After heading back to Preveza in late March we spent a week getting pre-season jobs done on Rush, ashore in Cleopatra Boatyard.

I’ll write a separate update in the blog’s Boat section – including a selfless confession to a winterising mistake, so you can avoid making the same school-boy error. You probably wouldn’t anyway…

Following launch on April 1^st, we tackled the Greek cruising paperwork fest at the customs office and Port Police, which went as smoothly as the launch. They generally seem a friendly and helpful bunch which is handy because, since Brexit, we have to check into and out of every Greek port we visit…

 

Next day our cruising season started properly with great sailing on a 30 mile, 15-20kt beat north to the island of Paxos, just south of Corfu. Taking advantage of the pre-season quiet, we anchored in deserted Mongonisi Bay overnight and then took Rush into the heart of Gaios the following morning. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t all glam – at one point we were hit by a hailstorm so violent that we thought it may damage the boat! And almost everything was closed. But we didn’t mind – we were cruising again after the UK winter and we found a dodgy meal on the quayside that night to celebrate. 

More rain and no wind the following morning, so we motored south towards the Levkada Canal. With the cockpit enclosure zipped down we wandered about in our socks, making coffee and eating breakfast with panoramic visibility, while covering the ground at just over seven knots. We made the same, similarly civilised, trip with our friends Paul and Jenny Rudling on their gorgeous Fleming 65 motor yacht over ten years ago. When the wind filled in, we knocked off the remaining miles with the main and Code 55. 

 

The weather was changeable but steadily improving and we hung out on Meganisi, spent two nights in Favourite Bay on the mainland (can’t remember its proper name and wouldn’t tell you anyway) and sheltered in Vliho Bay on Levkada while an abrupt front went through. Weather forecasting is generally so good now. The front was forecast to go over at 01.30, taking the wind from 10 knots southerly to 30 knots north-westerly. We went to bed with an alarm set for 12.30 and kept watch for a while to ensure our anchor safely reset after the wind change.

Our friend Claire arrived late on April 14^th after being chatted up by engaging Nick the Greek (name changed to protect the innocent) at the airport. We picked her up in Derek and returned to Rush, anchored in a pretty bay a couple of miles away. Claire moved to our UK south coast home patch a couple of years ago and is super-keen to get involved in everything, especially on the water. It was delightful, over the coming days, to witness her excitement and instant love for life afloat. It’s easy for us lifers to forget how special it can be. We sailed (not much wind) swam, Amanda and Claire ran and we ticked off a fairly major boat job together.  

 

Primary early topic during Claire’s visit: Should she, or should she not, arrange to meet Nick the Greek?! Obviously, I was heavily in favour. Entertainment value all over it… A couple of coffee dates were followed by a long, slightly concerningly remote walk, then a drink on board in front of Rush’s evaluation panel. Green light for a rendezvous back in London (he’s a diplomat or spy or something)! *

Electronics guru, Clarence, then joined us with his new wife Elice, hot from their Zanzibar honeymoon. Great to see them both again – last time being a braai at their Cape Town home. Clarence is a top guy to have aboard with his experience and expertise. And let’s not forget the sack full of biltong and wine they brought! 

We (OK, Clarence) completed some technical jobs on board – sailed, calibrated, ate, drank, swam some more and swapped stories. 

 

Change-over day came – old racing and cruising mates Mark and Liz Rushall arrived – Claire flew home on the same plane and Clarence and Elice departed the following morning for a few days in Rome; coincidentally arriving the morning of the Pope’s passing. 

 

By now the days were pleasantly warm and over the next week we hopped around the islands in relaxed cruising fashion, visiting some places Mark and Liz knew and we didn’t and vice versa. Greece surely offers some of the world’s best cruising grounds – stunning scenery, idyllic bays and harbours, lovely people, great food, good value and a few hours flight for most of our mates. As we found last autumn, the shoulder seasons are pretty special here – we happily accept the changeable weather in return for the lack of boat crowds and ability to really appreciate the surroundings.

In Kioni, Ithaca we helped a slightly traumatised charter couple solve their prop wrap – full disclosure… I had fresh empathy having recently learned you have to be even more careful when attaching lazy lines if your props are close below the topsides on a cat, as opposed to far under a monohull – then we had to bail out hurriedly ourselves when the rising evening breeze highlighted that our anchor hadn’t set properly when we backed up to the quay! Never a dull moment.

We stayed an extra night off Ithaca’s Vathi, slowing down and chilling out under Mark and Liz’s wise influence, before heading to Agia Effimia on Kephalonia and remote, beautiful Petala Bay on the mainland shore. Then on to Messolonghi, just inside the Gulf of Patras, where we’d arranged to leave Rush while going home for a month. Arriving a few days early in Messolonghi gave us time to explore this historic town, walk the long spit across salt pans to enjoy a fabulous fish lunch right where the catch is landed, hire a car, visit several ancient sites… all closed on Tuesday…. and swim under a freezing waterfall.

 

We met entertaining fellow sailors from France (who fell in love with Rush) and Germany (who fell in love with Rush) and Ireland (who didn’t get Rush at all, but were hilarious). They’d just collected their lovely Amel 50 monohull in France, so fair enough. Meeting people is a great part of cruising and we’ll bump into them again somewhere, sometime. 

After a month on board, we flew back to the UK with Mark and Liz – very much looking forward to seeing our close family and home clan. Our time restricted, Schengen zone, enforced hybrid home/boat life has valuable upsides.

* Following the London “date”, Nick-the-Greek was brutally given the heave-ho. Interesting and humorous, but unfortunately a lack of chemistry.  Plenty more fish in the Ionian.