God and thunder.

Ak Psevdhokavos with Mount Athos in background

Anchored at Ornos Tsarki, Nissos Ammouliani, NW Akti

As planned we departed Koufos on Saturday, 2^nd of July, and headed for an anchorage on Nisos Ammouliani, at the root of the Akti peninsula. With only a gentle breeze on the bow I sailed Kurukulla off the alongside berth and set off reasonably early, leaving Camilla to catch up later. The beat out through the entrance of the bay was great fun, after which I headed south to round Cape Psevdhokavos and then a 20 mile reach north, under spinnaker, to the anchorage. By the time I arrived at Nissos Ammouliani the southerly wind had freshened considerably but it was still possible to find shelter in Ornos Tsarki, a bay on the west side of the island with a beautiful sandy beach. You would expect a small island like this to be quiet, not a bit of it, hundreds of Greek holidaymakers and three competing bars all pumping out music at maximum volume. On the beach it must have been deafening, it was bad enough 100m offshore! Camilla arrived about half an hour later bringing with her the evening meal, it was David's turn to cook.

Xenofondos Coenobite Monastery

On the Sunday we set off at 0600 to do the seaborne tour of the 16 monasteries on the Akti peninsula. The southerly wind had not been replaced by an easterly as forecast and so we motored the first leg southwards in order to stay near the coast and get the best view. Many of the monasteries are spectacular but you are left to wonder what do they contribute to the church or society, all grouped together here and segregated from Greece, let alone the rest of the world? The architecture of many of them has much in common with Dartmoor Prison they are of similar size!

Simonopetra Coenobite Monastery

Our peaceful sightseeing was then interrupted by David motoring Camilla over to where I was, at high speed, to ask me what he should do as his tachometer had stopped working? A check of the fan belt showed all to be OK and then he found a lose wire on the regulator of the alternator (the alternator provides the input signal to the tachometer), with this reconnected it made no difference. The only choice was to shut the engine down and sail until I could get onboard and have a look and that was not going to be until we anchored that night. Hence we decided to continue our tour under sail. The wind had other ideas! As we rounded the southern tip of the Akti peninsula and Mount Athos the wind died to nothing and stayed that way for three hours. Camilla does not go well in light airs at the best of times and this was not the best of times as we had a slight swell rolling in spilling any breeze there was, making the sails flog. By 1600 it was obvious we either got Camilla under-way under her own power and risked writing off the alternator (if it was not already burnt out) or I took her in tow.

Camilla on tow with Mount Thasos in the background

Standby the storm!

For the next 7 hours Kurukulla and I towed her up the east side of the peninsula, through thunderstorms and calms, and made a night entry into Ormos Plati, on the NE side of the Akti peninsula. Officially we were not supposed to anchor here, it being within the confines of the peninsula special region but at midnight, on a moonless night, we did not expect anyone to object! The tow repaid David for his kindness last year in towing me in when my engine failed.

The sun re-appears at sunset!

The following morning I donned my overalls (figuratively speaking), moved Kurukulla alongside Camilla, and got to work! The old alternator was soon checked out in situ and then removed to dismantle; the problem was soon evident, three out of three diodes destroyed on one side and the other three looking as though they had been cooked! That was the end of that alternator! Fortunately David had his original, lower capacity, alternator onboard and so I set to and installed it. Started the engine.............nothing. No output. Further research identified that the supply from the start switch to provide the initial alternator field was not present so I rigged a jury rig, using a spare lamp as a resistance, and hey presto charging and a working tachometer. Next there followed a teach in on how to fire up the alternator with the jury rig on each occasion the engine was started. So far so good. By now most of the day had passed and so we decided to stay put and sail next morning. Supper of “Toad in the hole” followed by the film “My Fair Lady”, both in Kurukulla, finished the day.

Alongside at Kallirhakis at sunset.

Next morning we rechecked the charging ability and then set off but not before we had also set up the rigging in Camilla to try to make her perform rather better to windward, until now she has had the windward performance of Kon Tiki! Ten minutes after getting under way, which was just enough time to get Kurukulla under full sail, we were forced to return to the anchorage to free a jammed mainsail in the mast of Camilla (how I hate in mast furling). Second time lucky, we enjoyed a superb close reach the 25 miles across to Kallirakhis, inThasos, our next port of call. Very much improved from the diagram in the latest pilot. A modern small port with one and a half million Euros worth of new alongside berths, empty! Such is the generosity of the EU! On arrival we berthed the boats alongside each other and set off on a shopping expedition followed by supper ashore. All of which was very enjoyable and concluded in an internet café from which I am currently publishing this Blog.