STABILISERS PART 3

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter while we're home for the New Zealand summer returning to Greece in April.

Our last Post discussed passive stabilisers.

This shot shows Laurie holding a bird, connected to a winch for lowering into the water. You can see the holes on top of the bird for adjusting the stabilising effect

Active stabilisers consist of a fin mounted below the waterline extending out each side of the hull using mostly hydraulics but in some systems electric motors to move them like aircraft ailerons to counteract rolling motion.

Envoy out of the water with stabilising fin visible

Envoy has hydraulically driven fins with the hydraulic pump powered by vee-belts from the main engine crankshaft and a 12 volt DC pump providing a constant flow of sea water to cool the hydraulic fluid. An electronic motion detector signals the hydraulics to move the fins to suit differing sea conditions with adjustment available via two thumb wheels in a pilot house control box.

The main advantages of this active system are that it's more effective than passive stabilisers providing 80-90 per cent roll reduction (compared to about 70 per cent), it deploys quickly with no physical effort required, it's easily adjustable using the electronic control system and causes negligible speed reduction.

However on the negative side the initial and ongoing cost of active stabilisers is expensive and during ten years we've spent several thousands of dollars replacing seals, sea water cooling pumps, vee-belts, filters, a hydraulic pump with its load adaptor, a servo valve and electronic components. Another issue is that they are highly specialised equipment and generally require trained and authorised engineers to provide service.
We're just about to make another significant investment to remove the fins and replace the through-hull seals, something which is required about every five years. This is a job the majority of owners including ourselves wouldn't attempt do themselves and special equipment is needed to remove the fins.

Set of through-hull seals

We're also going to make a modification so that when the system is not in use the fins hydraulically lock in the centre position. Currently the fins move at rest (which is noisy and potentially damaging) in all but the most sheltered of anchorages, so when necessary we secure them in the centred position through a fiddly process of using manual locking bolts. The actions of locking them and then unlocking them takes about 15 minutes.

An active stabilisation system also requires a significant investment in spare parts and we carry a spare sea water pump, hydraulic motor, load adaptor, set of vee belts and oil filter. The fins can potentially be fouled by flotsam or lines although this has only happened to us once in a marina. Although some active stabilisation systems can be used at anchor with a generator running to provide power ours cannot, in any case we wouldn't want to have an engine running overnight.

Partially hidden by the starboard side of the wheel is the stabilisers' control system

Using both systems we've occasionally found it necessary to alter course by about 30 degrees to “tack” and take the waves more on Envoy's bow when encountering closely-spaced, steep waves over about two and a half metres breaking directly on our beam.
A full displacement hull like Envoy definitely requires some form of stabilisation and the vast majority if not all Nordhavns have a system fitted. We're pleased to have both active and passive systems aboard Envoy but if restricted to one would undoubtedly select the passive system for its reliability, economy and ability to use at anchor.

Next Post will take a light-hearted look a the use of the title “Captain”.

STABILISERS PART 2

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we are home for the New Zealand summer, heading back in April.
Upcoming Posts - Stabilisers Part 3, Cruising in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf aboard 48ft motor yacht Moritz, Using the title Captain, Envoy's 2017 cruising plans.

Our last Posting introduced the subject of stabilisers, now we'll talk more about passive stabilisers.

A passive stabilisation system consist of two poles each about seven metres long mounted near amidships on the vessel's beam, which are stored vertically and when in use lowered to be deployed out from the vessel's side using a downhaul, topping lift and fore and aft guy-wires to keep them in position. They are mostly made from aluminium or steel though less commonly using laminated timber.

A large metal plate weighing about 25kg and shaped like a delta-winged aircraft, known as a “paravane”, “bird” (the term we use) or “fish” suspends from the end of the pole using a combination of chain and nylon line, the latter providing some spring to reduce shock loads. The front of the bird is weighted to make it “fly” through the water in a nose-down position approximately five metres below the surface and the top of the bird has several chain attachment points to adjust the bird's angle through the water. The further aft you attach the chain the more the bird tends to dive deeper and the more aggressive becomes the bird's stabilising action at the expense of increased drag.

This image shows the port pole and bird deployed with the downhaul, topping lift and fore and aft guy-wires

Due to the birds' weight and large awkward shape some form of winch is used to deploy and retrieve them (we use a light block and tackle) and with familiarity this process takes about 15 minutes.

When not in use we store the birds well out of the way on the boat deck, but if intending to use them we move them down to the cockpit so they're ready for immediate use.

Centre-right is a bird stored on Envoy's upper deck

The poles provide a distinctive fishing-boat-like appearance that won't suit everybody but certainly creates interest among other cruisers.

Stabiliser poles provide a distinctive appearance - love it or hate it! Port deployed, starboard raised

On some boats the poles are stored in a near horizontal position along the superstructure and this probably makes for a tidier appearance.

This system's big advantages are effectiveness - reducing roll by about 70 per cent, low initial and ongoing cost and reliability since there are no mechanical or moving parts - in the ten years we've owned Envoy no part of the system has needed replacement or maintenance. Just now we're having the birds epoxy-painted over the galavanising which is rusting slightly.

It's disadvantages are that it slows your boat down by about 10 per cent, there is some risk of the birds fouling flotsam or lines in the water (although ours never have) and the system cannot be rigged and de-rigged in shallow water or confined spaces.

Another huge benefit of this system is that by suspending a different type of metal plate the system provides highly effective stabilisation at anchor. Envoy's plates, known as “flopper-stoppers”, each consist of two flat plates of stainless steel plate joined together along one side with a hinge. When the boat rolls downward the hinge allows the plates to close together and drop rapidly and when the boat rolls upwards the hinge allows the plates to open and resist upward pressure. This system is extremely effective enabling us to anchor in places where roll or wakes would normally make it too uncomfortable. Flopper stoppers are comparatively light and easily deployed and retrieved by hand.
They can be used in depths over four metres.

Laurie holds a flopper-stopper

Here the port flopper-stopper has been deployed alongside a jetty to reduce the effects of a side-swell during a gale in Cephalonia

Next posting will look at ACTIVE stabilisers and our view on what is the "best" option.

STABILISERS PART 1

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we are home for the New Zealand summer returning to Lefkas during April.

This posting is based around an article I've written for Pacific MotorBoat magazine.

In pre-Envoy days boating around Auckland's Hauraki Gulf we owned several planing boats culminating in a 40 ft Oliver Royale GRP planing boat with twin Yanmar diesel shaft drives. We never then considered rolling to be an issue, however we realised very soon after buying our Nordhavn 46, Envoy, that full-displacement hulls are another matter, definitely requiring stabilisation to provide acceptable levels of comfort and safety when cruising moderate distances in beam seas higher than about one metre. I'm sure there are reasons for this that a boat designer could properly articulate. As much as I know is that in slight to moderate seas the flatter hull sections of a planing boat resist rolling to a greater extent than the rounded sections of a displacement boat. Also I have found that a fast boat on the plane seems to sit quite comfortably on beam waves without too much roll. On the negative side I understand that planing boats can roll dangerously in heavy beam seas and are more prone to capsize than ballasted displacement hulls like the Nordhavn. Additionally planing hulls pound when their flat sections hit waves, whereas the rounded sections of displacement hulls rise and fall more gracefully with greatly reduced noise and violent motion.

In our experience a planning boat like our previous 40 ft Oliver Royale doesn't roll under way to the extent that a displacement hull does

What follows isn't a technical treatise but comments based on cruising thousands of miles using Envoy's three stabilisation systems.

Stabilisers have been used for many years aboard commercial vessels but aboard pleasure craft only for about the last 40 years, considerably reducing rolling motion in beam seas, but with minimal effect on pitching caused by seas on the bow or stern.

Now some reader is bound to think “buy a catamaran and you won't have a problem” and I'd be the first to agree you've got a lesser problem, but we've met many folks who complain about their cat's motion both under way and at rest. Of course this is either better or worse depending on their design, as with monohulls.

Envoy at anchor with starboard stabiliser pole deployed with flopper-stopper to reduce roll from slight swell. The port pole can be seen in the vertical position

A web search shows many variations of stabilisers, but the mainstream systems fall into three basic types; passive, active and rotary.
We have no experience with rotary stabilisers, which are a more recent development utilising a flywheel contained in a vacuum chamber to provide a gyro effect, but they're reportedly highly effective in roll reduction both under way and at anchor with the advantages of having no protruding parts to cause speed-reducing drag or become fouled. They are able to be retrofitted either amidships or offset to one side, but have a significant investment cost. Presumably, if used for long periods such as overnight at anchor a generator would be needed to provide sufficient power – something we would not want to do.
Envoy has both passive and active stabilisers providing effective stabilisation under way and at anchor.

Envoy with both poles deployed with flopper stoppers to reduce roll at an exposed anchorage with ferry wakes

Next posting will discuss passive stabilisers in detail.

ATHENS

Happy New Year to our readers from around the world.
Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we are home enjoying the New Zealand summer.

Back to early November and after a very scenic five hour bus trip from Lefkas we stop over one night in Athens on our way home. There are so many ancient ruins in Greece that we see many along the way that aren't even signposted. This is real treat for us coming from NZ where there are hardly any structures over 150 years old.

Our hotel is in the downtown Plaka district close to the Acropolis and next morning we go for a walk in a huge wooded park next to parliament. Historically this park was the gardens of the royal family and parliament was their palace.

On the way back to the hotel we encounter a large and very peaceful demonstration of several thousand older folks carrying placards protesting the pension cuts that have been part of Greece's austerity measures. One retired man tells us his pension was formerly 2,300 Euros (about NZ$3,540) per month and has been progressively cut to 1,200 Euros (about NZ$1,850). Although the cut is obviously huge we cannot help feeling that the pensions were too high in the first place.

A cab driver later tells us that employment is very high at about 37 per cent. Greece's family culture is very strong however and most family groups own their own home, resulting in adult offspring often leaving apartments they can no longer afford and living with their parents. He explained there is little government support available for unemployed people but family and friends assist.

Importantly for the cruising community the worsened socio-economic situation hasn't increased crime and Greece remains an extremely safe country, our driver advising that a lone female can safely walk anywhere any time (which is certainly not the case in many parts home in New Zealand).

The same driver stops at a scenic lookout half way up the steepest of the seven hills of Athens for a spectacular view of the city, the Acropolis and the ocean. Athens is a large city of nearly 4m people with few high rise buildings as since the mid 70s new buildings aren't allowed to block views of the Parthenon on the towering Acropolis.

We now plan to continue Blog postings relating to Envoy and cruising in general until we return to Greece in April. Next posting will discuss stabilisation.

FINAL DAYS IN GREECE FOR 2016

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter while we're home in New Zealand enjoying summer.

Back to late October and it's always much more fun getting any boat ready to cruise for the summer than to store for the winter, but we get stuck into Envoy's winter storage process. We have this well documented and it's simply a case of spending a few days doing all the jobs and ticking them off.

On the way back to Lefkas we spotted a Diesel Duck trawler. These are a rugged no-nonsense go anywhere passagemaker that we've often admired.

Diesel Duck

At this time of the year there are frequent squally fronts passing over like the one depicted below that chased Envoy down the coast.

Squally front

Envoy in Lefkas marina with winter cover fitted

After a couple of days a cat befriends us and becomes a regular visitor, boarding Envoy in the mornings for a feed. We're very happy to see plenty of cats around any marina as it keeps the rodent population down.


TECHNICAL
Our end of season jobs include running the generator, wing engine and all sea water pumps for about 15 minutes with a mixture of fresh water and Saltoff, then introducing glycol to replace the water in order to reduce corrosion during the period of non-use. This is time consuming as we need to remove the top from each equipment item's water strainer and feed it using a fresh water hose.
We fit Envoy's storage cover, now nine years old, which has been reconditioned during the summer with patches sewn over areas of thinning fabric, plus new velcro and zips. It goes on easily and will keep Envoy dry and clean during winter.

Apart from other routine season-end procedures we:
-Get a RHIB specialist, Nikos, to visit and replace two air valves on our large Nautica RHIB. A special tool and some practice is needed to do this. These valves have been marginal for a while and Nikos says they were close to failure.
Nikos also takes away our smaller Valiant RHIB and during the winter will repair a pontoon's slow air leak and a transom sea water leak.
-Sailand's Velisaris visits to review several jobs to be done during winter.
The dual trumpet air horn has failed due to water ingress and needs repair or replacement.
One of two domestic fresh water supply filters has a leaking filter housing which needs replacement. Our “Water Fixer” U/V water purifying lamp needs a check to see if it's working.
Our Lugger's alternator and Maxwell windlass electric motor need removal and checking.
Our main Raritan Atlantes head needs investigation to determine why it won't discharge through its seacock, but only via the holding tank, which has a different outlet overboard.

-Sailand will also do several other jobs for us during winter:
Our stabiliser paravanes or “birds” as we call them (the metal plates that go under water) need maintenance as the galvanising is starting to corrode. Sailand advise the quality of galvanising in Greece is not good so recommend an epoxy primer and top coat instead which will enable easier future maintenance.
Two Plexiglas deck hatches in the guest cabin need re-sealing into their frames.
Our Lugger main engine, Yanmar wing engine and Northern Lights generator will have all cooling hoses checked and replaced where necessary, coolant drained and replaced, air filters cleaned and a complete visual check.
The generator will also have its mountings checked, fresh water circulating pump checked and sea water pump serviced.
The Yanmar will also have its sea water pump checked and impeller replaced.
Before we return to Lefkas Sailand will lift Envoy from the water to prepare the hull for anti-fouling, clean and check the running gear and remove and clean the keel cooler.

With all complete it's goodbye Envoy until we return in April … but the Blog continues.

ENVOY CRUISES BACK TO LEFKAS MARINA

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter while we're home in New Zealand to enjoy the summer.

Now back to mid-October. As we leave Gouvia Marina we load another 400 litres of diesel to top up our fuel tanks as it's best to leave them full to reduce condensation during long absences from any boat. This brings our total diesel purchase this year to a very reasonable 4,025 litres, which has been sufficient for six months cruising most days.
One of the hugely compelling qualities of a full-displacement boat like Envoy is her economy at about six to seven litres of diesel per hour. A similar sized planing vessel would use something like 150 litres per hour and even though it'd be covering around 20 miles in an hour we only need about 22 litres to cover the same distance – one seventh as much.

We cruise slowly south towards Lefkas visiting places we've mentioned previously in the Blog so won't repeat.
Anchored off the town of Preveza we have a choppy night in 20 knot onshore winds and are woken early in the morning by fishermen who want to retrieve their net. It's not uncommon for them to lay their nets and lines throughout recognised anchoring areas.
It's late season and now there are few boats around except for a few hardy souls taking advantage of the off-peak yacht charter rates and cruisers on the way to winter berths. Ashore the beach umbrellas and deck chairs are stacked away, many tavernas and shops have closed their shutters until next year and the still open ones are largely deserted. During this time we have some fine weather but also more rain and thunderstorms leading us to decide that next year we'll have a shorter season and return home around mid-October.
After anchoring for the last time we let out most of our chain and during retrieval wash the salt off with fresh water to reduce corrosion during winter storage. Pulling into the marina for winter on Sunday 23rd October gives us nine days before leaving for Athens - ample time to complete wintering procedures and a few remaining jobs. I say this every year – it's great and very satisfying to return after living aboard for seven months and cruising over 2,000 miles with no accidents, injuries or more than minor technical issues.
We berth alongside Coco, a 52ft sailing yacht owned by a Scots couple, George and Anne, and hardly finish connecting water and shore power before they invite us aboard for a drink. They're sprightly mid-70s who've visited NZ and we Scotland, so we find plenty in common resulting in several great evenings together during our short time in the marina.
That night I break a tooth munching on an olive. Although it's not sore I decide to get it seen to in case of any problems occurring on the long journey home. The marina office recommends a dentist who sees me just an hour after my call. She's highly qualified being a Doctor of Dentistry (dentists generally have a Bachelor degree) with a spotless surgery who charges just 50 Euros (about NZ$77) for a filling that takes about half an hour. At home the charge would be more like $300 - we've been well pleased by the high standard and low cost of medical treatment in Greece.
The marina costs 2,764 Euros (about NZ$4,252) being about $22 per day. Many cruisers go on the hard stand at nearby and cheaper Preveza, but we prefer the whole infrastructure, convenience and atmosphere of Lefkas.

Next post will discuss year-end maintenance issues.

ENVOY MAINTENANCE IN GOUVIA MARINA

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we are home in New Zealand.

Back to mid-October. After Charles departs we stay for a few days at Gouvia Marina to take advantage of its excellent technical infrastructure and technicians who've worked on Envoy before, as some maintenance is needed.

TECHNICAL
-Our washing machine's water discharge pump has not been working for a few weeks and we've been using the machine by siphoning the water out. Two technicians from Miel examine it finding that the pump's AC wire has broken away from the very fine diameter output wire from the motor (as we thought). They remove the pump and motor from the machine to Envoy's cockpit where there's plenty of space to solder the wires and then secure them physically, which was not possible to do in-situ with the confined space.

Our washing machine is hard to access in its cavity half way up stairs to guest cabin

With the pump removed it's more easily serviced

-One of our two independent air conditioners has a fault with its 120V seawater cooling pump. It's not receiving AC power from the air conditioner's control unit. Angelos finds that a TRIAC (a three terminal semiconductor device) has failed, replaces it with a heavier duty version and all is well.
This is after two technicians in Crete spent time on it and said it couldn't be fixed.
-Our watermaker has a minute water leak from the high pressure hose going into the membrane. Angelos says this is common fault and supplied a new hose. He was reluctant to test it in the dirty water of the marina so we test it a few days later finding a new slight leak in a different place. By now we are three hours cruising time from the marina so in consultation with Angelos decide to leave it for him to look at when we pass through Corfu next May. This course of action has the added benefit that the very competent Angelos can check out the whole water maker system for us at the start of the season.

Ever-cheerful watermaker and aircon expert Angelos

-The "Whale" 12V pump that empties our below-waterline main head's sink has failed. On removal it's beyond economical repair and replaced with an identical new one.
-The forward head's holding tank level indicator is not working. It seems the sender float unit is stuck even though it was removed and cleaned in May. Of course this doesn't stop the head from being used. We decide to leave this until there is some need to remove the head for service, then locate the exact position of the sender and drill a whole through the head's floor large enough to extract and clean the sender without difficulty in future as required.
-Our trumpet air horn is not working. We removed the air compressor and it has rusted due to water ingress, which the technician says is a common problem. We virtually never use the horn and in any case have a separate aerosol-powered one so decide to leave this for Sailand to try and fix during winter in Lefkas.
-Our domestic fresh water supply passes through two filters. One of the filter housings is leaking and we've been reluctant to remove it in case it breaks completely and compromises our fresh water supply. After consultation with Angelos we decide to leave this for replacement during winter.

BROTHER CHARLES VISITS ENVOY

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we're in London with our daughter Amy en route to New Zealand and home.

Back to early October and my brother Charles joins us at Corfu for his first visit to Envoy. It was Charles who first introduced us to Med cruising when we spent some time aboard his 34ft sailing yacht in Turkey. He'd sailed it from Australia with his now-wife Marie and after several years in the Med continued on to the far north-east of Scotland where they now lives and he works as Harbour Master in Lossiemouth, near Elgin. It was during our time with Charles and Marie that we decided to buy our own Med-based boat. Look what they started!

Still anchored off Corfu town we meet New Zealanders Alan and Tina from the yacht, Whisper. They're the first NZers we've met this season and it turns out they know our NZ friends Bruce and Leslie from the catamaran, Midi.

Di, Tina, Allan and Laurie in Envoy's cockpit, Corfu

Visiting Malta has been on our minds for a while and Alan and Tina provide us with some more information about this interesting destination, making it a definite possibility for next year.

Checking my emails one morning I see an official-looking one mentioning the US Navy and my first thought is that I'm getting a telling off for including a photo in our Blog of a USN ship moored in Crete's Soudha Bay.

Here's that photo again

On reading the email though I'm delighted to find that it's from a very senior officer of the USN's 6th Fleet, Destroyer Squadron 60 saying that he's very happy to see “one of my ships, USS Ross, appear in the Blog”. The officer and I have since had several exchanges of emails and it turns out that he has an interest in Nordhavns and follows our Blog. We're even talking about possibly meeting up next year in Italy where he's based - Diane and I haven't exactly decided which of two cruising plans we're going to adopt next year but both include Italy.

We spend a couple of nights of perfect tranquility anchored at Mourtos until the weather forecast predicts southerly winds over 30 knots with heavy rain, quickly turning to northerly winds over 30 knots. This is the kind of forecast it's hard to find shelter from, but nearby Igoumenitsa Creek is perfect so we head there to anchor in a depth of about 14 metres (a bit deeper than we prefer) laying out 60 metres of chain. The bottom is mud and Envoy has a heavy (40kg) Delta anchor plus 3/8 inch chain and we rarely drag with this much chain out.
There's plenty of thunder and spectacular lightning plus a choppy sea whipped up by over 40 knot gusts, but we're perfectly safe.

Balmy evening in our anchorage before the storm

Wind-driven chop in Igoumenitsa Creek

Laurie and Charles at Koulara

Koulara Harbour

Charles leaves us at Corfu's Gouvia Marina where we visit to get a few maintenance jobs done (details in next posting). Meanwhile summer seems to have come to a sudden end and we have several days below 20d with heavy showers and thunderstorms.

In Gouvia we meet some other New Zealanders – Trevor Giles from catamaran Kiwi and Chris and Michelle from yacht Endless Summer.
An Australian yacht Pablo Neruda berths next to us, formerly owned by Melbourne-based Rob and Kerry, who we met through recent visitors Simon and Bronwyn and who gave us a lot of cruising advice before we started in the Med.

SIMON AND BRONWYN CRUISE WITH US FROM CEPHALONIA TO CORFU

We're aboard Envoy at Greece's Lefkas Marina as we prepare to leave her for the winter and return home to New Zealand in just a few days.

Back to mid-September - with an overnight onshore wind change we've had an uncomfortable night anchored off Poros and shift in the early light of morning to Antisamos Beach for a calm and enjoyable day and night. From here it's a short hop to Ay Eufemia where we spend three nights anchored in the harbour before meeting our Australian friends Simon and Bronwyn (SandB).

There's a few wasps around and during this time having not long recovered from her sea urchin sting Diane get's two wasp stings on a finger resulting in some painful swelling!
The night before SandB's arrival we have a violent thunderstorm with heavy rain and winds well over 30 knots. A charter yacht anchored in front of us drags to only five metres abeam of us but her crew is alert and they safely re-anchor. This is common in strong winds as charter yachts often have light ground tackle and inexperienced crews.
Our plan is to cruise with SandB about 110 miles to Corfu and along the way we'll be anchoring at some of our favourite places. This is SandB's first Envoy cruise but they are experienced sailors having raced yacht, owned boats and cruised the Med with other friends, so are very quickly part of the crew with Simon sharing watches from day one.
First stop is just eleven miles away at Foki Bay from where it's an easy walk or ride by dinghy to Fiskhardo, a great bay surrounded by tavernas and funky shops. Most yachts visiting here and similar harbours go stern-to the quay, but we prefer to anchor nearby so we can swim, enjoy some privacy and avoid the hassles of tangled anchor chains. It's getting late in the season but there's a surprisingly high number of boats around.

Great bougainvilleas adorn Fiskhardo house

Envoy anchored in Foki Bay

After a night at nearby Sivota we enter the Lefkas canal and refuel at the marina, taking on 1,325 litres which will be our last major refuel of the year, then anchor in the canal off Lefkas so we can show SandB around the village. After leaving the canal we head north to the mainland village of Parga, always quite special and this visit no exception.

Simon, Laurie and Bronwyn enjoy a coffee at a Parga taverna

Parga's castle entrance and harbour below

Fiskhardo, Sivota and Parga have been featured in earlier blogs so not detailed here.
The weather is still fine with daytime temperatures in the mid 20s but by night it's now cool enough to need a blanket on our beds and to wear sweatshirts. The wind is very light – mainly less than 10 knots which is great for motorboat cruising and for calm anchorages.

While anchored in Lakka Bay on Paxxos Island we meet some Australian cruisers – Peter and Colleen from Wild Passion who recently left Turkey. They tell us things are rapidly going downhill there, much worse than is reported in the press, that cruisers are leaving in droves and charter boat operators are moving their boats to other destinations. They were planning to stay another season at Kas Marina but so many cruisers have left that marina management have doubled the fees to maintain their income level, ironically forcing those hardy cruisers unworried by the political situation to leave because they can't afford to stay.

We spend some time at the mainland anchorage of Mourtos and then Corfu.

Kayakers pass our anchorage at Mourtos

With Envoy safely anchored off Corfu Bronwyn and Di hit the shops while Simon and I explore the Old Fortress, one of two Venetian fortresses that guarded Corfu, an island of huge strategic importance protecting the trade route to the Adriatic Sea. The impressive rock was first fortified by Byzantines during the 6th century and later improved to withstand artillery by the Venetians in the 15th century. Corfu withstood three Turkish sieges in 1571, 1573 and 1716 and remained one of very few areas in the region never taken by Turks. Corfu became an English Protectorate from 1815-64 and the fortress became their garrison.

Corfu's impressive Old Fortress

A parade of Greek sailors in Corfu although we don't know what the occasion is

It's serious enough to involve four priests though

A large cruise ship in the background - many visit Corfu

FOR FOODIES
Laurie, Diane, Bronwyn and Simon enjoying farewell dinner in Corfu at excellent Athos restaurant y discovered by Bronwyn in Trip Advisor

We enjoy an excellent fish soup, with crusty hot fresh bread, mussels and tuna washed down with a local rose wine. They also surprised us with small free tastings served between courses and a tasting tray of desserts. Altogether one of the nicest eateries we've been to

 Here SandB leave us after two great weeks with plans made to link up again soon in NZ.

ENVOY CRUISES WEST BACK TO THE IONIAN SEA

Envoy is currently at Lefkas Marina, our Greek home base as we prepare to leave her for the winter next week and return home for the NZ summer.

As Nikos Kazantzakis's epic book Zorba the Greek says, “Happy is the man, who before dying, has the opportunity to sail the Aegean Sea.”
We've certainly had that opportunity, sharing hundreds of days there in one of the world's greatest cruising grounds with family and special friends during 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016.
Crete will always be a special place in our hearts. Spanning across the southern end of the Aegean Sea, Crete is a large island measuring some 260km from west to east and 50km from north to south with three mountain ranges towering to over 2,000 metres. Its topography is extremely rugged with few major inland roads and little traffic outside the main towns.
Talking of traffic, compared to what we are used to home in NZ the driving standard is certainly interesting – much like the rest of Greece. Few drivers seem content to sit behind you and will overtake on blind corners, double white lines or anywhere, often forcing oncoming traffic to move over to the verge. Speed limit signs seem to be a waste of space and there is little traffic law enforcement. Although the law requires helmets to be worn on motorcycles they seem rare and it's common to see riders smoking a cigarette, talking on their mobile phone and drinking a balancing something on their lap all at the same time. This could also be happening while they ride the wrong way down a one-way street! Despite this we haven't witnessed any anger, “road rage” or major accidents.
On every spare piece of Cretan land there are olive trees – over 21 million of them in fact and it’s hard to imagine how many trees with poor accessibility are harvested. Large nets are placed under the trees and then the branches are mechanically shaken to bring the olives down. This provides employment during the harvesting time of October to February when the summer tourists have gone.
Crete is very windy and windmills are still extensively used to pump water from bores. Wind farms provide much of the electricity and there are hundreds of these tall, silent wind towers around the island.

It's now early September and we're retracing our steps mostly to destinations we've already visited both in 2010 and this year, so our Blog postings will only cover any new destinations along with interesting events.
As a southerly wind increases we move to Dhiakofti, a great sheltered bay on the eastern side of Kithera Island with perfect shelter from the south. Later the two Australian couples we met at Soudha arrive in their catamarans during a deluge of heavy rain, part of the same weather system that caused massive floods, sadly with the loss of three lives in nearby Kalamata. Later a third Aussie cat arrives making this an exclusively Antipodean anchorage.

In company with one of the cats, Walanthea we cruise on to Mezapo on the mainland in a rising following easterly wind and when we pass one of the massive capes of the Peloponnisos we encounter strong katabatic winds up to 38 knots on our beam causing the seas to build in minutes from one to 2.5 metres with the top metre breaking. Sheets of spray cover Envoy and worried that our towed RHIB might capsize we turn into the seas until the squalls subside. Later our Australian friends say it's the roughest sea they've ever encountered.

For the first time we anchor off Mezapo, which is rather bleak but offers good shelter from the east. Mezapo has several small coves suitable for shallow draught boats and used to be a haunt of pirates preying on the passing sailing ships. Nowadays it has one small shop doubling as a taverna, a church, a cemetery, and a few dozen houses, many of which are in ruins.

One of Mezapo's small coves

Envoy and Aussie cat Walanthea anchored at Mezapo

Mezapo

Finakounda is another place we'd never visited before and we anchor here for a night. From the anchorage the village appears to consist only of tavernas lining the seafront but when we go ashore we're pleasantly surprised to find an interesting main street and seeing a suckling pig roasting on a spit giving off great aromas we quickly can our on-board BBQ plans and enjoy delicious roast pork ashore.

Finakounda viewed from Envoy at anchor

The roast pork was too hard to resist

We'd visited Kiparissia in 2010 and head there again as it's a convenient safe anchorage more or less half way to Cephalonia. This is not a tourist town and its fairly large harbour only has three other boats in it, but we need a Vodafone shop and find one here where our internet connection problem is sorted out in minutes (throughout Greece we've always found Vodafone shops have extremely competent and helpful English-speaking staff).

Kiparissia's large but quiet harbour

Normally you're not allowed to anchor within a harbour, but nobody seemed to mind here

We leave the Peloponnisos region cruising north-west to Cephalonia in perfect conditions to find another previously unvisited village – Poros and anchor off its beach. It's a picturesque place but in the early hours of the morning the wind increases, turns on-shore and we have an uncomfortable night requiring an early move the next morning.

Poros's harbour

CRETE"S CAPTIVATING GRAMVOUSA ISLAND

Envoy is currently anchored in Ormos Vlikkho, Greece - a secure anchorage waiting for a front with heavy rain and 30 knot winds to pass over. It's not always sunshine in the Med during Autumn.

Leaving Rethimno we cruise west again to visit another first-time destination – the village of Georgiopoli situated at the mouth of two rivers with the fresh water coming down from the mountains making the anchorage's water temperature coolish for swimming.
We're the only boat here and are able to stay one great night before the northerly swell kicks in again making the anchorage untenable. A few passing fishermen comment adversely about our anchoring position but there seems plenty of room for them to pass us safely to reach the river where they moor to the shore. We figure they're just not used to seeing vessels of Envoy's size anchored there.

Beautiful tree-lined street in Georgiopoli

This taverna beckons you to come and have a cold beer

Amy and Laurie having breakfast in the courtyard of a shaded taverna

We set off for Ormos Milati, as described in a previous posting, and as usual Envoy is attracting a lot of attention with her distinct and unusual appearance, paravanes out, and flopper-stoppers gently rising and falling. Many people in small craft, and even people swimming come up to us to talk and ask questions.
One man in particular swims out and asks that we join he and his wife and friends for dinner – an invitation we happily accept. Over the next few days we have two great nights with Minoli Spanoucakis, his Greek-American wife Anne, and friends Constantine, Costas, Lilian and others. Minoli used to be Deputy Mayor of the region so is a mine of information. It turns out that Costas is the same guy we met here in 2010 and had dinner with he and his wife. A hospitable lot these Cretans. When we come to pay the bill a great dinner including beer and wine has cost us just 14 Euros (about NZ$22) per head.

Dinner with our new-found Cretan friends

Also in Ormos Milati we meet two Australian couples cruising in their sailing catamarans: Campbell and Debbie from Fremantle aboard “Walanthea” and Brian and Lorraine aboard “Ki”.

Two Australian cats and Envoy anchored at O Milati

With Amy still aboard we cruise for seven and a half hours around the most westerly point of Crete’s north coast to the island of Gramvousa. This is a spectacular area and the island has a couple of bays on its south side, making it reasonably sheltered from the prevailing northerly winds, although at anchorages like this you don't find perfect shelter.

Envoy anchored off Gramvousa with fortress ruins on top of hill

Crowning the island are the ruins of a huge Venetian fortress built in 1579, triangular in shape, with each side 1km long. It was the last Cretan stronghold to fall to the Turks in 1692, having been held for three years by 3,000 Cretans. In the early 19th century the area became a haven for pirates until an Anglo/French expedition rooted them out in 1828.

A view across the castle's interior

Envoy at anchor viewed from track leading up to castle

On rocks separating the two bays is the wreck of the ship, Dimitrios P, about 40 metres long and wrecked during a storm in 1968 while carrying bags of cement to Africa. Amy and I snorkel around the wreck noting that hundreds of solidified bags of cement are still clearly visible along with the engine, drive train and huge bronze propeller. The wreck's condition has deteriorated since our last visit in 2010 though, with large superstructure sections having collapsed.

Gramvousa's shipwreck

Shipwreck with Envoy in background

We spent two nights there with mid-morning to late afternoon ferries bringing literally hundreds of day-trippers to the island, but after the last of the ferries leave it's very peaceful, with only a fishing boat moored in the bay one night.
We go ashore for drinks on the deserted beach and Amy and Diane sit in a rock pool by the water's edge. Di accidentally touches some kind of sea urchin that stings her, embedding dozens of extremly fine hairy prongs into her hand. It's still sore after Amy and Di spend a couple of hours pulling the hairs out and takes several days to fully recover.

The scene of Di's sea urchin sting

Looking across to Balos from Gramvousa's summit

Amy had told us about a products called noodles that provide great flotation when swimming and we used these for the first time this season.

You can wrap the noodle around your chest to provide buoyancy in the water

Laurie and Amy swimming with noodles

It's great to spend a couple of weeks of quality time with Amy and we enjoy lots of swims, walks ashore, candle-lit BBQ's aboard Envoy, snorkelling.

Back at Soudha Bay we see some gypsies as we approach the shore in our RHIB. We know what's coming and as soon as we reach the jetty, the gypsy children approach us with arms outstretched begging while their parents watch. We don't give them anything, but are then worried about leaving our RHIB unattended there as the children start to crowd around it as we leave, so we play it safe and move the RHIB to a more secure location where there are fisherman nearby to keep an eye on it.

We leave Crete the day after Amy returns to London starting our 200 mile journey to Cephalonia where we'll meet Australian friends Simon and Bronwyn in two weeks. That day we cruise 16 hours in great conditions to Ay Nikolau on the southern side of Kithera Island and do a partial night cruise, dropping the anchor at 0015 hours the next day.