Grounded!! (Lipsi)

 

18th July 2018 (Lipsi)

Woke to clear skies, and flat calm waters. We’ve now spent a week in Lipsi waiting for the Meltemi to ease. It has, for now at least, appeared to have packed its bags and gone back to the Balkans for a few days.

Picked up fresh bread and pastries from the local bakery, then headed out from the town quay without incident.

Roughly following Jaxon we said a fond farewell  to Lipsi, heading North to Samos.

Made coffee, and sat down to enjoy pastries and the serenity... both with a ‘This is the life’ glow.

We needed to pass through a few little outlying islets before turning North.. 

As we were happily motoring between them, our peace was shattered: a juddering, wrenching crash shuddered through the hull.

6 knots to dead stop in zero seconds flat - this sent us, coffee cups, and various odds and sods flying.

Panic stations! 

We’d grounded on rock.

Chez instinctively backed us off.

After a quick look up front, we radioed Jaxon to give them a heads up and seek their help if required. I stripped to undies, and took a dive below to assess the extent of the damage (thankful that the Med is not known for its sharks)

The bulb on the bottom of the keel has some unsightly scratching & scraping on its front edge, but otherwise all appears ok - I’ll further investigate when a suitable anchorage allows.

Jaxon and Cloud9, stayed around, and like concerned parents, remained within shouting distance while we slowly calmed down and cleared up the mess. Checked bilges and dived another 2 times to ensure that the first impression was correct - superficial damage, and able to continue on our way.

Other than a broken mug ( sadly Chez’s favourite) both we, and the boat, appear to have come away from the incident fairly unscathed.

Enough excitement for today!

(* A year later and €11K and 3 months on the hard being repaired suggests we weren’t quite ‘fairly unscathed’ as initially thought)

The last two posts have inspired a song though: to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Love and Marriage’

Wind and Lipsi

Wind and Lipsi

Go together like a chain and gypsy

Ask sailors a plenty…

N’they’ll say its always over twenty

Wind and Lipsi

Wind and Lipsi

Stay at quay if she’s a’gusting sixty

Hear your rigging howling..

As charter boats are anchor fowling

Try try trying to avoid it,

….its always blowing

Try try trying to avoid it,

Boom!

….you wont be going

Wind and Lipsi

Wind and Lipsi

Don’t leave port if its a little misty

Always take a sounding..

N’you’ll avoid a nasty grounding!