18 June 2001

Back in Greece

Time to read a little about our ongoing adventures. So what happened since we left Tunisia for the second time on our way to the start of the Charterseason.

We arrived in Tunisia to pick up our new sails, 4 of them, but of course things were not ready when we arrived. It took another six days before we could take out to sea to make a sea-trial with the new set. Waledmar had flown into Monastir to join us for the trip back to Greece, so the delay in Moanstir was not appreciated. But anyway, the sails looked great and it is a joy to see the beige coloured set up. The cut of the sail is great, especially of the main, and yankee. The genua needs a little adjustment or we need to find a new place where to fix the block for the sheet. We will work something out.

The last night we were in Monastir we had an enjoyable diner, said goodbeye to everyone and had a last shower (the next couple of months we will shower on Sylphe again). On my way to the showerblock I noticed a very big mast lying outside the marine. It turned out to be a rather big sailboat and my curiosity was raised. But it was dark, so I had to wait till the next morning. It turned to be SHAMROCK V, one of the three remaining J-classes in the world. She came into the marina the next morning, so we had a closer look. This boat just came out of the yard after a very extensive refit, which is discussed and followed in all sailing magazines. It was a joy to see such a boat. She is a real beauty, pitty about the green paint on the hull, I would have preferred white or dark blue, but it does make her stand out. When the captain came off the baot we had a little talk and when he realised we were from Sylphe he said that he had looked at us the previous evening (while we were at diner) Nice to know that we are admiring them, and they are (at least) noticing us. So, I have met Velsheda and Shamrock, Endeavour is still missing in the collection, but time is on my side.

So, we left for Malta (again) with a freshening breeze and were making good progress, when it turned out that Waldemar fell victim to seasickness. After 5 hours we decided to turn back and not push on for another 20 hours for Malta. I could not stand his suffering. So, the surprise was great as we turned up again in Monastir. Waldemar stayed behind and took a plane back to Holland and Marit and I set sail again for Malta. (we will organise a Monastir-Malta derby next year, as we have plenty of experience) The weather turned lousy and with 45 knots of winds we raced towards Malta. A RECORD TIME OF 26 HOURS and we were there. Sylphe behaved perfectly, although the autopilot can not handle these situations so I had a ball steering her through the night, surfing down the waves with 11 knots of boatspeed. The new mainsail has only two instead of three reefs (we simply skipped the first reef as my experience is that by the time you have put in the first reef, the wind freshened even more and you are forced to put in the second anyway). So we reefed down to our first reef and with staysail and main she behaved perfectly. We stayed another two days in Malta to give Brooks and Gatehouse yet another opportunity to get their equipment working and the mechanic was busy for two days, with no result. The stuff did still not work as it should.

So we left for Greece and had a lovely sail to Zakinthos, fair winds and we arrived in Zakinthos at sunset, sailing under spinnaker and docked in the marina after 60 hours at sea (a new record for Marit) We had plenty of dolphins and two birds that decided that Sylphe was a safer place than the sea. Both birds were so tired I could easily capture them and I locked them in the other cabin. Unfortunately both were dead by the time I opened the door of the cabin in Zakinthos, but we tried.

From Zakinthos we had to make our way to Athens and this normally goes via the Corinth Channel, but this turned out to be on strike. So we sailed around the Peleponesos and found our way into our "homewaters" in the port of Monemvasia. The next day Ermioni and than Aegina. It was nice to see all those familiar faces and places. Brooks and Gatehouse had taken the final and wise decision to send a technician directly from England to finally and definately fix the problem and indeed it looks like things are finally working like they should. This took a year, three technicians and hundreds of e-mails. But B&G live up to their reputation.

Since my next charter would start that weekend, Marit decided to go bak to Holland to visit family and do other stuff. I sailed around with Henk and Addy and had a real fun week. Plenty of wind and we tested all sails again. For Henk (who also chartered Sylphe for the St. Tropez week) this was his get-to-know-trip and I think Sylphe lived up to her expectations.

It looks like Marit will be off for WHO to Pakistan for a couple of months, but she will be back in time for the classic races in France at the end of the season. But first we will enjoy one last week together on the boat.

So, all in all it looks perfect, Sylphe is behaving, Greece is giving us plenty of sun and fair winds and the places are like home.

Will keep you posted,