June Part 3 (Don’t worry it’s nearly over)
 
That’s better now are you sitting comfortably okay then I’ll continue. The weather window arrived, we hot tailed it (into the wind) to the Island of Leros. Aldebaron went into the marina for a night (mainsail adjustments to make) and we stayed at anchor at the top of the island. They joined us the following day and brought the rain with them! Unfortunately for them they were on Stella when the downpour started and had to row back to their boat in it. After Leros we went to two teeny weeny ickle islands Lipsos and Arki. Both lovely little places and if you ever find yourselves in the Dodecs they are well worth a visit. After a good sail our arrival in Samos was greeted with gusts of 25 kts! It was hot hot hot, the thermometer was reading 37 in the shade! Nothing for it but to take refuge in the crystal clear waters of the beach (sorry about that). Samos is renowned for being gusty and we saw gusts of 40 kts whilst we were there. Our mini rally/adventure with Aldebaron was at an end, one final meal with them and their chums then the time had come to say ‘Hasta la vista’ to some great shipmates, we’ve had a ‘SUPERB’ time (Alanism) and hope our sailing paths cross again (obviously not on a collision course). Aldebaron set off back down to Marmaris (with the prevailing wind). Team Stella carried on North (into the prevailing wind). I’d planned a nice little route from Samos to a Turkish anchorage (see we’re not completely legit) with a view to us getting a good sail from the anchorage over to the island of Khios. Despite the fact it took us 30 miles out of our way and the trip to the anchorage was an arduous 52 miler. We did eventually get what has to be our ‘Sail of the Season’ so far. We only ran the engine for about 30 minutes and pretty much flew (3 reefs in the Main and a miniscule amount of Genoa out) the 25 miles to the bottom of Khios! We are coming up the West side of the island, so far we’ve only seen 3 other yachts, all French and all heading in the opposite (South) direction. We are waiting for the winds to drop a bit before we make the rather large hop (50 miles) to Lesvos to meet up with shipmate Marcus. He’s due in on 3rd July, so if you think we’re cutting it a bit fine, your probably right! We’ll let you know how we get on, must dash only 15 minutes of battery left (of course I haven’t spell checked or saved yet) Love & fingers crossed for calm seas The Captain & The roundabout passage planner XX
Monday, 30 June 2008