They have covered a total of 3,257 nautical miles since leaving the dock at Chatham and have visited quite a few places in between. The Kipper is extremely happy and he tells me that they celebrated with a bottle of rum upon their arrival.
At 21:40 last evening, he sent the following:
'Landfall between Levkas and Kefalonis, it's very dark! Working our way up the Meganissey Channel towards Nidri and our final destination of Vlycho. It's sooooooo very exciting. Just mustn't cock up the final pilotage. Fingers crossed.'
The Scribe once again reassured him that there is nothing wrong with his navigation or pilotage so no need to cross fingers.
By 01:45 hrs they had arrived:
'Arrived...a dream has come true. Fantastic!'
Bless him, how sweet is that.
Despite the celebrations that continued into the night, he was still capable of texting this morning;
'Celebrated when we got in till 06:00 hrs this morning. Head hurts...Did somebody hit me...Need food and drink...no...just lots of tea!!!! Ouch, I hurt!!!'
I spoke to The Kipper this evening and remarkably, he is still sober. He confessed to being a little squiffy last night and has been informed that he fell asleep in the cockpit so his loyal crew-of-two put a sheet over him and blanket under his head and left him there. He apparently woke up in his bed but can't actually remember getting there. Proper celebrations indeed!
Tomorrow will be devoted to cleaning up Petra because it pains me to say that she is reported to be rather filthy. The crew-of-two have moved quarters to Steve's boat - I bet he's pleased to see her - and The Kipper is enjoying his first night solo in the harbour at Vlycho. When he was describing it to me he used the word 'lagoon' so that will be just another day in paradise then. The yacht club is apparently no more than a Taverna but it is a very friendly and welcoming place. There are yachts-a-plenty in the harbour but the liveaboards tend to disappear at this time of year because it's just too hot for them to remain on the boats. The chaps have been out for dinner this evening in the yacht club but The Kipper declined alcohol; can't face it just yet. After cleaning the boat up tomorrow, he will be popping over to Bengal Light to fit a water tank and then they are all going ashore to explore. I think the plan is to take Little Bobbie D to Meganissey so he can have a good look round: he went there some years ago on his holidays and is keen to re-visit.
The Kipper and Little Bobbie D have a few days in hand to relax before heading home on Sunday. I believe Steve is planning on staying on his own boat out in the sunshine.
So, there you have it folks, the delivery is complete and all-in-all it seems to have been very successful and enjoyed by all. The Scribe will certainly look forward to hearing about it in more detail when they return home.
The Scribe will leave you with the following...
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| The Kipper Greece 2012 |
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