Car tour of the UK!

Having finished work we thought we'd have a little "holiday" before heading back to Greece and the boat. The purpose of the trip was to see some friends and family. The 4 year old (to us),£250 car was still doing well but just in case an AA card was borrowed to insure no breakdowns! Very unnecessary as it happens.
We covered 900 miles with a circular route taking in Eastbourne, a ride in a Morgan for G and a walk on the South Downs with Sally and Jonathan before we were allowed in the Pub! Needless to say P drove after this and on to Woodbridge in Suffolk.

Onward the next day to York where we stayed a few days with Pete and Sue, taking in the Black Sheep brewery tour, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and completing the Snickleways of York City.
On then to Warrington for the family visit and traditionally a few beers and a curry were partook. Shabbily, for some (Simon), the next day onto North Wales and a walk along the river at Betws-y-Coed with Yvonne and Ian. Finally onward to Aylesbury for, surprise surprise more food and drink.
A great time was had and now to packing the bags ready to fly to Greece next week - that is if the airspace is still open!! If you've not heard the UK had no plans flying in or out for 6 days due to a volcano erupting in Iceland.
A wedding to go to first though!

2009 Kalamata to Leros, Greece

A delay to this years cruising with P falling over the night before we flew back to Athens, no, alcohol was not the cause, it was a fallen down road sign! Anyway soft tissue injury to her arm delayed flying for 2 days and hindered her helping in the relaunch of Crazydream but it happened eventually.
A wait for the right weather delayed our departure around the two Capes again. This time we were doing it in company with Rassy Lady, always a reassurance when another boat is with you. But this year instead of flat calm, it was full off shore kit and force 5 winds, cold and rain for Matapan but a return to calm and sunshine for Malea.
We had the notorious Cyclades to navigate before the meltemi began, the strong northerly wind that blows for most of the summer in the Aegean. So with favourable winds we crossed the Islands stopping in Milos, Paros, and Ios, visiting Santorini and continuing onto Leros to check out our winter berth.

We got wind bound a couple of times but in great places where the boat was quite safe. This year we seemed to spend more going out and even hire cars to enable us to see more of the islands that we stopped at. You tend to protect yourself from the north wind and thus make’s some of the harbours/anchorages off putting due to them being open to the north.
The wind became favourable to head north and again in company with Matapan, making it as far north as the island of Lesvos. We checked into Turkey to make some of the distances shorter, and although illegal, ran both the Greek and Turkish cruising permits. As long as you remembered to fly the blue or the red courtesy flag depending in which country you were anchoring that night. There was no problem. We enjoyed some great sails, great scenery and historic sights too. We only touched lightly on Turkish life hoping to visit there again next year
We enjoyed the anchorages east of Bodrum, away from the maddening crowd if not the gullets and would go back there again. Unfortunately we had a call from the UK to say Gordon’s father’s health was deteriorating and that we should head home sooner than later. We checked the boat into Leros, having her lifted for the winter prior to returning home to spend a couple of weeks with Geoff prior to him passing away.
We both returned to sort the boat out properly for the winter and then started work in the UK to fund the next years cruising fund.
Sadly P’s mum died this winter unexpectedly and it all reiterates the reason why we are out cruising while we can.

2008 Circumnavigation of the Peloponnese

The car was still working and so we decided to cover her up and leave her in Kalamata for a second year with the intention of driving her home in the autumn to make us mobile in the UK. With the car staying put we intended to return to the same marina for the winter and it made sense to circumnavigate the Peloponnese in an anti-clock wise direction, transiting the Corinth Canal on route. We had two notorious Cape’s to navigate first and as it turned out both Cape Matapan and Cape Malea were calm and we motored around both with the Monk’s waving from Malea, a good luck omen to sailors in the past.

We enjoyed the Saronic Gulf, south of Athens very much. It’s a well known cruising area for the Athenians with them flooding out there on a Friday evening in their hundreds. Once we discovered this and knew to find a place and stay for the weekend, it was fine. If we stayed out of the marinas it was also a cheap place to cruise and thus gave us the chance to enjoy the local Taverna’s.
We did get storm bound once, unfortunately when friends were out and not in a great location, but with two men on board, F7-8 downwind was a piece of cake!! Transiting the Corinth Canal was a fantastic experience and we should have taken the bimini down, advice we have given to others since. The size or depths of the sides of the canal, built over 100 yrs ago are awesome, with the foot prints visible where workmen climbed the sides. Worth every Euro to go through.

We found Trizonia again once back in the Gulf of Corinth, fully stocked we stayed 10 days or so. Many of the boats, the same ones as the year before and still no charge.
Back into the Ionian over old territory but meeting with friends and showing them anchorages that we liked before heading south to Kalamata. The weather this year seemed to deteriorate much earlier than previous years and we found ourselves back in our winter spot at the end of September but pleased when all the storms hit in early October.
We had the boat lifted again this year prior to working the winter in the UK. The throwaway car had lasted 2 years in the heat and so following “advice” we insured the car before driving it for an MOT test. The test centre just happened to be 1000 miles away but only half a mile once off the ferry and so we thought we should be ok re the car tax. The car even passed the MOT with only a new tyre needed.

2007 Ionian, Greece

We’d enjoyed the islands the previous year and decided to return to explore them more. This year though instead of flying to Greece we decided to buy a throw away car and drive down with all the extra things we felt we needed and couldn’t take on a flight or rather carry! A wonderful experience, driving through Europe, spending a couple of days in Venice before catching the ferry to Patras and a final 2 hour drive to Kalamata.
Once in the Ionian we enjoyed a great cruising season. We were no longer passage making with long distances to cover but island hopping in which ever way the wind took us. A little strange at first but we soon adapted and would stay in places for a few days exploring the area more. We met up with many friends and made many more too. It was also our first real encounter with “charter” boats. Entertaining if you’re secure and can watch but you sometimes found yourselves protecting your boat from their antics or helping them out of sticky situations. It was also a time that we found ourselves going back into bays we’d been before making it so much easier knowing what to expect, where to drop the anchor or not and where to tie back too. Our favourite place we found and many others have to, is Trizonia in the Gulf of Corinth. An unfinished marina that you tie up in with fresh water, 5 tavernas and a small shop. As long as you go fully stocked up you can stay for ages otherwise it’s a day trip to the local town starting with a 7am ferry (well fishing boat) trip. We very rarely see 7am!

The Ionian is a great cruising ground just a little busy.
We headed back to Kalamata for the winter as the car, that we thought we’d throw away was still there and still working. We decided to use it over the winter and if the Greek authorities wanted to take it away, well they could. They didn’t and we managed to see much of the inland of the Peloponnese. G also did some work on other people’s boats to earn some cruising fund money. The marina management weren’t overly impressed but the boat owners were pleased with word of mouth giving him almost too much work. P became a boat maintenance widow.

2006 Cagliari, Sardinia to Kalamata, Greece, via Croatia

After many leaving/farewell parties with the winterers of Cagliari, we headed off for a short shake down trip prior to crossing to Sicily with 2 other boats. A good overnight sail although a little bumpy, we had sight of the others most of the time and radio contact. This definitely gives reassurance on a long sail.
It was a good time to cruise Sicily with a few of the marinas free as it was too early in the season for some to be open. We went north to the Aeolian Islands to see Stromboli, the lighthouse of the Mediterranean, at night. Amazing. Mount Etna was always in sight and actually had a waypoint on the chart plotter.
We worked out tides for the Messinia Straits, the first time tides had come into effect for a while. All was correct apart from the wind suddenly turning on and giving us wind over tide. We reefed down and had a very wet sail to windward with the windsurfers weaving around us and unfortunately we didn’t see any swordfish or even boats hunting them!
The foot of Italy saw us cruising in company again whilst passage making along the coast. We weren’t racing though!! Much wine and Italian food was consumed before we parted with them and headed north to Croatia...
Croatia was beautiful with many anchorages and as long as you were sheltered from the open sea you were guaranteed a comfortable night. P was known to describe cruising here as “cream puff sailing”. Cruising chute out, flat seas and gentle breezes, perfect. It was hard to believe that the country had been at war just over a decade ago with only evidence of bullet marks in the more remote inland villages. It wasn’t a cheap place to stay, with marinas being the same price as UK but anchorages were free and plentiful. An area we are likely to visit again. Our visitors that year, we believe, think the same, a great place to cruise.
Time began to run out and we headed south for our winter berth. A planned meeting with others that we’d met along the way, found us going through the Ionian Islands relatively quickly but the taster helped to make our mind up that we’d return the following year.
Kalamata on the Peloponnese was a great wintering place, a city that had everything you could possibly need and if they didn’t they’d make it! It was not a hard decision to return there for the next 3 winters. This year though we had the boat lifted out and travelled home to return to work as our money was starting to run out and it gave P the opportunity to return to practice before her registration ran out. G stepped straight into work too and the cruising fund was easily made.

2005 Portimao, Portugal to Cagliari, Sardinia

We were later leaving than others due to our sad visit home but this gave us chance to get information on places ahead of us that others had already visited. Some of the harbours in Spain were shut that year for repairs which made others busy and longer trips in between harbours. It seemed we were motoring a lot of the time and we often say it would have used much less diesel to go through the canals to the Med than round the outside.
We continued to sight see as we went, visiting Cadiz and Seville both beautiful Spanish cities. We stopped in Gibraltar and did the tourist bit but found it far too English and apart from the fresh milk wanted to get back to Spain to shop. We stayed as long as the berth would let as we had broken the auto helm and needed to get it fixed. We had to unfortunately leave before it was ready and planned a 20 mile tip along the coast. All was well until the wind increased far more than we expected and we ended up with 45 knots over the deck and no safe harbour for 50 miles. We did this in 7 hours with no auto helm and P kissed the ground when we were tied up safe. It took us a whole day on the bus to go back to Gibraltar to get the repaired auto helm!
Carrying along the Spanish coast we met up with some new and old friends, some taking only 5 weeks from England to get to where we were, true sailors! We soon taught them to start cruising!
The Balearic Islands were lovely with some good sailing but very busy and a new style of anchoring for us, with a line ashore in some places. This we wouldn’t get used to until we made Croatia.

We anchored for most of the time in the Balearics as the marinas were always full and very expensive, over 100 euros for a 36ft boat. We decided to spend the money on washing instead!
Waiting for the right wind to cross to Sardinia seemed to take for ever, changing our minds and going to Barcelona became a serious thought when the wind continued to blow in that direction. Eventually the wind was right and 3 boats crossed the day we did, we left 4 hours before one and 8 before the other and we arrived 4 hours after both of them. Still we had someone to take our lines and longer to learn a little Italian!
We enjoyed Sardinia and the Italian way of life. When friends ahead found a good cheap place to winter we agreed to stay to but continued to cruise Sardinia for a few weeks more.
A smaller community for the winter than Portugal, which gave the opportunity to get to know everyone better. With more activities, music, art and Italian lessons and all that the city had to offer.
There were cars to use from the marina which made shopping so easy, airport runs a doodle and touring the island also. The pizza man did well out of us too!
Christmas and New year were great celebrations in the Marina with everyone doing their bit from BBQ’s to buffet lunches and a live band in the City on NY eve.
A truly memorable winter.

2004 Portsmouth, England to Portimao, Portugal

We had a shaky start to our adventure with strong winds preventing us crossing the English Channel on our first attempt. Instead of making Cherbourg we made Weymouth and spent 5 days waiting for the winds to die down and finally crossing in calm conditions to Guernsey. The wind picked up again and delayed our move onto France where we were due to meet some friends. They called one night and told us that if we didn’t get there the next day they were going home. So our decision was made, and to this day I swear it was one of our worse sailing conditions that we went out in. But we made it to the north Brittany coast in just about one piece, opening the champagne before even taking off our foul weather gear.

The Brittany coast is a beautiful cruising ground and if possibly becomes more so to the south. It puts your sailing skills and knowledge to the test with the strong and large tides which need working out before moving onto the next harbour/anchorage.

We had friends joining us in La Rochelle to cross the Bay of Biscay, our insurance company insisted that there we 3 adults on board and so we went for safety and had 4. After windy weather we actually motored most of the trip with only 8 hours of sailing at the start. Not that it bothered P, she was just glad to get it over and done with and can say she has done the Bay of Biscay.

We did suffer a leaking stern gland at the end of the crossing and this required us to lift our in Sada, Northern Spain to replace it. We waited until our friends had left so as not to disrupt their holiday. Once repairs had been carried out we continued onward into the Spanish Ria’s another beautiful cruising area where we began to meet the same boats that were going the same way as Crazydream and thus some good friendships began.

The trade winds that are meant to carry you down the Portuguese coast never happened that year, or many other years it seems, and so we motored many long trips down that coast made more bearable in the company of other boats. And of course it wasn’t a race! There were many stops in different harbours to rest after the 10 hour days or to wait for the right weather which enabled friendship to grow more with far too much drinking and eating occurring but we managed to do the sight seeing bits too. Porto and Lisbon to name a couple of places visited.

Much earlier than we thought we would, we stopped in Portimao and decided to spend the winter there. With many other cruisers making it their winter stop it soon had a good community feeling. We visited the UK over the Christmas and New Year period seeing our parents and as many friends as we could.

It was always a contingency plan that we would have the money to get home if one of the parents became ill. Unfortunately we had to make a further trip back in the March as P’s father became very unwell and subsequently died but we made it back in time to see him and say the things you want to.

When we returned to the boat it was the start of the next season cruise and where would we head for

Why we're doing what we're doing

A little history.

We had always said that when we retired we’d buy a yacht and sail to The Mediterranean.

Gordon had been sailing for a few years on Dart 18 Catamarans and when I met him, I either took up the hobby or the relationship ended before it began. Thankfully I did enjoy it, even if I wasn’t the most agile crew. We had many friends in the Dart crowd and Tofty (Allan Toft) was the first to purchase a 28-foot Dufour yacht. He took us for day trips to Cowes and we started to get the liking for it. Our friends Rick and Mads Payne took us out for our first weekend on a boat, a small Fox terrier and if you can survive on one of those for 3 nights, you’ll survive most things.

We obviously went on about how much we enjoyed it that when our friends Sandi and Colin invited us for a 10-day holiday on their newly acquired GK 29, we jumped at the chance. It was the life, no more squeezing into wet suits and hanging out on the trapeze, Gin and tonics in the cockpit was the life for us. Roll on retirement.

Our dream was brought forward by many years in the fact that we lost a couple of friends our own age, through cancer. It made us stop and think about what was round the corner and would we even reach retirement!

We were both getting very fed up with work and not really enjoying what we were doing anymore. The NHS had certainly changed and the more senior Pauline was getting the more stress that was involved. It was on one of those days that I came home from work in tears and said “why are we waiting till we retire?” That was it, the house was on the market within 10 days and we’d made a list of things to sell or pass on.

It wasn’t easy finding the boat, we must have looked at hundreds of different types and always thought we’d never afford a Westerly. Then we saw the paperwork for “Seasnake”. We looked, we liked. To be sure we made a journey up to North Wales to look at another Corsair and although it was newer we still preferred “Seasnake”, although not the name!

We knew the boat needed treatment for osmosis when we bought her a lot less than the asking price, so when we were having it done, we did a lot of replacing, fixing, adding and maintenance of things. This gave us the opportunity to learn the boat inside out and for me to realise what a handy person Gordon is to have around! All in all with the osmosis treatment and adding electrical gear we must have put another eight thousand pound into the boat, but we feel it’s all worth it.

We set a date for giving up work, April 2004, and this came round really quickly but the anxiety of actually going didn’t start until we’d both given up work. Or rather Pauline has a sabbatical and has the chance to go back to work on the same grade, in the same place in 3 years. We’d decided to see how we enjoyed it and how the money was going before we made the decision on that!