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| From Saronikos |
This time, we have our stroy written by Dan Goldstaub:
Wednesday May 20th was a stormy day. We left Ermioni first thing in the morning, at 11:30, not before jogging around the beautiful woods on the cape and the village overlooking the marina. We did some shopping, refueling, filled water, and even had time to rescue a British couple that picked the anchor of another boat…
Leaving at a wind of about 20 kts protected by the Peloponnese. We left right after 10 charter boats and as soon as we set sails we left them all behind.
As soon as we got to the “corner” of the Peloponnese we understood why all boats were heading up to Poros – the wind was rising fiercely and the waves rising. We had a rough day at sea with spray all over the boat, and wind as strong as 35 kts. Some of the sailors had even used the first sea-sick rescue remedy (sucking lemon with a twitch of sugar) and even the second (nibbling bread like mice) and event the third escalation (dropping to bed). On the upside, our log, showed a speed of up to 9 kts!
Eventually, wet, tired and exhausted we got to the bay of Sounion (at the southern tip of Attica). We anchored next to the chapel and had a busy night with wind up to 40 kts!
The anchor courageously held over night at such wind with a minimal drift of 30 ft. We slept well, waking every couple of hours to see that we are still anchored.
Throughout the night the ancient temple on top of the hill, facing the sea and beautifully lit kept an eye on us.
Thursday May 21 (Yael KG Birthday!!!) started with a busy wind, up to 51 kts gusts!
We decided to stay in the bay, or leave to Aegina, or go to Lavrion, changing plans with every rise or drop of the wind. Eventually we decided to “climb” against the wind to find shelter and refresh our supply in the port of Lavrion.
We went to Lavrion against a strong sea for a couple of hours and found a berth in Lavrion. A good shower, cold beer and Litherenia fish brought us back to strength and ready to go to a peaceful sleep.
Friday May 22nd, took us to the quiet bay south of Perdica, on the island of Aigina .
The deep bay ended with a shallow sandy beach equipped with tanning beds, parasols and a few sea urchins.
We spent a quiet afternoon watching the octopus walking on the sea floor right under the boat and preparing for Shabbat. Eventually (Courtesy of chief Chef Roy and Sous-Chef Roded) we had a beautiful kabalat-shabbat with freshly baked challah and a two course meal.
Saturday May 23rd, was a quiet morning and we spent most of the morning relaxing, swimming and fishing. Eventually when the bay that was populated with two boats only for the night, was occupied with a dozen boats and lots of families, we headed towards Aigina port. We motored up to Aigina as slowly as possible, hoping to catch some fish at the last minute and trying to stretch the last minutes as much as possible.
The Story about the 30’ boat
One outstanding story is about the 30’ boat we saw south of Sounio. When we sailed West from Lavrion to Aigina, we passed around cape Sounio. Getting closer to the cape, we noticed that the sea on the cape’s leeway looked messy, with white and blue strips and patches. The white caps were very dense and strong, with white spray running above them.
We decided to round the cape farther out, to avoid this messy sea, and we also furled the jib to a very small napkin (with no mainsail at all), and we still did 5 kts!
We were almost all the way out of the Cape when we saw a small boat, having just a small mainsail on (on its 2nd reef), getting into the cape, very close to the land. We could see them getting closer and closer to the strip of white caps. Then, out of a sudden, the boat heeled 90 degrees, and stayed with the mast almost touching the water for a few long seconds. She then straightened up, and then heeled again. This time, a little less. Doron started saying: Let’s turn on the VHF, maybe they have people in the water!
We waited to see what would happen, and saw them dropping the mainsail, and then motoring their way out of this crazy cape.
