Goodbye Paros, Hello Athens

17/08/2010

It was time to leave Paros, the forecast was not looking so good and it was becoming very quiet on the Island.  I headed back via a stop off to Naxos to return my boom to Flisvos.  At Flisvos I met Martin and showed him the boom, no questions asked he swapped it for another new one and he said he had never seen this happen before, so hopefully it was a one off.  Having a look around, I also purchased a 6m Neil Pryde Firefly as my 2006 AMP has started to go brittle and has a split on the top panel, has a hole in the luff and has a poor repair on the bottom panel. I also needed a 430cm mast as I had been previously rigging my 6m on a 460cm. Mat kept telling me I need a smaller fin to loosen up the 91L so bought a 24cm Chocco fin.  Due to seeing the GO pro HD footage of Yoshi and John, I decided to get a Go Pro camera also with boom mount chucked in for free.  Really, I only went to change boom but the deals I was being offered were too good to miss in comparison to UK prices (sorry British economy but if we continue to get ripped off we will have to buy from other EU member states – my understanding is that in the UK the supply are passing through too many hand with each putting a mark up on).  To top it off, he said do I need anything else.  Mat and I had discussed getting some cheap old school wave boards in the 70L range as they would have been good for the 2 4m days we had, so I asked.  He showed me 2008 75L RRD Wavecult that has had a repair from Peter the guy that did a good repair on the Mistral – 150 euros – not quite old school need I say more (picture to follow from first use in Camber, UK)

Took the Hispeed ferry to Athens (3 hours instead of 6 hours) this thing really shifts – looking at the wake at the back it is like being on a gigantic speed boat.  Hit Athens at 10pm to meet with friends.

21/08/2010

Was on Evia, a mainland connected Island North-East of Athens. Went on a long search for wind to a place called Kymi as the direction was coming from the North.  Looking back I should have just headed back to the South east side of Athens and maybe got the best of it at Lavrio nr the Power station.

22/08/2010

Drove to Anavyssos on the west coast South of Athens to meet Zanetos who we met on Paros.  I got there early and rigged a 5.3m +91L.  When venturing out I found the conditions very gusty with an all or nothing type wind as it was coming across the land from the north, maybe it would have been better from a southerly.  The water was super flat, but going to this bay makes me finally realise that I like the waves/chop and the variances that they bring and hate all or nothing wind scenarios. 

Rigged the newly purchased 6.1m Firefly on the 91l and then the 110L due to the on off conditions.  The sail performed great and felt very lightweight and handled the gusts well.  Right at the end of the day I was trying to catch a gust to get planning, the point when the gust hit there was someone downwind and ahead of me heading towards me.  Usually I think I would have been OK and held the sail but it seemed to be a catapult or crash scenario, so I went for the catapult and ripped the upper section of the sail L .  I sailed it back in but was obviously annoyed.

Anavyssos Bay

Zenetos

Broken centre panel

23/08/2010

Went to Loutsa beach East of Athens, this point was further south of the main point where people sail from at Loutsa.  I found the location less crowded and a friendly bunch.  The spot is said to get less clean wind and you have to sail further out to catch the wind as it was a Northerly the land spit provides a shadow for the wind for the beach and the first 100m so it is good if you want to go with non windsurfing friends in a Northerly etc.  I repaired my old 6m Naish with the RRD sticker set I had and took the 110L RRD.  Once out I found the wind very consistent and with chop and a few ramps.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity I quickly changed to the 91L.  It was great to get out again in good conditions and getting some good air time again, a great note to finish my tie up windsurfing in Athens and even Greece.