Bouba
Well-known member
My take on this is I’d rather be on the catamaran...
Would it fit inside that alley? Like the toboggan run in Madiera.My take on this is I’d rather be on the catamaran...
Ok, anything other than a scooter then?Would it fit inside that alley? Like the toboggan run in Madiera.
...yachts took refuge from the weather by choosing to moor at the outer ferry quay...
Ive done it in Bermuda. ?I was wondering how long this practice of anchoring stern to a stone wall has been going on. Only a few years I think. I do recall when the term Med Moor arrived. Some cruisers actually asked on this forum what the term meant. It is not a world wide practice. Alongside, yes but not stern too. Actually probably started and confined to Greece.when the weather patterns were reliable. Nowadays, the weather patterns are changing so Med Mooring may be on the way out as the Med falls into line with the rest of the world.
Makes sense as one of the main requirements is limited tidal range. I think Bermuda would be around 0.5 - 1.2m or thereabouts.Ive done it in Bermuda. ?
...med. moor the rest of the time and sometimes 2-3 deep at that.
Yes, Hydra came to mind but we haven't visited for decades. Nice but not worth any hassle after a few stays. I remember watching a couple of yachts trying to leave and failing to recover their anchors. The harbour boat spent ages getting a large ball of knitting on his deck and unravelling it as a few boats motored against their lines. It took a lot of loosening, untwisting and free floating boats moving around. Entertaining to watch as long as you weren't involved.That was Hydra when we sailed out there, are there other spots nowadays?
We enjoyed visiting Hydra once we found a solution to the clusterhook on that seaward side of the harbour and/or shades of the Aegina debacle once boats over-spilt onto the outside of it: The Harbour-master invariably saved all spaces on the quayside for the big 55'+ boats, but with our twenty seven footer we'd come in fully fendered, scope-out a gap between a couple of them - it only needed to be 3-4' wide - and motor into it, dropping a stern anchor perhaps 15-20' before we reached their sterns - so nothing ever tagged that either - and the big yachts would push apart, as we squeezed through the narrow gap and afterwards spring closed again behind us. By the evening it would invariably be closed-up tight behind us, but we would sit contentedly in the triangular space created by the inward curve of their hulls abaft the beam. We must've done that 6 or 8 times at least and though the Harbour-master got testy about it a couple of times, but we just argued that whilst we had got in without damaging anyone, we couldn't get back out again until they'd left in the morning. The super-yacht crews/guests invariably thought it hilarious - we even got invited aboard a couple to discuss how the other half lived over a nice drop of wine - and on our one 'rough' night in there - it was carnage on that outer wall! - we looped a line up to the big-boy's mid-ship cleats on either side, made those off on our stern cleats and enjoyed a very comfortable night.
That nearby bay does, however, have a lot of fouling. Be careful where you put the hook.God know why anyone want to use Hydra OK nice little island but the harbour as always been a night mare even in March and Oct unless your into stress and punishment.
Just a little further down there a nice bay which you can easily walk to the town.
We left the boat in Porto Heli, and took a trip boat Hydra, noooo stress! And a nice day out, drinking a cold beer harbourside whilst the chaos unfolds?God know why anyone want to use Hydra OK nice little island but the harbour as always been a night mare even in March and Oct unless your into stress and punishment.
Just a little further down there a nice bay which you can easily walk to the town.
I have seen so much storm damage done to yachts in Aigina port along with a lot of other ports in the Saronic and Argolic Gulfs and it is so devastating and so sad to see or watch helplessly.
I don't think you can put too much blame to the charterers, they are mostly very inexperienced and are on the boats for the simple reason that primarily they can afford to pay!
The question I would ask, what the hell was the Port Police doing to let them tie up on the Ferry Quay in a dangerous corner especially with such a poor forecast. The ferries invariably Turkish moor and it drives their wash into that corner on a calm day.
My theory is that concrete and granite hurts, slip the lines and get out the way, either ride it out or go and find a quieter lee side.
We were in Porto Helli a few years ago and prepping for the approaching medicane. I assumed that charter companies would have contacted all their bare boats and given warning and instructions about where to go and what to do.
Not a chance and I spoke to someone a few days later who told me a local TV crew had interviewed some charterers on the quay. None had any idea at all that there was "bad weather coming", let alone a medicane.
I can see why the company might worry about giving advice in case it was bad advice. Easy enough with an unpredictable medicane. Surely a warning would be a sensible minimum response.