Weather – The Glorious and The Diabolical

Glorious Weather

The past ten days have seen Greece at its winter best with daytime temperatures in the 20s and warm, balmy weather.

Here’s a photograph sent to me by Simon Grace, who lives in Athens. Simon obtained his RYA Day Skipper certificate with us earlier this year and now sails his own small boat with his family.

The photograph shows Simon with an octopus he caught yesterday using a rod and line. Luckily for the octopus, he was rather small and so was returned to the sea. Just look at the weather – wonderful for mid November.

Diabolical Weather

Unfortunately, Greece is suffering the effects of climate change like most places in the world. The crew who booked onto our autumn milebuilder during the last week of October were unlucky with weather. Torrential rain and strong winds plagued them during their trip, leading to a change of route and some wet, if exciting sailing.

Compare Simon’s picture above with this which was sent to me by Rainer Alles, one of the crew on the milebuilder. It shows instructor, Mark Cooper, on the helm while they tackled the waves on the Eastern Peloponnese. Not a swimsuit in sight!

I hate it when we get bad weather as I know that most people come to Greece to escape the rain and cold. Although I cannot do anything about it I can’t help but feel responsible somehow.

Due to the adverse conditions they did not sail to the Cyclades as planned. This proved to be a good decision as the Cyclades were hammered by Force 9 – 10 winds most of the week and the yacht could have been stormbound and unable to sail on.

Instead the cruise took place in the Argolic Gulf and included the picturesque ancient town of Monemvasia on the south of the Peloponnese, and the attractive city of Navplion in the north.

The yacht was hit by a particularly bad gust just off Monemvasia as the crew were putting away the sails in preparation for entering the marina. Mark reported that the wind came up to over 40 knots while at the same time visibility was reduced to a few metres.

He turned the yacht back out to sea and ran before the wind until visibility improved enough for them to make another approach.

The crew had an uncomfortable night in Monemvasia as the storm continued to rage, and had to get up during the night as a shoreline parted, but they were quite safe. The gale caused chaos in the harbour, sinking two boats. Here is another photograph from Rainer showing the salvage operation the next day.

Although there was some improvement to the weather later in the week, overall it was a tiring, taxing experience. However we’re sure that it taught valuable lessons to all those involved and they went home with some amazing memories and stories.

We run the mile building trips in the spring and autumn as the weather conditions are often more challenging, which is good for experience building. We’ve never had anything quite like this milebuilder before

If any of the crew wants to add a comment or send me a photograph I can include it here.

Ah, Valentine, we don’t want to lose you, but …

.. it’s time to say goodbye.

Students having a great sail on Valentine.

Although she is a lovely boat, Valentine is getting a little long in the tooth for us to continue to use as a sailing school yacht. We’d love to keep her as our private yacht but, unfortunately, we need her berth.

George and I lived on board Valentine for two years when we first came to Greece. So, as you can imagine, it is with much sadness that we are putting her on the market.

She’s a favourite with a our instructors. For a big yacht she is surprisingly easy to manoevre and she’s exceptionally good when sailing to windward.

Valentine is an Atlantic 44 sloop, built in Greece in 1996. She is very stable and comfortable at sea, and handles beautifully. Her vital statistics are:

LOA 13.30m – Beam 4.05m – Draft 2.40m
650L water – 300L diesel
Volvo Penta 59HP engine
Teak decks and cockpit
In mast furling main and furling genoa
Galley with fridge/2 burner stove/oven/sink
Spacious saloon with chart table
Navtex, GPS chartplotter, GMDSS radio, EPIRB
Large master cabin forward with plenty of lockers, wardrobe, table, seat, and private toilet/shower
2 aft cabins each with private toilet/shower
220v shorepower
Big cockpit with cushions and removeable cockpit table
Swimming platform with shower
Sprayhood, bimini, and ‘dog-house’ for inclement weather
Dinghy with 5HP outboard

We will miss her badly and hope we can find her new owners who will appreciate her as much as we have.

If you are interested in buying Valentine we are looking for offers in the region of 65,000 euro.

We’d be happy to include some sailing tuition in the purchase price and can arrange for her to be delivered to your chosen port.

I’m going to take some up to date internal photographs this weekend and will add them to this post. Meanwhile here is another photo to whet your appetite.

Preparing to anchor in the blue Med

If you are looking for a big but reasonably priced yacht for some blue-water cruising Valentine may be just the ticket.

You’ll see more information about what is involved in buying a yacht in Greece in the previous post.

Thinking of buying an ex-charter yacht in Greece?

Thinking of buying a yacht in Greece? There are good bargains to be had here, especially in the autumn at the end of the charter season. But there are pitfalls to be aware of too.

The majority of boats listed with brokers here are ex-charter yachts, known as Greek professional yachts. Some people shy away from ex-charter yachts, believing it equivalent to buying a second-hand vehicle from a car hire firm. While a single private owner may keep a yacht in better condition, not all charter yachts are hammered or poorly maintained.

In fact, what most people don’t realise is that a lot of the professional yachts in Greece are owned by individuals not by charter companies. The owners must charter them out for a certain number of days each year in order to benefit from VAT and other advantages given to professional yachts.

Often the owner will charter for the minimum number of days to retain professional status and to cover the annual mooring and maintenance costs of the yacht.

If you are prepared to spend time looking around you’ll find a big difference in the appearance of yachts of the same age, with some  looking ‘tired’ from heavy use while others seem years younger.

FINDING A SUITABLE YACHT

A search on the Internet will bring up numerous websites with yachts for sale in Greece.

A company that we have recently dealt with and found good are:

Seahorse Yacht brokers – http://www.seahorse.gr/

If you have bought a yacht in Greece and would recommend the broker please let me know and I will add them here.

THE SURVEY

Having found a yacht you want to buy I strongly recommend that you have it surveyed by a professional surveyor. It is not unknown for a charter yacht to suffer major hull damage, be patched up by an unscrupulous owner, and then offered for resale with no mention of the damage.

“Buyer Beware” should certainly be your motto.

If you are not knowledgeable about boats a survey is essential.

A survey will not only protect you from buying a boat with technical problems but it is also required by most insurance companies.

You will find a list of surveyors here – http://www.ydyachts.com/survey.php

Surveys cost from 500 – 1500 Euro. There can be major difference in price between surveyors so check what they offer you and what comeback you have if they miss a major defect.

GREEK FLAG

99% of Greek professional yachts are Greek-flagged.

If the boat is flagged in another country then the rules of that country will apply and you need advice from a qualified broker.

If you are not a Greek citizen or an EU citizen resident in Greece you will need to change flag if the boat is intended for private use.

You can normally keep Greek flag if you intend to set up a charter business in this country.

SALES PRICE

We were once advised never to pay a Greek the price he asks for anything, as he will always expect you to bargain…

This is certainly true when it comes to boats. You should be able to negotiate down from the initial asking price. A good survey may give you ammunition for this, as few used boats will be without any defects.

The surveyor should be able to advise you what the ‘going rate’ is for the type of yacht you are interested in.

We have heard that some brokers in Greece do not work on a fixed commission basis. They will agree a price with the owner that he/she will accept. They then try to obtain as high a price as possible from the purchaser. Their commission is the difference. The extra they add to the ‘owner’s price’ can be quite considerable.

VAT

Greek professional yachts will have been purchased VAT exempt. If you are an EU national, you will be required to pay the VAT in addition to the purchase price.

The VAT rate in Greece is 19% but often you can negotiate with the Seller and it is not unknown for deals to be reached where you pay only an additional 5% and the Seller handles the payment of VAT.

You may be exempted from payment of VAT if you are involved in commercial activity that includes boat chartering.

If you are a non E.U. Citizen you won’t need to pay the outstanding VAT, but you will require the yacht to be custom cleared from the E.U. This takes several days and costs about 600 Euro.

TYPICAL PURCHASE PROCEDURE

Having found a yacht, you negotiate a price with the broker and reach an agreement. You should be supplied with an inventory for the yacht so you know exactly what is included in the sale.

You need a solicitor to act for you during the sale. Your solicitor will protect you by ensuring that there are no encumbrances or debts on the yacht, and that the ownership situation and titles are clear.

The solicitor will prepare an M.O.A. (Memorandum of Agreement) stating all the details of the transaction, including terms, dates and payments, and what comes with the boat. This Memorandum should be conditional on a survey.

The M.O.A. will be signed by both Buyer and Seller.

You arrange a survey of the yacht and, on the basis of this, either agree the price, re-negotiate, or in some cases the wisest action may be to walk away!

You normally pay a deposit of 10-20% of the purchase price to your solicitor as soon as possible in order to have a legally binding agreement. Your solicitor will pay this to the seller after all the necessary documents have been handed over to him.

You must send the balance of the purchase price to the solicitor in time to comply with the provisions negotiated when drafting the Memorandum of Agreement. The solicitor will pay the full purchase price to the seller only after he has made sure that all legal and tax requirements have been taken care of by the seller and after all required documents have been handed over to him by the seller.

As part of the sales process the yacht will be deleted from the Greek registry. Upon deletion an official ownership certificate will be issued from the Hellenic Registrar of Shipping. The certificate will confirm that the boat is free from encumbrances and liens.

In the meantime you can arrange registration for the boat in your country.

After completion of all the paperwork you can take over your boat here in Greece or you can arrange to have it delivered to wherever you intend to keep her.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

When we bought Valentine the process seemed to take forever! Brokers we have spoken to give around 5 weeks as the duration of the purchase process from signing of the M.O.A. to deletion from the Greek Registry. However, I think these may be Greek weeks and a little longer than elsewhere!

You can only sail your yacht after a Bill of Sale has been issued and officially signed by both Vendor and Buyer and the Deletion Certificate has been issued. Buying a yacht is a fairly lengthy and bureaucratic process here in Greece but many of the procedures are there to safeguard your interests and ensure the yacht is free of debts or any other financial burdens.

Do not be tempted to take any shortcuts or accept any bits of paper presented to you by an eager seller supposedly to speed up the process.

Our Young Sailor of the Year

Congratulations to Cameron Newton from Alton, Hampshire, aged 10, who passed his RYA Competent Crew course with us last week. Cameron is the youngest person to have passed this course with us to date.

We need a lot of persuading to allow someone as young as this to do an RYA course. The RYA recommends 13 as the minimum age. In order to pass you need a certain amount of strength for the ropes and winches, the ability to concentrate when steering or keeping look-out, and the patience to learn knots and nautical terms.

You certainly don’t get awarded the certificate for just putting out a few fenders!

Like the Gordon children, who passed their Comp Crew with us last year aged 11 to 13, Cameron had two things in his favour.

He impressed his instructor by already knowing his basic knots when he arrived. (He was well up on our average adult student in this respect!)

Cameron, like the Gordon children, had previously sailed dinghies. This helped him to understand things like points of sail.

We would recommend dinghy sailing to anyone who wants to become a good yachtsman or woman. Small boats give you a much better ‘feel’ for the way the wind and sails interact. They are also far less forgiving so you learn quickly or get wet!

This is Cameron with his parents, Paul and Fiona, and younger sister, Kerensa. They are posing on the cannon that sits at the harbour entrance of Aegina Town with George Burton, our Principal, who was their instructor for the six day course.

Although Kerensa was too young to complete a Competent Crew course we were able to award her the RYA Start Yachting certificate for her sailing knowledge and contribution as a member of the crew.

She enjoyed using the RYA Go Cruising book with the accompanying Go Cruising Activity Book for young sailors aged 7 – 12. These books may be of interest to you if you sail with children so I will put up an article on them soon.

Thinking of taking a Sailing Course with Your Family?
When we first started the school we were reluctant to include children on courses. Last year we decided to give it a try. We were pleasantly surprised to find that, with some changes to duration and time-tabling, it worked well.

Our instructors all started sailing as youngsters and really enjoyed the experience of introducing children to the sport.

Once our main season has finished I will write a post for those who are contemplating a family sailing holiday. Sign up to our newsletter if you want to be kept informed about when this article appears on the blog.

My main piece of advice is to allow more days to get through the course schedule. For instance, Cameron and his family spent six days on board instead of the usual five allowed for a Competent Crew course. This makes the pace just a bit more relaxed. You can make shorter trips each day so the younger crew members don’t get bored and have plenty of time for swimming & snorkelling but your total mileage will be sufficient to cover the syllabus.

Did you learn to sail with your children? Maybe you taught them yourself or sail regularly with them.

If you have any stories or tips on sailing with children please feel free to comment.

Ben & Becky’s Blog

I’ve just been sent a link to a very nice diary created by two people who sailed with us recently. It describes their sailing holiday and a visit to Athens.

We first met Ben MacDermott last year. His mother Lycia asked us to provide an instructor for a yacht they had chartered. Lycia had passed her RYA Day Skipper course in the UK but felt she needed more practice to gain confdence. While helping Lycia our instructor, Karen Robinson, also put Ben and his fellow crew through a Competent Crew course.

This year Lycia again chartered a yacht and asked for an instructor on board. The yacht was Southern Cross, a Sun Odyssey 37, which is available through the school to those who have passed their Day Skipper certificate or higher.

Ben had progressed to taking his RYA Day Skipper course and his girlfriend, Becky, joining the crew for the first time, took her RYA Competent Crew.

They have a well-written description of their trip on their blog with a scrapbook of the route here.

There are some nice photographs of Southern Cross on
this page for those who are interested in a similar charter with tuition.

We love to hear from our students so send me your news – have you been on a flotilla or bareboat charter? Have you bought a boat?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Internet Weather Forecasts for Greek Sailing

University of Athens ForecastAll who go to sea need to keep an eye on the weather. A reliable forecast is essential in helping you decide where to go and when.

Of course, what you make of the weather forecast will depend upon your own experience and inclination. Some prefer to sail when it is going to be relatively calm and comfortable; others delight in the news of an imminent Force 6 and the exhilarating sailing it will bring!

With wireless networks and Internet cafes available in many ports it is now easy to access the information you need.

Our office (which often means me) telephones the school yachts each morning to give them an up to date summary of local forecasts.

Here are the Internet resources that I use, which should prove useful to you if you are sailing here on your own boat.

Firstly I will mention Poseidon. This is possibly the best-known of the Greek weather forecast websites. You’ll find Poseidon bookmarked on many Internet café near ports.

The URL is http://www.poseidon.hcmr.gr/

Personally, while I think Posidon is good for giving an overall picture, there are other sites that I prefer as I find they give more detailed information about what is happening locally.

My Favourite
My weather site of choice is the High Resolution Forecast produced by the atmospheric modelling group at the University of Athens. This was improved for the 2004 Olympic Games and I find it gives the best local forecast for this area. The URL of the site is http://forecast.uoa.gr (note there is no www!)

From the main page you need to select High Resolution and you can then choose Europe, Greece, or Athens for the area to be covered. The Athens forecast covers the Saronic, Gulf of Corinth, and Northern Cyclades.

In the Select Field box choose Sea Surface Wind and the display will show forecast winds on the Beaufort scale.

Here’s the forecast for the whole of Greece for 1500 UTC today. You’ll notice that the Ionian, supposedly an ‘easier’ sailing area, actually has stronger winds forecast than we do in the Saronic.

With all the islands in the Saronic Gulf the wind washes around them and it’s quite possible to be in a channel with two yachts sailing towards each other … each on a run with their spinnaker up!

The University of Athens site is the only one I’ve seen that shows this local variation in wind as it moves around the land masses.

There is an example of another image from the UOA site at the top of this post that illustrates this local variation very well. This is the Athens area forecast for 1500 today.

I love the area to the south east of Aegina where the wind appears to be going in every direction out from a central point. It’s a good job it isn’t sucking in or we might have our own triangle of disappearing vessels.

Another good site
This one is useful for those on land as well as sailors – www.meteo.gr – is in Greek but you can click on a map if you can’t read the place names on the left hand menu (although there are more places on the menu than clickable dots on the map).

Once you have selected your forecast area there is an option to see it in English.

For some reason, however, the English version only covers 2 -3 days whereas the Greek version will give you a 4 – 6 day forecast. To be honest we don’t think the longer range forecasts are any more reliable here than they were in the UK when we lived there.

At least at this time of year it is fairly safe to predict warm sunny days!

If you’re coming sailing with us and want to see the current forecast for Aegina in English click here

Pressure chart
Last, but by no means least, is an atmospheric pressure chart. It took a lot of searching to find something that covered all the regions around Greece that affect our weather.

The best that I have found, showing atmospheric pressure in Greece and the surrounding areas, is produced by the BBC. I print this chart out every week and give it to our skippers in the pack that they receive prior to a course starting.

BBC Pressure Chart for Greece

You can view a current atmospheric pressure chart by following this link .

Further down the same web page you can watch a video of the latest BBC European weather forecast.

A note on times
When using these sites you will find most show forecasts at 3 or 6 hourly intervals. Note that time is usually shown in UTC and you should add 3 hours for local time here in Greece.

What do you use?
If you’ve got a favourite weather site that is not featured here why not add a comment let others know.

Is your flag here?

The United Nations of Sailing …

Maybe we should be renamed Aegean Sailing School International as we have students from all over the world.

When we opened the school six years ago we expected only British students, as the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) is a British body. How wrong we were!

Although about 60% of our clients are British, many of them live and work in other countries. As an RYA recognized training centre we also attract people from all around the world who want an internationally known certificate and sailing instruction in English.

Not surprisingly, the Greek islands, where you can combine good sailing with nice weather, is more attractive to a wide range of students than if our cruising area was the cold North Sea …

All our staff really enjoy the variety that is brought by having students from different countries. It is very interesting to learn about other cultures, and it’s surprising how well everyone gets on together when they are united in the common task of sailing a cruising yacht.

Three of our instructors were in the British Royal Navy for many years. I know that they find it thought-provoking when they have students from the former Soviet Union, against whom they fought the ‘Cold War’. Thankfully, those days are over.

As the person who decides which students go on which boat I have to try to judge likely compatibility from minimal information. I’ve found that nationality is a pretty unimportant consideration.

We have had Croatians sailing with Serbians, Israelis sailing with Arabs, Americans sailing with Russians, Northern Irishman with those from the Republic, and of course Greeks and Turks together.

All with no arguments or bloodshed … although sometimes with fascinating conversations on board.

It adds an interesting dimension to many of our courses.

The picture at the top of this post shows the flags of 48 countries. We’ve had students who are either nationals of, or living in, all of them.

I wonder how many you can identify? I’ll send a free sailing school mouse mat to the first three people who can correctly name them all! *

And please let me know if there is a country I have missed out.

Language Issues
All our tuition is in English and we try to ensure that everyone who comes on a course with us speaks and understands English well. Learning nautical terminology can be taxing even for a native English speaker.

If you are not a sailor you may be unfamiliar with terms like “aft”, “heave to”, “cleat” or “bowline”, never mind expressions such as “prepare to gybe”.

The RYA course books are an excellent aid, filled with pictures rather than a lot of text. If English is not your first language and you are coming sailing with us we can supply you with the RYA Competent Crew book to study beforehand.

Hwever, even the best English speakers can struggle with some colloquial expressions. How about these, which I’ve overheard our instructors use:

… that’s a bit Mickey Mouse …
… the wind will be on the nose …
… not run of the mill …
… then Bob’s your uncle …
… we need a guinea-pig …
… give it some wellie …

I’m sure there are a lot more. If you have an amusing expression that an instructor has used please let me know and I will post a collection of the best of them.

Meanwhile – happy sailing whichever country you are from and whatever sea you are upon.

———————————————————————–

* Answers will be posted here in a few weeks.

Happy 2 X 30th George!

George with his spectacular birthday cake

On 5 July, George Burton, who is my husband and our sailing school Principal, celebrated a major birthday.

He refuses to believe that he is now 60 and so held a 2 X 30 party at Vagia Beach instead. You can see him above with the amazing cake that was produced – thanks Nikki.

Among the guests were family, friends from Scotland and Greece, and sailing school students.

If you were at the party , or want to see some of the birthday celebrations look here which is a link to a card containing a Flip video.

(What a great little machine the Flip is…)

New – RYA Photo ID certificates

We are pleased to announce that the RYA now have waterproof course completion certificates with photo ID available for some of their cruising courses.

The New Photo ID certificate

These certificates are available for the Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper practical courses.

Features include:

• Waterproof durable material, similar to a credit card
• Size: 100mm x 80mm
• RYA logo in a hologram for increased security
• Space for a passport sized photo
• Translations on the reverse in 13 languages

This is a considerable enhancement to the standard paper certificates, and should prove useful – particularly if required to produce evidence of your competence to marine officials.

The cost of these certificates is higher than the paper certificates as they are expensive to produce.

For 2009 we will continue to include free paper certificates in the cost of your course, but you will be able to buy the new certificates for 20 euro.

We will also supply photo ID certificates to any students who have passed a course with us. The cost will be 25 EUR / 20 UKP, including postage.

If you would like one of these certificates please contact me for more details about how to obtain one.

Boat Shoes for Greece

I often get asked about suitable shoes for sailing in Greece and so I thought it might be useful to  explain what to choose.

What are “Boat Shoes”?

Boat shoes, also referred to as ‘deck shoes’, were designed as tough, sturdy shoes with particularly good traction to keep sailors on their feet in wet weather and on slippery decks.  I have read that they were based on North American Indian moccasins.

A good pair of boat shoes should fit snugly, but comfortably. Your foot should not slide around in them but your toes should not be cramped. The most important feature of a boat or deck shoe is the sole. Boat shoe soles should have a lot of grip and really keep your feet where you plant them. The whole purpose of these shoes is to help keep you upright on a slippery deck. Sometimes with laces, but more often without, boat shoes are also designed to be easy to slip on and off.

As well as having good grip, the sole should be non-marking – with a small, often honeycomb patttern and in a light colour. This is important on modern GRP boats.

Who Needs Shoes Anyway?
Unless you are sailing with us between October and March, you’ll probably spend most of your time on board barefoot. It’s one of the nice things about sailing.

Bare feet are fine for during the day but there are times when you will need to have shoes.

You should always protect your feet when you are using the anchor or stepping ashore.

Key things to look for in boating shoes for Greece are:

• protection for toes and feet (i.e.: not sandals)
• light coloured non-slip sole that will not mark deck
• small tread so that stones do not get caught in it
• easy to slip on and off in hot weather
• not too hot and heavy

Plimsolls and Canvas Deck Shoes

Canvas plimsoles, either lace-up or slip-on, are a good footwear solution for our climate and what we would recommend.  Remember to choose a light coloured honeycomb sole.

At the moment they are enjoying a revival as  the coolest, latest style in retro chic so should be easy to find.

Buy them cheap and cheerful or go for a designer label if you want to make a fashion statement.

The Waterproof Option
Bright and colourful as well as waterproof, shoes like these below (from Lands End) are suitable for wearing on both yachts and RIB.

They feature fast-draining mesh uppers and rubber footbeds and soles with drainage holes. Thy’re great for dinghy work and you can even wear them swimming.

Traditional Leather Boat Shoes
This is a typical leather boat shoe as sold by marine chandlers. They are made for use on board with soles of a non-marking material.

These shoes can be worn in the cooler months of the year as well as mid summer and are useful if you want to sail in places other than the Mediterranean.

Being leather, they tend to be more expensive than canvas deck shoes.
Leather boat shoes need to be regularly cleaned and cared for to keep the leather supple and in good condition.

Use a leather feeder for a waterproof seal that prolongs the life of the shoe. We recommend Nikwax or Collonil Rustical. Neutral Kiwi is also suitable. (available in climbing shops if you cannot find them in a shoe shop.)

A word of warning ….

Some boat shoes have dyed leather. Although this looks smart, we have found a drawback to these in Greece. Worn without socks they have a tendency to stain your feet if your feet perspire or the shoes get wet and the dye runs!

Machine washable deck shoes
I owned a pair of these Quayside Bermudas for many years and really loved the fact that they could be popped into the washing machine when dirty. Unfortunately I have to report that they suffered very slightly from the same problem of  dye leaking, although this was not a major problem. Worth it for the convenience if you will be sailing a lot.

If your deck shoes have removable liners, regularly take them out and spray them to keep them fresh and clean.

Where to Get Them

If you can’t find suitable shoes in your local shops, or don’t have time to look, try online sites such as ebay and Amazon. An Internet search for ‘deck shoe’, for instance, will come up with numerous companies who sell online.

You can try ebay for good prices and Boat Shows often have branded shoes at a special price.