Rolling home :-)
Friday, July the 24th – 23:30 – Cap Sounion / Greece
At anchor at Cap Sounion
The Temple of Poseidon
I am at anchor in a little bay just below the temple of Poseidon on Cap Sounion. The voyage is almost finished. I only have to round the cape and sail north for 10 -12 hours. Now I understand why Bernard Moitessier turned his boat a few days before the finish in the Golden Globe Race and sailed around the world a second time. And what about Odysseus? Can we believe that an experienced mariner needs 10 years to find his way home?
Anyway, here is a short update of the last two days:
This morning I left Korinthos marina at 07:30 local time and headed for the Corinth Channel; a nice and interesting passage. I was asked to pass at maximum speed following a convoy and I had to steer carefully but I managed to take some pictures. There was some wind on the other side in the Saronic golf and I hoisted the sails. After a few hours the wind dyed away. I rolled in the Genoa but left the main. I do this quite often because the main doesn’t shake like a flag when motoring and it is always ready to be used without any effort. When I passed north of the island of Aegina the wind freshend up to F4 and sailing was possible again. I arrived at Sounion at 20:30.
The trip from Patra to Korinthos on Tueasdy was also quite interesting with the passage under the Rio-Antirio Bridge. When I left Patras in the morning at 07:00 it was already blowing at F5 (against of course :-) ). Although 60° off course, I sailed a few hours at midday because I couldn’t hear that engine noise any more. I managed to arrive at Korinthos marina at about 20:30 and the wind had died away completely. Just one hour ago and in lee of Oros Yeraneia is was gusting at F5 to F6. A friendly Austrian sailor saw me coming in and helped me with the lines. He had sailed extensively singlehanded in the past and knew the situation. He was sailing with family now and I was invited to a very tasty pasta bolognese. I contributed a bottle of wine to the dinner, which I had bought in Sicily some weeks ago. It’s always good to meet other cruisers and listen to their stories and often you learn something new. This time it was that I should use an external diesel filter when refueling in Greece because diesel contamination is not uncommon here and can lead to engine failure. Thanks Adi!
Heading for Rio-Antirio Bridge
Rio-Antirio Bridge
Korinthos – In the Marina
Korinthos – Entering the channel
Korinthos – In the channel
Big ships in the Saronic
Close hauled with flags
There was some nice (and fast) sailing of course, but not as often as I would have wished. Since I wanted to keep to the time schedule I hade to use the engine a few times.