We'll always have Athens

The Armada 2

The wind had blown hard for days, up to force 9, without letup. Roused by the distant screams, the young handsome sailor rose from his duties to search for the source of the kefufull. He stepped into the cockpit only to find a Spanish yacht had been driven onto the rocks. Startled, yet cool, he addressed his Captain (already trying desperately to fend off the steal French yacht colliding with Lefty) in the proper manner to inform him of the situation, before picking up the radio and demanding backup from his loyal sidekick skippy. The latter arrived in a heartbeat, and off the three of them set to sort out the mess. With the unnecessary assistance of a group of Reagans and the beach lifeguard (shoelace at the ready), they managed to direct the boat to a safe place for it to drop anchor and then sailed to land for a well earned coffee. Little did they know that the incompetent Spanish skipper knew not how to drop an anchor so ended up crashing into three boats and having to cut two anchors loose. Master Tomas and his faithful skippy once again jumped onto the dingy, ready this time to sort out the chaos once and for all. The adventurous sailor and his sidekick managed to bravely tie a line to a mooring buoy and secured the Spanish yacht to it. They finally brought peace to the worried bay becoming, yet again, heroes of Ormos Ornos Myconos.

Like €1000

At long last the wind eased up and we were able to leave Myconos with our sights set on Kythnos. The 55 Nm sail was one our most enjoyable and Kolona beach bay was one of the most tranquil (until we arrived with the Miss Behaving crowd). Justin got all the cruisers in the bay together for drinks on the beach and later that night, despite the bay being apparently empty of young peeps, an impromptu party kicked off at a beach shack with young French, American, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech and Polish sailors.

Offerings for Poseidon

The winds remained in our favour so the next morning we sailed north for Poseidon's & Athena's Temples at Sounion, Athens. There we ate the last supper with Juz and Deb aboard Miss Behaving. The next morning we headed for the temple, with some offerings for Poseidon. Juz used his jewper powers of persuasion to get Master Tomas in as a child, and therefore, not needing a ticket. They walked around the temple, saw some old stones and that, and all acted real impressed by the old remains of a building that is considered really important by a lot of people, and then got out for a last coffee onboard Crest Hawk, which some may say was more fun.

We said our goodbyes to Justin, Deb, Hailey and Riley and set off on what was likely to be Master Tomas' last sail in a while. We arrived in Rafti with no further incidents and are now writing a blog.

Tom's Top Tip: "If you're going to run out of money, make sure you don't"

Ben's Best Bit: "Only one oar left thanks to the wind; learning to scull"

Sculling

One for Menxuskis

Whateva

Riiileeey

Trippin 

Halo

Well old stones init

Sexy and I know it 

Mykonos is Yourkonos

This week has been really good; babes, superb social time and even a bit of religion. I'm afraid we stupidly didn't get any pics of the latter but they are definitely worth mentioning.

Missing you Rog & Kim!

When we first approached four girls in a quiet bar, a debate on the lessons behind a story from the book of Mark wasn't quite what we had in mind, but the discussion that followed was more interesting than you would expect from most girls in nightclubs. Two of the girls were Christians and the other two were infidels.

The infidels came to Crest Hawk for a drink and swim (including a session modelling Crest Hawk's own fashion line). The pictures speak for themselves.

This was followed by a Christian BBQ and I can tell you, Christian meat is more tender than pork or beef. Jonathan, Ed and Will (of the BBQ) joined us for coffee the next morning. Tomas led the conversation/interrogation and it turned out we had more in common than we anticipated (you best send us the pictures Jonathan or we'll throw you to the lions).

A few days in Paros-dice wouldn't have been the same without the awesome company of our Skippy sidekicks Justin, Deb, Haley & Riley. We had them for a Crest Hawk pasta dinner they had us aboard Miss Behaving for yet another amazing meal (and copious amounts of rum).

Justin, Deb, Haley & Dude

Don't look Granny

Sailing from Paros to Mykonos turned into a nightmare upwind epic with gusts of 35knots (40 over the deck). We left at 9am and by the time we arrived at 11.30pm we'd been through dark times. Ben looked like something out of Exorcist when he projectile vomited the watermelon he'd enjoyed an hour before into the sea. Having beaten into the weather for 8 hours we decided to try the engine but miscalculated how long our 8 litres of fuel would last us making just 1.5 knots and the engine gave up 6 miles from our destination. In the end it was sheer determination and the fact we'd agreed to meet our Aussie mates in Mykonos which saw us through.



Tom's Top Tip: "If Poseidon forecasts calm weather, prepare for a rough sail"

Ben's Best Bit: "Watermolon, but only the first time"

We have lift off!

'Miss Behaving' misbehaving

Come Play

Sorry fans, technical error with the upload is the reason for lateness. We promise it won't happen again! This Sunday there will be an upload as usual.

It's a beautiful night with the stars and moon guiding us through the valley of darkness. Sad to have left Ios and our friends, we are now approaching Anti Paros after a day of hard upwind sailing with two meter waves breaking over the bow.

Sea man spray

Cristina innit

Nick the Greek

BFF

Cristina, Elena and Nick became our best local friends for the week, bringing watermelon for breakfast every morning and drinking with us in the evenings. Chloe and Vanessa became regs as well and eventually won us over by organising an all-inclusive spar day for us at their hotel which included shampoo, bodywash, a hot fresh water shower and beer (Chloe, Tom's sorry you missed your chance to impress).

Others to be sorely missed;

The 10 girls from Seville, the 4 girls from Bilbao (and their two friends), John and George managers @ Hotel Pricess Sissy (not a gay bar) and our French neighbour Allen.

Wondered where that chain went

Beer delivery

With the guilt of a hangover we were motivated to fix the forehatch hinges and patch up the dinghy (the forecast for wet arses was short-lived) with the guidance of Allen, who then fed us up with French omelette and wine.

Having cruised for 2 years from Australia via Asia to the Aegean, our Aussie extended family were slightly lost when we found  them in Ios. Lucky for them, we took them under our wings and showed them a good time, especially the night we met an incredibly cool American, Nick.

Boostin' the tan

Asking for Frogivness (advice from a Frenchy)

Frog of Frog Hall

Andy left, much sadness, whatever.


Tom's Top Tip: "Don't feed strays unless you're prepared to put them down"




Ben's Best Bit: "Athanassia's ice cream in Anti Paros.. mmmm"

Western decadence

This week started with a sour note as my father abandoned ship, returning to muggle world. The two following nights were positively saturated with "social interaction" (not pune hunting). The first night after rediscovering (yet again) that we were not designed for clubbing (verve that makes reference to the ancient Neanderthal tradition of picking up girls in the most animalistic way possible), we started heading back to the boat. Little did we know that along the way we were going to come accross three beautiful (I hope you're reading this) American girls. The following night, after going through the previous night's realisation process yet again, we me some Canadian girls, who were also beautiful (hope to see that viewings increase this week).

Andy arrived the following day, and the flow of girls slowed (but I'm sure it's unrelated). In all fairness though, since his arrival he has been treating us to copious amounts of beer, and been great company. We have now moved to the next bay along, which is where it's all "going on". By this I mean:
babe infested beaches, clean water, victims for our boat parties, etc.

We have recently been offered somewher to shower as well, so things are looking up.
Tomorrow we are planning on heading somewhere a bit more quiet. We seem to spend our lives drawn to Western Decadence, and then rapidly escaping, having lost any desire to ever bring a daughter into the world (due to the fear that she might ever come to Ios when she reaches 18).


Tom's Tom Tip: "Don't try to keep up with Irish people on a night out (talking or drinking)".
Andy's Arse Analysis: "Good to fair on the beach, soft in places. Forecast to be wet on the underside this evening".
Ben's Best Bit: "Strong easterly wind blows Canadians off course".

Family

Repeat

Don't know why there's 3 (drunk).

Yanks, I mean... Canadians

Yanks

The dark passenger

Freedom!!!

Freedom!!!

Our mission was clear; make Naxos by Wednesday and rendezvous with Uncle James/Daddy. Luckily we left 3 days to get there as the forecast wind was non-existant. We said our farewells to George and set off on the 60 mile sail to Naxos. After a day of no wind, cooking under the hot Aegean sun, we dropped anchor 16 miles in to the trip in an uninhabited cove called Fykiada Bay, Sifnos. The next morning we set off for Paroikia, Paros where we stayed the night. It had been a long day of little food so when we arrived we gorged on Giros. On Wednesday we got Lefty (self-steering) on the helm and were recording a Dizzee Raskal music video when a yacht of topless Scandinavian top models appeared to port. We were waving and they were screaming (not in a scared way) so when their skipper navigated them through a narrow passage between two rocks we naturally followed. Half way through, like lonely seamen lured by mermaids, we realised we had been lured into the rocks and were let by our reliable engine which failed to start! We dodged the hard bits under sail for a nail biting 10 minutes. Finally we made it o Naxos and successfully met with Uncle James/Daddy.

He seems to like Crest Hawk and is enjoying the sailing (minus the slight nausea with the swell this side of Greece) but we feel like whalers when getting him back onboard after swims. Since his arrival we've been anchored under the lighthouse in Ay Ioannou, Paros island, at dock in Antiparos town and again at anchor in the channel between Antiparos island and Despotico island.

Our Swedish admirers managed to find us in Naxos, and did their best to keep us interested, but after a lot of trying, we left the island two days later, but we will miss them (terribly). Antiparos turned out to be a Scandinavian paradise, which we will further explore when we get our future cabin boy, Rating Andy. 

Yoda and scary Bond girl

For those of you desperate to give feedback and struggling to get an account, please feel free to write to us on carmichael.i@live.com, and if you pester us enough we might even get you the official Crest Hawk T-shirt for a reduced price (offer expires on the 15th of July).

Where's Crest Hawk 

Lion King

Lion Queen

Uncle James/Father will be leaving on the 4th, and will be missed. That is when search for poon (ancient Greek ruins) will commence.

Tom's Top Tip: "If you chuck your bow line to an 11 year old Hercules, ensure your insurance covers anchors through hulls"

Ben's Best Bit: "Umpiring four Swedish girls playing beach tennis"