G
Guest
Guest
Some people hereabouts (me included) do powerboating, and sailing too. For us, this means that we’ll rent a sailboat and if we find another yacht going in vaguely the same direction, we’ll tighten all the sails up and blam past them with extreme leaning over, engine on if necessary secretly blasting away on their blind side and out of earshot at moderately decent 8+ knots. Hee hee. Anyway, here’s how we got on in the Ionian.
The Ionian.
…is a gang of islands and sea on that bit of Greece to the west of the main bit of seaweedy looking greece on the chart, below Corfu which is Ionian but up in the north on its own. Using Preveza airport (charter flight) the sailing base we went to is actually on in an inland “sea” so even when lots of wind no big waves. Mainland on the east, Levkadas on the north-west, Cephallonia to S of Levkada with the island of Ithaca… partially encloses an area full of big and little islands 40 milesish N-S by up to twenty E-W, plenty for a week or two of sailing.
Sunsail
Main qualification is a credit card. If the card clears, you’re in. Yachtmaster? Day skipper? ICC? Nah, no checks on skils or whether you know a spinnaker from a big billowing sail thingy at the front…er well anyway.
The briefing
Sunsail are dead keen on briefings. Of course, you need to be shown round the boat. But they have briefings every blimmin morning if you take the flotilla option- which is why we didn’t. Mrs S went to first flotilla briefing day 1, while I went to other briefing for bareboats, till both realised they are simply reading out the pilot book, and then off we went. There’s lots of depth all over the Ionian, even 20metres from the rocks, said the chappie at the briefing. Well that’s us off the hook then.
The standard boat is 32 feet long, but that won’t do at all. You need autopilot for nipping down and finding beer whilst underway, electric windlass, in-mast furling, plenty of space and no kipping in the saloon unless falling over after heavy session…means an upgrade to 40+ footer is comfy for 4, a 45+ footer for 6.
Sarky sunsail
Most of the Sunsail staff very good and helpful. But a few are supercillious in the extreme, and swagger about. Eg our outboard conked out. Engineer came over, twiddled, pumped thru fuel, pull pull for ages, eventually fired it up, but then “Lesson on how to start an outboard” speech. Look matey we’ve had loads of outboards, none this flimsy, just fix it, there’s a good chap. 400 yds it conked out again with no fuel. However, after we rescued two of their boats with plonker skippers gently wafting up to the beach and another left someone on board – but who hadn’t a clue about how to move the boat - “Put the engine on!” “I don’t know how to!” …perhaps one can see why they feel so superior.
Staff also assume that everyone else is as skint as they are, and hence they refer to white plastic sparsely-equipped charter ragboat as utterly amazing piece of equipment, which , to be fair, if you’re a student I suppose it is. Eventually, after yet another reference to vast cost of various items of rigging and sails, quietly explained Mrs S’s earrings are worth more than the poxy boat, so shut up .
Now part of First Choice group, Sunsail is rather at the limit of charging as much as poss, hiring staff who’ll take crap money, not having strong enuf management on site to enforce standards properly, nastiest charter airflights with tighest 28”legroom, and sharp London prices at their onshore bars. Some of their staff need sacking or at least a bit of a kicking: their “ticking off” off clients (eg me) for not putting on a third spring isn’t necessary, and if they leapt into my boat uninvited as they did with others I’d tellem to sod off. And the dinghies should be pumped up more than once a season, not soggy on arrival. More serious is their own lack of safety sense – if staff want to halyard-wakeboard off the back of their lead boat it’s ok – but they need two people on board, not just one and the other messing about in the dinghy. The helm simply didn’t see other boats (including me) moving all over out of their way as they careered about at the entrance of a bay. Adrian and Hugh, that means you. Sure, Sunsail are big enuf to have good spares etc, but I’ll search other options more carefully next time, and as Adrian blurted at entire group, “you can always push the salespeople for a discount”. A real asset to the company eh?
I would recommend to avoid flotillas, whose interminable briefings might actually take longer than the tiny 5-8 mile daily trips they undertake, missing the best bits and just going to “favoured status” evening eateries where Sunsail staff eat and drink for free, but which otherwise nobody in their right mind would visit.
Where to go
Oct is off season, so all the cutesy small places are bit too quiet (or pretty much closed), but everywhere nice 26degrees in daytime and mostly sunny. However, nice force 5 day one so banged out to Fiskardo, picture postcard village on Cephallonia, and only harbour where water so clear I felt ok about the idea of jumping in for a swim. Again, off season all probly cleaner with fewer boats. Also all mooring is free in Octo, not so in high season, tho stil cheap. Vathi town on Ithaca island also recommended. Everywhere else either bigger and more action but a bit scruffy (Levkadas town and Nidri) or teensy, v cute, but bit deadish in Oct and can’t be exactly bouncing even in high season. Lots of beautiful coves for quiet overnight anchorages.
Bad points
If you’ve read about Greece , the word “unsophisticated” is used freely. This is an oblique reference to the worst thing abouttthe place which is ….you aren’t allowed to put toilet paper down the toilet, anywhere. Bluurgh. You have to put the toilet paper in a bin, no kidding, everywhere in Ionian anyway, dunno bout the rest . The bin isn’t emptied every four minutes, but praps every day, or every other day. You get very very particular at washing hands as often as possible. Or cholera, I imagine.
Greece is utterly knackered, halfbuilt, and not very well cleaned. No, the cheap prices don’t quite make up for it, they’re the excuse. Greece is very lucky to be close to Europe and sunny, otherwise it would be called Biafra or The Falklands With Mankier Sheep. The food is reasonable, provided that you pretend that the chef chose his/her profession yesterday, and makes Spain seem like a gourmet’s paradise.
In night-time bars, mice and cockroaches run around on the floors, and mangey stray cats patrol all outdoor restaurarants, and the loos…there’s the toilet paper rule again, bluurgh.
Good points
The weather is good, the water is warm, crystal clear in places, sometimes even in the harbours.
The prices are cheap. We took a grand to lash out on spends for a week, and brought 400 quid back: the moorings are free, and nightime meal out for four is under twenty quid, or fifty quid if you have the mega expensive fish with most expensive wine on the list option. Nagging money for kids is painless, as the games are 100dr a go = 20p, not 10 francs or a quid. Massive beers or huge G+T’s for 50p.
The Ioanian is a good place to sail, ok but probly not so good for powerboat IMHO– bit small crusing area– could cover the whole area in a day at 30 knots, not enuf facilites (fuel etc. and water mostly non-existent ) and not enuf to do onshore.
The Greek people are friendly, very jolly, very honest, no concept of ripping you off or suchlike. Our kids left expensive sunglasses in a bar, and returned an hour later and there they were. We asked a restaurant where we could buy bread, and they just gave us some free.
Memorable bits
We saw the recently-restored “Christina O” superyacht, once owned by Onassis, returning up the Ithaca channel en route to Skorpios, one the smaller islands, private, and bought by the late billionaire in the sixties. Dipped Greek ensign but it’s a Panamanian flagged boat now so no response…
We had some jolly good sailing races (sometimes even without our engines on) even against bigger boats.
On Sunday morning in Levkadas town, we saw the local band come down the street, attractive family-based lifestyle in small tight-knit community, as elsewhere.
We found some interesting people from all over, including a Finn with a new boat. “That looks very new”I said. “It’s 10 days old” he says v pleased, on his sparkly new 36 Dufour “and much bigger than the old boat too”. “How big was the previous boat?” I asked. “Well, that was a 36 too, but this is wider.” Hmm.
Would we go back? Er, not for a while. If we ever sold up and sailed around the world in big and utterly sorted sailboat with watermakers, aircons, etc etc, then we’d do Greece on the way around the Med. Until then, once every ten years is enough, until they fix the plumbing and the food. Praps I am a snob? Posssibly. At Gatwick, everyone we had seen during the week squeezed into old Sierras, Escorts or manky BMW’s (oops sorry couldn't resist that one) and trundled off to Wales, Liverpool, Lincolnshire where praps they wash out and re-use the toilet paper anyway....
The Ionian.
…is a gang of islands and sea on that bit of Greece to the west of the main bit of seaweedy looking greece on the chart, below Corfu which is Ionian but up in the north on its own. Using Preveza airport (charter flight) the sailing base we went to is actually on in an inland “sea” so even when lots of wind no big waves. Mainland on the east, Levkadas on the north-west, Cephallonia to S of Levkada with the island of Ithaca… partially encloses an area full of big and little islands 40 milesish N-S by up to twenty E-W, plenty for a week or two of sailing.
Sunsail
Main qualification is a credit card. If the card clears, you’re in. Yachtmaster? Day skipper? ICC? Nah, no checks on skils or whether you know a spinnaker from a big billowing sail thingy at the front…er well anyway.
The briefing
Sunsail are dead keen on briefings. Of course, you need to be shown round the boat. But they have briefings every blimmin morning if you take the flotilla option- which is why we didn’t. Mrs S went to first flotilla briefing day 1, while I went to other briefing for bareboats, till both realised they are simply reading out the pilot book, and then off we went. There’s lots of depth all over the Ionian, even 20metres from the rocks, said the chappie at the briefing. Well that’s us off the hook then.
The standard boat is 32 feet long, but that won’t do at all. You need autopilot for nipping down and finding beer whilst underway, electric windlass, in-mast furling, plenty of space and no kipping in the saloon unless falling over after heavy session…means an upgrade to 40+ footer is comfy for 4, a 45+ footer for 6.
Sarky sunsail
Most of the Sunsail staff very good and helpful. But a few are supercillious in the extreme, and swagger about. Eg our outboard conked out. Engineer came over, twiddled, pumped thru fuel, pull pull for ages, eventually fired it up, but then “Lesson on how to start an outboard” speech. Look matey we’ve had loads of outboards, none this flimsy, just fix it, there’s a good chap. 400 yds it conked out again with no fuel. However, after we rescued two of their boats with plonker skippers gently wafting up to the beach and another left someone on board – but who hadn’t a clue about how to move the boat - “Put the engine on!” “I don’t know how to!” …perhaps one can see why they feel so superior.
Staff also assume that everyone else is as skint as they are, and hence they refer to white plastic sparsely-equipped charter ragboat as utterly amazing piece of equipment, which , to be fair, if you’re a student I suppose it is. Eventually, after yet another reference to vast cost of various items of rigging and sails, quietly explained Mrs S’s earrings are worth more than the poxy boat, so shut up .
Now part of First Choice group, Sunsail is rather at the limit of charging as much as poss, hiring staff who’ll take crap money, not having strong enuf management on site to enforce standards properly, nastiest charter airflights with tighest 28”legroom, and sharp London prices at their onshore bars. Some of their staff need sacking or at least a bit of a kicking: their “ticking off” off clients (eg me) for not putting on a third spring isn’t necessary, and if they leapt into my boat uninvited as they did with others I’d tellem to sod off. And the dinghies should be pumped up more than once a season, not soggy on arrival. More serious is their own lack of safety sense – if staff want to halyard-wakeboard off the back of their lead boat it’s ok – but they need two people on board, not just one and the other messing about in the dinghy. The helm simply didn’t see other boats (including me) moving all over out of their way as they careered about at the entrance of a bay. Adrian and Hugh, that means you. Sure, Sunsail are big enuf to have good spares etc, but I’ll search other options more carefully next time, and as Adrian blurted at entire group, “you can always push the salespeople for a discount”. A real asset to the company eh?
I would recommend to avoid flotillas, whose interminable briefings might actually take longer than the tiny 5-8 mile daily trips they undertake, missing the best bits and just going to “favoured status” evening eateries where Sunsail staff eat and drink for free, but which otherwise nobody in their right mind would visit.
Where to go
Oct is off season, so all the cutesy small places are bit too quiet (or pretty much closed), but everywhere nice 26degrees in daytime and mostly sunny. However, nice force 5 day one so banged out to Fiskardo, picture postcard village on Cephallonia, and only harbour where water so clear I felt ok about the idea of jumping in for a swim. Again, off season all probly cleaner with fewer boats. Also all mooring is free in Octo, not so in high season, tho stil cheap. Vathi town on Ithaca island also recommended. Everywhere else either bigger and more action but a bit scruffy (Levkadas town and Nidri) or teensy, v cute, but bit deadish in Oct and can’t be exactly bouncing even in high season. Lots of beautiful coves for quiet overnight anchorages.
Bad points
If you’ve read about Greece , the word “unsophisticated” is used freely. This is an oblique reference to the worst thing abouttthe place which is ….you aren’t allowed to put toilet paper down the toilet, anywhere. Bluurgh. You have to put the toilet paper in a bin, no kidding, everywhere in Ionian anyway, dunno bout the rest . The bin isn’t emptied every four minutes, but praps every day, or every other day. You get very very particular at washing hands as often as possible. Or cholera, I imagine.
Greece is utterly knackered, halfbuilt, and not very well cleaned. No, the cheap prices don’t quite make up for it, they’re the excuse. Greece is very lucky to be close to Europe and sunny, otherwise it would be called Biafra or The Falklands With Mankier Sheep. The food is reasonable, provided that you pretend that the chef chose his/her profession yesterday, and makes Spain seem like a gourmet’s paradise.
In night-time bars, mice and cockroaches run around on the floors, and mangey stray cats patrol all outdoor restaurarants, and the loos…there’s the toilet paper rule again, bluurgh.
Good points
The weather is good, the water is warm, crystal clear in places, sometimes even in the harbours.
The prices are cheap. We took a grand to lash out on spends for a week, and brought 400 quid back: the moorings are free, and nightime meal out for four is under twenty quid, or fifty quid if you have the mega expensive fish with most expensive wine on the list option. Nagging money for kids is painless, as the games are 100dr a go = 20p, not 10 francs or a quid. Massive beers or huge G+T’s for 50p.
The Ioanian is a good place to sail, ok but probly not so good for powerboat IMHO– bit small crusing area– could cover the whole area in a day at 30 knots, not enuf facilites (fuel etc. and water mostly non-existent ) and not enuf to do onshore.
The Greek people are friendly, very jolly, very honest, no concept of ripping you off or suchlike. Our kids left expensive sunglasses in a bar, and returned an hour later and there they were. We asked a restaurant where we could buy bread, and they just gave us some free.
Memorable bits
We saw the recently-restored “Christina O” superyacht, once owned by Onassis, returning up the Ithaca channel en route to Skorpios, one the smaller islands, private, and bought by the late billionaire in the sixties. Dipped Greek ensign but it’s a Panamanian flagged boat now so no response…
We had some jolly good sailing races (sometimes even without our engines on) even against bigger boats.
On Sunday morning in Levkadas town, we saw the local band come down the street, attractive family-based lifestyle in small tight-knit community, as elsewhere.
We found some interesting people from all over, including a Finn with a new boat. “That looks very new”I said. “It’s 10 days old” he says v pleased, on his sparkly new 36 Dufour “and much bigger than the old boat too”. “How big was the previous boat?” I asked. “Well, that was a 36 too, but this is wider.” Hmm.
Would we go back? Er, not for a while. If we ever sold up and sailed around the world in big and utterly sorted sailboat with watermakers, aircons, etc etc, then we’d do Greece on the way around the Med. Until then, once every ten years is enough, until they fix the plumbing and the food. Praps I am a snob? Posssibly. At Gatwick, everyone we had seen during the week squeezed into old Sierras, Escorts or manky BMW’s (oops sorry couldn't resist that one) and trundled off to Wales, Liverpool, Lincolnshire where praps they wash out and re-use the toilet paper anyway....
