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CRUISE OF THE ENVOY

Tranquility in Igoumenitsa Creek before the big blow. Charming waterfront at Mourtos.

indicator is not working. It seems the their net; it’s not uncommon for them to lay 2,000 miles with no accidents, injuries or The Lefkas Marina cost works out a well documented and it’s simply a case of equipment’s pump draw the water rather
sender oat unit is stuck even though it was their nets and lines throughout recognised more than minor technical issues.reasonable NZ$22 per day. Many cruisers spending a few days doing all the jobs and than feed it from the hose at high pressure.
removed and cleaned in May. Of course this anchoring areas which can be most Berthing alongside Coco, a 52ft sailing go on the hardstand at nearby andticking them off. These include running the After a couple of days a cat befriends us and

doesn’t stop the head from being used so unsettling.yacht owned by a Scots couple, George cheaper Preveza, but we prefer the whole generator, wing engine and all sea water becomes a regular visitor, boarding Envoy
we decide to leave this until there is some It’s now late season and there are few boats and Anne, we hardly nish connecting infrastructure, convenience and atmosphere pumps for about 15 minutes with a mixture every morning for a feed. We’re very happy
need to remove the head for service, then around except for some hardy souls taking water and shore power before they invite us of Lefkas.of fresh water and Saltoff, then introducing to see plenty of cats around any marina as it

we can locate the exact position of the advantage of the off-peak yacht charter aboard for a drink. They’re sprightly mid-70 glycol to replace the water to reduce keeps the rodent population down.
sender and drill a hole through the head’s rates and cruisers on the way to winter year-olds who’ve visited New Zealand and FINAL DAYS IN GREECEcorrosion during the period of non-use. This
deck large enough to extract and clean the berths. Ashore the beach umbrellas and we Scotland, so we nd plenty in common It’s always much more fun getting any boat is time consuming as we need to remove MORE ENVOY TECHTALK
sender in future as required.deck chairs are stacked away, many tavernas resulting in several great evenings during ready to cruise for the summer than tothe top from each equipment item’s water Apart from routine season-end procedures

Our dual-trumpet air horn is not working. and shops have closed their shutters until our time in the marina.store for the winter, but we get stuck into strainer and feed it using a fresh water hose. we do some more maintenance.
We remove the air compressor to nd it has next year and the still open ones are largely That same night I break a tooth bitingEnvoy’s winter storage process. We have thisWhen doing this it’s important to let the theNikos, a RHIB specialist, Nikos, replaces two
rusted due to water ingress. The technician deserted.too hard on an olive and although it’s not

says is a common problem and a horn After anchoring for the last time we letpainful I decide to get it checked in case of
should have a cover to protect it from spray out most of our chain and during retrieval problems on the long journey home. The
and rain. We virtually never use the horn wash the salt off with fresh water to reduce marina of ce recommends a dentist who

and in any case have a separate aerosol- corrosion during winter storage.sees me just an hour after my call. She’s
powered one so decide to leave this to be Pulling into the marina for winter on Sunday well-quali ed being a Doctor of Dentistry
xed during winter in Lefkas.23rd October gives us nine days before with a spotless surgery and charges just 50

leaving by bus for Athens allowing ample Euros (about NZ$77) for a lling that takes
ENVOY CRUISES BACK TO LEFKAS time to complete wintering procedures and about half an hour to complete. At home
MARINA FOR WINTERa few remaining jobs.the charge would be more like $300 and
As we leave Gouvia Marina we load another I say this every year – it’s great and very we nd that in Greece we’ve been well

400 litres of diesel to top up our fuel tanks; satisfying to return to the marina after living pleased by the high standard and low cost
it’s always best to leave tanks fairly full with aboard for seven months and cruising overof medical treatment.
fuel stabiliser added to keep fuel in good

condition during long absences from any
boat. This reduces water ingress through
condensation and in the case of metal tanks

reduces corrosion. Our total diesel purchase
this year has been a very reasonable 4,025
litres, suf cient for six months cruising most

days. One of the hugely compelling qualities
of a full-displacement boat like Envoy is
her economy at about six to seven litres
of diesel per hour. A similar sized planing

vessel would use something like 150 litres
per hour and even though she’d be covering
around 20 miles in an hour we only need

about 22 litres to cover the same distance –
one seventh as much.
We cruise slowly south towards Lefkas

visiting places we’ve mentioned in previous
articles.
Anchored overnight off the town of Preveza

we encounter 20 knot onshore winds with
choppy seas and are woken early in the
morning by shermen who want to retrieveIgoumenitsa Creek offers superb shelter from all directions.

108 PACIFIC POWERBOAT SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017