The (miss) adventures for the Stolikas' clan...

By the time we reached Katiolis the headwind had reached 25 knots and the sea was rearing at us. Due to the confines of the Mediterranean the sea does not really develop a swell into which a boat can ride. Rather is develops and short wave 'chop' which, to the uninitiated can become uncomfortable, sea sick inducing and a little frightening...

Combine this with a bunch of kids who have not seen each other for a while, a couple of whom have been cooped up in a bus and a ferry for 7 hours, let them loose a bucking deck with previously unclarified ground rules and watch the tensions rise...

These shots taken on a later trip by car

Katiolis looked OK on arrival. The harbour, piles of big rocks in the rough shape of a harbour stood unprotected from the howling westerly, but once inside, the water was smooth and calm behind the ramparts but no space on the wall to go alongside. Had there been anybody around, we might have got them to shift a small fishing boat to allow us in, but alas...

We considered rafting alongside a yacht that looked as if it had been there a while and was clearly unoccupied. That was until we noticed that the method by which it was secured to the wall was on bent over pieces of rusty reo protruding from the very badly poured concrete wharf.

Italy was playing Uruguay at 7:00pm and we, well Max, really really wanted to watch that. Italy is his team. It was now 6:00pm.

OK, so we'll try anchoring. We figured that although small, it was very shallow and with good holding we would achieve a scope (the ratio of depth to length of chain) of 7 to 1 which is standard for an overnight stay. I took her right up to the west wall into the wind and Sal dropped the anchor. As I reversed, the combination of the anchor and the props kicked up the mud on the bottom of the harbour which clearly doubled as the town sewer..... and Pooooweee!

"C'mon, this is fine, we'll miss the game if we can't stay" says Max. I'm with him, it will all settle by the time we come home, it looked like a cute little town and the only alternative is to sail back to Poros with the wind at our backs but the wrong direction. It was already 6:15pm

The anchor bites, I let it settle then once we feel it is set, I apply full reverse just to make sure she holds... Poooooweeeee! as the anchor starts to slip, us downwind of it and in no time we are at the east wall. Nothing for it but to raise the anchor and make for Poros. Sal and Beat fain enthusiasm for the job of distributing chain... "no no let me" until chivalry prevailed and Beat gets the gig with shades of Sally's first ever lesson in Levkas. Fortuntely it hadn't caked and came up relatively clean, if not a little on the nose.

"Now we'll never make the game..." Poor Maxie was gutted as we motored out of the harbour, raised all the sail we had, turned and enjoyed conditions that catamarans are built for. Within seconds she settled into an  8 - 10 knot rhythm surfing the chop as we went, and although it was Med choppy, it felt smooth, warm and blissful in the evening light.

Poros. 19:58. Thankfully still some of the game left. This is not just because Max could still catch some of it, but more because the best sail to date had proved difficult to enjoy as each of our kids had played havoc with our respective nerves."Hey kids, all of you, go watch the game!" Whew.....

We have a full boat. We now have four more guests to whom we had suggested there would be plenty of accommodation and not to book in Poros. We were now back in Poros at gone eight as Ron trudged off at cocktail hour to find somewhere to sleep.

Now to say that the Stolikas' enjoy their creature comforts would be difficult to despute but Ron met us at dinner after an extensive search to announce that he had in fact found accommodation..... with some reluctance to describe the accommodation within earshot of Gina and the kids.

The following morning Max and Leo (Stolikas kids) arrived at the boat sans parents who had apparently both spent the night talking to that big white telephone! And the accommodation.... well, Maxie went to town. For him it was the reason the folks were ill, although later Ron explained that it wasn't that bad at all, must have been something they ate...... It had been a biggish night.

OK, lets get out of here, that westerly of yesterday had settled overnight but it was to return according to the trusty "Predict Wind" app. No sooner had we left Poros and earlier than anticipated, the Westerly did hit and even though we were heading south initially, the wind was curling from the west around the island which meant two things... it would be in our face the entire trip to Arglstoli and it would increase in strength as we rounded the southern tip of 'Kefilonia'. (if I have spelled 'Cephalonia' a few ways, that is because it is)

The Reugg's, Beat, Deborah and Luca had a flight to catch the following morning so no choice but to bash our way for five hours into conditions that a catamaran, or any vessel for that matter, is not designed for.

So, how goes the Stoli's second day on the boat? The kids are a little less exuberant.... sea sickness will do that to you. Whatever it was that ailed Gina and Ron was not going to improve in these conditions and so with my apologies, we just had to crack on.

At 4:05pm on the 25th June bashed and beaten we finally docked alongside in Argostoli. We had not really been looking forward to coming here because it was a large town with the inherent hustle and bustle. We had been directed by an aggressively intrusive high speed Coast Guard vessel as to where we should head for, but as we pulled up there was something instantly likable about the place.

With acres of wharf to choose a spot, we chose to go alongside. It is easier, more secure and avoids the need to do the anchor chain dance. Stoli's off and once again looking for accommodation...

Google had proven fruitless en route but a very helpful local directed us to the spacious town square and an hotel that had one room left. Everything else was full!

Yet another very fond farewell.....

The Ruegg's arranged a taxi for the airport at 5:45am and our last evening together got underway and it promised to be a late one.

They had been such a pleasure to have on board. Together me made a great team and it really was difficult to understand how Sally and I managed it all on our own.

They were headed for Istanbul with plans to join us on the Spanish coast next year some time...