Heading North
- May 22
- 4 min read
Missy Bear is 5-years-old this year, and in her sixth sailing season. So, it was time to get the standing rigging checked over-winter. The technicians sent us photos, and it transpired that all was well with the stainless-steel wires and connectors, but they informed us that our Windex was broken (the wind direction indicator on the top of the mast). I wonder how that happened?
Our friend Tony suggested that a fat seagull might have landed on it? In fact, after we had launched her on May 7th, we noticed a couple of crows building a nest on a neighbouring masthead; literally a crow’s nest, and the owner had no idea.
As it turned out, Irene at the marina office, told us that there had been a massive hail-storm in Lakki on the Christmas Day morning, and damage had been widespread. Trees and walls had come down in town, Maria’s car had had both rear lights smashed, and the other receptionist’s boyfriend had had his black Mercedes work-car peppered with dinks. Many yachts had instruments smashed, one yacht had 26 separate gel-coat--cracking impacts by stones the “size of golf balls”. Solar panels had been ripped off boats and sent hurtling through the air towards other vessels. Many yachts with sail-covers, including Money Penny, returned to find the canvas shredded.
So, in hindsight, Missy Bear had been lucky, registering only three impact holes through the gelcoat to the GRP below. I went through the pain of logging an insurance claim, but the total came to less than policy excess.
Tony and Lynn had arrived a day later for a two-week cruise northward. Tony likes to help out, and kindly went up the mast to install the new wind instruments (the bearing of the old one was a bit stiff, and was under-recording the wind strength. Cleaning hadn't helped.) But we didn’t have the right tool to unfix the nut holding on the Windex. So Paniotis, the yard’s chief engineer, swapped it out for us, when he was up completing the rigging check (which could only be done when Missy Bear was in the water).
We finished rigging the boat on the Saturday, planning to set sail on Sunday morning. We put up the sprayhood and Bimini and, as the sun lowered in the sky, we installed the flexible solar panels onto them. In order to feed in and connect the wires, we had to unzip the sprayhood from its frame. The very last job was to re-zip the sprayhood around the wires, when “ping”, the last zip tag disintegrated in Tony’s hand. Oh dear!!” We could not sail without a secure sprayhood, so this was a gamechanger.
To cut a very long story short, we took off the sprayhood, stuffed it in back of the hire-car, and charged around the island trying to find a new zip/someone to replace it. Otherwise, we would have to wait until Monday. Luckily the sailmaker in town was open late, and Sotiris did the mend (unfastening the metal end stopper, threading on a new tag, replacing the stopper, and fastening the two sets of teeth together again from the other end). Phew, we could depart on Sunday morning as planned.
We went to Xerocampos for a pre-departure meal, and the owner brought out a flat lobster, which had been caught locally. I had not seen one before. It was a small one, and expensive, but I couldn’t resist it. When the dish arrived, the meat had been taken from the shell and formed a pathetically small amount of white meat in the corner of the plate. To justify the price, the chef had supplied, perhaps sheepishly, an amount of spaghetti with sauce that would have satisfied a hungry football team. Not my best meal choice ever...
Sunday morning dawned and we cast off the lines. The log read 5,284 NM and the engine had 714 hours on the clock. We were taking the opportunity to sail northwards, before the prevailing northerly summer winds set in. We had a gentle and pleasant beat up to an anchorage on Marathos, a small island just west of Arki.
And next day, we launched the cruising chute, and had a fast reach up towards western Samos, before the wind died. The wind picked up again as it squeezed through the narrow gap between Fournoi and Samos, and we had a fast run, with just the white sails out, before gybing around the north-west point of Samos, to arrive at our overnight anchorage, with its magnificent, wooded and mountainous backdrop.
The water was crystal clear and calm, so I tried out my new Christmas present from Alix; an inflatable paddle board. I was a bit wobbly at first, but soon found my balance and my confidence.
I paddled past the only other two boats in the bay – both flying tricolours – and a voice hailed me: “Bonjour, Richard, Ca va?” I recognised the face on board, but could not for the life of me remember who it was. So, I made polite small talk, without revealing my ignorance, and paddled away. Alix worked out that it must have been Bertrand (and Sophie) who we had met in Leros, and had invited us down to Biarritz when we were next down that way.
Missy Bear had stopped here two years ago and seen dolphins and a monk seal. And, as if by magic, we saw dolphins and also a rare Monk Seal. Perhaps these are residents? A wonderful treat.
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