Messolonghi - Nisís Trizónia

Pyxis
Karen & Richard
Sat 30 Apr 2011 18:18

Saturday 30th April – Messolonghi - Nisís Trizónia

38:22.161N 22:04.572E

 

Today we were up at dawn preparing Pyxis for passage.  We said our last farewells to our neighbours Electric Monk and were soon slipping our lines.  We were finally on our way with a promised light westerly breeze to give us an easy first passage of the season.

 

As we started down the canal, we set the autohelm to follow the course that Richard had laid into our chart plotter the previous evening and we hit a problem.  It wasn’t working properly.  To explain: we use the autohelm as our helmsman and we use the navigation software on our chart plotter as our navigations officer; they usually talk to each other electronically and steer a safe course from A to B for us whilst we get on with other important things, like adjusting sails, sunbathing and making tea.

 

So whilst Richard stayed down below attempting a quick fix, i.e. the switch it off and on again and re-enter the course manoeuvre, I helmed us down the canal the good old fashioned way and enjoyed a lovely cuppa watching the sun rise over the mountains.

 

As we headed out into the Gulf of Patras it was still not working.  We needed to make a decision – should we continue or head back to the marina to fix it.  We decided to do a bit of testing.  First I checked if the autohelm itself worked by setting courses at different angles.  Yes, it did; good!  So we could continue by manually entering the course to steer and checking our position on the chart manually – i.e. good traditional navigation.  Not a major problem, however, to be honest, we prefer the automatic navigation there to keep an eye on us and we didn’t fancy a whole summer without this luxury, and a replacement would cost a small fortune.

 

Not having a small fortune or the time available to wait for a replacement, Richard continued investigating whilst I continued on our way manually.  After some time, Eureka! (appropriately Greek I thought), he found the problem and fixed it!  Richard was today awarded Olympic Gold Medal for Electronics.

 

So, suitably cheered, we continued on our way up past Patras and under the large Ríon – Andírrion suspension bridge.  Although it was quite cloudy and we ended up motoring in little or no wind from astern all the way, we had a good passage.  The shiny clean hull from the work Richard had done the previous week gave us a good speed through the water.  Although the wind perked up a little to F3-4 just as we approached Trizónia, it made a change from the F6-7 we have had on previous occasions (the wind normally accelerates through the narrow channel past the bridge).

 

When we arrived we were pleased to find the last space on the inside of the breakwater we wanted to moor alongside, to protect us from the strong Easterly due tonight and tomorrow. 

 

We are both shattered and have decided, after game of crib and a brief walk through the tiny village, to have an early night and explore more tomorrow.