Sailing to Khíos

GRiB forecast   

This was our problem; a forecast with several days of northerly winds with us wanting to get from Sámos to Khíos*, or indeed further north if we could. Behind this is our aspiration to get up to the northern part of the Aegean and the Halkidiki peninsulas before the really strong and sustained meltemi winds set in from June. The forecasts we can get most easily are computer generated GRiB files but they tend to predict about a Beaufort Force lighter near land and don’t show wind increases around headlands and other acceleration zones such as between islands. The 20 knot yellow area shown left could be more like 25-30 knots in these areas which would be extremely hard and slow going when beating directly into wind.

[* On board we have books spelling the island name as Chíos, Khíos or Híos, with and without the accents; we’ve gone for Khíos which is the spelling used on our charts]

The other side of the deliberation is making sure that we are somewhere safe to sit out the worst of these windy times whilst ideally still being able to explore. We looked at various options but decided that we’d like to be in Khíos before the angry yellow winds shown above really set in.

Approaching the narrow Sámos Strait between Sámos and Turkey   

Passing by for another look at Pythagório on Samos   

There was a small weather window that we thought would work on Wednesday 4 May and so set our alarm clock for an early start. We slipped at 0640 and just before that downloaded the latest weather forecast. Initially we motored east towards the narrow Sámos Strait. That we had decided the day before would put us in the more favourable wind to the north of Sámos. Fortunately, Nicky took a look at the latest forecast which showed that the wind was now forecast to be more westerly and that there would be a reasonable breeze to the west of Sámos (the previous forecast had shown very little wind in that area). That meant that the western end of Sámos would be better for getting us sailing north. So, after a couple of miles of motoring in the wrong direction we turned around and headed back past Pythagório.

The Sámos Strait now behind us!   

The Sámos Strait slipped into the distance behind us and we passed close to the south coast of the island looking at the scenery, the islands and the myriad chapels dotted around.

It took 3 hours to get to the southwest corner of Sámos, by which time the WNW wind was up to 10 knots. It felt as though we had cheated by motoring into wind for the last 5 miles but we wanted to try to get to Khíos before dark so we didn’t want to beat those 5 miles, sailing 10 miles (1hr40) to travel 5 (about 50min in a straight line under power). Our destination was a disused marina and we had no idea if the navigation lights there would be operating or if the shallow entrance was still deep enough for us. Feeling our way in would be better done in daylight.

Leaving Sámos behind us   

Once around the corner of Sámos we were able to hoist the sails and head towards Khíos. The value of coming to the western end of the island was immediately proven when we found that we could pretty much make a direct course to the eastern side of Khíos. We were hard on the wind which is not BV’s fastest point of sail but the motion was very comfortable and we made good progress at 6 knots.

Khíos ahead with the Turkish çeşme headland on the right   

As we got further north the wind freshened and backed to became more westerly; good news for us because we sped up. We had to negotiate the 2-mile wide gap between Khíos and some Turkish islands off the çeşme headland. Not difficult but we had to fit in between 2 trawlers and a couple of large freight ships which inconveniently had decided to pass through at the same time as us.

Approaching the town of Khíos   

Once through the narrows we crossed the channel and headed up close to the coast for the last 5 miles towards Khíos town. The town has a very large harbour but we really didn’t like the look of it as somewhere to moor BV in a strong northerly wind. The harbour is large enough for the wind to generate good-sized waves which push you onto the quay and the ferries have also been known to push out a destructive wash. We’d picked a disused marina a mile or so to the north as our destination hoping that it would provide much better shelter.

Khíos marina   

We arrived outside the marina at 1810, dropped the sails and got out the fenders and lines. It was then a case of working our way in carefully avoiding a sunken boat (now we think removed), a rock and some shallows. That all went seamlessly and by half past we were moored up to the outer breakwater with a French yacht we had seen in Patmos just ahead of us. We were the only 2 visiting yachts although there were other yachts moored in the marina. There are no facilities, not that we need them, but the shelter was excellent, it was quiet and nobody bothered us whilst we were. Highly recommended, especially after we had taken a look at where we would have had to have moored if we had gone into the main harbour.

We’d made better time than we had anticipated but it had been a long day so we relaxed and ate on board. Not being surrounded by lively bars ensured an excellent night’s sleep.

Loose gauge measuring the rig tension   

Our task for the morning was to look at the rigging. Checking the tensions of the stays had been on our list of jobs since we had launched but to do it we have to remove all of the jerry cans and their supports. It’s a bit of a faff which is probably why we had put the job off. However, whilst sailing the previous day we’d noticed that the leeward lower shrouds were becoming slack much earlier than they should; the wires had stretched and needed adjusting. Pretty much everything needed to be slackened off and then tensioned in turn until we had a laterally straight mast with some pre-bend fore-aft and the correct tensions on all of the shrouds. It took about 5 hours (including a beer and lunch stop) but we now have the rig all tuned up and much better supported for sailing in windy weather. BV should sail a tiny bit faster now and point better too, so it will be interesting to see if we notice a difference.

Rig tuning chores completed we turned our thoughts to a little sightseeing. From our mooring we could look south towards the town of Khíos. Beyond the 3 windmills the walls of the Genoese castle stood out clearly which we thought was worth an explore, as well as the rest of the town. The island has a somewhat tragic history with massacres, earthquakes and forest fires decimating the once highly lucrative mastic trade centred here and our guide book suggested that there is a lot to see on the island. We chatted to the French couple on the yacht ahead of us and came away with the name and number for the hire car company which they had used. A visit to Khíos town was the plan for the afternoon and a hire car excursion on Friday to explore further afield.

Khíos, Greece