The 2015 Aegean Rally was a bust... After preparing for the event, booking rooms at the Islands that would be visited, arranging for crew transportation... the organizing body HORC cancelled the event 10 days before the start gun.... so that now all our deposits on rooms,etc where lost... The resultant cost loss was extreme, had the HORC cancelled 15 days before the start gun then deposits could have been saved, and we would not have lost so much money.
This was how my Aegean rally started... I had invited fellow crew members to come and race with us in the 52 Aegean Rally. I had gathered 10 of some of the better sailors that have come though the sailing school and offered them a chance to go and race with the big boys. Full on, no holds, a professional operation, Rooms in all the ports of call to stay in, meals on board when racing meals ashore at venues, supplied by the organizer.. a very professional event.. Crew uniforms, plus training before the event so that the crew would become one ...
What Happened ..
Well once the cancellation was issued, we went into a bit of a daze... in the following days the HORC was bombarded with complaints ... the economic crisis should not effect sailing, the bank closures would not stop racing, similar rhetoric was forth coming. So finally they conceded and offered to run 2 weekend courses and call this the Aegean Rally. The first weekend race would take place on the original start date and the second weekend race would follow a week later... what happened in between was up to the individual boat..
I was committed, I had 8 individuals coming to Europe from all over the world, and had to some how provide them with entertainment , sailing big winds and competition..
Crew arrived and we went though training, including the tricky dip pole gybe on the spinnaker.. actually it went very well .. at the dock... and when we went out that first day if went just as well. Mind you it was not blowing the 20-30 knots it would on the race but it went well... Second and third days training went along with out a hitch with crew member getting to know each other and confidence was building in the crew.. the day arrived for our trip to Athens and final race inspection.. as well as the skippers meeting.
The HORC had convinced the Greek Navy to loan the Battleship Averof for the skippers meeting and cocktail party, it was a nice event with plenty of food and drink as well as a well presented outline of the courses. The next day loomed on us and we had a few issues still to take care of on board least of all was a mainsail that had blown the first reef... all was at hand and was being repaired as the crew was enjoying itself. The following morning the crew replaced the main back on to the boom and we where ready to race.
The First Race...
It was blowing, when I say blowing, wind speeds at the start line hit 30 knots just for openers , the RC laid a long start line with a windward mark to turn around before we went down wind to the North tip of Hydra island. The start was off Falrio Marina with the windward mark close to the the retaining quay off Flisvos. To say that these where survival conditions would not be wrong we opted for a no3 and one reef, which made us over powered in the gusts but otherwise where OK. The start was a bit of a joke, the RC basically sent off everyone together with no class separation. We had a decent start 3 over the line and 4th around the windward mark. It was at this point we had to decide spinnaker or no spinnaker, it was a solid 35 knots true down wind Apparent wind was hit 27 knots, and we where already surfing with just the main and jib up...
I had promised the crew a ride and so we did it, hoisted the 2.2 storm chute and went for it... blew the reef out and off we went like a bat out of hell !! Boat speed jumped from 9 knots under main and Jib, to over 13, 14 knots with the chute up... and we where flying... we quickly caught up the yachts who opted for white sails passed them and then set out to catch the only 3 other yachts who set chutes... this is where things got interesting as we did finally catch up with them by the windward mark (some 35NM down course), how ever there consistent high boat speeds finally beat us on corrected time... (more about how that works later ).
Needless to say K3 performed extremely well, she is stable at high speeds and does not roll excessively, we surfed waves and manged not to wipe out at all... off Aegina Island wind speeds became very gusty, with recorded gusts hitting 47 knots, and still the chute hung in there... actually it became and issue the chute is up, and the only way it was coming down again was for some one to cut it down,(which was not going to happen!!)....
We reached the North tip of Hydra and where in a solid second place with the IRC yachts still not in site, a very successful gybe in heavy air ( all those practices we did guys), took us around the corner of Hydra and in to BIG seas and gusty wind conditions, steering was getting tough and we did almost wipe out several times, but thanks to a rudder that goes down 2.60meters and some luck we manged to stay on our feet...
All this action and it was still only 5 pm in the afternoon, we had sailed some 38 nm in less than 4.5 hours... not bad all in all.. however the pay back was about to begin...
The spinnaker take down was a little rugged, .... yes it went in the water and was almost a shrimp net but through some quick thinking by the fore deck crew most of it ended up on deck. We turned the mark and started the chase for first place.... we had up a No 3 and a reefed main, boat speed was in the high 7's low 8's, how ever the seas conditions made for a very square and rough ride.
The return back to the finish was shaping up to be long slog up hill... dusk fell and we where still on the heals of the lead boat, he was easily in sight and closing slowly...by the time it got dark we had lost him to view, but still had him on the web site transponder, he went further west than we wanted to go, we hung on to a more rhumb line course in the hope of closing distance.
The finish line was set off the point of Voulagemei, and we hit the coast west of the line which meant that we still had to tack up to the line in order to cross. I had been following the lead boat, and going west more had paid off as he had pulled away somewhat, but was still insight, however a second yacht had creeped ahead of us and was some minutes ahead... we crossed the line 12.45 minutes behind the leader and 3 minutes behind second place, which made us third across the line.
The Final Results
In most international races world wide the handicap system is based on a time over distance correction, based on the size of yacht. There are other factors also to consider but essentially these are the criteria. The race was run under the IMS/ORC handicap system, (which as far as a handicap system goes, is truly mystifying). The K3 was second from the bottom in our class as far as handicap was concerned, with all the other yachts (12) owing us time.
The race course was over 45 miles long... the yachts that crossed in front of us owed us a considerable amount of time, and when corrected out we should have them and finish on top. Unfortunately the Greek interruption of the handicap system has alot to be desired... it seems that the greeks take a few more calculations in to effect when they calculate the final handicap, amongst them is the average wind speed that the yacht sailed in (how they guess that is a mystery), guessing the wind speed for each yacht over a 45 mile course is a good trick, almost impossible...
Koralia 3 corrected out 4th in class, which quite honestly is ridiculous given the distance/time we finished behind the leaders.
Greek racing is reserved for those upper class greeks that have joined a yacht club and found a yacht that they can race on. The cross section of competitors and questionable yacht owners reflect the state of private yachting in Greece.
Until such time when clubs openly encourage outside competitors, and the handicap system comes in to line with accepted international practices, racing a foreign yacht in the Aegean Rally will make it impossible to win against the Greek system.
Showing posts with label sailing school greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sailing school greece. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Friday, November 1, 2013
Memories of a Great sail.....
Memories of a Great sail....
Its winter and sitting behind the desk in the office made me think about the time a few years back when I took a New J boat from Athens to Paros island. The trip was suppose to be a quick delivery... My self and a couple of friends, well add on the owner and his friends and there friends and all of a sudden we had 8+ people.... what follows is the video we took after passing though the Kea - Kithonos Channel, forecast had been for 5-6 out of the North what greeted us after the channel was 8-9 Beaufort rolling seas and a down wind sleigh ride to Paros..... I watch this video and it puts a smile back on my face.........
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Ryan Breymaier Ocean Racing
A great video describing a passion for ocean racing that I definately support and understand, it's a short video well worth the quick look...
mile building information at www.athenssailingacademy.com
Thursday, July 4, 2013
ASA SCOTLAND SUMMER CRUISE 2013
The ASA cruise to Scotland, actually started a few days before the guests arrived on June29th. An advance team left Athens, and flew into Glasgow on the 25th and started checking over the area, talking to the agents in Largs and visiting the yacht club where the Opening evenings Dinner reception would take place. Capt.Chandler had meetings with the Flotilla guide 'Muir Anderson". He immediately gave JC the update on problems including the conflicts we would have with the Fife Regatta, when we sailed to Rothesay on the first day. Alternative arrangements have since been made.
What yachts where in harbor have been inspected and checked over, the marina has very good facilities and an excellent yacht club with unbelievable views of the area and surrounding bay... we are almost all set to go... just need our sailors and then we can begin this adventure...
Saturday arrived, and the crew gathered at the Holiday express Inn. Because of increased airport security we had to abandon the "bus" idea and use smaller private MPV's (Multi person Vechiles), that could carry 6-8 persons. By 1030 all crew members had been dispatched to Largs and the adventure was under way. The first day was going to be a list of forms collecting gear, fitting out of foul weather gear and the mandatory check out of the yacht and familiarization of the yacht systems. By late after noon all crews and skippers where on their yachts and had provisioned and finished all formalities.
The Fife Regatta was due to start there race series the same day we would leave on sunday. Our Flotilla guide suggested that we hang back and watch the start then follow at our own pace. So sunday started watching the start of 100 year old yachts jousting for position on a start line like americas cup pro's.... all very exciting as the weather was starting to freshen and signs of fog and rain appeared from over the hills.
Around noon was when we slipped our lines in Largs and set off with the rest of the flotilla into a freshen wind, gusting 25-27 knots and drizzle. Skipper Charlie called for the first reef and 50% genoa un-furled. We sailed around the bay in front of the marina while the rest of the flotilla came out. Finally we all had our sails sorted and off the group went head for the Port of Bannatyre, just north of Rothesay. half a beat to the head land of Cumbrae
Day 2 started with wonderful sunshine beaming though the main hatch, to day was going to be a sail around the isle of Bute and on to Loch Ranza...what no one knew where the special surprises that lay in store along the way..
Firebird and Swift where the first yachts to clear the marina and ambled out to clear water to hoist thier sails, the remainder of the flotilla slowly slipped there lines and joined in the procession up the channel around the Isle's of Bute.
The Fife yachts had been moored in Rothesay just south of us. As we started our tacking course we could see the old yachts starting to gain on us. It was not long before "Swift" and our yacht "FireBird" , where in the thick of the Fife Yachts. it seemed that every tine we tacked we had another old yacht on our quarter or looking to exercise it's starboard right of way. It made for some very interesting sailing. All this excitement and the area we where sailing inn was spectacular, the sun even shone on us for most of the day.
As things progressed in the evening locals chatted with sailors, and it was not long before a little live entertainmant was conjured up. Skipper Richard Byrnes plays in a Celtic band on his USN base in Naples, at the pub he found a guitar and played afew songs solo.It was not long before a local couple joined in with thier talents... a celtic fiddle, a penny whistle and some spoons, along with Richards guitar had alll the pub patrons dancing and tapping with thier feet.
The evening drew to a close and by midnight everyone was headed back to there yachts.. It had been a magical day, from the outset, starting with glorious sunshine, sailing with the Fife Yachts around the Isles of Bute, arriving in Loch Ranza and going to a whisky distillery and then finally getting involved with the locals in a Celtic musical Jam . Great way to end the second day here in Scotland, Tomorrow is another day and the prospect of seeing Tarbert is exciting.
Day 3
I woke to the sound of a howling wind, the boat was swinging and tugging at her mooring lines. It sounded like a thousand ants where marching on the deck, thankfully it was just hard rainthat was pounding the deck..... Good Morning and welcome to Loch Ranza mooring field. Our little fleet of ASA yachts are all tied nicely in a line in the visitors area... The weather outside suck's!!!!.... so this is Scotland in summer....hmmm... remind me next time to read the brochure more closely.... Skippers meeting at 0930....
Well the weather is not about to improve, the pluses are ... with this wind its a down wind sleigh ride to Tarbert, the village is only 18 miles away and we have a nice marina with facilities to use after what will be a wet ride there.
General consensus was to use just the Foresail to get there as wind speeds had already hit 28knts in the bay and would undoubtedly hit 30 +...
Our intrepid sailors set off one at a time all dressed in full foul weather gear and safety harness visible. It really was not until we had cleared the lee of the island did we start to feel the full force of the winds and see the size of the waves.... these seemed more than normal and often would contribute to an occasional round out.
The trip to Tarbert was quick thank fully, the wind made for high overall boat speeds, which soon brought us to the entrance. The harbour is tucked way inland behind rocks and several significant navigation obstacles. We found the entrance and followed a fishing vessel into the harbour to be sure .
The village is predominantly a commerical fishing harbour, with most of the catch going to Glasgow.... some of the local restaurants also buy from the fisherman.
Returning back to the pub it was evident that the local talent was going to have another sing along in pubs along the is harbour.
These sailors retired back to their yacht as it was time to take stock and prepare for the sail down to Campbelltown over 35 miles to run...
DAY 4
Rain and more rain, drizzle the worse kind of rain as it just hangs in the sir for you to sail into and get wet, it gets behind the glasses you wear, trickles down your neck....finds it's way up your selves and just makes things wet, cold and miserable... Oh why do we do this to our selves ? In search of what ?....what is worse is that you have half the visibility and can not see much, not even the wonderful landscape that you know is there, expect its blocked by the drizzle of the rain.... thats how we left Tarbert.....
However, if you wait 5 minutes the weather may change for the better.... and guess what it did, the further away we sailed from Tarbert the clearer and better it got... and yes there it was a funny looking yellow thing bright and warmth coming from it.... 'here comes the sun'...(thank you George for that song) now I can really sing it with meaning...
Things where looking up, the drizzle had faded away, we had a delightful westerly breeze the boat was making way to Campbelltown, the kettle was on the boil and a hot mug of tea was on the way up to the helmsman... was this what I have been searching for ? may be....
It was going to be a long day, nothing complicated just pure sailing in what was shaping up to be great conditions... Flat to moderate seas, a steady 15-19 knots on the beam and yes the sun... peeking in and out from behind white cotton balls of clouds.
The landscape of Isle of Arran is spectacular, green fields, steep hills rising into small mountains, it looks as if someone has painted the landscape with shades of green and brown and golden yellow. The effect is to make look like a continual painting as you sail by....
We where half way down to Campbelltown and the day was turning into one of those that you want to keep going for ever.... What a start we had.... now it was all so far gone and forgotten... ahead was a new port new friends and new adventures... Campbelltown here we come....
\
Day 5
After a days sailing yesterday that ended with spectacular scenery, as we sailed into Campbelltown, and to be meet by a seal who guided the yachts into thier berths at the floating dock... the Skippers decided on a day to explore the town, and experience a little island life. Crews went in different directions quite a few headed for the various trails to be explored in the area, including the walk over to the light house island once the tide had gone down.
Others went trekking around town exploring the shops and the local distillery at Spring single malt. Torridon's skipper went in search of Bag pipes and found a local Fish and Chip shop who's young son came down and played a medley of tunes for the assorted group. Later the local bagpipe school sent 2 other pipers to play in public outside the local town monument.. it was a moving experience to hear the bag pipes played so well.
The rest day was well timed as the weather for the last day was going to be perfect. a southerly and sun was promised..
Home ward bound.....
It was an early start,0830 we slipped lines at the dock and cleared the sea bouy an hour later. We had 42 miles to sail, with a predicted southerly to arrive. At the moment we where sailing nicely along with a west South west, skirting the southern part of the Isle of Arran before we headed north and set our sights on Larrgs and home port.
The day developed into the best days run with warm sun heating up the cockpit, Crews where even seen to take off foul weather jackets and pants....now that was a first for the week... the flotilla arrived back in Larrgs by 4pm that afternoon, and it was a matter of gathering the yachts together on the pontoons and handing them back to the agent. That evening we all gathered at the local pub and had our last evening dinner together. Good byes where said and cries of lets do it again next year ......
SO SHALL WE DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR...... LET US KNOW HERE....
CHARTER A YACHT IN GREECE
WWW.SAILCHARTER-GREECE.COM
Saturday, June 22, 2013
JUNE BARE-BOAT SKIPPERS COURSE AND EXTREME SPINNAKER TRAINING
About 2 weeks ago I was sailing in the Greek islands, with JC and several other students who where attending a bare boat skippers course. The sailing school 'Athens sailing academy' regularly runs 10 day live aboard sailing courses that cover most licensing requirements. Today's charter companies require that you have a current charter skippers license in order to qualify for taking out one of there yachts on a bare boat basis.
Now there are companies that will let you charter with a note from your yacht club etc.. but the more serious companies and the ones with the better yachts want to see a real qualification... after all they are giving you a yacht valued at €150.000 to over €300.000 depending on the size, for you to go and crash around the Greek islands or where ever ? makes sense that they want to see something that indicates you have had some kind of training....
So I enrolled in the 10 day course that the Athens Sailing academy runs. Its a live aboard course, you have your own cabin with head,(bathroom), shower,etc...think of it as luxury camping with high quality linens and towels... the course is based out of Poros Island, and its here that you spend the first 3 days of your time learning about all the basic skills of sailing. JC has a selection of small yachts that are available though his friend Richard of "Greek Sails". This time we took a nice Jeanneau 32i for 3 days. Every body takes turns working the sails,learning how to tack and gybe the boat in the bay of Poros. A full day just doing that and then the next day its your turn at the wheel to skipper and repeat the first days tasks, the final day is spent practicing motor handling skills and emergency skills.. Man Overboard, Heaving too, stopping the yacht quickly (Crash Stop)...
It was a great 3 days playing around with the little boat I think every bodies confidence levels where boosted 100%... after that first night boarding K3 and looking at the size of everything, the winches are huge, the lines are massive 18mm genoa sheets. I was think to my self how the heck where we going to deal with all this on this monster yacht..
Now it all seems so rudimentary and straight forward, size just means more power, more power is more speed, which is good and like in a car more speed means more respect for the car/yacht and what you are dealing with....No problem..hmm
3 days into the course it's time for the first exam, ASA 101.... endless definitions , language questions, rules of the road... I found it a breeze mostly because I knew some of the stuff from reading novels about sailing... CS Forester and the Hornblower series, Although it seems the ASA does not use the Cat of Nine tails any more, they just train and hire instructors like JC....(that one will get me in trouble!!)...
So on the morning of the 4th day we weigh anchor (actually slipped mooring lines, but weighed anchor seems more nautical)... and head out to see on K3. The training yacht is a 57ft ketch, fully optimised and ready to ocean race any where... her training sails where a fully battened mainsail with carbon fibre battens, a new hydranet fabric genoa, 135% or No.2... the mizzen and down below a selection of spinnakers and staysails which according to Jc we would be working with when the wind allows.
The plan was to head over to the Cyclades and find wind so that we could continue with sail training. Now that we where away from land it also gave us and opportunity to keep navigation watches and learn ore about the basics of navigation... starting with my easterly DR line and hourly position fixes using nothing more than compass and speed log. Course was set for Kithonos Island and off we went... a good wind out of the NNW had us reaching along under full sail at about 8.75 - 9.35, wind was a steady 18-20 knts with gusts to 22+...
Todays leg was going to be around 50/60 miles, and what you do not realize is that steering a large yacht by hand at speed takes alot of concentration and constant watching by crew members to sail trim and wind speed. In the gusts the K3 liked to lean over slowly and absorb the wind into her forward motion, as it became too much for her she would hint to the helm that she wanted to round up into the wind. The best trim adjustment was to give a little weather helm and easy her genoa first, followed by easing the mainsail traveller, before easing the mainsail.
Our arrival at Loutra in Kithonos was some 6 1/2 hours after leaving Poros, fortunately it was early enough to get a good spot in the tiny harbor here. Later in the afternoon by 1800 the harbor was full, 3 large Lagoon cats doing a very effect job of blocking and filling 6 monohull spots with 3 cats... not what one may call effect use of harbor space..
Our stay in Loutra was short but very enjoyable Micheal from the Sofrano's "yacht Club" made our stay worthwhile with great draught beer and excellent food, his free wifi also made life easier for those of us wanting to skype home. The next day was going to be more of the same good winds and great sailing, heading down to Paros island and a rest stop as well..
We left the harbor and headed out into the bay to hoist sails, the wind was a clean 18 Tw out of the N-NW, which made it a great opportunity for us to hoist one for Chutes. That morning while waiting in harbor we had folded and tied the red 1.5 Asymmetrical red spinnaker, as well as the 2.2 storm chute and the mizzen spinnaker. Jc had already given us instruction on how to hoist and control the sails, it now remained to see if we could do it ourselves.
Once clear of the island effects on the wind we set course for Paros entrance. Jc called for spin pole to be rigged low and for us to get 'Big Red' up on deck and ready for a hoist. Once she was all hooked up, Jc ran K3 off down wind and we hoisted the sail in the shadow of the mainsail. He slowly brought K3 up to course and we trimmed chute so that everything was drawing correctly. Boat speed jumped straight into the low teens, well before we had hoisted the mizzen. Once she was up the boat speed continued to climb, holding steady at 13.3.
Paros is about 45 miles south from Loutra and that morning the wind perfect for some downwind sailing and yacht sailing skills.
The NW had strength and we where now sailing in 25tw, with alot of canvas up and slowing down this wagon train would be a challenge....
end of Prt1
Now it's not often that a novice sailor find's himself with a group of like minded
individuals, sailing full bore before a big wind on a yacht with all the sail possible
hoisted.. folks it is a sight to see, I would have thought that it would have been quiet
almost sirene. It's noisy wind really howling, it whistles around the bar tight lines, the
noise of the sea is immense as the yacht surfs and pushes mountians of water out of her
way as she scoots between the waves..
It was not long before the skippers voice was shouting at me, "Tom are you going to star
gaze all day or would you like to join us and help sail this bitch...trimmmm.!!
I grabbed the two handed winch and start turning the drum, it was the main spinnaker
sheet and fully taught, Vic was pulling at the business end of the line as he watched the
main spinnaker leech curl and come back into shape.
JC was behind the wheel now, having replaced Mike who was sitting and looking aft as
he watched the waves chase K3, while JC skillfully placed the yacht on each crest to
maxize speed and stability... The cry of 'Trimm" came again from Vic as the main
spinnaker started to collapse, the mizzen chute was already soft and had collapsed, I
glanced down at the boat speed, 15.4,16, 16.6, we had caught a wave and where
surfing, it was a big wave as we stayed on it for over 2-3 minutes before we slid off the
back of it. All I could feel was my wet feet and the fact the yacht was now at a crazy
angle, I was gripping the handle tight and winding like crazy as Vic was endeavoring to
control the spinnaker, we had sailed into our own sails basically, and as we slid off the
back of the last wave the yacht started to cork screw to windward. JC was fighting the
wheel, trying to a-line her stern with the next incoming wave.... it was like a crazy dance,
everyone scrambling to hold on as we rolled, others desperately trimming sails to bring
her back under control... all played out in a matter of seconds....
The old girl started to come back under control as JC forced her nose down the next
wave,he was screaming to dump the main sail and trim on the chute again... the mizzen
crew did the same.. we had both sails spinnakers back under control and off we went
again...only this time things seem a little more controlled...I turned again to look at the
helm,.. be dammed if the skipper was lighting a cigar, and smiling...
The next few hours saw us knock off miles quickly, we where approaching a critical point
where we had to gybe the boat and re set the spinnakers on the opposite side of the
yacht. The wind had eased somewhat, but the seas where still up there 2-3 metres...
boat speed was still high with spurts of 15-16 but constant 12-14 knts... the crew looked
ragged and tired, I could feel my arms ache and I was starting to feel cool, after sweating
so much earlier on now we had settled in to a routine with the sails and things seemed
more controlled. The coming gybe would I'm sure create a little tension and excitement..
Lex the Crew boss was going around talking with us about what our role would be in the coming manouvre, he went over what would happen and how timing was most important... first things was to take down the mizzen spinnaker and the spinnaker staysail on the foredeck... once those where bagged, JC started to slowly turn the yacht down wind and the main chute was brought back square with the yacht ready for the gybe.....
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
ATHENS - TEL AVIV OFFSHORE TRAINING
The delivery and advanced ocean passage that the school has just finished has been an interesting experience in different sailing philosophies and safety at sea. The
school in an attempt to broaden its winter income base, has expanded into the yacht restoration business. We maintain a winter maintenance crew that service our
school yachts and also do a certain amount of freelance work. The current Greek crisis has meant the decline in school business has required we diversify into more broad
yacht services. Using our highly skilled winter staff to do yacht restoration was a logical step.
Our first client has been an Old school student that bought a used charter yacht and then requested that we renovate it back to its original condition. This included new teak decks, new standing rigging, upgrading of deck gear and replacement of all running rigging. We also installed a fully comprehensive navigation package from Raymarine, that included their new radar/AIS/plotter interfaced computer screen, with all yacht instruments and the auto pilot. A truly one button navigation system. The system is also very addictive, and in my opinion will create some very bad habits, more about this later.
The trip started with a short shakedown sail to Poros island. It was a good chance to check out the new Raymarine toys and to do a more detailed tuning of the mast
and new standing rigging. It was a good 5 hour sail in about 15-20 knts of breeze that came pretty much from all directions.
The following day was a hive of last minute adjustments, both to the rig and to the safety equipment. The yacht left late that afternoon heading out for the Cyclades
island group and the further island of Kos. As the owner of the yacht was on board, he assumed the role of Captain with my self being more of an advisory role. The other crew members already had there ASA and RYA licenses, so this was more a mile building exercise as well as offshore experience for them. The first night of any offshore sail is always one that has sailors getting use to watch systems again as well as finding their sea legs. So a little irregular behaviour needs understanding and flexibility. I have always found that a good evening meal on the first night if possible goes along way to ensuring confidence and comfort for the coming nights watch.
When quizzed about watch our captain was fairly non-committal about what he wanted and said that it was better if everyone did what they felt like. He further went on
to mention that food was not a priority with him and that a little bread and cheese was all he needed. At first I was very disappointed with his answers, he had been
one of our first students to come though the school, he already had a huge back ground of sailing but no real paperwork when he joined the school course back in
2005. Since then he had completed this very same 'run' Greek islands to Israel some 5 times with his and other yachts.. so he was well aware of the changing weather
patterns and changing sea states that one can encounter...
We finally arranged ourselves into 3 watches, 2 hours on and 4 off with the owner and father doing their own thing.. the yacht was extremely comfortable with a huge
cockpit and cockpit table in the middle, long side benches that you could lie out on, full dodger and Bimini, and all major control lines lead back to the cockpit
coaming allowing for easy dry access to trim and control the sails. Unfortunately the cockpit was so well sheltered that keeping a 'good' watch out at night meant alot
of craning your head and neck around lots of supports and fabric... which is when the huge computer screen mounted by the helm station became a much more
easier and dryer way of keeping a watch out.
The trip to Kos is about 190 miles as the crow flies, we logged 230nm with a couple of tacks thrown in. As a result it took us over 38 hours. The latter half of the trip was in heavy rain and limited visibility. The Raymarine package with its Chartplotter and interfaced AIS+radar was a very nice toy to have, making identifying shipping and other objects a simple matter. However what it did not see was more troublesome, the local Greek fishing fleet do not carry AIS.... nor do there fishing long line markers or drift nets... making the old skill of looking at the sea and horizon ie:- keeping a watch still the primary skill to learn..
Once in Kos it was a short stop over with the crew taking a break ashore and looking for some breakfast while the owner took charge of refuelling the yacht. Some
supplies where purchased but as the crew had not eaten a "Galley cooked meal' since the first night and where self-feeding themselves, not much in the way of
immediate supplies had been consumed. The yacht was soon under way again this leg was to take us along the Turkish coast, north past Rhodes island and then to
parallel the coast until we arrived at Kastollrozio island.
That evening was a busy time on watch, identifying shipping coming out of Rhodes and other ships heading to Rhodes. The weather again deteriorated to rain and squall fronts rolling off the Turkish coast. The Rhodes channel can at times have a heavy wind driven surface current running east west; this particular night it was running at least 2-3 knots which made our SOG as little as 3knts at times. This is not a good speed to be trying to avoid shipping traffic, despite the fact we where motor sailing for most of the time. Again the Raymarine AIS/Plotter package proved its worth, however it was still imperative to keep a physical eyes out over the horizon watch and not become glued to this very addictive screen like some video game.
The rest of that evening was a mixture of squalls and washing machine like seas that caused the yacht to pound and bounce around the sea slowly on its way to
Kastellorizio island. Up to this point the yacht had been steered almost exclusively by auto pilot, with neither the owner nor our crew steering by hand for more than
30 minutes. I think I had the most time on the wheel with our 12 hours since leaving Athens.
The rest of this delivery continued with little change in the way things operated or the prevailing wind conditions as once the yacht left Kastellorizo for Tel Aviv, we had
to face a remaining 350 nm of pretty much windless sea and intermittent rain. The extra jerry jugs of fuel we carried on deck proved necessary and the yacht finally
made it to Tel Aviv.
Looking back at this particular trip, has brought up quite a few significant issues that where faced and perhaps not dealt with as well as could have been, for example the dependence on too much modern technology. I am not some one who believes that the Old School Way is the only way, but a healthy mixture of both old and new can prove to benefit all concerned. Before that is reached you have to start with a Captain that has an idea of what he wants and how to implement his desires and discipline on the crew, skilfully. Having no plan or idea of what is required from the crew can be more damaging than having too much sometimes. The modern acceptance of just opting out or passing the buck I'm afraid does not cut it on a sailing yacht. Clear leadership is what was required, and having 2 captains on a yacht can complicate things. It was not my place to challenge the decisions made at the time. However, my observations have lead me to believe that even though the advance of electronic navigation instruments is wonderful and extremely helpful, our addictive
nature as humans makes us rely on them much to heavily, forgetting our old skills as seaman.
I really do not think it is a good thing to come on deck watch and check the computer screen first for traffic before you have scanned the horizon. I prefer to hand steer as much as is required rather than let a yacht be steered by auto pilot 100% of time come wind or sea state. Auto Pilots allow a yacht to pound and bounce into potholes. There will never be a replacement for hand steering or a good helmsman.
There has been alot of studies on watch systems, sleep patterns and nutrition at sea. Unless I am mistaken they have all basically come to the same conclusion, regular watch/sleep rhythms and regular feeding time, make a happy and efficient crew. Arbitrarily sleeping and eating leads to fatigue and mistakes. My lesson from all this has been to emphasis more the interaction of modern and old ways but never ever to rely solely on modern technology.
Friday, January 27, 2012
SILVER SPIRIT BECOMES 'SPIRIT OF POROS'....
Latest News:
After talks with the mayor of Poros, we will be renaming our Whitbread 60 , “Spirit of Poros Island”. The idea is to advertise the island and show it as an Ideal place for yachts to visit and stay. To start the ball rolling we will be entering the Yachting spring Series. Starting with the Hydra race in March, the Poros Race in April finishing with the Kythonos race at the end of April.
We are looking for Crew, we need 15 new crew members. These are volunteer places you pay your own expenses. The yacht will supply basic services during the race weekends only. Starts and finishes will be in Athens, off Palio Faliron, Marina Flisvos.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
SPRING DATES AND NEWS UPDATE
Hello and Happy New year to all our students and colleagues
The summer is now long gone and winter is starting to settle in. It’s
time to think about warm sunny days and sailing in the blue waters of the
Aegean . This coming summer the school has lots going on,
i.
New programs
and a new yacht for novices to learn their basic sailing skills.
ii.
There are 2
opportunities for crews to join races in the Aegean and a Whitbread 60 that
will allow students to experience sailing at high speeds 20 knts +..
iii.
Plus we have
all the usual programs of mile builders and advanced sailing for offshore
experience.
Details are all below
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SPRING 2012 CLASS SCHEDULE
APRIL 15 - 25… CAPTAINS OPEN CRUISE AND
EASTER MILE BUILDER 10 DAYS NORMALLY €
1800 A PERSON, BUT WITH THIS EMAIL
DISCOUNTED TO €1500/PERSON
MAY
5- 14
NOVICE TO BAREBOAT SKIPPER 10 DAYS €1700/PERSON
MAY 18- 27
NOVICE TO BAREBOAT SKIPPER 10 DAYS
€1700/PERSON
JUNE 2- 11 NOVICE TO BAREBOAT SKIPPER 10 DAYS
€1700/PERSON
JUNE 16-25 NOVICE TO BAREBOAT SKIPPER 10 DAYS
€1700/PERSON
JULY 1- 8 . .
YACHT CREW TRAINING WEEK 7 DAYS €1200/PERSON
SO THAT YOU DO NOT FORGET WHAT’S INCLUDED IN OUR
SAILING SCHOOL COURSES AND OUR CRUISES :-
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This summer we have arranged to have 2 competitive race yachts
available for students to crew on and learn how to ocean race on either of
the 2 seasons Aegean race weeks. We have 2 yachts that will challenge you as
crew. A Whitbread 60 that will get you to the finish in record time, as well
as our school racing ketch. Each event is fully covered and paid for, that
means all you have to bring is your tooth brush and foul weather gear. Varied
crew positions are available from mainsail trimmers to bow men to hoist and
work the fore deck. Training/instruction will be available prior to the
racing.
Follow the link below to see
details and costs for these events
Read More>> |
EASTER SPRING MILE BUILDING CRUISE
Last years cruise was a huge success with over 400 miles
sailed and 2 students advanced by taking and passing their 106 exam. The
yacht sailed from Athens over to the Dodecanese and visited Leros and Patmos before returning to Athens
via Naxos and Kithonos. The weather
was everything, from glorious sunny warm days to full gale conditions and
blue skies.
This year we will
be leaving a little later in April to try and avoid some of the early spring rough
weather. K3 will leave the dock form
Athens April 15th and return April 25th . The itinerary
will be open to the crew, and weather of course. There are 6 berths available
and if you book with this letter it we will honour a 25% discount off the
regular rate of €1800, that’s €450
saving…
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Our
10 day Novice to bareboat course has been a success now for many . It is a convenient
way for clients to get certified so that they can charter a yacht in some of
the glourious locations around the world. For the last few years we have used
a combination of on hands sailing on a 57 ft yacht and class room style
teaching (book learning) to teach our students. One of our concerns has been
the lack of small boat sailing that we would have liked to introduce the
students too. Learning to sail on a big comfortable sailing platform like a
57 ft yacht is fine . What was lacking was that seat of the pants sailing
that all dinghy sailors go though and teaches students more gently about what can go wrong during a sailing manoeuvre
as well as build confidence with the
student in their sail handling ability.
In order to make sailing
for our novice students easier we have purchased a 25 ft Farr designed school
teaching yacht. This yacht was designed specifically to help teach young
sailors the basic’s of sailing before moving on to bigger yachts . The
little yacht will be based on Poros Island. After leaving Athens on the main
teaching yacht you will moor in the Poros bay and the new yacht will moor
alongside and be available for 3 days of intense sailing practice in and
around the island of Poros.
As
well as the Farr 25 sailing dinghy we will also have a smaller 28ft cabin
cruiser available to be used for practice.
This
little cabin cruiser is designed to help the student gain confidence in manoeuvring
under power, as well as help him practice sailing in confined areas, like
river estuaries, and crowded marinas. The small cruiser is also a good yacht
to practice Med style mooring to the quay.
Read
More>> |
Jonathan
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