White horses and Prosecco 🌊🥂

Becca

After stocking the boat with plenty of Prosecco, beers and cheese, we are off! Let the birthday celebrations commence… 🥂 We have a completely new crew on board Maestro for some 60th birthday sailing. They think they’re in a for a relaxing week, little do they know they’re going to be assigned tasks right from the off. Chris calmly helmed out of the marina and into the channel where I took over. Chris and Paul tried to free Kevin from his uncomfortable upright position on the front of the boat. There wasn’t much wind on first leaving and heading down the channel into the bay. We were enjoying watching the beautiful lightening display on the left over the mainland, whilst porpoises flipped and spun in the air just a short way from the boat. 🐬 The wind was picking up just a little with the storm, so we decided to get the headsail out to zip us to Meganisi. Before long, large drops of rain and lightening where above head and the white horses were out in force🌊 It continued to get stronger so the crew put the headsail away whilst I helmed just outside of Vathy. I then did quite a sharp turn to get us pointing in the right direction again! 🫢🍩 Chris did an amazing job of getting us calmly and safely into the bay. We thought we were going to be anchoring, until we spotted a guy holding lines in the air.. we both did a little sigh of relief 😅 We had the best parking spot in the bay. Only a few steps walk to the restaurant, Karnagio. As we were mooring, we heard ‘Hello Chris’ from the land. One of Sailties’ investors Barry was already moored up here! We popped open the bubbly to celebrate surviving the first sail! Barry and his family joined for glass and a lovely chat ☺️ We ended the evening with lots of souvlaki, giant beans, greek salad and gin & tonics! What an adventurous first day! ⛵️

Chris Jacob

Baptism of fire 🔥 Four new sailors on the boat for Becca and I to look after / impart of wisdom to over the next 7 days..! We set off from Lefkas, with Becca helming down the channel as Paul and I tried and failed to get Kevin down from the spinnaker halyard. In the end we had to cut the line as it appeared to be jammed in the mast. It was a few seconds after this that I realised not all blue and white lines are equal and we had opened the clutch on Reef 3 instead. 😬 💇‍♀️ Once we left the channel the thunder and lightening started over the mountains, initially just to the East but eventually on the Lefkada mountains too! 🌩️ Our time in the thunder-hole was exciting but didn’t last very long as we got engulfed in heavy rain and 28kts wind. Once I was happy all hatches were battened down and the paddleboard was secured, we unfurled the headsail to take advantage of the F6 on our stern! WOOSH. 7.5kts the rest of the way to Meganissi. No main sail, but got to give the crew something to look forward to for tomorrow! As we curled the gib and becca did a handbrake turn in front of Vathy, I took the helm and the fun abruptly ended. It dawned on me that we now had to moor in the storm. We had learned our lesson from previous trips and had the first night booked - at Karnagio just outside Vathy - but it’s quite a small entrance and there were a couple of boats anchored in the middle of the bay to make our investigation-approach a bit more challenging. The crew were amazing and got lines, fenders and anchor prepped in no time. Then I saw the most beautiful sight, the restaurant owner holding up a lazy line 🥰😍😍. No anchor required! We reversed into the pontoon and we’re tied up with engine off a few minutes later. Giant beans, swordfish and lamb souvlaki to round off the night! 🐑 🫘 🐟 P.s. as we were mooring, Barry Corlett, a SailTies investor (and user!) walked past and spotted me! 🤯🤩 What a small and crazy world! It was lovely to have a drink with Barry and Peggy - who Tom and I originally met on the beach in dittisham a year ago in not too dissimilar circumstances! ❤️⛵️

Chris Jacobs

Baptism of fire 🔥 Four new sailors on the boat for Becca and I to look after / impart of wisdom to over the next 7 days..! We set off from Lefkas, with Becca helming down the channel as Paul and I tried and failed to get Kevin down from the spinnaker halyard. In the end we had to cut the line as it appeared to be jammed in the mast. It was a few seconds after this that I realised not all blue and white lines are equal and we had opened the clutch on Reef 3 instead. 😬 💇‍♀️ Once we left the channel the thunder and lightening started over the mountains, initially just to the East but eventually on the Lefkada mountains too! 🌩️ Our time in the thunder-hole was exciting but didn’t last very long as we got engulfed in heavy rain and 28kts wind. Once I was happy all hatches were battened down and the paddleboard was secured, we unfurled the headsail to take advantage of the F6 on our stern! WOOSH. 7.5kts the rest of the way to Meganissi. No main sail, but got to give the crew something to look forward to for tomorrow! As we curled the gib and becca did a handbrake turn in front of Vathy, I took the helm and the fun abruptly ended. It dawned on me that we now had to moor in the storm. We had learned our lesson from previous trips and had the first night booked - at Karnagio just outside Vathy - but it’s quite a small entrance and there were a couple of boats anchored in the middle of the bay to make our investigation-approach a bit more challenging. The crew were amazing and got lines, fenders and anchor prepped in no time. Then I saw the most beautiful sight, the restaurant owner holding up a lazy line 🥰😍😍. No anchor required! We reversed into the pontoon and we’re tied up with engine off a few minutes later. Giant beans, swordfish and lamb souvlaki to round off the night! 🐑 🫘 🐟 P.s. as we were mooring, Barry Corlett, a SailTies investor (and user!) walked past and spotted me! 🤯🤩 What a small and crazy world! It was lovely to have a drink with Barry and Peggy - who Tom and I originally met on the beach in dittisham a year ago in not too dissimilar circumstances! ❤️⛵️