Vathí - Aigina, Nísos Aigina

Pyxis
Karen & Richard
Thu 12 May 2011 22:58

Thursday 12th May – Vathí – Aigina, Nísos Aigina

37:44.763N 23:25.688E

 

This morning we said goodbye to Inge and Hans as they set off back to Athens; Inge had drawn us a lovely pencil sketch of the harbour to remember Vathí by.  We had breakfast, waved a couple of other boats adieu, and then said goodbye to Costas, the harbour master, and set off ourselves for the short trip to Aigina.

 

The forecast was for a fresh northerly wind, F5, decreasing to F3 over the morning.  We decided to go for a sail and tack into it as it was only a 12 mile trip.  Outside the harbour there was around 10-12 knots of wind, with gusts up to 15 knots or so.  We put up a conservative amount of sail and set off.  We had just started sailing along slowly, and then suddenly, a huge gust hit us off the mountain (over 26 knots) and put us over into the water (given the height of our deck it takes some doing).  So now if we want anything, it’s on port side!  The solar shower, that had been gently sunning itself under the sprayhood, ready for our evening showers, took a nose a dive down the companion way and straight onto the cooker (which was appropriately gimballed for the conditions).  I went to check on the damage and found that it really isn’t a good idea to leave a pan with oil still in it on the stove, even gimballed.  The solar shower is now nicely ‘oiled’ for its sunbathing (as is most of the rest of the galley).  Ah well, you live and learn.

 

After that excitement and once we had cleared the island of Methana and were sailing along more comfortably in a steady F3, I went to make a cup of tea.  I looked at the hob and saw that one of the frets on the hob had come loose and instinctively pushed it back down with my finger, the rather intense pain reminding me that that was the side that I had just boiled the kettle on!  So, having branded myself, and requiring some attention and sympathy, sailing was abandoned and we motored on to Aigina whilst Richard patched me up and finished making the tea.

 

Luckily the wind had eased totally when we arrived and we berthed fine.  However, there were dark clouds over head and shortly after rain started to fall, followed by a thunderstorm with all the works.

 

Late afternoon the sun was out again and we went for a walk around town and on the way back to Pyxis spotted Helen and Ian aboard Northern Lights moored up on the quay.  We first met them during our first winter in Lagos and have been bumping into then periodically ever since so we stopped of for a chat and catch up.

 

This evening we have eaten aboard.

 

Aigina, Nísos Aigina

© Pyxis 2011