Porto Kheli

The move from Órmos Aléxandhrou on 5 September was painless and we dropped anchor opposite the town quay near to the moored yachts. The only concern we had was the colour of the clouds; rather dark and rainy looking. Clearly we had jinxed things by claiming that Greece was perfect for varnishing at this time of year “because it’s warm and dry” .

Our fears about the weather were confirmed when a number of thunderstorms hit us and we had several hours of heavy rain, followed by lots of showers. Fortunately Nicky had suggested that we put up the cockpit tent and so we had plenty of living space despite the floorboards being up. To get some airflow we rolled up the sides whenever we could in between the showers. There was a lot of rolling and unrolling side panels!

Hiding from the rain in the cockpit tent   

Over the next few days Nicky worked steadily through applying coats of varnish largely unaffected by the showers. Meanwhile I worked on some of the outstanding blog entries from mid-August when we were in Rhodes.

Whilst working in the galley or moving from the companionway to the forward end of the yacht we had to balance on the soleboard joists which was a little tedious. There was also a bit of wet varnish dodging on the way where Nicky was working on touching up the varnish in the aft heads and doorway surround. However, every day there was a little progress. Happily, after 2 days of grey skies and showers there was also progress on the weather front and we were back to the cloudless blue skies that we had become used to over the summer.

Once it had stopped raining the dinghy got some care and attention. I check the seams and stuck down a couple which were lifting. When it’s deflated and rolled up the rubber bumper gets quite a punishment and the glue had come adrift in a couple of places. Whilst I was at it I also repaired the puncture in the inflatable seat.

Choke as it was, slightly closed (top L)
 and as it should be (top R).
Throttle cable sleeve adjustment (bottom)    

Much more fun, because it gave me an excuse to whizz about in the dinghy, I finally tracked down what was wrong with our outboard motor. It has never seemed to rev up to full speed since we got it but the specification data shows that it’s max rpm is less than comparable outboard motors, so I had been kidding myself that that was why it sounded like it was not at max performance. However, on closer inspection I spotted that the choke was not fully disengaging. With the choke valve not fully open, airflow had been restricted, limiting the revs. A quick adjustment of the choke cable sleeve, to effectively shorten the run allowed the cable to push the choke fully open. We now have a much happier sounding engine which reaches full revs. The result is that, with one person in the dinghy, you can now get on the plane very quickly which makes for a much happier dinghy driver!

Akibbon leaving Porto Kheli   

As I was busy gluing the dinghy together, a cheery voice called out to us from a passing dinghy. On board were Vanessa and John from Akibbon who had come over to say hello. Mutual friends Pam and Steve from Eirene, had e-mailed Vanessa and said to look out for us because, from the HF radio MedNet, they knew that we were also in Porto Kheli. Vanessa and John had sailed in company with Pam and Steve up into, and around, the Black Sea. We’d met Pam and Steve 2 years ago at Pithagorian in Samos and had chatted with them regularly since on the HF radio.

We saw Vanessa and John a few times over the next couple of days. They came on board BV for drinks and we had a very pleasant meal together in a local restaurant.

The view from the café    

We were anchored too far away from the shore to get a strong wifi signal so, amongst everything else going on, we also made a few trips to the cafés to check e-mails and to find out what was going on in the world. Relaxing in a café with a coffee is a very civilised vantage point from which to watch the world go by.

Varnished boards back in position   

All in all, it was nice stop in Porto Kheli. The final coat of varnish passed inspection first thing on 11 September which prompted lots of activity replacing the boards and putting the aft cabin back together. After 6 days of balancing on the joists it seemed very strange to be able to move around the saloon easily.

The excellent supermarket right on the seafront made restocking the fridge an easy task; BV was ready to go again and in a much shorter time than we had expected. So much so that we decided to head straight off for an afternoon sail to Astrous, about 20nm further up the Argolic Gulf.

Porto Kheli, Greece