Camilla Ransom
Friday
One of the things we’ve learnt this season (taking advice from our friend Phil) is that it’s better to plan a sail before a strong wind is due rather than going the day after it dies down. We made that mistake on our passage from Sifnos to Paros earlier in the season; the wind was great but the sea was huge having been whipped up by the meltemi during the previous days.
Another meltemi was due to kick in and blow both Saturday and Sunday so we wanted to get going and continue going west today in order to catch a (hopefully!) kind sea and to also make sure we were on track to make it to Rhodes in time to catch our flight to Germany on the 24th August. The passage would take about 7 hours so we set off at 0930, weaved our way through the little islands on the south side of Astypalaia and out into the open sea. It wasn’t long before we had both sails up and were sailing across a lovely 15 knots of wind and over a flat sea. We’d definitely picked the right day to go, the conditions were near perfect. The Aegean can behave when it wants to!
The anchorage we’d chosen on Kos was on the south west corner, about as far from the main town as you could get sadly but the pilot book promised plenty of space and excellent holding off a beach which is just what we needed for the upcoming winds. As we rounded the south west corner the wind picked up as it came rolling off the hills and we had a fast sail up to the anchorage. The increase in wind strength when rounding headlands is something else we’ve now become accustomed to so it no longer catches us off guard – we’re ready!
The bay was full of windsurfers and hobie cats zooming backwards and forwards so we dropped the sails early and motored carefully through them in order to avoid Bini accidentally pureeing any unsuspecting tourists. As we approached the shoreline we saw another couple of boats anchored (always good!) and as we motored forward the seabed came up pretty rapidly from 20 meters to 8 meters in a matter of, well, meters so we dropped anchor and dug it in. We ended up sitting far further back from the others, and in deeper water than we’d planned but never mind, we’d move in the morning.
Saturday
We’ve been a bit slack recently with our exercise routine but today we had no excuse not to go for a run. We’d had an early night and there wasn’t a single hill in sight so once we’d re-anchored in shallower water we took the dinghy ashore and set off. The stretch of land around the bay isn’t very special. Restaurants and hotels run all the way along the shore for miles but it made for a decent route which was mostly paved with the odd patch of sand (which I find impossible to run through, much to Tom’s amusement!).
We were starting to get low on water so after the run (which was far harder than it should have been) we walked around to the “marina” to see if we could find a tap. In amongst the fishing boats, a ridiculous amount of wasps and a burnt-out shell of a motor yacht we found a tap so before breakfast, and before the wind picked up we did a couple of runs, carting 100 litres of water each time which was exhausting. Can’t wait until we get the water maker next year!
Starving hungry we showered, changed and went back to shore for breakfast and had a yummy full English. That was pretty much it for the rest of the day, apart from a sewing session to repair a couple of pairs of Tom’s shorts.
Sunday
As predicted the wind was blowing 20/25 knots but it was pretty comfortable on board, and there wasn’t much to do on shore anyway so we decided to stay on the boat. Sometimes we’re able to concentrate on writing or reading but today wasn’t one of those days so we decided to make it into a movie watching day. We hardly ever watch anything as there’s usually plenty of other cool things to do, but on a day like today it was perfect. The morning show was The Shining, the afternoon was Limitless and the evening entertainment was Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Throughout the day one of us would go for a wander around on deck just to make sure the wind hadn’t destroyed anything. Late afternoon I went into the cockpit and noticed that one of the lines holding Bob to the boat had disconnected itself. As I pulled the loose end out of the water I saw the D-ring – which used to be glued to the dinghy – still attached to the line. Not good! As I was pulling the dinghy towards Bini I saw to my horror that the other D-ring was hanging by a thread. I yelled to Tom who came up on deck and together we carefully pulled the dinghy in so we could grab a hold of it. Another few minutes and it, together with the engine (which we’d stupidly left on) would have been speeding their way to Turkey and we’d have been stranded. Annoyed but relieved we got the engine off and re-secured it to the boat.
