Andíparos

Leaving Katápola   

It was another early start on the morning of Monday 29 August. We beat the sun out of bed and, as the picture above shows, it was just rising above the hills of Amorgos as we left Katápola bay, having rasied the anchor at just after 0700.

Calm winds just north of Skhoinoúsa   

Once we cleared Amorgós, we had a good northly breeze for a while and we raced along westwards towards the south end of the channel between Skhoinoúsa and Koufonisia. Dropping a reef into the main, and putting some rolls into the genoa, we expected to keep the speed up and have a brisk beat up the channel in flat water. However, almost no sooner had we done all the work than the wind stopped and we ended up motoring across glassy seas for about 40 minutes until we were just north of Skhoinoúsa. At that point the wind came back with a vengeance and we had a busy time putting a second reef in the main, unrolling genoa, then rolling most of it away again (as the wind built further) before finally settling on double reefed main and staysail as a suitable sailplan to get us around the (very windy) southern tip of Naxos.

Once in the Paros/Naxos channel the wind eased marginally and the seas increased so we needed more oomf to make headway. We unrolled a little genoa and shot off close hauled but making the southern tip of Paros. Better still, as we went west, the wind veered (funnelled by the channel) so we could ease the sheets and go faster and faster. It was a great ride!

With the wind funnelling around Paros as well we elected to keep BV going a bit off the wind, south of Nísos Glarópounda where we had anchored with Charlotte, and all the way across to the shore of Andíparos. Here the seas were flat again, sheltered by Paros and Andíparos, so we rolled away the genoa and short tacked up the channel between the 2 islands to Andíparos’ small town and harbour at the north end of the channel. The windsurfers and kitesurfers that we passed in the channel (they launch out of Pounda on the Paros side) seemed to be enjoying the brisk breeze and flat water as much as us.

Anchored off Andíparos   

Andíparos’ harbour is more of a small cove with a couple of piers than a harbour as such. The outer pier is busy with ferries from Pounda and the inner with tripper boats from Paroikia. The cove itself is very shallow (much like the channel just outside it) so we edged in carefully and found ourselves a suitable spot to anchor in just 3.4m – one of the deeper areas!

Anchored off Andíparos. We had sailed close to the traditional gaff-rigged yacht (seen here anchored near us with a long line ashore) earlier in the day   

There were a number of jobs to do when we arrived. Some were routine (keep the watermaker active by making water, check the valves and stopcocks had not seized up), others were not. As we had sailed northwest, Nicky had noticed, whilst completing the hourly log, that the batteries were not being charged despite the DuoGen being deployed and despite the fact that we were sailing at a good speed (about 7 knots at that point). As it turned out, the connector joining the DuoGen’s propeller to its alternator drive shaft had failed and whilst the prop was turning merrily in our wake, the drive shaft was stationary so the alternator was not producing any charging current. Nicky delved to the bottom of the spares locker and found a replacement part and I fitted it whilst she rebuilt the chaos of spares and maintenance kit into a semblance of order.

The quay at Andíparos   

With jobs complete it was time to inflate and launch the dinghy for a quick explore ashore.

It’s a pretty town, clearly dependent on the tourist trade given the number of restaurants and coffee bars but an attractive place in season nonetheless. It also has a couple of small supermarkets and butchers, a bakery and a laundry – everything a yachtie could need!

We viewed the windmill and church, strolled the length of the main street [Ed: and it’s surprisingly long] and had glass of wine and some delicious bruchetta whilst we checked emails and the weather forecast.

We arrived back at BV just in time to learn an interesting new mooring technique from the crew of the yacht with the red dinghy above. First, issue your best swimmer a facemask and snorkel. Second, boot said swimmer over the side to search the harbour floor for a suitable thing on the seabed to tie onto. Third, attach a line to said object. Hey presto, you are now moored (somewhat close to us in this instance) and can relax and enjoy the evening sunset! Happily, we knew that we would be in for a calm night and a pretty calm day the next day too. So, with a 35nm motor into wind planned (forecast to be light wind but you never can tell), we set the alarm to beat the sun up once again.

Andíparos, Greece