Winter base – Compass heading 180°

Apulia – Trulli Baroque

June 3, 2023 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

Our sailing blog has been greatly neglected this past winter and spring. Life got in the way – more precisely, land life in a very cold land. It was hard to find inspiration for writing about adventures along the sunny Mediterranean while wading about in deep snow. Now that the new sailing season has already begun, perhaps it’s time to draw a quick summary of the places we visited from our winter base – in no particular order. Next time, I might tell you more about which way the winds are blowing this summer. Continue reading

Brindisi – Ancient Port of the Adriatic

January 15, 2023 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

Night time scenery of the Brindisi old town, photographed from the opposite shore. Behind the seafront buildings the Roman column and large staircase, in front is a large sailing ship moored at the town quay.

From Otranto, we headed north along the Apulian coast towards Brindisi. It was a pleasant, sunny day, with just a hint of cool autumn. The passage of 40 nautical miles was uneventful. The wind was good all day, but it was already dark by the time we reached the shelter of the breakwater of Brindisi harbour. Continue reading

Merry Christmas 2022!

December 24, 2022 Compass Heading 180° Comments 2 Comments

Watercolour painting of a sailboat made of snow, and two snowmen sailing it

Another Christmas is here. This year, we will acquaint ourselves with Italian Christmas traditions onboard s/y Aina. From the culinary point of view, they seem particularly agreeable. The weather has so far been quite settled, dry and pleasant. Continue reading

Escaping winter to Crete – Spinalonga and Elounda

March 7, 2022 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

Elounda fishing harbour is full of colourful boats.

Aina sailed peacefully, following her favourite compass heading, 180°. We saw Mykonos behind us, and soon also Naxos and Paros, as we continued further south. It was the last day of October, and the sun would set early. There would be no moon to guide us on this night passage. The cloudy sky soon turned pitch black. But the wind wasn’t bad, the sea not too bumpy, so we both slept well in turns. As I climbed into the cockpit for my shift around midnight, I saw the beautiful glittering lights of Santorini on our starboard side. Perhaps we would sail there one day, but not tonight – our destination was Crete. Continue reading

Ionian to Aegean – s/y Aina’s year 2021 in Greece

December 31, 2021 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

When our sailing journey began in the summer of 2018, we never thought we would be staying very long in any country. But we’re still in Greece after more than two years! This winter will be the third that our Aina rests in a Greek harbour – this time in Crete. We hope our readers can wait for future sailing plans patiently, as they are never revealed even to us until the very last moment. Continue reading

Minimalist Sailing Adventure – Another Lockdown Winter in Greece

April 25, 2021 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

Sailboat Aina’s crew is still floating in Greece. No worries – we haven’t accidentally sailed over the world’s edge, or been swallowed by a whirlpool, or even poisoned by the fumes of the Mount Parnassos that used to inspire the oracle at Delphi. But the strict lockdown that has lasted for more than six months has had its effect on my writing inspiration. Continue reading

Winter in Messolonghi – Boat Projects and BBQ

February 29, 2020 Compass Heading 180° Comments 2 Comments

After a leisurely Christmas and New Year it was time for some much needed boat refit – plumbing, to be precise. We’re still in the middle of it, and that’s why I won’t go into any detail at this moment. I will write about the project later, when it’s finished. There hasn’t been much time for anything else besides drilling, screwing, demolishing and building during the last few weeks. Continue reading

Winter planning in Greek summer

October 29, 2019 Compass Heading 180° Comments 0 Comment

We left the island of Kefalonia to sail to the Greek mainland. Along the way we anchored for one night on the island’s southeast corner, and continued in the morning towards the town of Mesolongi. We made landfall at dusk. Mesolongi is situated at the mouth of the Patras Bay, and surrounded by extensive salt marshes and lagoons. A narrow, dredged channel leads into the town bay, about a mile and a half inland. There are peculiar houses built on stilts on both sides of it, and many small wooden piers. Numerous bird species inhabit the wetlands, even pink flamingos, of which we saw a great big flock with our binoculars as we motored along the channel. Continue reading

on Kythira – a Bend in the RoadGlad you enjoyed it, thank you!
on Kythira – a Bend in the RoadThank you for this. Love it!
on Merry Christmas 2022!Thank you! Have a lovely winter!
on Merry Christmas 2022!Merry Christmas to you both from the crew of Temptress. Enjoy your winter adventures
on Sailboat bottom renovation | Part 1: SandingThanks for quick reply, my thoughts are same, start using the chemical paint removal till we reach a surface that we can paint over.
on Sailboat bottom renovation | Part 1: SandingHi Cornel, we're really not experts on this, but you'll probably find the original gelcoat under the layers of antifouling if you remove everything. On our boat the gelcoat had been peeled off completely, probably because of blisters. You might be fine painting new antifouling on top of old if you can find out what's been used before. Or keep removing layers until you find one that sticks, and paint over that. If you need to remove all paint, I think using chemical paint removal might be the best way.
on Sailboat bottom renovation | Part 1: SandingHi there, We bought a boat this summer, and it looks like we need to strip all antifouling layers next season. Here and there, some patches of antifouling are falling off in places reveling some darker paint/surface underneath. The main question is how do we know if the boat has been epoxied before? I am thinking that at some point someone used a different antifouling and now it's just falling off. Cheers, Cornel / Finland
on Winter in Messolonghi – Boat Projects and BBQHi Mario, we're thinking of staying in the Aegean side next winter. But Messolonghi is a very nice town and there's a small but friendly liveaboard community in the marina, definitely recommend because of that. Not sure how the marina business is nowadays, though, but they've been pretty quick to answer emails in the past. It was very affordable when we were there, and the facilities were fine. https://www.messolonghimarina.com/
on Winter in Messolonghi – Boat Projects and BBQHi, We are thinking to winter in Messolonghi, some months on the water some on yardh Do you recomend? Do you go to pass this winter to? Thanks.
on Jump to the Peloponnese: Pylos, Methoni and KalamataAmazing !!!
on Nidri, Lefkas – and more waiting!Not heading home this year. Probably overwinter in Messolonghi .

Compass heading 180°

Sailing Adventure Towards Warmer Waters

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