Southern Ionian 2008

Southern Ionian

An Introduction to yachting

With the kids away in Tignes for a week’s skiing, Kathleen and I decided that we would do something different for a holiday this year. Having sailed dinghies (badly) for many years we thought that trying our hand a sailing something a bit bigger might be an interesting and fun thing to do. For the past few years we had spent our summer holidays a dingy sailing centers operated by Neilson Holidays in Greece. At a couple of locations we had seen other guests taking their “Introduction to Yachting” course. If they could do it then why couldn’t we?

 “Perfect for those with some sailing experience; an introduction to yachting gives you the skills to handle a yacht with confidence and enjoy a taste of life on flotilla. At the start of your holiday you will move straight onto your chosen yacht, which will be your home for the week. The yacht will be moored up on the Neilson pontoon or in the local harbour.

During the first three days of the holiday you will learn to sail your yacht under the close supervision of a Neilson Instructor. On the fourth day you will set sail and meet up with the rest of the flotilla.. This is the perfect opportunity to put into practice the skills you have learnt during the previous three days”.

Flying from Gatwick we arrived at Preveza early in the evening  and took the transfer bus to the small seaside town of Nidri where we would be based for the first 3 days of our course.

Nidri is located halfway between Lefkada Town and Vassiliki village and ferries depart from here to the neighbouring island of Kefalonia. The 800 people who live in Nidri permanently have developed its small port to one of the busiest harbours on Lefkada with ferries and cruises to Meganisi, Ithaca and Kefalonia. Neilson operates a small hotel with an outside pool. The hotel is a base for a number of different activity holidays. In front of the hotel is the pontoon where they run courses and flotilla holidays from.

On arrival we were shown to our yacht – Jessica – a 28’ Moody where we were given a quick tour and shown where the power switches were and how to work the toilet or “heads” . A more detailed briefing would be given the next morning. Looking around Jessica she struck us as a nautical version of our caravan which I suppose most yachts are.

At a shop next to the hotel we bought some basic provisions before heading along the waterfront to find somewhere for dinner

Monday Day 1

Winds – light south west

The day started after breakfast (eaten in the cockpit of our yacht) with a get together at the hotel for everyone who would be sailing on a flotilla or taking a course during the forthcoming week. Flotillas were heading off northwards and southwards from Nidri as the nearby short canal at Levkas, provides an easy access route to the Northern Ionian Sea from Nidri which is in the Southern Ionian Sea. It turned out that there were another two yachts whose crews were doing the introduction to yachting course at the same time as ourselves. If we all reached the required standard during the course we would join up with the Southern Ionian flotilla later in the week.

After the get together we met with our instructor “Ray” who would teach us everything we needed to know about our yacht and the basics of how to handle her. Ray was a twenty something year old female instructor who was working with Neilson for the season.

Once we had had a more detailed familiarisation tour of Jessica it was time to head out and do some sailing.

It soon became apparent that sailing Jessica from the point of getting from A to B was the same as sailing a dinghy – perhaps even simpler as tacks are longer and sail adjustments are fewer. The big differences were more to do with motoring, reversing, mooring etc as these are thing that we had not done before.

So during our first day afloat we sailed back and forward between the islands of Skorpios and Meganisi stopping at the small coastal village of Spartocheri for lunch. Lunch involved reverse parking Jessica at a low concrete wharf which formed the frontage to the restaurant that ray had chosen. We ate outside at a table only feet away from Jessica with our chairs resting on the concrete wharf only a few inches above the level of the seas surface.

Miles sailed 9.4

Tuesday Day 2

Wind – light south west

Day 2 really mirrored day one in that we sailed mainly back and forward between the islands of Skorpios and Meganisi, but stopping at Vathi, a different small coastal village for lunch.  On our way back to Nidri we sailed around Skorpios  which is mainly known as the private island of the late Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis. It was the site of his wedding to former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on October 20, 1968. Upon his death it passed to his daughter Christina, and then in turn to her daughter Athina Roussel. Onassis, his son Alexander, and his daughter Christina are all buried on the island.

 Miles sailed – 11.6

Wednesday Day 3
Wind light / no wind – south west

This was our last day training and yet again we zig zaged and zag zigged between the islands of Skorpios and Meganisi stopping again at the small coastal village of Spartocheri for lunch. By now our boat handling had improved considerably – backwards and forwards although we probably hadn’t learned anything new regarding sail setting etc. We were however dab hands at retrieving our bucket and buoy during the many man overboard drills that we carried out.

Miles sailed - 19.4

Thursday Day 4

Wind light – south west

Today all going well would be our last day with Ray our instructor on board. We planned to sail down to Sivota – a sail of 9 miles or so for lunch whereupon Ray would leave us and we would sail in company with the other two yachts on our course to an unnamed bay on the north end of the east coast of the island of Itheka just north of the town of Frikes a crossing of circa 10 miles.

All went well and after sailing down to Sivota and after a pleasant lunch we said goodbye to Ray who was getting picked up by car later in the afternoon. We were on our own now!

The crossing to Itheka was slow sailing as the wind dropped off later in the afternoon so we were under motor when we met up with the flotilla exactly where they said they would be.

As all the boats were spending the night at anchor a large raft was formed with all eleven boats. That evening we had cocktails and a BBQ on the beach with the other crews, which was a good way to finish the day.

Miles sailed  - 20.6

Friday Day 5
Wind light – south

The organisation of a flotilla is basically everyone starts at the same place each day and ends up at an agreed destination at night. Your route and if and where you stop during the day is up to you as long as you arrive before it starts to get dark. The planned destination was the very small harbour of Kalamos on the south east side of the Island of Kalamos some 17 miles or so away.

The route was across mainly open water with no real stopping off points along the way. The wind which had been light during the first part of the week was virtually non-existent so after an hour or so of drifting aimlessly we started the motor and set off in the general direction of Kalamos.

Midway between Itheka and Kalamos is the island Atokos which stands dramatically alone in the sea  surrounded by impressive sea cliffs and with no obvious signs of habitation.

The town of Kalamos if in fact it is large enough to be called a town was small and undeveloped, sitting at the end of a dirt track road that runs along the island. Anchoring stern to we were in an idyllic setting – this was the Greece that we wanted to explore.

After a bit of a walk and a swim we ate at a small local restaurant overlooking the bay

Miles sailed – 17.4

Saturday Day 6

Wind light south / southwest

Our last day! The flotilla was heading back to Nidri and as part of the days cruise the lead crew organised a “race” from the southern tip of Kalamos to the western tip of the small island Kythros a distance of just under 5 miles. Being in one of the smallest and older boats on the flotilla we were determined not to be last. The light wind was blowing from the south west and our course was just north of west so theoretically we could make the island’s point on a single tack. I am not sure how committed Kathleen was to a “race” , but we worked the yacht hard tweaking the sails to maximise the available wind and pretty soon we were moving towards the front of the flotilla. As we approached Kythros, it became apparent that a tack would be prudent, however I was determined that we would make the point so with Kathleen watching for the bottom we scraped round the point in 3^rd position. With hindsight we were perhaps too close to land, but with little wind and no sea there was little risk of doing any major damage to the boat.

After we rounded the point it was basically a run to Nidri, however the light wind that we had enjoyed earlier died away to nothing. Despite trying to sail all the way back we were eventually forced to motor as we were going nowhere and doing it very slowly.

Miles sailed 17.8

Total Miles Sailed 96.2