Rhodes to Athens in a 20 metre yacht - how long ?

[bobgosling]

A colleague is looking at hiring a 20 metre yacht with some friends to sail ( or motor ? ) from Rhodes to Athens. How long, realistically, would that take ? I told him I would guesstimate it at 2 - 3 days ? Does that sound about right ?

Sorry, bit of a vague "how long is a piece of string" question I know ! Just don't have access to an Atlas at my desk and too busy to spend time on it so I'm taking the easy option of asking you guys.

 

[ostria]

Quite right estimation - approx. 3 days, 2 or 3 nights- if done as a boat-transfer though, i.e. no leisure trip and ofcourse considering no extreme weathers...
Otherwise leisurely it can take anything up to two or three weeks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[steve_cronin]

Meltemi!

Rod Heikell, in one of his books relates his early charter skippering career when he made a good living out of returning charter boats back "uphill" against the Meltemi.

At 20 metres, they will have a better journey than we did in 14metres but it still could be a slog. Maybe it's possible in a week at a liveable pace.

I would certainly route westwards across the top of Karpathos and west-about the Kyklades to avoid the worst of the wind.

Of course, outside of the Meltemi season, it will be a pleasureable milk run.

Steve Cronin

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Meltemi!

Google Earth (measure, path) makes it 290nm, including a bit of wiggling to miss islands.

60 footer, 8kts easy under power, more if sailing free. 36 hours. Depends a bit which way the wind blows, of course.

 

[davidbains]

Re: Meltemi!

I'd recommend heading northwest from Rhodes town to Kos and possibly even passing north of Kos before heading west to Amorgos, then south of Naxos/Paros to Sifnos. Then work up the chain to cape Sounion. This will give you less fetch in the Meltemi. I would have thought 4 days min if Metemi not too strong, possibly much longer if it's blowing. Round the world yachts get struck in SW Turkey waiting to head to Athens! Avoid July/August if at all possible.

 

[steve_cronin]

Neither you ....

...nor the boat would want to crash into the Meltemi when it's blowing at 6-8 with it's characteristic sharp waveform on the nose for 36 hours Ken unless the devil was chasing you! Anyway there is NO WAY that you will VMG at 8knots in such conditions, more like 5.75 at best.

Then there's the reluctance to sailing those waters after dark due to all the flotsam and nasty bits of rock around. so even your 36 divided by nine hours a day and that's endurance NOT fun sailing, comes to four days. So with a more realistic progress to windward, stops for fuel, provisions etc., my advice to give it a week is, I think, far more realistic.

Oh yes and I have actually done it too.

Steve Cronin

 

[steve_cronin]

Exactly David

Just measuring it on Google Earth and assuming that you can crash into the Meltemi at a VMG of eight knots is to reveal a lack of understanding and knowledge of the area.

Steve Cronin

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Neither you ....

20 meter yacht (if it's any good) will just be getting nicely into its stride in a F6! Been there, done that.

 

[kandoma]

Re: Neither you ....

if he can afford chartering a 20 meter boat, why is he doing Rhodos - Athens and not the other way around ? Sailing from Athens to Rhodos with a 20 meter boat in a Meltemi must be the ultimate kick.

Peter

 

[jimbaerselman]

A cruise, taking plenty of time about it and only visiting ten or so of the possible islands en route, would take a fortnight. And you'd see a lot. It can be done much quicker . . . depends on your piece of string. Or slower . . . I once took a month and visited some 20 harbours and anchorages, 'doing' some of them quite thoroughly.

Ignore those who take fright at the summer meltemi. There is an element of irrational fear there - it is nothing like as bad as the mistral. On one or two occasions in the year, you may be pinned down for a day or three by a F8 in July or August. It's very rare the meltemi exceeds F7 except in well documented 'hot spots'; favoured by windsurfers, of course. I've pootled around the Cyclades for five years in 40ft so I know the hot spots. Also, you can check these stats from the wind roses in the Admiralty pilot. In 20m you'll be comfy.

To make westerly trips in comfort, either do all your northing in the Dodecanese, then close fetch across the central Cyclades, or cross the southern islands to Milos, leap to the mainland, and take the favourable northerly winds up the E Peloponese. You'll find a lot about which islnds to hit - or miss - on my website, which does Greece in detail.

You should manage a discount for chartering in this direction, since the companies usually have to pay skippers to do the return journeys! One way I made a bit of cash in the past . . .

 

[steve_cronin]

Just in case...

[ QUOTE ]
...Ignore those who take fright at the summer meltemi. . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

was aimed at me, I would point out that I was merely making sure that the gentleman was aware of it and how much it would dictate his route.

I did think about going into the detail you have used but as I still have to work for a living, I need to be brief at times.
Sounds like his friend is doing a holiday cruise and if it's a family one he needs to keep the crew happy and having the salad blown horizontally off our plates at lunch on a regular basis is what influenced us to move to Corfu for a few years at least. Some here seem to be treating it as a delivery trip or a macho tight-down oilskins blast which I suspect it won't be.

I would follow your suggested route although I'm not a fan of Milos town (Adhamas) but it would allow yet another visit to one of our favourites, Leonidion on the mainland. However, that might mean leaving out Vathi on Sifnos, another favourite.

As you say, the cruising area is full of places to stop and i hope that they enjoy it and don't try to rush it.

We are looking forward tom the times when we will be able to "...take a month and visit some 20 harbours and anchorages" Our trips, although we do as much sailing as we did in the UK usually include a frantic motorsail down to levkas and an equally rushed one on the way back. However, next month we're going to spend twelve days just getting to Keffallonia and back.

Steve Cronin

 

[jimbaerselman]

Re: Just in case...

No, Steve. Wasn't aimed at you. You gave good advice. I was aiming at: [ QUOTE ]
Round the world yachts get struck in SW Turkey waiting to head to Athens! Avoid July/August if at all possible.

[/ QUOTE ] Which I think is over-egging it. Let's face it, quite lightly built charter boats of 34ft and upwards operate throughout the area all summer.

Incidentally, Adhamas had an 80m long quay, with moorings tailed to it last June. And I love an evening trip up to Plaka, the village on top of the hill. Great sunset spot, and a very classy taverna up there near the bus terminus - 'Archontoula'.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Hi I take 35 hours sailing/motoring to get from Kos to Poros with a 44ft boat.as said winds can be high in places but with a 60ft boat, should not be a problem, divide 35 into as many days that you have .cheers bobt

 

[Melody]

[ QUOTE ]
It's very rare the meltemi exceeds F7

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing you should be aware of if you are in a charter yacht is that the port police have the authority to stop any Greek flagged commercial vessel from leaving port if there is more than a F6 blowing. So even if you feel confident to go out in a F7, if it is not your own boat, you could well be forbidden to do so.

They do it very nicely usually "today is for fishing, swimming, reading ... not for sailing, captain"

It is possible to get stuck in the Cyclades for several days and you can bet that it will NEVER be in a place you would choose to spend that long!

In a 20m boat you should be able to make good time but be warned that you can get stuck - we usually add 2 days to every 14 day trip to allow for the meltemi.

If you do sail in the meltemi you will find it is the short uncomfortable seas that make it so unpleasant rather than anything to do with the wind strength. It's a bit like sailing in a washing machine.

Of course you can also sail there in August and find hardly any wind when the Ionian is having a gale and you wonder what everyone makes a fuss about!