Chapter One: BACK AGAIN
We’d spent the last 1½ months in Leros Marina preparing Cordelia for the season. Then, on 20 April at 10.20am, we slipped our mooring and motored out of the marina. We hoisted the mainsail (with 1 reef) inside the bay, and outside we followed it up with the superjib (= the jib on the inner forestay).
We had the wind on the beam, and with only a little swell we were sailing along splendidly. When the wind decreased we shook out the reef, but put it in again later on when our log showed speeds of over 7 knots. The sun was out, we were protected from the wind under the sprayhood, and we enjoyed a very pleasant ride in shorts and T-shirts. We dropped the sails when we reached the lee of the land, and motored into the little fjord in Lévitha.
Peter picked up a mooring buoy but couldn’t hold onto it as the wind took Cordelia’s bow. We swapped position and Ingrid only just managed to grab the pick-up line with the boathook. She quickly put the rope over the cleat, then Peter helped with the lines to attach us properly. It was then when he told Ingrid we had no thrust, i.e. the engine ran on tickover only. Had she not been able to hold onto the buoy we would have drifted around without any propulsion to manoeuvre us!
We had a cup of tea, then began to investigate. The top of the binnacle came off and we emptied the starboard cabin to gain access to the locker. We found the throttle was connected through rods on both ends with a cable adding them together. We followed it along, wiggled, pushed and pulled on the ends, but could see no obvious fault. Our mission was further hindered by Apple having put all our manuals into the Cloud without asking, but with no Internet on the island these were now literally beyond our reach. We concluded that there must be a breakage somewhere along the cable, and we’d probably have to replace it. We resolved to motor back to Leros the next day, so Peter could carry out his research on the Internet and hopefully remedy the issue.
We were up early and were underway at 8.25am. After we’d taken off the mooring lines in tickover mode Peter wedged a penny at the tickover adjustment screw at the engine’s end of the throttle which kept the revs at about 1,350rpm. We had quite a swell around the island, but once we’d cleared it and had set course for Leros it eased and came from astern. We picked up a current and made just over 6 knots per hour despite the low rev count.
It was midday when we entered Portolago Bay on Leros, and 20 minutes later we dropped the hook. It had been a tricky manoeuvre with the throttle being fickle and uncontrollable from the lever, and Peter had to rush down below to remove the penny and manually adjust the speed, but we managed to avoid other boats and set the anchor.
On the way across Peter had started his research as soon as he’d gained access to the Internet, and found out exactly what throttle cable was needed. He then WhatsApped Maria at Naval chandlery to find out whether they had it in stock. While we were waiting for the reply we dug out Buddy from the locker and Peter inflated him on the foredeck. We were just about ready to go ashore when we received a message from Maria saying they had a 20ft cable (rather than 21ft) and would that do?
We jumped into Buddy and motored to the dinghy dock, only to discover that the choke on the outboard was stuck. Nevertheless, we made it ashore, bought the cable before they closed the shop at 2.00pm, and were on our way back. The outboard started well enough, but as soon as we’d cast off it flooded and stopped. No coercing made it start again, and in the end Peter rowed us back to Cordelia. We had some refreshments, then Peter attended to the choke and disabled it, hoping we wouldn’t need it in the summer.
The next day we started work before 9.00am, once again emptying the cabin and opening up the binnacle. It took us a while to figure out from which way we should run the new throttle cable before we decided to start at the lever as this was the most narrow part. It turned out to be very tricky as we couldn’t even pull the old cable through before it got stuck. We tried different ways to guide the new cable through, using duct tape, a mousing line and rods, none of them getting us anywhere. We cleared out the port locker so Ingrid could climb in and have a better look, but as there wasn’t enough room for her head to turn she took a picture with the camera and handed it to Peter. On it he espied an access hatch to the underside of the binnacle, and once he’d unscrewed it from the cabin we could finally see how and where it was all supposed to go. The old cable still proved to be unwieldy and stuck on the lip of a conduit, but we pushed and pulled and eventually made room for the new one.
With the new cable laid Peter then attached the respective ends to the throttle lever and engine. It was difficult to work in these confined spaces, let alone to hold a screwdriver or a spanner without dropping bits, but “the boy done well” and completed the installation. He started the engine, and the sweet sound of revs filled the air. When we retrieved the full length of the old cable we could see the breakage between the rod and the cable. It had been covered by a clamp near the engine side which was why we had’t noticed it earlier. One could have probably repaired it with the right tools, but as we didn’t have them we were happy with our replacement. All fixed, we were ready to have another go at leaving Leros.
Contrary to the forecast the sun was out in the morning. We rigged the superjib so it was ready to deploy, and weighed anchor just after 9.30am. Once again, we hoisted the mainsail with one reef inside Portolago Bay, and followed it up with the jib once outside. The wind was blowing a nice Force 5 from just behind the beam, and despite 1 knot of current against us we made good progress.
We hove to when a coaster (= a small cargo ship) was on collision course and wouldn’t give way, which delayed us enough for an Austrian flagged sailing yacht to overtake us. Knowing there’d be gusts coming off the land we doused the sails when we reached Lévitha. The Austrians ahead did likewise but had sailed further in, which provided us with the opportunity to catch up. While they were faffing about we re-overtook them, which gave us first pick of the mooring buoys. We opted for the same as last time, and were attached by 2.15pm, in time to see the Austrians make their way to their mooring buoy.
We both enjoyed a good night’s sleep, were up at 7.15am, and slipped our mooring at 8.25am. There was not a lot of wind around the island, so we motored until we’d cleared it. Once we’d passed it we were met with a North-Easterly Force 5, so we set our preferred configuration, i.e. main with 1 reef plus superjib.
We managed an hourly average of over 6 knots before the wind decreased. We replaced the jib with the genoa and shook out the reef in the main, which gave us another 15 minutes or so of sailing. Then the wind deserted us completely, and we tried to motorsail for about 20 minutes. The waves forced the mainsail to swing from side to side, so we took it down, not wanting to damage it any further. Next, it started to rain, and we changed into our foulies. Luckily, the rain stopped just as we entered the bay at Roússa on the island of Donousa, so when we dropped the anchor at 2.10pm we didn’t get soaked.
In the evening Cordelia was rolling, the anchor chain was rattling, and gusts came from all directions. Ingrid fell asleep eventually, having listened for any unusual noises, and Peter kept getting out of bed to check on the anchor alarm. At 4.00am we were in a depth of about 5m and close to the rocks on the shore. Peter started the engine and moved Cordelia forward and into deeper waters, then he came back to bed for more sleep. He checked again at 6.00am, and we got up at 7.00am.
We had breakfast first, then prepared to move Cordelia away from the rocks. Peter was on the windlass when it ceased. The chain must have caught on something! We stared into the water and saw a rock, but couldn’t figure out which way the chain was wrapped around it. Peter steered one way, then the other, but the chain wouldn’t budge. Ingrid therefore donned her wetsuit and all the snorkelling gear, got into the 17ºC warm water, found the issue and guided Peter around the obstacle. When she then followed the chain out to the anchor she found it lying on its side on rocky slates, meaning that if it hadn’t been for the wrapped up chain we wouldn’t have been holding at all!
Peter lifted the anchor to about 5m underwater when the windlass became unresponsive. At first he thought it had tripped, but on closer inspection he tracked it down to near worn-out brushes. With the anchor dangling in the water he drove us carefully to a new anchoring spot and manually released the chain. As Ingrid was still in her diving regalia she went for a closer look, found the hook in sand, and instructed Peter to gently reverse until it was well dug in.
After Ingrid had changed into dry clothes and we’d prepared Buddy we retrieved our walking sticks from the back of the starboard cabin. We packed our rucksacks, and Peter motored us ashore. It was just before 10.00am when we set out for our walk. We followed the well marked Route 1 out of the village, and quickly gained height up some zig-zags.
Ingrid didn’t feel too well and had to have a rest after 20 minutes, but some Haribos and Fanta revived her enough for another 30 minutes. She then had a couple of biscuits and an antihistamine pill which got her to the turn-off to the “Papa”, the tallest mountain on the island (394m). By then either the biscuits or the pill had kicked in, and she felt well enough to go for the top.
It certainly was worth it, as we had fantastic views all along the way. We munched our croissants behind a rock near the summit to keep out of the fierce wind, and after a little rest made our way back down to the turn-off. From there we could return to Cordelia or continue on Route 1. We opted for the latter as it was downhill on a rough dirt track from there to Donousa. We found it to be a pretty and clean village with whitewashed houses and blue doors and shutters.
We walked to the beach and a nicely protected harbour, realising we were definitely the only tourists to be seen in this quiet out-of-season place. We strolled through its paved alleys, then picked up the main road to continue our round tour of the island. We had to gain another 250m, but the gradient was not too difficult and spread out over quite some distance. Along the way we looked down to another anchorage and dismissed it as too windy.
The gusts kept coming, and Peter was concerned about Cordelia. On the way down he found a speed that Ingrid had trouble following, but when he saw her in the bay all safe and sound he waited, and we finished the last stint together. It had taken us 5 hours 15 minutes (incl. stops) for the 9.22 miles and 652m up and down, so the chocolate cake and coffee afterwards seemed well deserved.
Chapter Two: MORE DRAMA
The next day we hoisted Buddy up to the foredeck and prepared for departure. The windlass worked long enough to weigh anchor, and at 9.15am we were underway. We motored until we’d cleared the island, not wanting to deal with the gusts that blew down the gullies under sail. By now the wind had built up to a North-North-East Force 5-6, so we unfurled the genoa to the first reef.
We were doing over 7 knots downwind, but at around 10.00am the wind calmed down to the forecast Force 4, and so did Cordelia. With the waves behind her we had quite a pleasant journey and reached Nissos Nikouriá, an island off Amorgos, at around 12.00pm. It was well sheltered from the wind, so we swapped the genoa for the engine and motored the last ½ hour to our anchorage at Kalotyri. We found a place to drop the anchor into, and when Ingrid swam out to check it looked like it had set into clay. We dragged when Peter tried to dig it in deeper under engine, but the shovel was loaded with the stuff and we held. Peter let out 40m of chain, and we settled in.
The wind came early in the morning and woke us up at 4.30am. At 5.15am the anchor alarm went off and Peter jumped out of bed. We had dragged about 2m, enough to get us out of the set perimeter. The good news was that the anchor had gripped again and was holding. We had an early breakfast while constantly monitoring the screen, then we sat in the cockpit and kept looking around. Our only neighbours (the Austrians from Lévitha) must also have dragged as we saw them upping their hook and ploughing through the seabed for a while before they found a place where it would hold. We considered ourselves lucky being able to stay put, but still decided to check on our anchor once it had warmed up.
It wasn’t that warm at around 11.00am when the alarm went off again. This time we moved about 10m before Cordelia came to a stop. We delayed no further, and Ingrid put on her wetsuit, got into the water and followed the chain to the anchor. It had dragged all the way down from the top of a slope at about 4.5m to the bottom at a good 8m depth (she guessed). There it was now firmly dug in on the flat, better than we could have done so ourselves. We were best off leaving things as they were, but Peter put out another 10m of chain just in case.
When we went to bed we played classical music to disguise the noise of the howling wind and take our minds off. It worked, and we both slept well for 11 hours, albeit with some interruptions. When we got up the wind had all calmed down and we were still in the same spot. The Austrians, though, had had enough and upped anchor to leave.
We launched Buddy, and Peter rowed us to a little shack ashore. From there we walked along the beach, then uphill to a chapel. It had turned into a beautiful day, and in addition we were blessed with excellent Internet connection. Peter took the opportunity to download several films for our evening entertainment.
Just after 6.00am on the next morning, while we were still in bed, Peter suddenly proclaimed he’d had an idea. “We could go back to Leros to hide from the forecast storm and source a new windlass at the same time”, he said. Ingrid wasn’t too keen on going back a second time, but could see that it was an excellent option. We had a bit of breakfast, then Peter weighed anchor by pulling up the chain by hand for the first 30m then whacking the windlass into action with a hammer for the remaining 20m. A big lump of clay sat on the shovel when it emerged, so we cleaned it off by reversing before we were finally on our way just after 7.00am.
We had no wind and the Internet was off and on. Peter managed to buy a new uprated circuit breaker online as the new windlass was going to be more powerful and draw more current, but he had problems ordering the windlass. He lost connection, then their website was in Greek only, which he eventually succeeded to translate with the help of Google on his phone before he found out that they wouldn’t ship and we’d have to arrange for the transport ourselves. He worked around this issue by sending a WhatsApp to Maria at Naval to see what they could do.
We motored along quite nicely at around 6 knots on average, and Peter had a NoForeignLand conversation with “Chez Nous”, a sailing yacht that overtook us when we gave way to a cargo ship, before he concentrated on the last stint of our journey. We got a berth in the marina where we moored up just after 4.00pm. As soon as Cordelia was connected to water and electricity we were off to Naval where Maria informed us she’d contacted her supplier and was waiting for their response.
Chapter Three: REMEDIES
The next day was a Bank Holiday, then came the weekend. The new windlass arrived on Tuesday, and we picked it up in Buddy from the dinghy dock. Maria lent us a trolley to wheel the 25kg parcel to Buddy, which Peter returned straight away. Back in the marina Peter now seriously began to work on replacing the windlass, and removed the old one with the usual difficulties (stuck screws, etc.). The new one was not quite the straight replacement we’d expected after having read other people’s reviews, and Peter had to drill and cut holes into the anchor locker to fit things in. The switches, too, were different, and Peter needed to find a solution which involved acquiring new parts. This, however, we postponed till the next day.
We were up early to dig out the crimper from underneath our bed and measure the length for the extra cable we needed. The latter involved removing one of the heads’ mirrors to gain better access. When we were done we walked to Naval to get the cable and connectors, but we had to proceed to the hardware store to buy new bolts. While Ingrid went to the supermarket to stock up our larder Peter busied himself with the windlass and its electrical connections. As he also treated the bolts with Duralac and used Lanoguard around the windlass he had to empty the starboard cabin to retrieve these items, which meant the salon was a total mess again. He was busy all day while Ingrid kept out of the way, but eventually everything was installed and worked perfectly. Well done, that man! All there was left to do was to clear up the tools, heads, our cabin, the salon, the starboard cabin and the cockpit.
The new circuit breaker arrived from Rhodes (via Athens!) on the next day, and Peter began to install it straight away, expecting it to be a 10 minute job. Well, it wasn’t! It didn’t fit the existing holes, meaning Peter had to file a round one into a square, the bolts were thinner, and the connections were the wrong way round, but it all worked out well and we were ready to go again.
Chapter Four: THIRD TIME LUCKY
A sparrow had started to build its nest in Cordelia’s boom, which was a clear indication that we’d stayed too long and it was time to leave. We slipped our mooring at 9.20am and motored out of Leros for what we hoped would be the last time. It was overcast with the occasional ray of sunshine, but hazy and humid with no wind. The sea state resembled a millpond, so it was very easy to make a cup of coffee underway.
The passage was mainly uneventful other than for a German NATO supply ship that passed us South of Patmos. The rod that Peter had put out was only dragging behind with not so much as a nibble, so no excitement there either. It was just before 1.00pm when we picked up the mooring buoy back at Lévitha. It was busier now and more mooring buoys had been installed.
On the next day we slipped our buoy just before 8.00am and motored out on a windless bay. The engine was still needed outside, and also when the wind picked up to a South-Easterly Force 3-4. We did unfurl the genoa for a bit and even put in a reef when the wind turned to South, and sailed for about 15 minutes in a Force 5. Then the wind changed to South-South-West Force 5, i.e. it was on the nose, so we replaced the genoa with the engine. After another shift of the wind to North-West Force 4 along the coast of Amorgos we enlisted the help of the genoa again until we entered the bay around Katápola. By 2.00pm we’d dropped the anchor in a nice patch of sand/mud. The windlass had performed excellently, and the anchor had set well. The afternoon wind of around 25 knots calmed down in the evening, so all was well when we went to bed.
The following day we launched Buddy, and Peter rowed us ashore. It was just before 9.00am when we started our walk out of Rachídi.
We followed the signs for Route 6 which led through the village and into the hills. It started gently and was reasonably well sign-posted. We reached an empty reservoir and walked around it on a good path which soon became steeper. We’d missed a turning! Nevertheless, we carried on along what seemed to be a goat track that took us through abandoned terraces towards their home – a large stable at a height of around 140m with a rusty fence around it. We walked through the outskirts of this encampment and out the other side, and fought our way through the undergrowth up for another 60m, passing ruins of farmhouses. Finally we rejoined the correct route which made the going a lot easier. Soon we could look down to the North-West coast of the island and out to sea, and what a view it was!
We came to a col with a chapel on it from where a track led up to the Minoa Archaeological Site. We were interested, so took the 30 minute detour to have a gander. We found an empty excavation site with remnants of the city wall, some houses and gardens. Further up Peter found a shard of ancient pottery and put it on the wall. We made it to the top (ca. 250m) which doubled as a fantastic viewpoint.
After we’d scrambled back to the dirt track and had picked out all the pricklies we’d gathered on our socks and shoes we continued along the concrete road that led downhill from the chapel. This time we didn’t miss the turn-off to the path that took us through Katápola. We had a glimpse at the Botanic Garden Museum, and carried on to the seafront. We found the bakery where we bought two bougatsa, met an English-speaking couple at the bus station who thoroughly recommended a trip to the Chora and the Monastery thus confirming the reason for our visit to Amorgos, and returned to Cordelia.
The following morning we took the bus at 9.30am up to the Chora to gain the 300m in altitude without much effort, and stayed on when the bus went down to the monastery stop (180m). We walked to the carpark at the height of 140m, then took the steps up to the Chozoviótisas Monastery at 260m. We were in long trousers as we were not supposed to be showing knees and were sweating profusely. We met a French couple who took pictures of us, and we returned the favour.
We were impressed by this big building that seemed to be chiselled into and surrounded by rocks. We entered it through a small door and were told that women must wear skirts, not trousers. Luckily they supplied some sack-like garments Ingrid could fit over her trousers, and up we went the narrow steps to their sanctuary which featured a holy icon of the virgin Mary. Halfway back down we were shown into a little saloon and were served with a taster of their own raki (= a sweet liqueur), a glass of water and some Turkish Delight. We very much liked the taste of the former and decided to buy some if we could.
After this refreshment we retraced our steps down the stairs and up the road to the bus stop. Soon after we turned off to the right and took Route 1. This led in nice zig-zags up the South slope to the top of the Chora at 320m. We had a rest, then a walk around. The houses were all well presented, whitewashed with blue shutters, and all very pretty. We popped into the Archaeological Museum and looked at a multitude of stele, a few statues with missing parts, and an amphora tomb that contained the remains of a woman and two children. We also wanted to check out the castle, but unfortunately it was now closed to the public. Still, we came away from the place with 1l of home-made raki from a souvenir shop and a couple of pies from a bakery.
For our way back to Cordelia we picked up Route 2. It was a lovely trail past stone walls and derelict houses with pretty flowers growing alongside. Little lizards scarpered into the bushes as we walked by, not trusting our peaceful intentions.
Halfway down, we came across some buildings where women used to do their washing, as this was one of the few places with a fountain. After the earthquake of 1956, however, the water stopped flowing, and that was the end of that.
It took us about an hour before we reached the outskirts of Xilokeratídi, a conglomeration of houses next to Rachídi. Peter rowed us back to Cordelia where we both refreshed with a dip and a shower, and watched the boats coming in while we rehydrated. The wind was now gusting to 35 knots which presented quite a challenge for some and made it all the more interesting for us. Once again, we’d settled in nicely, and it looked like we were finally back to our sailing life style.