Nafplion 37:34.07N 22:47.92E

Ticketeeboo
Sue & Alan
Mon 17 Oct 2016 06:51
Almost 2 weeks since last posted on the blog so thought I'd better put another on?
After Skiros we visited Ormos Kasti (Nisos Evia), Ormos Vourakan (Nisos Kea), Ormos Sounion (next to the Posiedon momument), Mandraki (Nisos Hydra) Porto Kheli & mow we're tied to land here at Nafplion for few nights.
Interesting bits:
Whilst at Sounion, when the wind changed 180º from S to N in early hours of the morning, we were swinging perilously close to a German yacht, which had earlier dropped their hook between us and another yacht. They were before the wind changed. After the wind changed it was a case of either us or them needing to move. Sue did her part and they (rightfully) picked-up their hook and went - not without suggesting our hook must be dragging! Something we can categorically say they were totally incorrect. We had dug our hook in well, had 60m chain out in 10m depths and the wind was <10kn.
At Mandraki, we had 80m chain out and long-lines holding our stern to the S. All the forecasts were indicating light winds, mostly from S quadrant and nothing whatsoever having  northerly element at all. We had plonked our hook in 20m depth and came back to just 3.5m depth when finished mooring. This would protect us from any possibility of there being an unexpected N wind as well making it less likely to have our hook picked-up my another yacht (because most simply can't drop their hook in 20m depths without having the necessary chain onboard). One morning we awoke to find another yacht (French flag called Wanda) free-swinging in front of us. Whilst not a problem in S winds we could make out the yacht was far enough away for it not to be a problem....... or so we thought. We also thought they were only visiting Mandraki for the day. That evening, an hour or so after dark, Sue started closing our hatches because we could hear signs of rain. Few minutes later we could hear the wind getting up so I put our instruments on to check-out what was happening. Immediately the wind became a howler and the wind instrument went from 10kn to +30kn to +44kn and alarmingly it was from due N...... on our nose putting all wind-loading on our hook and chain. At same time a magnificent freshwater boat was hit us 'big' style. I'd only just said to Sue "I'm glad our anchor is well and truly set so that we can take these conditions safely" when my thoughts turned to the French yacht free-swinging in front of us? When I popped my head out for (and captured a free hair wash) I was far from happy because s/y Wanda was seriously close. I had to dispense with my specks to be able to see anything and went to the bow - alarm horn in hand and gave him an inhospitable series of blasts. To the skipper's credit, he was in their cockpit (getting absolutely drenched) although nevertheless he was allowing his yacht to swing perilously close. He didn't respond favourable when I shouted "We need you to move because you are putting us at risk" and said that he has his engine running and is expecting the wind to change very soon. In the meantime, we had to accept he would remain on alert and was prepared to drive his yacht into safer waters if he had to. Over the next 20 minutes or so the wind did reduce significantly and changed from N to S........... back to <10kn. During the next few hours it rained as heavy as we have ever experienced and there was tons of lightning, mostly over mainland Greece to our N.  The next morning and over next few days, we received info about Poros & Lafplion, where there was extensive damage, even some yachts sunk.
Nafplion for us has been good. We've done the open-bus tour/ride, visited the castle and enjoyed some good eating as well food (and drink) shopping. This morning it's time to depart before the fresh N'ly winds get bit more energetic. xxx