Greece wasn’t part of the original sailing plan, but when you have less wind than expected, you end up using your motor more than expected. When you end up using your motor more than expected, you end up using more fuel than expected. When you’re using more fuel than expected, you need to adjust your plans to make a refueling stop, which is exactly what we planned to do. Yesterday. (Or rather, the night before that. When we got approached by the Greece Coast Guard. But that’s a different story.) Our plans of stopping in Crete for a few hours – a day to check in to the country and refuel – were quickly disbanded when we were told that we couldn’t enter Greece in Ierapetra because it wasn’t a port of entry. And we needed a transit log. And there was a system coming in and the nearest port of entry was 40 nm away. So they filled up our jerry cans with diesel (as a boat in distress, Port Police is required to help do that, at the minimum), and off we went to Sitia, where I’m writing from now. Though there was an urgency for us to get to Sitia, the sail was pleasant. I took my first early evening shift and caught the sunset and moonrise–it was incredible. Even with the changes in our plan and the roadblocks we kept encountering, there’s still this beauty to the sea, a calmness and stillness that will make even the most dire situations a tad bit better. And at this point, there really wasn’t much for us to do except embrace the moment, and laugh.
So, how’s sailing, you ask? Sailing is pretty cool–and complicated! I’m really lucky, insanely lucky, that I’m sailing with these guys. They are seriously amazing. Not only are they incredible sailors, but they’re patient with my million questions, stopping to teach me how things work along the way. (Often time having to do it a few times because while I like to learn, it takes me a little bit to grasp things sometimes.) They give me chances to make my own contributions, minimal ones, at best, yet make me feel like I’m part of the team. Sometimes when I ask what I can do to help, it’s simply to be supportive. When sailing, you’re sailing 24/7, which means someone always needs to be on watch. My shift is from noon-3pm every day.
Why? Because it’s consistent and it’s almost guaranteed that someone else will be awake at the same time so I’m never ‘alone’. When it comes time to raise the main or tack or jibe, I’ll sit there, patiently awaiting instructions on how I can lend a hand. Sometimes they need it, sometimes they don’t. Even when they don’t, there’s always something to be learned. It’s quite beautiful actually, watching the two of them move about, pulling lines, talking back and forth–it’s like a melodic dance where the two of them are incredibly in sync and graceful. They make it look easy. Yet when I get up to coil a line like they showed me, what looked like a rhythmic smooth motion when orchestrated by them turns into a clumsy amateur uncoordinated mess when I take the reigns. But instead of letting my frustration get the best of me, they’ll stop me, patiently explain it again, and help me until my uncoordinated mess took on the shape of somewhat neater coils. Yup, I’m a lucky one alright.
Even with all of the learning and the great big sea and the fact that we’re on this really cool bad ass boat, sailing isn’t what people think it is. I think Chad put it perfectly when he told me the other day that sailing is cool and all, but it’s really the anchorages that make it fun. I think I agree, but I’ll get back to you with a more conclusive answer. For now, I’m learning a lot, enjoying the journey, getting some reading done, doing a lot of writing (journaling/blogging/letter writing) and getting in some thought and reflection as well. I’m taking things as they come, finally forcing myself to enjoy the moment, confront challenges as they appear and let the rest just be.
For those of you wondering, yes, I did get seasick. It wasn’t as bad as I thought (I was really sleepy and threw up twice). Not bad considering I never did end up taking the Dramamine I bought. The toughest part was not having an appetite or thinking I could keep water down, putting me at risk of getting dehydrated, which would just make things worse. Fortunately, by day 3, I was feeling much better, my appetite returned and I was able to eat normally again. We’ll see how the rest of the seas treat me. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, right? Right.
14 thoughts on “Greetings from Greece”
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I have some sailing experience from what I call my “Other Life.” If your sailing experts are patient and don’t mind teaching you, you are indeed lucky! You will need those skills… I hope that you have clip on life lines for rough weather…
I absolutely loved the quiet of sailing which is not so quiet when you have to use the motor, but there is some terror involved in rough seas with no land in sight. Stay safe and enjoy. I know you are recording your adventure in lots of ways. Remember, though, to sometimes put down the camera, the phone, the journal, and just soak in God’s great big world long enough to find out what it’s like to abandon “monkey mind” for peace and beauty.
You nailed it, Sally! Teaching me about jack lines was one of the first things they showed me. And the first rule: don’t fall off the boat 🙂
We’ve been motoring more than we like, but you’re right, the quiet is incredible! And the moments of solitude when it’s just me, the sails and the big wide sea—those are precious. I hope your memories of the “Other Life” are vibrant and everlasting for you. Who knows, you may get a chance to return to it someday. I truly hope you do.
I have some sailing experience from what I call my “Other Life.” If your sailing experts are patient and don’t mind teaching you, you are indeed lucky! You will need those skills… I hope that you have clip on life lines for rough weather…
I absolutely loved the quiet of sailing which is not so quiet when you have to use the motor, but there is some terror involved in rough seas with no land in sight. Stay safe and enjoy. I know you are recording your adventure in lots of ways. Remember, though, to sometimes put down the camera, the phone, the journal, and just soak in God’s great big world long enough to find out what it’s like to abandon “monkey mind” for peace and beauty.
You nailed it, Sally! Teaching me about jack lines was one of the first things they showed me. And the first rule: don’t fall off the boat 🙂
We’ve been motoring more than we like, but you’re right, the quiet is incredible! And the moments of solitude when it’s just me, the sails and the big wide sea—those are precious. I hope your memories of the “Other Life” are vibrant and everlasting for you. Who knows, you may get a chance to return to it someday. I truly hope you do.
I love Stugeron – great seasickness medication and doesn’t make you sleepy!
Thanks for the recommendation!
I love Stugeron – great seasickness medication and doesn’t make you sleepy!
Thanks for the recommendation!
I do have some vivid memories… dolphin pods flying along with us for long distances… They seem to love sailboats…. Sailing into port at sunset, wing and wing with no motor and young crew standing on their hands on deck, to impress the other folks in the marina… Being sea sick in rough seas and pitch black night… and having the captain block my path to deck until I was buckled into my life jacket with clip-line attached… THEN I was allowed to throw up over the side. In retrospect, he was right. He always said, “If you fall in, I have to go after you… I’m really not ready to die for stupidity.” Otherwise, he was like your guys… ever patient and ready to teach. One of his seasick cures was to put you at the wheel and give you points in the distance to sail toward. It really helped. Oh, yes, I sailed in the Gulf of Mexico. I never knew until I was miles and miles out that the Gulf waters were crystal clear for hundreds of feet. I always thought it was muddy like the Gulf waters near shore or at the beach. Seeing all those fish swimming around was so cool! That makes me remember, too, once when we caught a small tuna. I had no idea that tuna meat was almost black. But when you cook it, it turns pink just like you find it in a can. The fresh tastes a whole lot better… If you catch a shark, cut it loose. Even after it is dead on deck, goofy young crewmen sometimes stick their hands in the shark’s mouth only to find that the teeth point inward… you can’t withdraw your hand until someone is kind enough to sever the jaw tendons.That is no easy task. Someone may leave that young crewperson stranded long enough that the lesson is learned after a few nicks from the teeth.
Ahhh, Sejal, thanks for the memories! All that happened nearly forty years ago. I was in my mid twenties sailing with my ex (not by any stretch the kind captain), good friends, and teen aged crewmen who were wonderful for all those jobs requiring youth and brawn, entertaining with their young guy strutting and antics, and sometimes just normally annoying as only teen aged guys can be. Shark story is true. They caught it, dragged it in on deck, alive, finally managed to subdue it, and then one of them impulsively sticks his hand in it’s mouth just to see if he can. By that time kind captain was up from his nap to check on what all the hoopla on deck was. He was irritated to say the least. We didn’t have any more live sharks on deck.
That was…amazing. Thank you. I hope that my memories are as vivid as yours are. What a wonderful hint at the adventure, though I don’t think we’ll get a shark, that lies ahead, and a reminder that I’ve made a good choice.
I do have some vivid memories… dolphin pods flying along with us for long distances… They seem to love sailboats…. Sailing into port at sunset, wing and wing with no motor and young crew standing on their hands on deck, to impress the other folks in the marina… Being sea sick in rough seas and pitch black night… and having the captain block my path to deck until I was buckled into my life jacket with clip-line attached… THEN I was allowed to throw up over the side. In retrospect, he was right. He always said, “If you fall in, I have to go after you… I’m really not ready to die for stupidity.” Otherwise, he was like your guys… ever patient and ready to teach. One of his seasick cures was to put you at the wheel and give you points in the distance to sail toward. It really helped. Oh, yes, I sailed in the Gulf of Mexico. I never knew until I was miles and miles out that the Gulf waters were crystal clear for hundreds of feet. I always thought it was muddy like the Gulf waters near shore or at the beach. Seeing all those fish swimming around was so cool! That makes me remember, too, once when we caught a small tuna. I had no idea that tuna meat was almost black. But when you cook it, it turns pink just like you find it in a can. The fresh tastes a whole lot better… If you catch a shark, cut it loose. Even after it is dead on deck, goofy young crewmen sometimes stick their hands in the shark’s mouth only to find that the teeth point inward… you can’t withdraw your hand until someone is kind enough to sever the jaw tendons.That is no easy task. Someone may leave that young crewperson stranded long enough that the lesson is learned after a few nicks from the teeth.
Ahhh, Sejal, thanks for the memories! All that happened nearly forty years ago. I was in my mid twenties sailing with my ex (not by any stretch the kind captain), good friends, and teen aged crewmen who were wonderful for all those jobs requiring youth and brawn, entertaining with their young guy strutting and antics, and sometimes just normally annoying as only teen aged guys can be. Shark story is true. They caught it, dragged it in on deck, alive, finally managed to subdue it, and then one of them impulsively sticks his hand in it’s mouth just to see if he can. By that time kind captain was up from his nap to check on what all the hoopla on deck was. He was irritated to say the least. We didn’t have any more live sharks on deck.
That was…amazing. Thank you. I hope that my memories are as vivid as yours are. What a wonderful hint at the adventure, though I don’t think we’ll get a shark, that lies ahead, and a reminder that I’ve made a good choice.
[…] as that was, it wasn’t the coolest thing we saw on the sail. I already told you about the incredible sunset and moonrise I saw while sailing around Greece, but I finally caught a sunrise as well. If you think it looks […]
[…] as that was, it wasn’t the coolest thing we saw on the sail. I already told you about the incredible sunset and moonrise I saw while sailing around Greece, but I finally caught a sunrise as well. If you think it looks […]