Órmos Batsí

Dawn departure from Skíros   

We left Skíros at 0535 for the 70nm passage to Batsí on Andros. The forecast had promised 5-10 knots from the north at this time but, as we motored clear of Linaria and then Skíros, it was virtually calm. We were an hour and a half in and resigning ourselves to another longish motor before the wind came. It blew at just 10 or so knots to start with, and for the first couple of hours it wasn’t quite sure where to blow from either, so we gybed a couple of times and had to run the engine for a bit more too. However, by 1000 we had a decent breeze as per the forecast. With a forecast for a good 10-15 knot northerly increasing to 15-20 knots one might wonder why we had left Skíros so early. Based on that forecast we could reasonably expect the passage to take less than 12 hours, so we could have left at 0800 and still arrive comfortably before dark. However, we wanted to be through the Stenó Kafiréa, the channel between Andros and Evia as early in the day as possible. The Stenó Kafiréa are infamous narrows where northerly winds are accelerated and the seas increase and can become confused. Getting through before the wind strengthened too much would keep everything as manageable as possible. Also, with the forecast winds we expected very strong downdraughts on the lee side of Andros. Again arriving earlier would (we hoped) be better.

It’s getting breezy! Stenó Kafiréa in a moderate meltemi   

As we approached Stenó Kafiréa, the wind built so we dropped a reef in the main, rolled away some of the genoa and sat back to enjoy the ride.

‘Everybody’s gone surfing’
– and the log was reading around 9.5 knots at this point   

In the gap between Evia and Andros we whistled along, sailing at around 8.5knots through the water and surfing down the waves; exhilarating stuff! The fastest GPS speed over the ground (SOG) I got up to was 11.7 knots but Nicky beat me speeding (very briefly!!) at 12.5 knots.

Let’s surf!   

There was a lot of shipping going through the channel so we had to modify our course to avoid a number of vessels. However, AIS is a wonderful thing and meant that we could make small adjustments early and still enjoy the rollercoaster ride.

Batsí ahead and impressive clouds on the high ground   

Once through the channel and past the main group of ships, we gybed and headed southeast along the lee side of Andros. We knew that we would have to come up quite a lot closer to the wind to thread our way through the shoals in the large bay outside Órmos Batsí and so decided to take an additional reef in the main. As we did so I noticed a hole in the luff of the sail, so we reefed down further still, which made for a very gentle arrival in the bay.

Órmos Batsí looking very sheltered   

Views of Batsí from anchored position

The harbour looked to be pretty full and, anyway, we rather fancied being at anchor, so we dropped the hook in 6m over a lovely sandy bottom – great holding.

Eva’s spanakopita   

After a delicious late lunch – many thanks to Eva for the great spanakopita – we took a closer look at the mainsail. The strong wind had taken its toll and 2 areas weakened by UV damage had torn. It was too windy to do anything about the damage then so we had to leave it until the morning.

Come the morning, the wind had reduced a bit but it was not the glassy calm for which we had been hoping. Still, the work had to be done and we managed to get the sail off, mended and on again without it being blown over the side. Working quite large expanses of sailcloth through the sewing machine was not easy and the repairs are nothing like as neat as I would have liked. However, both tears are now repaired and will hopefully see us through the rest of the season [Ed: unlike the repair to my shorts which conclusively proved that they have been terminally UV damaged!].  I think we had best budget on a new mainsail this winter [Ed: and a new pair of shorts].

Batsí is a growing tourist village, probably catering for escapees from Athens. There are some knick-knack shops, a couple of small mini-markets, 2 bakeries (next door to each other?!) and a fruit shop and that seems to be about it, other than tavernas.

Nevertheless, it’s still a pleasant place and we took an enjoyable stroll around the waterfront and up to the church. Checking emails at a bar was a little less pleasant –the prices were definitely Athenian!

With plans to meet a good friend in Athens in a few days, we spent a little time planning where to stop between Batsí and Athens and then just enjoyed what we expected, for a while, to be one of our last days anchored off a beach of golden sand.

Órmos Batsí, Greece