A little reward at the end for all our labors
08 April 2010 | Karpathos
Peter
Just got in to Karpathos. 53 nm day. Winds started light in the morning. But not before we got our anchor jammed under a rock at Lindos and took a 1/2 hour backing up on it to finally free it. I was wondering if we were going to have to spend an extra day in Lindos to find a diver. But finally it broke free.
Got out on the water and the wind was fairly light and shifty. I kept the motor on the first hour to make up for the lost 1/2 hour cuz I didn't know how long the trip was going to take or what was in store for us.
After unfurling and furling the jib several times, I got the kite up after breakfast...for about 15 min. Then we were back on the jib. The wind built and the reefs went in one at a time on the main and jib. By the time we hit the south bit of Rhodes, we were in 20-25k with a triple reefed main and double-reefed jib. As soon as we got out of the lee of the island the waves built... BIG! I was already on hand-steering and stayed there for the long haul. We got what they forecast -- 15-25k from the NW. We were on a tight reach and the angle to the waves was actually pretty good. I've had much worse reaches. I'll remember that angle next time things get uncomfortable or uncontrollable. Ruth and Will were anxious at first, but then got used to it, more or less.
Ruth never really did get 'used to it'. She was nervous the whole way. But at least she wasn't seasick. With Will I had to have another one of those "When the shit hits the fan I need someone who will watch my back. And right now you are not it!" kind of talks (like I had with him off the coast of Spain). He responded (like he did off the coast of Spain), and everything got smoothed over and I spent the next 4 hour hand steering.
It was tough and my neck and body was aching. You use muscles you don't even know about just hanging on. The sea was big. But we hung in there. As we got to within about 10 nm of the 'finish' (and I was driving the boat like it was stolen to shorten the time out there!!), the wind built to 35k +. Ruth did great. By this time, though, I was mentally and physically fatigued. I called for the jib to come down.
We fired up the motor with just the main up and ran that for a few moments before I decided I wanted to see what the boat would do under just main. So we cut the motor and by this time the wind was slightly abaft our beam and we ran with it. We were doing about 4k+, but the boat was not labored at all so it bobbed like a cork.
Then Ruth reminded me we have a storm jib! So I decided to get that out and try that out! Out came the little white handkerchief and we added a knot to our speed. Better, but the boat still yawed and pitched in the see. But I was tired of changing sails by then and left the rig up, even when the wind dropped to a tepid (and underpowered) 25k. We checked out the harbor at Karpathos, but it is against a lee shore and the quay didn't provide enough shelter for our liking. So we hitched it over to the beach across the bay and get in the lee of the waves and wind.
We are hanging here tonight -- about 5 boat lengths off the cliff. Tomorrow we leave for the island of Kasos -- a small 30 nm day. The next day is a biggie with a 68 nm leg to Ayos Nicholaos. Hopefully it will go better. Tomorrow is 'supposed' to be light and the next day a south easterly at our backs. We'll see.
P.S. As we were coming into the harbor at Karpathos I remembered about the fishing line we were dragging. So I brought it in and as I got the lure to within a boat length of the boat or so I felt something. Sure enough, we had caught us a nice 15 lb. something-or-other. I remember seeing the fish in the fish market at Fethiye so I know they eat the little bastards.
Actually, with the lures we have, we don't catch anything 'little'. It's all big, and this one fits the bill. We'll eat on this for the next few days. We may have to give some of it away when we get to Ayos Nicholoas if they haul us out of the water quick since there will be no refrigeration for us on the hard. We'll see. Meanwhile, we had a nice fish dinner tonight... and expect to have more fish meals for a bit!!!