The sail arrived a bit after sunset and I went to pick it up at the beach, where the taxi driver/hotel owner was waiting for me. A very nice guy that kept up with his word and went alone to Kalamata to pick up the sail, as soon as the sailmaker told him it was ready.
The repair looked solid and the sailmaker also reinforced the leech and the luff. It looked well made and I will strongly recommend Michael for the ones who have a problem with sails in the region (+30 693 237 8737). The next day, before sunrise (for not having wind), we mounted the jib on the furler, had a good breakfast, and sailed north along the Greek coast. The place where we would stay for the night depending on the wind we would get.
And it was not bad, a bit on the nose (we had to do some tacking), weak at the beginning, stronger in the afternoon. About one hour before we left a Pogo 12.50 sailed away, and I was interested in comparing its performance with my boat, a more traditional cruiser racer, a Comet 41s.
The sea was almost flat, an advantage for the Pogo, which loses a lot more speed with wave drag. The Pogo had also a big genoa while I had a small jib. In fact, my boat comes standard with a big genoa but I had ripped it off last year (an 8-year-old sail) and decided that this year (to save money) I would sail with the small jib, so, in the weak wind, another advantage for the Pogo.
Even so, I would say I was gaining on the Pogo. Difficult to say because the wind angles at which the Pogo and my boat perform better going upwind are very different, with my boat going much closer to the wind. When the wind freshened up I took two reefs on the main, not because I needed (I needed only one) but to have a more comfortable motion for my wife, that was a bit indisposed.
So, again, difficult to compare but I would say that not surprisingly the Pogo performed better with stronger winds (and small waves), and even if on a much more open course could compensate with more speed the worse wind angle.
In the end, I would say that both boats arrived at Katakolon separated by an hour, doing about the same time, but taking very different courses. I would have liked to extend the comparison to the next day, upwind, in stronger conditions (more wind and bigger waves), but it was not possible.
We left Katakolon at about 9.00 in the morning in direction of Zakinthos or Cephalonia, depending on what the wind allowed us to do. The Pogo had already set sail (about one hour earlier) and the wind was well on the nose. We sailed slowly, tacking on a changing weak wind till midday, and then the wind started to pick up, and some hours later it was unexpectedly strong, increasing the size of the waves.
Good, I thought, now I catch the Pogo. The wind was blowing at 25kt, more on the gusts, and the boat was going well, close to the wind, with two reefs on the main and a slightly furled jib. We were doing between 6.5 and 7.5 knots sailing hard against the waves when the jib ripped off again. Not in the same place, but also on the bottom of the sail, further aft. I furled the jib and sailed to Zakinthos port (we were not far) under reefed main alone, doing over 5 knots.
I was quite demoralized. I was thinking of making the passage to Italy the next day, or the day after, getting medium to strong wind (in some places 30 knots), reaching all the way. But not with a sail in bad shape. I would have to repair the sail myself and we would have to avoid strong winds.
I was in need of a good meal accompanied by good wine, so instead of trying to find a place in the port (that seemed full), with all the work that implied, we preferred to stay on anchor between the beach and the port walls, protected from the wind, and have that meal as soon as possible.
Isabel was perfect, preparing pork steaks served with a mustard/cranberry sauce and rice, all accompanied by an excellent red wine from Limnos, the one that is said to be Aristotle's preferred one.
I felt much better after. The next day, very early, we took the sail down, had breakfast and went to Zakinthos port. No trouble in finding a place, with a sailor directing me to a place and helping me to moor the boat. When I asked if I could pay him he said yes, and for my boat, water and electricity, for a day, he asked me 40€.
40€ without having WC or shower? What the hell, I protested saying that it was everywhere much cheaper than that. The guy smiled and said that if I had the trouble of paying in the maritime authority office, 1km away on the other side of the port, it would be less and I cut a deal with him for water and electricity, for 10 euros. In the end, I stayed 3 days, did not pay more for water and electricity and I paid 19,5 € for the three days.
After filling the water tank and connecting the electricity, we ate some snacks and went for a short nap. Later, after starting mending the sail, we went to dinner in Zakinthos.
I cannot say I like the town, kind of restaurant after restaurant and I wonder where all that people come from: Zakinthos beach is ugly and the town has nothing particularly agreeable. But the fact is that the town was full of people.
The restaurant that Isabel chose on google maps according to the stars, was very expensive and not a very good one, the kind that gives you small portions at outrageous prices.
The next day, after many hours of work, we finished mending the sail, using the material from a Doyle sail repair kit, reinforced with American tape, complete with three rows of stitches, one along each side and a central one, in zig-zag uniting the two ripped parts. It did not look nice but I hoped it was strong enough.
On the afternoon of that day the wind started to blow, not allowing us to mount the sail, so we stayed one more day, also taking into consideration the better wind window for the passage. We wanted wind but it could not be strong, and as many times on the Med, in the next days, there was either no wind or strong wind. After considering all options we set sail to the other side of the island, to Porto Keri, where we would try to put the sail in the furler (the wind was supposed to die at sunset), then we would sleep some hours and in the night we would start the passage to Italy, Crotone, a 200nm passage. Starting at night was the only way to arrive at Crotone in the daytime.
And, with the exception of losing about half an hour to untangle the chain from rocks, it went like clockwork: enough wind to sail to Porto Keri only with the main, doing between 5 and 6 knots, at sunset the wind became weak allowing us to put the sail up without trouble, and at 3 in the morning we raised the anchor and sailed to Crotone, motoring because there was no wind.
At sunrise I was already doing motor sailing and a short time after we were sailing at 4 knots, and kept sailing all day, sometimes at 3,5 sometimes at 5,0 knots but rarely more than that. Well, we were not in a hurry because, knowing the wind would be very weak, I had considered for the passage an average speed of 5 knots, to arrive in the afternoon of the next day at Crotone.
Another calm night with the moon shining and illuminating the sea, with full sail doing mostly motor sailing. With the first light the wind came stronger and we sailed all day long, first slowly then, after mid-day, faster and faster with the wind increasing progressively to +20 knots and the boat increasing speed to 6,7,8 and near the Italian coast, over 8kts, already with two reefs in the main.
We arrived at Crotone at 5 in the afternoon, I phoned Elio (the owner of the shipyard) to know if he could anticipate the day for taking the boat out of the water. It was booked for Saturday 10 September, we were arriving on 8 September and it was perfect if Alma could be taken out of the water on the 9th, Friday.
And as usual, all is possible with Elio, and the boat would be taken out of the water Friday, at 11 in the morning. We took shelter under the big port wall, northside, anchoring in sand in 5m water. Good anchorage even if not a nice one.
Now we are already at home, in Portugal. It took about 4 days to prepare the boat for winter then we rented a car and drove to Rome, sleeping on the way. We left late on the afternoon of 13 September to drive some hours along Italy's boot, following the slow route along the coast. We could have gone faster by the E90 but Isabel had by mistake put us on the GPS as going to Rome on foot, so the machine chose the nicest, slower roads.
I found it strange to be driving on small roads, but Isabel was quite sure that we were on the right track, even if she said to me that we would arrive in Rome in 4 days and a half (but the GPS was surely wrong because we were making km fast). Well, if that was not for her mistake we would not have enjoyed a beautiful scenario and have not known all those small towns along the coast.
But when the night fell it was no fun anymore and I decided that I had enough driving, and looked for a place to sleep. I would like to tell you where it was but I have no idea.
We found on booking.com a room in a nearby house in the country, made the booking and went looking for it.
Not easy to find because nothing in the house told us that it was a house that rented rooms, but Isabel asked somebody in the next house and it turned out to be the son of the woman that rented the house.
In no time we were in a room, with the car inside the property. It cost 36 Euros and the room was not bad, clean, with WC, AC, refrigerator and all.
The next day we went all the way by highway, so no story, no fun, but we decided that instead of sleeping in a hotel near the airport, we would sleep in some nice place some km away from Ciampino (the 2nd Rome airport), and it turned out we found a very nice place, one that surely we will use again, at about 36km in the countryside.
Nice country house, nice people, nice restaurants around. This one I know where it is, in Labico, it is called "Il Sottosopra", the price is 80€ and it includes breakfast.
We paid less because we only booked in the afternoon, the same day (a trick to pay less on booking.com). There are lots of options around so if it is not at the weekend you could do the same. We had dinner at a local restaurant, not bad (excellent house wine), but not good enough for a recommendation.
Yes, this time we were in a bit of a hurry to come back home. It turned out that I had ordered a motorcycle and the delivery was booked for 15 September. Due to all the problems with the sail we could not make it in time, but two days later we were in Fundão, a Portuguese city in the mountains, to take possession of a Moto Guzzi V85TT.... and on the same day we crossed Serra da Estrela (biggest Sierra in Portugal) by mountain roads, me on the new bike and Isabel driving a sports car, a MR2.
Slept near Seia, in a rented house, and the next day we came home by mountain roads: Coja, Arganil, Gois, Lousã, Miranda do Corvo, always using secondary roads. All in all 400kms of driving pleasure. I really missed riding a motorcycle. Well, not anymore and it seems I am not yet too old to ride the bike because I arrived not too tired and without pains in odd places. Nice to know that I am not that old LOL!
Note: photos from all sailing season
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