Annegret and Christoph from the Jazz Pastries (Walter's band) are coming on board. They are coming from Athens in a rented car. Christoph brings his electric bass.
First they get used to being on board. And of course a lot of talking, as we haven't seen each other for a while. How nice to see each other again!
Of course, we first show them the most important things on board. Both of them have never been on a sailing boat before. But then on the first day we first walk around the whole rock of Monemvasia, sea of flowers and at the cape a bit of climbing through the rocks. Then we are at the lighthouse, walk through the beautifully restored lower town with small guest houses, tavernas and a few souvenir shops. Then climb the long staircase to the upper town and walk over the flower-strewn back of the rock through the ruins, looking all around into the distance and down to the harbour. Then, after the descent over the slippery stones of the path, a nice draught beer in the lower town on one of the terraces. And in the evening a delicious meal in one of the restaurants at the harbour.
Our boat is well secured, additionally with the jerk fenders, as the wind blows from the north to the northeast and the swell is in the harbour.
Second day: also very eventful. We show our visitors the most important things on deck, especially concerning casting off and mooring. And there are still hundreds of questions about it. Set sail, motor …
There is a strong wind from the north-east. And we want to go north, first a little beat, to Gerakas, about nine nautical miles away. No suitable sailing wind. Maybe we can cross up when the wind is not so strong. We wait until the afternoon. Get ready to cast off. Outside we realize that with the high swell it is not realistic to make the actually quite short distance before it gets dark. So we motor, no problem with 9 nautical miles. But after 6 nautical miles the engine fails and won't start again. We look for the cause, but can't find it quickly. So we hoist the small sails (mizzen and jib), as we are close to land and have to remain manoeuvrable. This goes quite well, but as it happens, the wind gets weaker and we can't make any progress northwards to our intended anchorage. So we decide to sail back to Monemvasia. That goes quite well. When the wind drops, we also pull out the genoa. That helps.
Then it gets exciting. How do we make it into the harbour under sail? We've never done that with this boat before. Shortly before the harbour entrance, we take down the genoa and the jib. We sail around the breakwater with the mizzen only. Shortly before the pier, the mizzen also comes down. And then we gently lay alongside the pier. Everything went well! Also because there was hardly any wind. Some people thought we were the super pros and were doing it on purpose. Well, we learned something again. And Annegret and Christoph had a tough start on their first day of sailing and have outed themselves as super crew members.
Tomorrow afternoon the storm from Crete is supposed to come here with big waves. Maybe we'll have the engine back working by noon and be able to shift a bit more safely for it.
But relaxation is also necessary after such a day. And that is also possible. A delicious home-cooked meal on board and then finally(!) live music on board!
