Well, the Vlicho veterans had a storm to remember……First heavy rain poured down for most of the afternoon, closely followed by a solid 35 knot southwesterly with thunder and lightning that lasted on and off all night. Even if we hadn’t been anxiously watching the anchor, sleep would have been impossible in all the noise and mayhem. Many boats dragged their anchors and were flailing around in the dark desperately trying to get re-hooked whilst avoiding being blown into other boats. We watched them with a mixture of relief it wasn’t us, and concern when they got too close.
Then just before dawn, the weather got really vicious. Several squalls which were clocked at 57 knots and torrential rain hit the bay and Makarma slewed first one way then the other under the force of the wind. Putting one’s head above the sprayhood was like standing in a wind tunnel with a fire-hose in your face. Our Bugel still held firm, and by this time our nerves were more or less numbed by the never-ending ghastliness of it. Calm descended as the front passed through only for the squalls to return with the same force but this time from the northwest. Some gusts literally fell off the mountain-side, bringing grief to yet more boats. At least it was light now to make re-anchoring easier. The worst wasn’t over until mid morning, when finally we could have a bit to eat and catch up on some sleep. We were one of the few boats that stayed put through it all.
The weather looked promising for Honor and Stewart’s week with us from the 17th, and thankfully it was still warm enough for them to swim a couple of times. We managed a brief sail to Skorpios in gusty conditions. One puff got us heeled over 40 degrees, which didn’t do much for their confidence in sailing! The little harbours have now ‘rolled up the sidewalks’ for the winter. The Boom-Boom bar in Vathi was definitely not booming, and several of the tavernas in Nidri had shut up shop. At least Stew found somewhere with Sky Sports to watch the big Blackburn match. With another depression forecast for Friday 23rd, we make our way to Levkas marina and tie up safely to a pontoon. It hosed down and to save our visitors from getting wet we dress them in dinghy suits and wellies to go out for a farewell dinner. Who says sailing is glamorous? We were very sorry to see them leave – the main downside of being away is not seeing much of the family, so the time they were with us was precious and went all too quickly.
A couple of days after they’ve gone, we head north up the Levkas canal and our lift-out for the winter in the Aktio boatyard, Preveza. When the swing bridge opens to let us through to the open sea, Leighton notices the oil pressure has dropped to zero. As there’s a place to anchor 200 metres beyond the bridge we keep going while Leighton pours oil into the engine. But as fast as the oil goes in, it leaks out underneath – we clearly have a big problem. We drop the hook as quickly as we can and kill the engine.
Leighton isn’t cheerful as he goes in to investigate what’s wrong. Cathy meanwhile is working out plan B. It’s some while before he eventually tracks down the problem to a leaking banjo which is very difficult to reach, but once tightened the engine miraculously stops leaking. Then we have the delightful job of pumping all the oil out of the bilge. Later it is very satisfying to see the pan under the engine is still as clean as a whistle after the hour's motoring it takes to get us to Preveza.
We’d hoped to moor alongside in Preveza marina, but the pontoons are full of long stay boats. We decide against mooring alongside the quay although there’s room as it’s exposed to the east, precisely where the breeze is coming from. Instead we anchor off the boatyard in Ormos Vathi, a narrow creek just to the north, popular with anglers who sit along the banks around the clock. It turns out to be a perfect place to wait for our liftout on the 30th. An out of town supermarket is a short walk away, and it’s very sheltered. We spend the time there doing some repairs and making a start on winterising the boat - taking down the sails and halyards and so on.
On the 30th we motor the half a mile across to Aktio boatyard, reflecting it’s the first time we’ve overwintered the boat ashore since Baltic Wharf in 05/06. While we watch the men lift Makarma out of the water and settle her into a cradle standing a stone’s throw from the temple of Apollo, we compile a list of this year’s hits and misses. Here it is:
Our list of things that work on the boat (in no particular order):
- Casio C Pathfinder watch – tells much more than just the time
- AIS, which has definitely helped us avoid collisions with ships at sea
- Supercool fridge – low power, no moving parts, no CFCs
- Bugel anchor – ten stars for holding power!
- ICOM 718 HF radio for position reports, email and weather
- GPS in cockpit
- C-Map chartplotter on PDA
- Power shower made from a 5 litre garden sprayer
- Offgrid energy – solar panels and windgen give us independence from shorepower
….and things that don’t:
- Navtex weather bulletins – unreliable or no reception more often than not
- Silva S15 VHF radio – a complete piece of junk - nothing good to say about it
- Blakes antifouling – the Syracuse ‘worm’ loved it.
- MR16 LEDs – they’re great, but some of them haven’t lasted as long as they should
- Wifi - we’re still working on beefing up the signal strength to get a solid connection
Now we’re ashore, we’ll take a break from boat jobs at some stage to put some of our photos up here.
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