Picking up the Mainsail and Saying Goodbye to Greece

22 March 2024 – Fiskardo, Greece

After we left Zakynthos, we sailed to Fiskardo on the island of Kephalonia and spent three days relaxing there. We had been there before; it was the first port we went to in Greece both when we arrived this year and when we were here six years ago, and is still one of my favourite places.

It is a sleepy little village with only about twenty households living there in the off season, though surprisingly there is a large grocery store right next to the harbour. In addition to being surrounded by pine forests, there are a number of beautiful hikes on the island, through forests, flowery meadows, and beaches.

The atmosphere is so sleepy and relaxed there that we didn’t do much but we had a great time. I found a pretty place to read, my dad put in a second AIS, and Jonas worked on upgrading the dinghy, but other than that we didn’t do much.

It was a mild culture shock sailing from Fiskardo to Lefkada, the town with a huge marina where we were going to pick up our new mainsail. Our old mainsail had been well used, meaning that it was really baggy and had become the wrong shape, with the centre of power too far back. This new mainsail is more powerful because it is a better shape, has a bit of roach with vertical battons, and is made of Vectran which doesn’t stretch as much and will last longer. The first time we sailed with it, we went over half a knot faster than we would have done before and had noticeably less weatherhelm.

Putting up the new mainsail – Lefkada, Greece

Unlike the mountainous scenery we were used to sailing past, the route to Lefkada took us through a strangely flat marshy area, as it was actually a canal dug through land. In town, there were marine stores everywhere so my dad and Jonas spent the two days we were there on a shopping spree. They were able to get parts off a broken boom of another Discovery 55 that was in the yard, a new gasoline tank, and a bilge pump cover. There was also a vet close to where we were docked so my mom took Sirius to get updated vaccinations.

It was at this point that we decided to leave Greece and head out of the Mediterranean. There was a good weather window to cross to Italy in two days, so we sadly ate our last gyros and baklava and sailed back to Fiskardo, from where we will cross the Ionian Sea.

The journey back to Fiskardo was not uneventful. The previous day, some men had come to where Festina Lente was docked on the town pontoon and were worried that we had broken one of the laid mooring lines attached to it, though it had already been broken when we arrived. Later, someone dove next to the boat to fix it. As we pulled away from the dock, everything seemed to be fine and we had made it halfway across the harbour when Jonas noticed that the messenger of a mooring line had been tied to the swim ladder on our stern. He quickly climbed down onto the swim platform and cut it, and luckily it hadn’t been caught in the propeller when we backed out of the dock. I don’t know why it was there but their mooring line is definitely broken again now.

After that, we made it back to Fiskardo and I started lowering the anchor as we prepared to Med moor against the quay. This was going fine until I realized that the windlass had gone rogue and wouldn’t stop letting chain out. Jonas ran down below and turned off the windlass master switch and my dad was able to back in while he turned the switch off and on again to let more chain out as necessary. This was made more difficult by the fact that the bow thruster is attached to the same master switch so that was also out of commission, but my dad managed to get us docked with no harm done.

I guess Fiskardo just isn’t a good place for our anchor, because as we leaving port this morning we noticed that the boat that had docked next to us had put their anchor on top of our chain. As I pulled up the chain with our now-functioning windlass, we were pulling up their anchor as well. Luckily we managed to get out without too much trouble as the people on the other boat pulled up their anchor to clear us.

It was sad saying goodbye to Greece but we made good use of our last day in Fiskardo. My dad and Jonas fixed the windlass, I went back to my reading spot, then me and my mom went to the store to stock up on necessary Greek products such as yogurt, feta cheese, and a specific type of potato chips we liked.

We are currently on our way to Syracusa on the east coast of Sicily, having left early Friday morning. We will hopefully arrive Saturday night.

Picking up the Mainsail and Saying Goodbye to Greece

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