Dear friends

I'm back in England this week so it's not so expensive to send an email as I've discovered (rather late) that my earlier emails were. I had an arrangement to use a Greek ISP (Internet Service Provider) on the assumption that a call to a Greek number from my mobile was cheaper than a call to England. I've now discovered that it was more expensive (because they route it via England for charging purposes!). In addition the Greek ISP's are so unreliable that it took an average of 3 phone calls to send an email. Oh well, you learn!!

After spending a few days fixing the boat in Athens, I took off for the Cyclades for about 10 days. The islands were lovely: Kea, Serifos, Sifnos, Paros, Siros and Kythnos. I only stayed a short time in most, except Sifnos where I met a nice bunch of Ozzies, Greeks and Americans. You may have heard of the ferry disaster in Paros, which I heard of just as I was about to leave Athens and it was rather sobering. [There's a big rock you can't miss just outside the harbour and they didn't! All the crew were below watching a local football match if one believes the most commonly repeated story.]

The most memorable bit of this trip was going from Paros (which is lovely) to Siros, when there were huge thunder clouds around. There was a big barrel-shaped clouds over in the west emitting lots of lightening and I was trying to calculate whether it would reach me before I got to the shelter of Siros. I hate thunderstorms at sea although David taught me how to earth the mast (wrap the anchor chain round one of the stays and put it in the drink). Anyway, needless to say the thunderstorm won, but it was all wind and rain and not much lightening by that stage so it was ok.

I got back to Attica (the mainland) and went up to Athens to pick up my disabled friend Guy. He was supposed to come out when I was in Corfu and even got on the plane in Gatwick. Then the unbelievable happened: he asked for help to go to the loo and they chucked him off the plane! I had a call at midnight to say he couldn't come and was unable to bash any sense into their heads. To make matters worse, the next day they offered to take him PROVIDED he paid an extra single fare. AND they have so far refused to repay a penny of the fare. Friends, if you ever get to go on a Monarch Airlines flight, don't!

Anyway he came out this time using Easyjet and everything was fine. We had a great week, going to the islands of Hydra, Spetses and Poros. Guy managed to swim off the back of the boat and get back on the gangplank after a few drinks on shore! But that week the wind was against us all the way. I got plenty of tacking experience in force 6 winds, which was exhilarating tho Guy eventually retired below decks.

At the end of my last letter I requested more company, and got it in the shape of two friends of my cousin Charles, who arrived in Athens on the last day that my friend Guy was here. Angela and her daughter Hannah come from Gloucestershire and had experience of canal boats tho not sea sailing. We had a good week although there was only three days of sailing. Problems with the engine meant I was beavering away all day Monday to get it going. Then when we got to Hydra a meltemi set in. This is a strong wind that blows from the north when there is a low pressure in the Levant (Israel/Iraq). It's only supposed to happen in the summer but it happened this time in October. I was very glad I hadn't kept to my original plan of going to the Cyclades as the winds were reported as force 8-9 whereas we only had 7 in the Peloponnese -- but Hydra has a north facing harbour and it was pretty uncomfortable for three days. So on the Saturday Angela and Hannah had to take the ferry back to Athens. Mercifully the wind abated a little on Sunday and I went back to Poros which is amazingly well sheltered.

I've left the boat there on the quay being looked after by a guy who I'm assured is trustworthy. After leaving I took the ferry to Samos which is close to the Turkish coast and completed the journey to Istanbul, where a niece of mine lives, by Turkish ferry and bus. I spent a few very pleasant days with them and then flew back to England. I'm planning to go back to Athens on Thursday for a couple of weeks during which time I'll get the boat taken out of the water for the winter so I can do all the maintenance that is needed after the busiest season I'm sure that Second Wind has had in its 19 years of existence. In the last few weeks all sorts of things have stopped working and it's time to call a halt for a break.

But next year I want to explore the Aegean and surrounding areas rather more. I'll probably start in April and hope many of you would like to come out for a week or two. Maybe I'll set out on the long trip back to England at the end of next year, but I haven't sorted out quite how to do that yet.

So I'll be back in the UK at the end of November to enjoy the English winter! I think I can find things to keep me busy. I should be able to reclaim my flat by Christmas and may even get used to being a landlubber. But I doubt it, being on a boat is too rich! Anyway I'll be having a party to celebrate my return, that's for sure.

best wishes
Chris