Sailing Aglaya

Now we are in Gerakas, a tiny village in a fjord a little north of Monemvasia. The small blue and white houses are reminiscent of the Aegean. Above the entrance to the fjord are the ruins of the ancient acropolis Zarax. Pure idyll!

We had said goodbye to our visitors, Annegret and Christoph, the day before in Monemvasia. It was a wonderful time for the four of us, although completely different from what we had planned. We wanted to sail in small stages in the Argolic Gulf. On the first day of sailing, we had to motor a bit. The engine failed. We had already reported about that.
As it turned out, it was due to the contents of the two diesel tanks. We feared diesel plague, i.e. microbes that form sponges in the tanks. Willi, the mechanic called in by the Coastguard, pumped about 150 litres of diesel out of our two tanks. Probably no diesel plague, but lots of sludge at the bottom of the tanks. It must have accumulated over the years. It all had to come out. All two tanks were cleaned and filled with "good" diesel licensed by Shell. 300 litres. That's a real blow to the boat's budget. But we want to sail and not motor. So hopefully we won't need a new tank filling any time soon.
The whole thing took three days. A lot of work for the mechanic, a really nice person, although we had a hard time communicating. He no English, we no Greek. But he has a brother who lived in Berlin for ten years. So there was translation work by mobile phone from time to time. Yesterday everything was ready. And dear Willi came over especially to give us a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of wine, surely from his own production. At least he assured us that the wine doesn't make a head. After our experiences with him, we take his word for it.
Fortunately, Annegret and Christoph were there with a rental car. This made excursions into the surrounding area possible. In a very uncomplicated and spontaneous way, they got to know what there was to discover here - from the bakery in the neighbouring village, which also sells very good olive oil, to the drive into the mountains and through the villages. Not to mention the many flowering plants they determined. And they cooked super tasty meals, which you probably hardly ever manage in the patry of a boat. And then there was the live on-board music every evening. It was great with you both! Thank you!

There is no ship's piano on Aglaya. But two of Walter's guitars travel with him - an Epiphone for swing and an Ortega for bossa nova. From the band "Jazz Pastry", in which Walter plays guitar at home, we are far away. But the Pastries came to us on the boat. Unfortunately, the pianist didn't get holidays for Easter, but Annegret brings the vocals and Christoph the bass. There's something going on, every evening, after the delicious home-cooked dinner. Unfortunately, we don't have a warm Greek spring at the moment, but cool Irish showery weather. So no music on the pier. But our salon is perfectly made for small house- no(!) boat concerts.

Our Scottish boat neighbour Alexander, who wants to circumnavigate Europe with his boat (partly overland), is also part of the party on one of the evenings. Some pieces we can sing as a trio.

So the good spirits on our boat get to know such beautiful jazz standards as "Agua de beber" or "Night and Day" or "Don't be that way" ... A nice change from the howling of the wind in the rig.

Little taste of ”Night and Day”

On Good Friday we are still in the port of Monemvasia and busy getting rid of the diesel plague in our tank. Setting off again might not be a good idea anyway. The local fishermen know a lot about the weather. "Big waves will come on Sunday." And they tell us about the big waves three years ago that sank one of the fishing boats in the harbour. That makes a lasting impression. The Coastguard also warns us and advises us to leave the place we reached the day before only under sails at the pier and move to a somewhat safer place. That was very good advice, as it then turned out.
A lot of wind actually comes in the night from Easter Saturday to Sunday. And on Sunday morning the big waves come. A depression to the east of Crete sends them to us. They have already travelled a long way across the open sea. So now a high swell builds up, breaks at the pier and also rolls into the harbour.
In the afternoon it gets really heavy. We guard our fenders, put out a long extra line across the harbour basin to the other side of the pier. The breakers that then came over, and some of them hit us too, are both disturbing and impressive at the same time. One of the three sailing yachts is in distress in the harbour. It was moored in the same place where we had been the day before. Our Scottish neighbour Alexander had his dinghy scorched by a breaker. A motorhome, whose owners are not on site, is moved 15 metres by the breakers and damaged. All the fishermen are with their boats. The fisherman next to us tells us that there is a storm like this every twenty years. Well, our guest Christoph had booked an adventure holiday. So far he can be quite satisfied.

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But we would like it to be a bit calmer. Towards evening, the wind calms down a bit, and a little later the swell weakens. But of course we stay on board in a "be on the lookout" position. What an Easter Sunday! But the Greeks don't celebrate Easter until a week later. Maybe we'll still have a chance to celebrate Easter.

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!

The gulf is bordered by Cape Tenaro to the west and Cape Maleas to the east, both notorious for extremely strong winds. Two years ago we passed both capes - in calm conditions. This time the weather is unsettled and it is very windy.
We set off in the morning from the anchorage at Porto Kagio near Tenaro with calm winds, but hazy fog. After a short time it bristles up and the wind settles at 30 knots (equivalent to 6-7 gusts, much more in gusts). Accordingly, a strong swell builds up, because in the southwest, where the wind comes from, there is open sea. We are glad to have such a stable boat with a long keel, which dives very smoothly into the increasingly high waves. And we are happy to have a ketch, we sail only with mizzen and boom jib, little sail area but very comfortable and with little leaning in such strong wind. And because of the shape of the hull, we stay completely dry even in high sideways waves, wonderful.

Video: Wilde Ride

In five hours of riding we want to anchor in Palaiokastro, a sheltered little harbour just off Cape Maleas - the Coast Guard is chasing us away. A big ship was coming and would take up all the space. All further attempts are of no help - until we suddenly see the big car ferry that actually docks here. Because of bad weather in Neapoli, we learn later. So we set off again for Neapoli, where two attempts to moor fail due to strong crosswinds. The friendly man from the Coast Guard there recommends the bay of Levki on the opposite island of Elafonisos. 3 miles. So we set off again, exhausted, the sun is slowly setting - and we can't find the bay. We anchored further north and spent another night on anchor watch, alternating with very little sleep.

In the morning it is warm, the sun is shining, a wonderful day, we sail around Cape Maleas to Monemvasia - wonderful!

Finally we are ready to sail on 3 April. But we wait for one more day, as there is still a strong southerly wind. It is a day for us to relax, after several weeks of getting the boat fit. We walk up to the ruins of the fortress, which we visited two years ago in August. Back then, nature was brown and dry. Now everything is green and in bloom everywhere. A beautiful place for breakfast with a view over the city. In the evening, we have the delicious fish soup at the Taverna Argos as a farewell.

Then, on 4 April, we finally set off. We leave Kalamata and sail south in light winds. So we can set mainsail, genoa and mizzen right away. Our progress is very slow as the wind gradually dies completely. So unfortunately we have to motor the last few miles to the bay of Limeni - our intended anchorage. As it happens, the wind comes up just before the bay with gusts of over 40 knots. It hardly lets up at our anchorage in front of the supposedly excellent fish restaurant in Karavostasi and blows almost constantly at around 35 knots all night and also the next day, fortunately offshore from the east. So at least we have no swell. But we don't try the fish in the restaurant, we prefer to stay on board.
We don't want to sail around Cape Tenaro in what is sure to be a much stronger wind from the front. Therefore, we stay another day in this beautiful bay and hope that the wind will weaken.

And so it does. The next day we take a look at the imposing mountains near Gerolimenias from the boat, are fascinated by the wild peninsula of Mani with its villages consisting of residential towers, as we were two years ago, and then sail around Cape Tenaro, the southernmost point of mainland Europe, without any stress. In our anchorage, Porto Kagio, we are the only boat (quite different from two years ago in August). There is quite a lot of wind overnight, from the mountains from different directions. So anchor watch again. But the anchor holds well in the silt and sand in front of the village.

Video: Anchoring alone at Porto Kagio

After the fat motor yacht that had parked us up was ready and could enter the water, the way was free for Aglaya. The low water level in the pool of the travel lift due to the constant north wind was just enough for Aglaya's draft. And after a strong wind from the west the day before, today it was calm and Lady Aglaya could enter the water. Takis, who operates the travel lift, managed everything perfectly and the dismantling and subsequent reassembly of the two forestays by Mikis, the sailmaker, went off without a hitch. Greek precision work. The new seacocks installed during the winter are all tight, and the engine and shaft work perfectly after the repairs and corrections. So we sneak off to a quiet water berth and enjoy the relaxing walk to the water. Aglaya rocks again. We rock with her.