Sailing has been around for a very long time. Ever since the first human thought it might be easier to cross the river by floating on a log, people have been inventing many different variants on a very simple concept. For most of its history sailing has been driven by commerce - Roman galleys, Spanish galleons (and their associated pirates), clipper ships trading tea etc.
To keep commerce flowing freely, sailing developed a set of rules and regulations that govern the interaction between ships on the sea and in confined spaces like harbors and bays. These are ominously titled “International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea” or “ColRegs” for short. They apply to everyone from the largest super-tanker to the smallest sailing yacht. They were designed to stop captains trying to turn a 400-meter container ship in a 200-meter wide canal (oops!) or cruise ship captains running their ships aground to impress their girlfriends. But, despite some very public lapses, they work reasonably well.
And now we enter the era of super-yachts (and mega-yachts and giga-yachts) and the associated wishes of the super-entitled (and mega-entitled and giga-entitled) owners with captains to do their bidding. These folks are not too keen on regulations when they’re inconvenient. Let’s take a look at an example.
Vathi is a large landlocked bay on the island of Ithaca with a pretty town surrounding it. It has for a long time been a favorite of sailors who overlook the very boisterous and gusty winds that make having your anchor well-set the highest priority. In the summer, the bay has lots of yachts who try to arrive early, get set, and ride out the intensity of the gusts in the late afternoon. The bay used to also support a ferry service but this has been relocated to accommodate super-yachts etc at the former quay.
Enter Stella M
At 200ft, Stella M is the 47th largest (but who’s counting?) mega or giga-yacht in the world and is so new that the paint may not be fully dry in some places. She arrives late in the afternoon when many yachts are all snugged in and wants to get into the remaining berth. But there is a problem; there is a 40-foot catamaran parked where Stella M would like to maneuver.
Sailing rules favor those who arrive first. So the captain of the mega-yacht has to politely ask the captain of the catamaran if he would move. Given the weather conditions, the captain of the catamaran declines (equally politely).
“Shock! Horror!!”, on the mega-yacht. “Why are the little people not understanding our needs?”
The dialog becomes less polite but the catamaran captain refuses to budge. In the old days ships used to communicate by means of flags. I imagine the catamaran showing just two flags to Stella M - a red diamond on a white background followed by one with two red quadrants and two white ones (go on - look it up).
Watching Stella M take thirty minutes of skootching in forward and reverse to get into her berth with both captains intently watching for contact and damage is very diverting. A scratch on the hull of Stella M would cost more to repair than the catamaran is worth.
And, the next morning ……
The next morning Stella M wants to move - at 7:00am in the morning. Vacation sailors don’t get up early AND now there are TWO catamarans in Stella’s way. We can’t see if any dialog took place, but the outcome is the same - catamarans stay put Stella M has to skootch. And she does so very impressively. In fact, I’m not entirely sure how she did it.
But, actually, I have a question about this. The yacht probably costs about $500m (give or take the odd $100m). Every modern car that costs more than, say, $20,000 has parking assist - get your Kia in and out of tight spaces while not killing pedestrians. You can call your Tesla and it will drive itself from the parking lot to your location - again without killing pedestrians or frustrated parking lot attendants. But for $500m in the super-dooper mega-yacht world you don’t get this - not even as an option? Will Elon Musk’s yacht lack this feature? He can blast rockets into space but still needs a guy to park his boat! That would be irony indeed.
Not your typical English pub, but ..
In my last post, I poked a little fun at the Italian approach to parking, but this time I’d like to look at one of the idiosyncrasies of a different group - the English. (Just to remind everyone, I am Scottish not English but will answer to British if the circumstances warrant.) Anyway, we have friends who run an establishment called Vliho Yacht Club on the island of Lefkas. Vliho Yacht Club is not what its name would imply. It is rather a yacht charter, yacht maintenance and bar/restaurant kind of place.
The restaurant core is British (English) with standard pub fare, British beer and cider on draught etc. while the ambience is essentially Greek - outdoors overlooking the water. All this is great and attracts many UK expats of one variety or another with a little slice of their former home. But here’s where I get curious.
A great English tradition is “Sunday Lunch” which features roast meats, roast potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding and various vegetables. This is a fundamental element of the social infrastructure in England. So much so that it translates directly to Vliho. We observe multiple yachts flying the British ensign arriving in Vliho Bay in time for the Sunday meal and leaving the day after. There is, I repeat, nothing wrong with this.
But , i wonder, do other nationalities do the same? Are there pizzerias (Lori would like one of these) or trattorias in the Ionian where every food-loving Italian goes in the summer; are there tapas bars hidden away when Spaniards can eat a little taste of home; are there French restaurants on the islands that serve Coq au Vin just like at home? I don’t know but Ido know that I pretty much haven’t seen one, So is this an English-only trait?
But let’s get back to island life. Of all the islands here two of the most charming are Kalamos and Kastos. Let’s set the scale - Kalamos (the “big” island) has a population of 490; Kastos (the small island) has a population of 47. On Kalamos it wasn’t until the 1990’s that all homes had running water and until even more recently the only way between the two villages on the island was by boat. Kastos has a road which goes from the only village (hamlet) of Port Kastos to who knows where (there isn’t anywhere else to go). The major beneficiaries of this infrastructure project are the goats. The goats love the road; they wander all over the island but like to use the road as a goat highway. Goat lobbyists on Kastos are worth every penny of what they’ve been paid.
You can see the road just above the cliffs
And here’s the goat traffic
Kalamos has a lovely little traditional harbor that has largely been taken over by sailing yachts - it’s too small for super-yachts. Parking involves dropping your anchor on one side of the harbor and backing up to the key on the opposite. Because the harbor is not a rectangle, things can go wrong. One straight line of chain can land on top of another. Retrieving your anchor is like trying to separate one strand of very heavy spaghetti from all the others bearing in mind that each strand has a hook on the end.
To minimize the problems, one taverna owner, George, has taken over the role of harbor master and parks yachts carefully. Everyone is grateful for this and shows their appreciation by eating at his establishment. Smart!
But George is unhappy with his lot and each time we visit he asks us about the US and has his sights on moving his whole family there. His preference is Texas because of low taxation compared with the 76% tax he pays in Greece.
Kastos is much calmer - 47 people don’t make a lot of noise. The harbor there is even smaller than on Kalamos - so much so that it’s not even worth trying to find a space. So we typically park in one or other of the lovely coves on the north-east corner of the island. This time we are here in August (European holiday month) and it is busy! Many anchoring spots have been taken and some of the others are being occupied by small motor-boats. These boats are getting in the way of where I want to maneuver and park - they should move.
I recognize the voice of my inner Stella M and take a big deep breath; motor up and down the coast a couple of times and two perfect spots open up and we snag one of them for a night of peace and solitude.
All to ourselves.
Patience can sometimes be a virtue and an added reward.
