My mother-in-law said to us recently, “You’re having a bit of a bumpy start to the season aren’t you”. She's not wrong, and this week it got even more interesting.

Last Friday we finally collected the boxes from Athens, which we sent from the UK at the beginning of April. With Bini safely at anchor in Galaxidi, we got up at 0600 and drove a 550km round trip to Athens Airport. We arrived at 09:30 then 4 hours later, and with just 1 minute to go before Customs shut up shop for the weekend, we had the boxes in our hands! 🥳 Little did we know that in 3 days we’d be in Athens anyway so we needn’t have bothered - more on that later.

On Saturday we were up early once again, this time heading for the Corinth Canal. Our last transit through the Canal was in 2019 and as last time, we were lucky enough to have the whole thing to ourselves.

It was on Sunday that the “fun” began. We were anchored in a bay on Salamina Island (15NM west of Athens) and whilst fixing a pump buried in a tiny cupboard in the heads, we (only gently) knocked two of the other hoses, which instantly sprung leaks in both thru-hulls. The water wasn’t gushing in but it was enough to worry about, and even more concerning was how easily you could wiggle the things, by hand! According to Torricelli's law, a 3cm hole 50cm under the waterline would let in a whopping 8,000 litres of water per hour, so even if just one failed, we'd be in serious trouble! The water in this image was after a couple of minutes. 😬

We tried covering them with Sikaflex but despite our best efforts, the water kept seeping in. If we’d been closer to the end of the season we’d probably just have kept an eye on them. But with 5 months to go, the Meltemi winds to contend with and our appetite for sinking extremely low, we decided we had to get them replaced ASAP.

At 08:01 on Monday morning, Tom was on the phone to Alimos Marina, the closest with a crane. The marina is primarily a massive charter base so we weren’t hopeful, but thankfully they said we could go immediately. On arrival, however, they pretty much denied all knowledge of having spoken to us. Despite much arm-waving, we boldly parked Bini next to the crane anyway then after some apologising and explaining what our problem was, the fees were paid, good relations were restored and Bini was safely on dry land.

One look at the fittings from the outside and it was clear what the problem was: they’d both come loose. Relieved we’d made the right call, we packed our bags and went to the nearest taverna to book a hotel for the night, and an Airbnb and rental car for the rest of the week.

On Monday morning, we picked up the car and drove back to the marina to meet the team replacing the fittings. After that, we drove 45 minutes along the coast to our countryside Airbnb. Just as we were settling in the phone rang - the work was done already!! Removing the old thru-hulls, usually a time-consuming job involving grinders, wrenches, and a lot of swearing, worryingly took them only minutes. Fortunately, we’d also timed the work perfectly as all the charter boats were back in the water, leaving the team with little to do. We took further advantage of their downtime and Bini’s land vacation and asked them to polish and wax the hull. We’d wanted to do this ourselves before setting sail in April but couldn't because everything we needed was, yes that’s right, stuck in customs.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we were back in Athens… again. We saw the new thru-hulls which looked great, then Tom got some work done in two very hot and noisy cafes (whilst drinking his weight in coffee to keep the staff sweet) and I trudged through the city to get through some chores. Today we’re enjoying a day at the Airbnb, grateful to be out of the city and not having to rush around. We’re not sure whether we’ll launch at the weekend, or wait until Monday. All that we hope is that we’re watertight again! We're super grateful to the teams at Alimos Marina and Kavas who have been so responsive, professional and helpful. 🙏