leaked! We concluded that it was just too old and the stresses of us carrying it around and being welded was just too much for it and we were just creating more leaks. Paul smothered the problem area in sikaflex (solution to most boat problems!) and its now back in place - still leaking but a very slow drip and so it's on the list of jobs for the winter.......
The rest of our time was spent sorting out Freya ready for sea and a visit to the beach. One of those jobs was to get the dinghy out of the forepeak and inflate it. This is always awkward but went to plan apart from finding part of the floor completely unstuck and until we realised an hour or so later one tube was leaking badly! The next day it came off the davits and we spent some time crawling around with brush and soapy water finding the source. It was, of course, tucked away in a difficult corner which we patched as best we could and stuck the floor back together again. We then had to leave 72 hours before inflating........
We went out late one afternoon in search of wheat free food which was surprisingly easy to find. Even the supermarket had a section! The evening ended with dinner at Nan, a non profit restaurant run by locals and refugees cooking dishes from their home countries. It was delicious.
Despite the high winds (which at least made it feel cooler!) we decided it was time to move on. Our first stop was Scala Loutra where we've been before. It's a beautiful, peaceful, sheltered bay but this time it didn't offer the shelter from the winds we expected although the sea was calm and to add to that there was a wedding party in a hotel on the beach. It looked lovely with fairy lights in the trees and white table cloths but the music (very loud and lots of base) went on until 5.00 am! Very bleary eyed the next morning we set off again to Kompos Kolloni where, again we we've been before. It was 34 miles and forecast winds gusting 25 knots on the beam and so we left with both sails reefed. We had a fantastic sail although it was very gusty and so we sailed at anywhere between 3 to 7.5 knots! We had a very peaceful night just inside the lagoon - which we needed after the night before! The final leg brought us back to Sigri. The forecast was the same as before and so we left for the 20 mile trip with both sails reefed but once out of the lagoon the winds were so light we were struggling to keep the sails filled as we motored the first hour. As we approached the first headland the wind built and we had a lovely sail but it kept building as we neared the far west of Lesbos until we had gusty 25 knot winds and a 2 metre swell. All very exciting for a while! Our anchorage is very protected thankfully. It's still windy but the sea is flat as we're well protected by the castle right in front of us.
We could now inflate the dinghy which hopefully meant we could go ashore. It was quickly obvious that the floor repair was unexpectedly successful but the tube not so. Before going out in the evening we pumped it up again - but took the pump with us just in case! We had a lovely evening wandering the narrow streets of Sigri, having a beer overlooking the bay and Freya and yummy dinner in a restaurant again with views over the bay - and WiFi we can pick up from the boat. We managed to get back with a saggy dinghy and I think this may be a theme for the next few weeks!