From: Katakolo, Western Peloponnesos, Greece
To: Keri, Zakynthos island, Greece

Good thing that there’s also something like a silence after the storm. Last night was quiet and we all had a good rest. The kids (and we) are much more enjoyable after a good night’s sleep.

The harbormaster came by again this morning. He made us ‘a special price for the big family’. I wonder if he is actually the real harbormaster or just some guy making a bit of money in the off season. We didn’t get an officially stamped paper, the kind that Greek authorities love so much.

I asked him if he knew where we could get diesel. “Oh if you only asked me before!”, he cried. “the big tanker truck cannot come today. How much you need?” “Um, about 100 liters.” He thought for a second. “Wait here,” he said, “I will get my car and drive you to the fuel station”. “That’s okay,” I said, “I just wanted to know if there was a fuel dock somewhere, we still have enough.” But he kept repeating that he would drive me to the fuel station, that I needed reserve fuel. “For the family! It’s dangerous to go without! I’ll drive you! It’s only three minutes from here! Let me get my car!” “It’s okay, we have sails,” I tried, but he was very persistent.

In the end I relented because he seemed so alarmed that I had no reserve fuel. I ended up with two 25 liter jerrycans. This would please my dad mightily. For some reason he’s always worried about running out of fuel. Dad, you’re hereby informed that we now have reserve fuel. I’m not sure the jerrycans or the diesel are clean, but having reserve fuel sure gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I might turn into a powerboater before long.

We left the harbor without a hiccup, even with the cross-breeze. Barbara pushed off the small sailboats that were hugging Vite & Rêves, I punched the gas briefly, we cleared all lazy lines(lines from the quay to something heavy on the bottom to make it easier to moor stern-to) and buoys. No more repeats of the Lavrion incident.

The wind was blowing from the north-west, we wanted to go north-west. I’m starting to see a recurrent pattern here. The horizon was jagged from the waves, so we braced ourselves for a rough ride. And it was rough, but only for an hour. Cape Katakolo compresses the current and it’s not very deep around there, so the swell builds up to pretty impressive heights. Vite & Rêves took it like a champ.

It got easier after a while. I left the full main up, even if the apparent wind gusted sometimes over 25 knots. Vite & Rêves was flying at around 10 knots close-hauled(sailing with the wind coming from almost the front of the boat) — 35 degrees off the apparent wind angle. I just love to see her fly like this. We’re getting more and more confident in the boat and she did not disappoint. This run holds the record for our fastest average speed.

We arrived in Keri bay on Zakynthos just in time for one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.