So we tied up on the island of Poros outside Vangelis taverna... dinner tonight a 2 kilo snapper... plus wine and salad... pictures and story to follow...
Day 2 into 3......
Day started with early morning coffee being brought to the yacht by Tasso, a nice greek who worked at the taverna we had the fish at... breakfast followed, yoghurt with fruit salad, and egg banjo's... strictly a K3 menu item... charts out as today we will transit into the cyclades a short hop of 50 miles...however a probelm emerges, in the pre-daparture check a battery is heating up and close to boiling....students get an immediate lesson what to do in a situation like this...a quick disconnection from the main battery bank, isolates the problem and then its an dissue of cooling the units down. adding extra water to the cells so that they do not over heat and thenbeing patient while it cools down... meaan time a new is ordered and arrives quickly... students learn the age old line.. it's not what you know its who you know... situation is now back to normal with full house batteries restored.. K3 departs Poros island for Kithonos Island time 12 noon...
Wind is light 7-12knots so we motor sail full main and a genoa, engine barely at tcik over..nice speed of 7 knots soon has us knocking of the miles... students are running dr fixes every hour as well as playing name the part and practicing thier knots... by the time we get to Kithonos this crew will able to tae 101 no problem..
Land fall is made at 1830 hourswith arrival in port by 2000.. all secure stern to the quay 2030hrs.
all in all an eventful day with batteries heating up, lots of dolphins on the transit, several large commericals ship crossing our courseulf track. I do not thnk any one was bored for long crossing Aegean gulf.
Day 3....... OH NO !!!!! exam day well at least ASA 101... We slip lines from the quay at 0900, headed out for the town of loutra on the eastern side of Kithonos... here the dread exams will take place.. mean time once we clear the harbood our its a great day for a sail... a short hop of 15 miles litterally around the corner from Merika to Loutra..
So day 3 finds us in Loutra with exams tonight and the out come tomorrow...weather is warm23c and a good wind blowing from the west... much awaited will be dinner again as it will be at Yannis Yacht club Taverna "SOFRANOS'.. something about Lamb in a red wine sauce with oven baked potatoes....
until tomorrow and another adventure from the this 104 class in the Cyclades Greek islands....
All students breezed though thier 101 exam with average scores in the high 90's. Todays sail will be a realtively short reach across the Cyclades to the Island of Syros. To day is about sail trim, speed and steering a large yacht on a power reach. As a ketch K3 can also set mizzen staysails or asym spinnakers off the mizzen mast. We will definatley get the crew to practice techquines of hoisting sails while on a rolling deck, all good fun and important skills to develop. Not that they know it yet but we will also have our second MOB practice while on this reach..more later
half way though this course now, with every one ready to take ASA103. All students have been taking a more active role in running things ans assuming resposiblity aboout tasks.To day Big Jim took control of things and departed Siros for serifos some 28 miles south. Weather conditions have been weird with winds all over the place and varing in strengths as well as intermittent rains and the occasional squall line very unlike sailing in Greece in June.
Arrival in serifos Jim had to decide which side of the quay to go stern too, a south wind was blowing and he could have gone either side.... which would you choose ??
He moored stern to the north side, with the wind blowing him off the quay and a nice cool breeze blowing into the cabins.. smart man !!
Meantime the instructor has a surprise for the crew late too night..... wind will change out of the north and build makeing the north side of this quay very dangerous..... so students will have a fire drill move yacht on to anchor ASAP, becasue the instructor wants to sleep sound !
Tomorrow is a big day, a 68 mile transit back to the Saronic islands and ASA103 at the end of the day..... I will let you all know how things go.... meatime where is that beer !
Students to day learnt that even the best laid plans can go astray... after taking the ASA103 exam it was the intention to sail back to the Saronic gulf and begin the final part of ASA 104..... Weather the controling factor in everyone life took serious trun for the worse... the plan was to leave on noon day 6 after the ASA 103 exam, who ever during the night a front system came though the Cyclades from the west, churning up sea and increasing winds to over gale 8.... all in all it would not have been a problem had the wind not been west... but as we had to sail west for some 65 miles no one espeically the instructors thought it would be much fun beating in to2-3 meter seas with a #4 and 3 reefs... so a lay day was called for and everyone went to the beach......oh by the way they also all passed thier 103's....
Morning day 7.... 6am... big Jim has Coffee on and Boiled eggs going, he ran out to the bakery and got freash Croissiants and other assirted pastries... 630am slip lines from Serifos marina and head out into bay to sort out and hosit main and mizzen.. 0730 heading out down serifos channel and towards open sea, conditions wind wnw 15-18 knots sea state 1+ meters.. To start thier DR's they are told to take 3 point fixes wth and bearing compasses, and up date for as long as possilbe while land is in view..... the first 4 hours is spent free sailing nicely with speeds in the high 8's, snacks and coffee on a regular trip as mother to day is capt.JC,,, where better place for an instructor then behind the stove!!! let the students run the yacht...
About half way across the wind starts to die and eventually we switch to engine power, noo problem now its time to work out accurate eta times and figure out where we are as no land is in sight??
Some one has the bright idea of rigging the trolling line..... which was not a bad idea, as within half an hour the firsttuna is landed... and released...WHAT... WHO'S IDEA WAS THAT?? the captains as she was a female loaded with eggs.....shit get that line back in the water....zing...about 30 minutes later another hit.... this time bigger and when we land him a male... a big boy as in the picture..
Land fall and ermioni port is reached... after some discussion the fish is gutted and cleaned and taken off to my Cousins restaurant.... Cosuin Joseph Ganois excellent chef and will prepare this fish for all to enjoy...
So after some delay and a little adventure the crew is back in the Saronic gulf, with nearly all exams passed and some excellent sailing and fishing doen on the way.... 3 more days to go and only 104 left... we will see what tomorrow brings.....
Morning day 7.... 6am... big Jim has Coffee on and Boiled eggs going, he ran out to the bakery and got freash Croissiants and other assirted pastries... 630am slip lines from Serifos marina and head out into bay to sort out and hosit main and mizzen.. 0730 heading out down serifos channel and towards open sea, conditions wind wnw 15-18 knots sea state 1+ meters.. To start thier DR's they are told to take 3 point fixes wth and bearing compasses, and up date for as long as possilbe while land is in view..... the first 4 hours is spent free sailing nicely with speeds in the high 8's, snacks and coffee on a regular trip as mother to day is capt.JC,,, where better place for an instructor then behind the stove!!! let the students run the yacht...
About half way across the wind starts to die and eventually we switch to engine power, noo problem now its time to work out accurate eta times and figure out where we are as no land is in sight??
Some one has the bright idea of rigging the trolling line..... which was not a bad idea, as within half an hour the firsttuna is landed... and released...WHAT... WHO'S IDEA WAS THAT?? the captains as she was a female loaded with eggs.....shit get that line back in the water....zing...about 30 minutes later another hit.... this time bigger and when we land him a male... a big boy as in the picture..
Land fall and ermioni port is reached... after some discussion the fish is gutted and cleaned and taken off to my Cousins restaurant.... Cosuin Joseph Ganois excellent chef and will prepare this fish for all to enjoy...
So after some delay and a little adventure the crew is back in the Saronic gulf, with nearly all exams passed and some excellent sailing and fishing doen on the way.... 3 more days to go and only 104 left... we will see what tomorrow brings.....
The tuna was incredible, fresh albacore can not be beaten for a dinner with your ship mates. The wine flowed and our students lossend up and relaxed... questions of what to expect in the next few days and when the final exam was due all became hazy as the wine flowed..
The following morning was a slow start but 'mother' found the eggs and bacon with lashings of tea and coffee, before long the red eyes turned to clear and we had working crew once again... The plan to day was for a nice sail up the Hydra channel and see how much of our students remembered abut sail and yacht handling. Sailing long legs on the same course is fine, but it does not encourage sailing technique nor improve yacht handling skills. The wind was forecasted for a nice southerly 3-4 which meant a nice 15 mile tacking run up the Hydra channel before bearing away to a more modest reach and heading back into Poros.
PORT TACK GUST K3 slipped lines in Erimoni and headed out to the channel, mainsail, mizzen and number2 Genoa, wind 13 true... it was a beautiful day and the sailing promised to be likewise.... after a few tacks it became apparent the crew had forgotten much about tacking a large yacht with big sails... so we pulled over heaved too and had a chat... reviewed a few techniques, timings and set off again.. by the second tack we had the old crew back... and 'mother' showed up with fresh tuna sandwiches for the crew....
By early afternoon we had reached the north part of the channel and it was time to bear away and head in towards Poros Island. The crew consensus was to head for an anchorage and spend the night on the hook , "mother' had been shopping in Ermioni so there was food enough for a barbque and still a good supply of beer. We headed for Oyster bay at the north end of Poros Island.... droped the hook and set up for the evening.... crew to swim and all was secure for the night.
Day 9
ASA 104 final exam day. With the crew in relaxed mode and everyone focused on living on a sailing yacht, ASA 104 would be a breeze. The quiet and peaceful setting of the cove made exam conditions perfect.
After the exam the crew was asked what they wanted to do and the consensus was to stay in the bay and spend the day "vegging" swimming and enjoying a day of. Which meant that the last day would be a 3 hour sail/motor back to base in Alimos. All students passed 104 and the course slowly wound down to a successful conclusion.
