Still more wind.

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 29 Jul 2009 08:13
Monday 26th July

The strong winds returned pretty much at dawn again today and built up
steadily during the morning, but it certainly was not as bad as yesterday.

The bad news was that the boat is covered in grit, both inside and out and
it is not a pleasant experience! Sarah could not stand it any further and so
out came the hoover and apart from a short break when its thermal overload
tripped, she worked her magic around poor Serafina. Next it was the decks
and Sarah again took advantage of the good water supply on the quay to hose
down the decks and wash the superstructure. Yes the wind is still blowing in
more grit, but for the time being it feels and looks much better inside and
out.

The owner of a 53ft HR yacht came ashore from the bay mid-morning and told
us about his attempt yesterday to leave the island and head for Lesvos,
which is the trip we also have planned. The wind was gusting up to 40 knots
he said, but the killer was the huge seas. They sailed for two hours in
thoroughly unpleasant conditions before doing something he says he never
ever does, which was to turn back. It made us feel a lot better about our
decision to stay put, which is good as we do sometimes wonder if we are
getting a little soft.

Went for a swim off the west beach in the afternoon, to cool down as much as
anything and returned to Serafina to find that the wind had swung round to
the north and dropped right away. Not what the forecast said at all!

Tuesday 27th July

Forecast has kept all the crews here guessing! Clearly there are still
strong winds blowing but they seem to die away during the afternoons which
is not at all what is being shown on the grib files. The problem for
everyone is that Limnos is a long way from pretty much anywhere and so if
you set out, you are going to be at sea for quite a while and could do with
knowing what is coming.

Having studied the files this morning we decided that we would hang on here
in Myrina for one more day, then sail round tomorrow, to the bay we stayed
in last week. The intention is to setting out from there early on Thursday
morning for the long sail to Lesvos (good birthday activity!) as it looked
like things should be a bit calmer then.....

One boat left the quay this afternoon heading for the Dardanelles which is
almost directly upwind but they have little choice really as they have got
friends flying out to Istanbul shortly.

We met up with the very lively crew of 'La Liberte' in the early evening and
a few drinks turned eventually into a wander into town around 10pm in search
of a restaurant. Had a wonderful evening with Manny, Belinda and their
daughter, Amy. It must have been a gift from heaven as not only were they
great fun and great company, but they are Australian and who better than to
pass away an evening with when England are one up in the Ashes series! They
poor souls, are stuck here as their engine died a few weeks ago and the new
block and associated parts have not appeared quite as fast as advertised. It
has the slight merit in that they will not be able to hunt us down in the
event that Australia recover and go on the win the Ashes. Goodness knows
what time we got back to the boats and doubtless we will pay for it all in
the morning.