Sailing Stuff

01/10/2021

https://mymemorylanesss.blogspot.com/2020/04/2008-sail-school-croatia.html

05/05/2021

https://mymemorylanesss.blogspot.com/2021/03/my-life-at-sea-part-one.html

05/05/2021

https://mymemorylanesss.blogspot.com/2021/03/my-life-at-sea-part-two.html

05/05/2021

https://mymemorylanesss.blogspot.com/2021/04/my-life-at-sea-part-three-gifting-past.html

Our next adventures at sea were Flotilla sailing in the Greek Islands. Oh my! This is the epitome of everything sailing stands for. Great c...

17/01/2020

The following posts are a brief history of the Corinth Canal in chronological order. Enjoy!

17/01/2020

Intro1

17/01/2020

Slide 1

17/01/2020

Slide 2. The remains of part of the Diolkos.

17/01/2020

Slide 3

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Slide 4

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Slide 5

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Slide 6

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Slide 7

17/01/2020

03/10/2019

Our Peloponnese flotilla is over. It truly was momentous, magical and has served to cement our love for this captivating area of the world. Meeting the fabulous members of this group was an honour, especially our heroic couple, Penny and Richard who manage life with the most cheerful and positive energy. A lesson for us all. To our highly qualified and capable leaders Ellie and Connor, thank you for it all. To all the amazing people we were with who made it fun, fabulous and unforgettable. For us we are replenished, renewed and ready for the next Greek Sails sailing adventure. Yamas!

29/09/2019

Day 12. Porto Kheli to Ermioni. Usual directions and hazards to avoid. Uneventful passage arriving early for a walk over the hill for some last minute supplies. We play canasta at Micheli's tavern before our last group meal.

29/09/2019

Day 11. Naplioni to Porto Kheli. Brilliant bakery briefing. Thank you Ellie for the intro to their spinach and feta pies. Forecast predicts zero wind which is true. But we are rewarded with the most perfect rafting arrangement. Connor is the star swimmer and tie-er upper, while Ellie is the star lineswoman. Spontaneous drinks on board Filoxenia. Couldn't be a better place to moor, the pine scented scenery is spectacular, and the peace is sublime. Love this flotilla

28/09/2019

Day 10. Astrous to Naplioni. 11 miles. Excellent sail down windish. Course to steer on last tack. The dredge is in between the port and starboard markers.Gusty winds as we lowered the mail sail which left it above the sail bag. Caused a bit of trouble when we were reversing into the quay. Running on Waves schooner parked close by.

28/09/2019

Day 9 Astrous.A quiet day. Sleep in, and a generally lazy day. Sorted photos, uploaded to DropBox, lunch in a gorgeous garden cafe of a delicious pizza and Corona. Later a wonderful group meal at Zorbas.

28/09/2019

Day 8. Plaka to Astrous. It is a free sail day, meaning we can stay here, go somewhere else or join the lead boat in Astrous. We opt for 2 days in Astrous. It is 18 miles in total. Out of Plaka we have full sails up, and a nice sail. The wind then dies, till we are going into the Astrous area, when the ses is rough and the wind crazy. We are advised to take in sails before getting into this bay. Dinner on board of ...meatballs and pasta. Stanley's favourite.

28/09/2019

Day 7. Yerakas to Plaka.25 miles. Some great sailing. Plaka is an easy tiny harbour with the most pristine, clear water of every colour of blue. We are all safely moored then head off to Margarita's for a group meal. My sea bass is huge. A whole fish. Delicious.

28/09/2019

Day 6. Monemvasia to Yerakas.

A shortish passage northwards to Yerakas. We all moor up nicely, and have a delicious punch party.

28/09/2019

Day 4 and 5. Kiparissi to Monemvasia.

20.5 miles. An uneventful passage. Stern to safely. We have the luxury of a 2 day stay in Monemvasia, which is perfect. We meet up with Janet and Paul again and their friends Lud and Paul. A visit to the castle of course. But an influx of hundreds of tourists from a cruise-boat- schooner filled the shops, square and pathways, so we soon descended back to the mainland. Then we enjoyed amazing food and drinks, longish walks and quiet evenings.

28/09/2019

Hi old friends and sailors.
Interested in a flotilla around the Peloponnese through the Corinth canal and back to Poros vis the Saronic? I've sent out an email to those whole addresses I have. More info if keen...

27/09/2019

Day 3. Tiros to Kiparissi. About 19 miles. Light winds so a lot of motor sailing. We are all nicely stern to in the tiny little harbour. A walk up the hill to the Kiparissi hotel which had a sweet little beach with sparklingly clear turquoise water. It was refreshing and slightly cool. A Corona afterwards made it a perfect afternoon.Later we all went up to the hotel for a group meal. A fabulous mix of people, two amazingly talented sailors leading us all, makes this the most wonderful flotilla.

27/09/2019

Day 2. Ermioni to Tiros.

A 25 mile passage. Through Dhokos channel, clear of Amilianos marker, into Spetsai Channel where the wind is crazy. So sails up around Nisos Petrokarovo but wind disappears! Sails down and motoring to Tiros, till just out of this port, the wind reappears. It would have been the best sailing. Instead we decide to go in, leaving this wind to the late comers.

27/09/2019

Day 1. September 1. Poros to Ermioni.

We are briefed by our new leaders Ellie and Connor. Today's passage is to Ermioni, only 20 miles. A familiar and fairly easy 15 knots with gusts giving us some exhilarating sailing. Group meal at Michaeli's. Pork pockets, Moussaka, Tomato and Cucumber salad, Souvlaki, Tzatziki and jugs of wine. We are back!

24/09/2019

Flotilla August 31 for the East Peloponnese. On arrival in Poros we are warmly greeted by everyone. We met up also with a fellow ex Bahraini resident Paul Truscott with whom we lunched at our favourite ''Apagios'' before getting Thiaki stocked with food, and loaded with our luggage. We both are excited and ready for this next sailing adventure.

We are Ellie and Connor, our leaders on Enigma, Richard and Penny on Eva, Jeffrey and Wendy on Niovi, David, Joy, Clive and Claire on Filoxenia, Ian and Norma on Susie, Gary,Alison and Andrew on Kalavaria, Jan and Lieve on Filotimo and Stanley and Pamela on Thiaki.

24/09/2019

Day fourteen. Ermioni to Poros.The forecast was for 20 knot winds gusting to 30. It was only 20 miles. BUT it was the worst weather anyone had ever experienced. At one point, the waves were crashing against the boat, with the wind a steady 30-40 knots. Just to form an idea of what this wind is like, at the Yacht club here, we were banned from sailing on days when the wind was forecast to be more than 25 knots. The gusts were horrific. Great blasts of air that knocked us nearly over. Stanley was the hero helming this choppy sea and strong wind but when it was clear we were struggling asked me to radio base to let them know we were making no headway.

In maybe an hour or so we managed to clear the open ocean and get shelter from the windward peninsula. So we were ok. I refuse to think about what might have happened. It would have been impossible to manage a rescue in such madness.

The only good thing is that we managed. The boat was strong and we coped.

26/07/2019

This is the Royal Ocean Racing Club's official Website. The RORC is recognised as the premier organiser of racing for offshore yachts, including the internationally famous Rolex Fastnet Race, Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, RORC Caribbean 600 and the RORC Tr...