There were quite some minutes of video material left from the Kafireas Strait and after I had finished the video of the whole voyage some days ago, I thought it would make sense to compile an additional little video just showing the crossing since most sailors are interested in seeing how a boat behaves in rough weather.
Matilda was very easy on the helm and our crossing was very relaxed by the way. Enjoy:
The Aegean sailing trip is completed now. 16 days onboard Matilda with a lovely and highly motivated and skilled crew made this voyage more than just great fun. Day passages of more than 60 miles where not a problem and although we stayed in harbours for sightseeing and because of bad weather for three days, we finally logged 480 miles on the whole trip.
We started in Matilda’s homeport Khalkoutsi where we left early afternoon together with my friend Franz and we sailed with two boats to the sliding bridge of Khalkis which we passed at about 11:00 pm. On the way north the next day, many dolphins came across and stayed for a long time playing at Matilda’s bow. We anchored overnight just around the northwest tip of Euboea Island where the tidal current was reaching about 4kt and the water was freezing cold.
After a stop at Oreoi we sailed to the islands Skiathos, Alonissos and Peristera, which is one of the islands of the Marine National Park of Alonissos (http://alonissostravel.com/national-marine-park/). The Anchorage at Vassiliko/Peristera was quite exciting because of the shipwreck of the freighter Alonissos. The freighter was wrecked some 10 years ago in a violent storm that drove it onto the rocks, despite having two metal chains secured to the rocks and two anchors on the sea bed.
Moored in Skiathos
We sailed further north to Kasandra/Khalkidiki where we met some old friends and finally into Porto Karras on Sithonia for shelter because of the bad weather that was on the way. The phenomenon was extended and unusual for the time of the year with heavy thunderstorms and massive rainfalls (the Sporades further south got half of the average annual rainfall in just two days!). The temperature dropped to 17C and it rained for 24 hours but we were well protected in Porto Karras.
Rain, rain, rain…
Patrick joined the crew the next day and we sailed south to Kyra Panagia and Skyros where we also met our Friends Franz and Rolf again. The harbour staff in Linaria/Skyros was very friendly and professional. They helped us mooring stern to in a relatively narrow space by holding Matilda’s bow with the help of a dinghy. Because of the Aegean Rally stopping here next day we had to move to the permanent mooring field a bit further NW of the harbour Linaria for the following night which was a good choice and a very well protected spot from the still strong going wind.
Hmmmm… not sure if this guy knows the COLREGs
Passing through Kafireas Strait
The following passage through the Kafireas Strait was one of the highlights of the voyage. A steady F7 gusting to F8 was pushing Matilda and she was surfing the waves reaching sometimes more than 8 knots through the water. Being a more traditional long keel design she is quite happy with such conditions and felt safe all the time. When we reached Batsi/Andros, the wind was still blowing at F7 even into the harbour. There were only 4 other yachts there and we were happy to go alongside at the inner side of the peer. After an Island exploring and sightseeing day on scooters the next day, we left for Ormos Fikiadha on Kythnos, just about 1NM NNW of the main harbour Merikhas. We were surprised to see about 50 other yachts in the two bays which are separated by a longish sandy beach when we arrived late in the afternoon. There was still space though and anchoring was not a problem.
Although I had the feeling that I had lived for more than a month onboard now, days were passing quickly and there was only one night left which we spent at Petalioi Nisoi after a nice passage northwards.
The last day finally was sailing home and it didn’t feel right… I could go on like this for months and years …but time has not come yet.
Many thanks to my crew who helped making this voyage such a nice experience!
After replacing the accumulators and rewiring the echo sounder transducer to the old depth instrument (which I wisely had kept in place), Matilda is ready to go and will be on an Aegean Sea circle for the next 2 weeks.
She will head north first and pass the sliding bridge of Khalkis on Sunday about 2 hours before midnight. She will visit the Sporades and sail to the Khalkidhiki. Depending on the weather, Limnos, Chios and some of the Cyclades are on the schedule but nothing is fixed.
Location can as always be tracked via “Marine Traffic” on the “location” page of this blog.
There won’t be any posts during the voyage but a little report after completion of the voyage.
Matilda is finally back in the water! …and I have to leave :-(
Barbarossa Backstay Adjuster Repair
The wheel has not been repaired yet and Matilda is still hanging in the travel lift. This is not only very disappointing but I am dangerously running out of time now.
Anyway, whist waiting I decided that I should do something to turn the bad experience into a good one. The back stay tensioner had probably never been opened before and was not providing that feeling of a reliably working device anymore. Operation was a bit tight and it was on my to-do list for a longer time.
The device is made by the Italian company Barbarossa and there was no information at all on the web as the company does not exist anymore. When I opened it I found a seized axial bearing and a bearing washer which was dissolved in pieces. I searched the internet and found that I could replace it by SKF’s AXK2542. I decided not to remove it before I have the new one in hand. Next day, with the replacement needle roller bearing in hand, I tried to remove the old one carefully. It wouldn’t come off easily but after applying some heat and force the job was finally accomplished. Underneath the axial bearing, there was another radial bearing which wasn’t looking much better. The point of no return was reached. I had to find replacement bearings in order to get Matilda in the water when the wheel for the travel lift would finally arrive.
Amazing that the backstay tensioner was still working
With some effort, the old bearings were finally removed
To keep a long story short, these are the parts that I used to replace the old bearings and they fit quite well:
Radial bearing: SKF RNA4904 (inner ring removed)
Axial bearing: SKF AXK2542, GS81105 and AS2542 (two times).
The axial bearing needs to have a total thickness of 7mm.
The new parts are available from SKF
I heated up the housing for the radial bearing to 200°C and put the RNA4904 into the deep fridge for an hour. When I put it in, it slid down to the bottom without any force applied.
I generously applied high pressure grease and closed everything. It works again like new.
Today is the day; Matilda is going back into the water. I had detached the struts from the radar pole and had tilted it in a horizontal position. I also had to remove the back stay in order to allow for the small travel lift to move above Matilda and lift her into the belts. Although quite old, the travel lift has been doing what it should for the last years and therefore, I was not expecting any adventures. Matilda was lifted out of the cradle and the areas where the pads had been were sanded and painted with antifouling. After some time in order to allow the antifouling to dry, the travel lift started moving and Matilda was coming closer to the water. Just 50 meters away from the shore, a big bang stopped the journey abruptly. One of the front wheels of the travel lift had burst.
Waiting for the wheel to be repaired
It’s spring time and about time to get Matilda back in the water. Several antifouling layers have been removed from the bottom, some work was done at the rudder, new antifouling was applied and the propeller polished. When the old antifouling layers were removed, I noticed that the antifouling was applied directly on the gel coat without any primer in between. I was happy to see that there wasn’t any evidence of osmosis. I had measured the humidity in the hull and found that it was quite low (below 2% in most areas). The hull had time to dry out for the last 4 months on the hard of course but providing that Matilda had been in the water for almost 3 years, I was prepared to see higher values. Good girl :-)
Old antifouling layers removed
New antifouling applied and propeller polished
Ready to go
This winter is colder than usual in Greece. I did the procedures I was used to in Northern Europe (I even had a couple of “antivries” bottles left over from Holland :-) ) to avoide any freeze damade and I am safe. Matilda is now covered in snow waiting for warmer days.
Although more than one year has passed now since my last post, this blog is not dead. I will compile and post the remaining videos of my Round Europe voyage when I find the time and will also update the page on technical stuff and changes/upgrades on Matilda. So, stay tuned and have a look from time to time.
I didn’t do any longer trips last year and there were many reasons for that but I still enjoyed some local sailing on extended weekends with friends and relatives. On my last trip in October 2016 where I visited a couple of the Cyclades islands I was surprised by a heavy thunderstorm with more than force 10 squalls and almost got washed ashore. I had anchored in a bay at nice weather and clear skies. We went swimming, had a Greek salad for dinner and were enjoying a glass of wine. Suddenly, at about 21:00 the stars disappeared, the night sky turned black and the light wind veered 90 degrees to W. A few minutes later the scenario changed completely. Heavy rain was flying horizontally such that I couldn’t see the surface of the see any more from the cockpit. The wind meter was showing 48kn of gusts, the anchor started dragging and the big motor yacht behind me on the permanent mooring was coming dangerously closer. I started the engine and tried to keep away from that motor yacht whilst my brother in law was trying to lift the anchor. Although heavy lightening is not sailor’s favorite weather phenomenon I was thankful about it because this way I could figure out where I was in the bay and where the other moored boats were in relation to me. After a 20 min fight with the elements, the anchor was lifted and the wind had dropped to about F6. I moved the boat to the neighboring bay and went alongside at the pier. I went to a nearby pub where I met some other sailors. Everyone was talking about the thunderstorm of course. After midnight, I was sitting on a bench in the rain next to Matilda enjoying my last beer for that day and I couldn’t believe that she was still afloat. Some days later I heard from other sailors that many yachts got damaged that night and one even sunk. The phenomenon was heavy and although very extended it had not been forecasted. Finally I must say that I am quite sure that the anchor (even dragging) had helped preventing stranding. I wouldn’t have managed to turn Matilda into the wind using engine power. If I knew it was coming I would have preferred to stay in open water. In any case, that was another lesson learned.
Now after almost three years in the water, it was about time to get Matilda out in order to give her underwater body some attention and prepare her for the next season.
Matilda being put on the cradle
After powerwashing
It was about time
Several layers of self polishing antifouling can be removed easily with the help of a spatula. The red one seems to be hard antifouling. It comes off together with the other layers where – as it seems – no primer could be applied because of the cradle support pads but holds well on the rest of the surface
It has been a while now since I arrived in Greece. I did some local sailing (not much though) and flew back to Germany about one month ago. Although life has become quite “usual” again, trying to compile some videos of the voyage has kept my memories alive. The first video took a lot longer than anticipated but now it is ready. I hope the other ones will follow a bit faster.
