It was Friday noon already when the idea came on us. Lets go sailing for the weekend.

I called my friend Captain Yiannis who runs a small bare-boat operation in Kalamaki Athens, and although in high season (22^nd of August), I found that he had one availability. Only the boat returns Saturday morning and will be ready for departure by noon time Captain Yiannis told me, but I will not charge you for Saturday, he added. Well miracles still happens, what can I say.

My wife and I are great funs of sailing and when our busy life permits we jump on a boat for a few days to escape the stress of living and working in Athens Greece during the Summer holidays.

Saturday noon we were on pier 6 at Kalamaki Marina, with our small bags, ready to embark for another adventure, as I like to say. Formalities finished quickly and at 15:30 we left the mooring, on a 14 years old, Beneteau 351 sail boat “Mickey” . We motored through the packed marina berths to the open and we set our course to our first Port of Call 'Korfos” 28 NM away on the North East Coast of Peloponnese, where we were planning to spend the night. 'Korfos” is right across Kalamaki Marina past the Islands of Egina and Angistri, on a course of 265 degrees. We have never been there before.

The weather was sunny with a fresh breeze from North West, 30 degrees right off our course. The sea was choppy and the waves were crushing on their tops. The whole sea was full of small white cups.

I left the motor running and I set the autopilot to hold our course in order to prepare and set the sails. The autopilot, an old Autohelm 3000, probably 20 years old, was struggling to keep the course, as the boat was bunching and climbing and falling on the choppy seas. “Mickey” was equipped with a furling head sail and a furling Main, both sails easily managed from the safety of the cockpit.

I secured the fenders, and the mooring lines, checked the hatches closed for one more time, identified the lines for the head sail, and the Main and I went back to steer in to the wind in order to hoist the Main. Well, as I said the autopilot was not doing well, so I asked the assistance of my wife to hold the steering wheel. I hoist the Main half the way out, as I did not want to heel the boat so much,a and then as my wife returned the boat on her original course, I hoisted the head-sail as well, again half way out. Cruise boats are not great performers when on a close reach. I made the decision to let the motor running and the sails were set primarily to reduce the side motion, and then to improve the speed. After all we were not racing.

The autopilot was losing it on every gust. I disengaged it and took over the steering. We were doing a 7,2 knots, and we were crossing, perpendicular, the shipping lane to and from the Piraeus Port, the busiest part of the Greek waters. Ferries, passenger ships, Hydrofoils, tankers, cargo ships and various support vessels are moving in and out the port. Pay attention. Approaching Ferries are doing up to 20 knots, and the tankers and the cargo ships are to heavy to alter course easily.

Visibility was bad. The sun was directly in front of us, restricting any clear sight of our destination. I asked my wife to hold the steering again, time to work on some navigation. For the past 7 years I did most of our navigation on my hand held GPS Map Garmin 276C. A great and reliable piece of equipment. I was using traditional navigation spontaneously, and never when the seas were ruff. Today, my sail companion was far away. I have lent it to my brother who would be sailing on his 22 feet rib up North. So I had to deal with the map, the Greek Water Pilot (IMRAY) and the compasses of the boat. Well I had also a Garmin 190 installed down, next to the chart table, without map. It looked very strange. Displaying the position, the speed and the course. Great. I worked on the map to copy the coordinates of our destination. I found my way through the various pages of the GPS to enter a new way point and voila the course, the distance and the time to destination was there.

Next step was to verify my position with the hand held compass. What a pain, as the hand held was half filled with the fluid and full of bubbles. No way to get a proper reading. The ships compass was not perfect either, half filled and the glass was so much warned out from the sun, that you could read it only from certain angles. But the biggest problem was that the two compasses was not matching the readings of each other.

I took over the steering, kneeling so to read the ships compass and started turning the boat. The moment the compass showed 265 degrees, I had a quick glance ahead. I see a gray mountain, barely visible in the afternoon haze which on the left side seems to end in a cape on the sea. Well, I will take my chances. I steered the boat that direction, asked my wife to resume the steering and keep her aiming the side of this mountain, and I start working on the map again.

There are various rock islands on our way, and I started to identify them on the map, one by one, considering their related position, to the near by Egina and Angistri Islands. The more sights I have the better estimation of our position, as the compasses are not perfect.

Finally I am able to verify where exactly we were and to compare my readings with the Garmin's 190 readings. Not bad at all. The difference is a few seconds as we are running while taking the sights. Still 14 NM to go. The time is 17:45, so we are making a fair progress.

Past the shipping lane, things are more relax now. Angistri island is to our left about 2 NM away. Its a nice small island, with a nice taverna right in front of the fishing port. The only problem they have is too many flies. Like Egina.

At 19:45 we are in the bay of Korfos. We enter the port slowly and I see that the best spot to anchor is across the town's pier, in front of couple of nice villas. My wife is not in the mood for a walk in the town that evening so we decide to anchor and stay on board. There is a German flag sail boat anchored already there, so we past her and anchored few hundred meters up North of her.

After we secured that our anchor is holding well, I switch off the motor and the magnificent calmness of the sea is all over us. We prepare a light dinner, and we are setting in the cockpit looking around as the boat is swinging around her anchor. I decide to swim. The water is warm and calm. I swim for half an hour. It is the great moment after a passage. Relaxation and calmness. We set for a couple of drinks before going to bed. The cabin is filled with the light breeze from the open hatch. A perfect spot to sleep.

Next morning we are up early, as we are both early risers. I jump in the water to wake up completely and we set our breakfast table. We made our plan to go to the town's pier and stay there for lunch. It is 11:00 in the morning when we have finished with swimming and we bring our anchor back on the boat.

We motored the half mile distance to the pier and we berthed stern to the pier in front of Georges Fish Tavern. He helps us with the lines and he set a table for us under the awnings. We take a walk in the town. A small fishing village I would say, pretty much like every other village or small town you will see on the Greek coast or the Greek islands. The houses are expanding from the sea side up to the hill, and every each of them has a nice view of the bay down below.

People are kind and friendly. There are not many tourists, as the place is not well known, although is so close to Athens. We start our lunch with the traditional meze and ouzo. Two hours later we are on board and motoring back to our spot where we anchor again and take a nap. Later that night, my wife asked for the traditional sweet which is “loukoumades”. I get the dingy with the small Yamaha and cross the bay to bring her fresh made sweets.

The wind is steady from NW and there are some gusts occasionally. Our anchor holds well, so we are secure. We read our books, laying on the cockpit until it is almost midnight when we go back to sleep. Nest morning there is a bad surprise. We see smoke coming behind the mountain filling the morning sky. We smell the burning wood. Some forest behind the hills is on fire. What a pity with all these summer fires in Greece. Our eyes are burning and we cannot breath easily. Terrible. We bring our anchor back on board and we motor out of the bay. Too sad we had to leave this nice spot. And now what?

We did not want to go to Egina, always crowded and the taverns do not know how to cook. So we discuss for some more adventure. Lets go to Vathi, a small port on the map right on the Methana peninsula about 14 NM South from our position. We have never been there, either. The wind is steady at force 3 from NW. I set the sails and I keep the motor running in lower RPM. We past a huge fish farm located in the North side of a small rock island right in front of Cape Trachili. The wind is veering from NW to N to NNE and is picking up. I switch off the motor and we are going on sails, making 5,5 knots. Not bad.

Then start the gusts. I may say that the 351 does not perform well on gusts either. Her rudder seems to have limited authority, when a strong gust, which turns the boat to windward in no time. We entered the bay of Methana and we spotted Vathi. A tiny village, with the tiniest fishing port I have ever seen, which is packed with sail boats seeking shelter from the gusty winds outside. No place to stay. The sea is choppy, and the gusts are coming one after the other. We discuss the situation. Our options are. Either to sail West and find a birth on the other side of the bay, but the wind and the gusts will be there, or to head back North and try the South side of Angistri which is about 6 NM North East of our present position. At least with this wind will be no flies.

We were already two and a half hours rocking and bunching, and we did not want to spent another hour going west towards a region we did not know and where to find a shelter would be a great question. So we picked the second option to sail to Angistri. We set the sails for a close reach and off we went towards the small island. As we exit the bay, the sea went rough again, but we had a couple of dolphins playing around our boat which was a great fun for at least half an hour.

We approached Angistri an hour later, but were no place to anchor. The sea was really rough and the only protected spot was packed with Sail Yachts and several Mega yachts. Again we had to discuss our options. On the North side of the Island there is no place to stay as the swell is hitting now at full force. The option to seek shelter on the South side is out of question as in between Angistri and Egina there is a rock island named Skylomangas, where is the place of sharks giving birth to their infants. They do not grow bigger than 2-3 meters but it is a cold feeling to know that they are there. So we decided to head towards Salamis, an Island laying West of the Attica Coast, North East of our present position and about 12 NM away.

We were bunching and rocking for 4 hours already and we still had another 2 hours to reach the destination. For both of us was not exactly what we were thinking as a calm weekend.

We were in between large ships at anchor waiting to enter Piraeus Port, about 1 and ½ NM from Salamis Island. I had both sails set for the close reach, and the motor running, when the overheat alarm sounded. I switched off the engine instantly. Now what? I could continue towards a small creek which was ahead of us right where the wind was coming from, but I thought that without engine, the batteries will not take the load of the windlass and I could imagine myself hauling the anchor on bare hands.

I called captain Yiannis and told him the situation. We were 7 NM from Kalamaki Marina, it was 16:30 and I thought that the most sensible thing to do was to head back, ending our weekend early. Captain Yiannis told me that a motor boat would be waiting for me at the entrance of the marina to tow me to our berth. He did not want to risk to start the engine, and motor to the berth. I briefly started the motor again, only to verify that no water was coming out from the exhaust. Either the impeller was broken, or something was blocking the sea water intake.

The diving mask on the boat was as old as the boat herself. I had no means to dive and inspect under the waterline, and I was too tired also to do so. Therefore, I deployed full sails and I headed towards Kalamaki.

It was stressing to cross again the shipping lane, on sails only, although we were doing something like 6 knots. Traffic was at its peak as it was the time for the passengers vessels and the ferries to return to Port. Anyway, we managed to cross uneventful and not much later, we were less than ½ a NM from the marina entrance. The motor boat with twin powerful engines was waiting for us. I throw a line to them and we enter the packed marina, slowly. Upon reaching our birth, I started the motor and I berthed her neatly.

We packed our belongings and left her under the attention of her owner. It was a nice weekend, short but adventurous. Exactly as I like my weekends to be. We know that Korfos is an excellent spot for the future, and that Vathi is a place to avoid. We are looking forward to another Sailing Weekend in the Greek Waters.

About the author.

Mike India, is a sailor for both sail and motor yachts, since 1976. He sailed extensively the Greek waters with his own sail and motor boats as well as with rented. He is also a private multi-engine pilot since 1979 and have flown in several places, stories that he will present in the future on this site.