Windy and ambitious cruise

This was the last cruise before winter. The distinguished Crewmembers were:


Aaron Kaplan,















Andreas Wildberger















Christian Singer


















and KarlHeinz Wolf.










Only small winds at 4 bft were announced in the morning of Friday, 18th September. So we decided to go to Kokkari in the north of Samos, taking a bath at Megali Lakka onroute. Afternoon the wind grew to 6 Bft from northwest, so my crew was tested by high waves and hard tacking. In Kokkari we were the only sailing boat anchoring in front of the restaurant row, but we had faboulous T-Bone Steaks medium rare at Dyonissios as usual. The night was rather choppy, the wind kept blowing. So we changed our route in the morning and went back east, stopping for dinner and a long swim at Kasonisi in the east bay of Samos.


After fixing a small problem with the anchor relais we spent a quiet night at Pythagorion Marina and next day sailed downwind to Leros, where we anchored in front of Pantelis Harbour and climbed up to the beautiful castle. After a windy night we set sail with reef 3 and tacked for 5 hours thru heavy 7 bft winds to Marathi in the Arki archipelago. After an evening walk we had a nice dinner at Pandelis. Next day we continued northeast to Agathonisi harbor, anchoring in front of Glaros restaurant, where we enjoyed an excellent dinner with superbly grilled dorades and lamb. The last day was very pleasant sailing back to Pythagorion Marina.


Thanks to my ambitious crew, who also helped me to prepare Sea of Joy for a long winter pause.






18th – 23rd September 2009, 170sm, 33 sailing hours

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.

You can also view a video about this cruise on youTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9JKfrbCH_A&fmt=18

Roundtrip to Amorgos

All crewmembers came from the Austrian domain registry nic.at: Axel Mayrhofer, Klaus Darilion, Klemens Pidner and Till Radermacher.

With only small winds we sailed south to Leros. On route a new crew member joined our rainy cruise to Leros - a small bird named Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina).

In Leros we anchored in heavy rain in front of Pantelis harbor. Soon all lights on the island went out due to a power problem. But late at night starting with candlelight we got our usual excellent meze-dinner at Dimitris Karaflas . Next day we sailed against a 5-6 bft northwest wind to Levitha, where we moored at one of the red bouys in the east cove. After a nice evening walk we had a good dinner with goat and liver-stifado cooked by the island farmers family.

Next morning we continued tacking further west with a lunch-stop at narrow Ormos Pningos at Kinara and finally anchored at a sheltered sandy beach north of Aigiali on the north coast of Amorgos. Starting early next day we had no wind at all and motored all the way to Fourni harbor, where we ate lots of small red fish at Miltos restaurant.

Starting again with no wind we crossed over to the west coast of Samos, where we stopped for a swim at Megalo Sheitani – the most beautiful beach of Samos. Moderate winds brought us further to Kokkari at the north coast of Samos, where we anchored in the small harbour and enjoyed the usual good barbecue dinner at Dyonissios restaurant. On the last day we rounded the northeast corner of Samos, stopped at Megali Lakka for a nice lunch and a swim and finally ended with a speedy sail thru Samos Straits at Pythagorion Marina.

My crew made the best use of all available chances: they tacked when there was lot of wind and they cooked and dined when there was no wind.

11th – 16th September 2009, 213sm, 45 sailing hours

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.

The Stastny Cruise

The Stastny family is a family of distinguished sailors: Gusti, Julia, Raffael and Richard. I admired their professional sailing of Sea of Joy. We started south visiting the nice east bay under Ns Nero in the north of Agathonisi and anchored finally in front of Pantelis harbour on Leros. Dinner was at Dimitris Karaflas famous meze-restaurant.

After visiting Pantelis castle we continued west tacking against a 6 bft northwest wind to Levitha, where we moored at one of the red bouys in the east cove. After a good evening walk we had dinner at the island farmers family restaurant with perfectly grilled fish and meat. Next day we turned north and sailed to Grikos Bay in Patmos.

Having visited Patmos monastery and apocalipsy cove we sailed with strong northwesterly winds to Marathi in the Arki archipelago, where we enjoyed the usual evening walk and a good dinner at Pantelis restaurant.

Next day we decided to sail through Samos strait to Posidonias Bay. On the last day we did a nice sightseeing sail along the south coast of Samos with an anchor-break at Kiriakouli Bay for lunch and a good swim.

I want to thank the professional Stastny crew for this beautiful sailing week.

4th – 9th September 2009, 168sm, 36 sailing hours

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.