Reflections On A Delivery

Reflections on the delivery from Spain to Greece

What we learned…

Well, 1553 nautical miles later – we were thrilled that we made it and learned so much! We’ve taken a little time to reflect and map out the topics that were most important to us on the Spain~Greece delivery.

Of course, with cruising there’s always tons more to learn. That’s the great thing about it – lifelong learning. Always something new to master or finetune.

A few areas in particular, however, really stood out for us. Here they are:

Cruising Skills 

1.  Dealing with customs and borders when entering a new country on a boat

3. Weather watching and getting info in new countries and foreign languages

4. Planning the route – pace, waypoints, planning refuges 

5. Some engine skills

6. Provisioning and on the water cooking skills – cooking for varied tastes and crew preferences

7. Choosing a good team 

8. Teamwork – clear roles 

Why we still really want our own boat

This delivery was a fantastic experience and it was a great team to be on. So many people in a small space for 3 weeks and everyone got along for the whole trip. Surreal-y well actually.

But to keep good crew harmony requires compromises – compromises that were duly made and with good cheer. 

But long term, we realised there are some key reasons we still want our own boat rather than just continuing to sign to crew on other peoples’ yachts. Our long term cruising plan remains unchanged…


So here’s why we still want our own boat:

1. Choosing food – when, where, what 

2. Choosing safety equipment and maintenance 

3. Choosing where, when, how we go

If you’re reading The Cruising Kitty, you probably are thinking about cruising at sometime in the future – if you are not there already.  

What are the key reasons for you for getting/having your own boat?

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Home At Last

Home At Last…

‘Course the first thing I did was check the answering machine. And Pussy Galore did not leave a single message.

She must be having technical difficulties.

–Captain Cat

 (transcribed by the Can Opener)

Hovercat To Athens…

… and Athens to home…

We can’t be believe we made it! Or that the delivery has finally come to an end.

Poros to Piraeus by ferry, Piraeus to Athens Airport by bus, and Athens to the UK by bird. We’ll be home soon. Being back on land seems a little surreal.

So much to do, eat and unpack – the Can Opener should be busy for a week. And I need a pedicure.

We’ve been invited to crew on a new cruising boat back home and – after a short rest and recoup – we’ll be out on the water with the brand new team!

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Two Glorious Days In Poros

In Poros

We’d been 3 weeks almost constantly on the move, often throughout day and night. 

And now we had two whole glorious days to explore, wander, sniff, soak up the Greek sun,…

 …smell the flowers,…

  

..admire the endless spectacular views,…

 … and curl up in comfy armchairs in quayside restaurants to watch the sun go down.

Tomorrow we’ll hovercraft it up to Athens and then catch our big bird plane home. But for now, a souvlaki, tzatziki and some warm Greek bread. But no ouzo for me. 

The Can Opener stole mine.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Poros, The Perfect Greek Island

 

 

Here’s where we leave our catamaran at a quayside berth in Poros, finally in its new home in Greece. 

The owner will fly down here for holidays with his family so they can sail and cruise these beautiful isles for many years to come...

They’re planning to explore the Greek, Turkish and Croatian islands, using Poros as a central base.

We were glad to be a part of this delivery, successfully repositioning the boat from Malaga, Spain to Poros, Greece.

The Can Opener and I think this guy’s got his priorities straight.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Through the Rabbit Hole – The Corinth Canal

On our Corinth Canal morning, the day dawned with rising winds and some leftover (though greatly) reduced swell. Everything from the wild slide ride of the day before (nearly) as if it had never happened.

Liquids are quite resilient always returning to their original form in short order – water included, of course. (On a regular basis, I do wonder what planet you are really from, Furrball. And I you, dear Can Opener. But we digress…)

 

We lined up before the entrance to the canal, bright and early, prompt as requested… and then waaaaited…

 

Lots to look at, so it was a short hour later that we poked our bow into this famous canal…  

 

Under a series of bridges (four, I think) with traffic whizzing high overhead. Seemed quite a contrast when one thinks of its historical origins. 

The Corinth Canal was started in 1881 and completed in 1893 (although there was also an abortive attempt to build it in the 1st century AD). It is 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) in length and only 21.3 metres (70 ft) wide at its base.*

Photo courtesy of Gerard in the yacht ahead of us passing through the canal.

We passed slowly along the canal for about 30 minutes, then out we popped on the other side…

 

… to the Aegean Sea. 

Five knots of wind, sparkling wavelets, calm – what we’d been dreaming of all those days when we were dreaming and preparing to come on this trip.

Beautiful.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* wikipedia

A Wild Slide Ride Down The Gulf of Corinth

The calm before the storm

We set out this morning with local Greek weather reports promising 4 knots of wind. And it sure did start out that way…

We sailed under the Rio-Antirio bridge and down the long relatively thin Gulf of Corinth (it’s more like a strait but it terminates in a dead end), admiring the coastline on either side. 

At the end of the gulf sits the Corinth Canal and a marina. You need to reserve a time to enter the canal. This is usually not available till the next morning after you arrive, so the marina was our goal destination for today.

Calm, quiet day. Could use a bit more wind we said…and we got it.

The wind direction lined up with the gulf that stretches forever (well, officially 130 kilometres or 81 miles). Nothing to break the wind, and the swell began to build.

The good news is that although the waves built to 15-18 feet high – as high or higher than when we were trying to enter the Straits of Messina – they were spaced much farther apart. 

Far enough apart that our pontoons could ride up one wave and then surf wildly down the wave face without piercing the back of the next wave ahead of us.

And so we surfed for hours. 

It’s quite draining to focus like this for so long and yet you are completely riveted the whole time. 

Not knowing how much the wind will ultimately build or how high the waves will get adds up to a big heap of stress.

But we made it! And tomorrow we enter the famous Corinth Canal…

Time for a restorative sardine and a catnap.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Greece At Last!

The Rio-Antirio bridge… crosses the Gulf of Corinth hear Patras.

 

At long last, we reached the shores of our ultimate destination – Greece! 

Ahead of us lay the Rio-Antirio bridge, the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge*, guarding the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. 

And just before that lay today’s destination – the marina at Patras.

Another day of checking in with customs, tidying and cleaning, finding a new restaurant for the evening meal, and resting up in order to press on the next morning.

Patras seemed tame enough by daylight. By night, however, a whole different atmosphere presided. 

The quayside where we were tied up became the racing grounds for vespa-riding youth who let off rounds of shot (about two or three hundred rounds of shot to be precise) into the air as they passed repeatedly just metres from our berth until 3am in the morning.

The Can Opener and I wearily asked the next morning’s cafe owner about the prior evenings’ uproar (my fur still standing stiffly to attention)…

To our surprise, we learned it was just youthful high spirits due to a local festival being celebrated that weekend, nothing to worry about, and certainly not the civil unrest we had imagined.

My silky fur won’t stand down for weeks.

The souvlaki in Patras, however, was outstanding.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* wikipedia

Crossing The Ionian Sea – Flotilla

Vos et ipsam civitatem benedicimus (We bless you and your city)  – at the gates of the harbour at Messina

At 2pm sharp (right after my traditional 2nd afternoon catnap), all four yachts in our new flotilla lined up and headed past the harbour gates. We turned right, then followed the Straits of Messina south to the Ionian Sea.

A 40 foot catamaran travels faster than a 35 foot monohull in general, so staying within sight of the others by evening soon became a challenge. 

We could see the pinpricks of their mast lights against the dark sky. From time to time, the Can Opener would chat with Sottos on the VHF. 

While the winds always stayed between 20 and 30 knots on this leg of the journey, the memory of the gale was still fresh in our minds. Sometimes wondering what will happen next can be as nearly as tiring as actually facing challenging weather conditions. 

It was good to know that friends were nearby.

It took us nearly two days to cross the Ionian – we arrived Patras in the middle morning of the second day. 

We had finally reached Greece!

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Making Friends In Messina

After our exciting day getting to Milazzo on the ‘edge of the cyclone’,… it struck me that it would be wise to plan to cross the Ionian Sea in company. 

Should wild Force 9+ winds strike again, knowing other boats were nearby and could respond quickly in the event of need would be a comfort – and a good safety precaution for crews on all boats included. 

Messina is the jumping off point for heading across the Ionian to Greece, so of course I immediately set about scouring the marina for new friends who were heading the same direction.

I did not have to scour far – the first boat I inquired of was indeed heading our way, already had a flotilla of 3 boats set up and were professional sailors delivering new yachts for a charter company in Greece. In fact, the first old salt I spoke to was the founder and owner of said business.

Purrfect! And on top of this good news, he had a hundred stories to tell and was boisterous good fun. Sottos and I bonded immediately.

My new best buddy trotted round to the catamaran with me to meet our crew. We all hatched an enthusiastic plan for pizza that evening and an afternoon start for tomorrow when the expected weather window is due to pass through.

No matter where you cruise, new friends abound. 

The Can Opener and I are looking forward to joining Sottos’ flotilla, staying in touch by sight and by VHF over the next two days – and of course, exchanging more views on philosophy, continuing as we had already begun over today’s rather raucous and jovial afternoon tea…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)