Oops ‘n Ouch!

Hey yo! Howayall doin’? I’m not half bad, thanks very much for asking. My pride is a bit off but that’s ok. Boating plans don’t always go as planned. I’ll be kinda brief. … cause I find writing on a tablet annoying. 

So the plan was to sail to Ikaria this summer and to check out a few islands in the area. Day one was to sail to Tinos island and tuck away in Panormos Bay in the north side and wait for Kostas to sail by the next day so to cross the Ikarian sea in company. The forecast was perfect… force 4 to 5. I headed out and was doing great. Reefed and doing 4 to 5 knots. Waves were tolerant as well. At some times the wind would pipe up to 25knots but all was well. I even got my shaft lock happening. It poped out a few times, I’d tighten the claws and rebreak the shaft. But the 4th or 5th time I f@cked up!​

​
(sorry about the gore…I cant resize the pics with this damn wordpress app) 

I smashed my left thumb. It didn’t hurt but I knew it was gonna really suck for a couple of weeks. I cleaned it with some oxygen peroxide, wrapped it with paper towel and electric tape and carried on. Soon I approached the famous Kavo Doro. That’s an opening between Evoia and Andros Island where the Aegean sea funnels down and the seas are huge. Like orca huge. Hellesh sounds good. Well, after and hour of that and with another two hours to cross it, and after my stomach exploded 3 times, I fired up the engine and autopilot, turned around and headed for Evoia. I passed out afew times, got thrown off the cockpit bench a few times, and eventually dropped anchor at 7pm. The next day I got up at 11am (!), spent the day licking my wounds, pulled the plug and head back home in the evening with my tail between my legs.​
Two days later the Meltemi winds began, force 6 to 7 and I just hung onto my mooring doing silly little boat jobs. Cleaned my water filter,​
 butchered an old crocs iphone case and glued little feet under my cutting board, ​
also butchered some old croc straps to cushion where my ladder is messing up my hull​
….. you know…. lots of silly little boat projects. I even pollished off my last can of Lucas sardines. They are simply the best and just impossible to find any more. ​
So after several days of rocking and rolling I jumped ship and head down  to the farm house in Nafplio to join Mom. She likes to swim. I like feta cheese, fries and beer. Gotta enjoy the summer one way or another!

​
BUT……. I’m heading back to Zoot Allures tonight. The meltemi is subsiding and I’ve got company arriving Monday for a week of smoooooth sailing! Hopefully there’ll be “some” wind!

Soooo

Stay tuned ….and dont cry for me Ikaria,

Capt. Pete.

Ps….this wordpress app sucks!