Out of the Gulf of Corinth - Sunday May 9th

Saturday morning, still in Andikiron
with Pam talking to me again – just. Easterlies were forecast so we
were staying the day and then heading down for the Corinth Canal on
Sunday. The wind had died down from the previous day and we had
another gorgeous day in the sun.

I suppose we had better start the "best
pub in the world competition" again – as I'm sure you are all dying
to know where it is (not). If you have been keeping up with the plot
over the past 2 years, you will remember the British Pub in Lisbon
was the 2008 winner but I haven't the foggiest who I gave it to last
year. I think it might have been Lazy Jacks in Lagos on the strength
of their happy hour pricing all day but I am not always right.
Usually but not always.

Anyway, we went to a bar lunchtime for
a beer and a wine and a chill out looking out over the waterfront
(there's a surprise then) – well it was Saturday! Two big Amstells
and ½ litre of wine were 5.10 Euros!!! The Amstell was 1.70 a bottle
– that's cheap. We ate there that night with Karen and Richard and
it was around 10 Euros a head. The place I think was called the
Mermaid (but most of the bar names were undecipherable with the Greek
spellings) so look for the one with the blue and yellow tartan type
table cloths about 200 yards to the left of the pier. The mermaid is
now in pole position. After eating we all went back to Grand Slam to
polish off a bottle of Ouzo. At this point someone may raise a
question of accuracy. I definitely remember polishing off a bottle of
Ouzo with Karen and Richard in Andikiron but perhaps the exact day of
the week escapes me!

Sunday was an early start. We actually
got up at 6am and headed off just before 7am heading south east
towards Corinth. The forecast was up to force 5 behind us but we only
found up to a 3 until we got to Corinth at noon ish when it then
obligingly picked up to 15-18 knots to keep us amused while we waited
to be called to go through the canal. We had to wait an hour and a
half in a lot of swell and thanfull that we called just as the wind
was picking up to 20 knots – driving a heavy swell in from the
west.

The transit of the canal was uneventful
and we tied up the other end in 20knts of wind to pay our 160 Euros –
what a rip off. That's about 50 Euros a mile – and they wouldn't
take plastic. Only cash!!! We cleared the canal around 3pm and headed
south west towards Korfos about 18 miles away. To start with it was
headsail only out and drifted along with 20knts up our backside but
typical – this died after a few miles to leave us no wind. We were
fortunate that it picked up to around 15knts and we were able to get
the main up and the full jenny out for an hour with the wind on our
back quarter. The first decent sail since Portugal. Perfect. We were
still in convoy with Pyxis who just ran their headsail so we ended up
a bit ahead of them.

We got into Korfos at 6 ish and tied up
at one of the Taverna quays – a 12 hour day. I was knackered to say
the least. Tidied the boat up, had a beer then we went to eat in the
Taverna with Karen and Richard then collapsed in bed. A hard days
work but at least we are out of the Gulf of Corinth into what on
first impressions looks a great sailing area. As there is bad weather
forecast next weekend, we may be here longer than we intended.
Tomorrow Monday is going to be a day off – Pam has decided!

I did mention in a previous post a
problem we had had with our Gori prop. When we lifted the boat in Mid
April to antifoul, I noticed the prop seemed to have excess play in
it. With the help of Steve from Piper, we managed to get the 3 blade
gori folding prop off. It was difficult to tell what was wrong but we
suspected the plastic bush inside had degraded. Given it was
impossible to get an new part before re-launch a day later, I elected
to put the original 2 blade prop that had come with the boat when
new. I was a bit apprehensive 'cause it looked a bit small – was it
man enough for the job? Well, I shouldn't have worried. It moves the
boat forward around 5% faster for a given revs and it revs a lot
higher than the Gori did. I can now do 8 knots under power. I always
thought the Gori was pretty poor at motoring even if it did fold when
the motor was off. I can now keep up 6 knts at 1800 revs and the
prop kick in reverse is no different. Unless this one falls off, I
don't think the Gori will be going back on again until we start
racing again which is when the next ice age hits hell – according
to Pam. By the way, Pam is talking to me again as it is very pleasant
here in Korfos.