The World Championships of Synchronized Swimming

It’s been well over a week since my last blog post, and I’m not sure when I will have internet to actually post this, but here goes…

I arrived in Volos mid-afternoon last Sunday, meaning I’ve spent over a whole week already living aboard the Encounter.  Leaving Athens, the English level dropped to near zero, so the only way I found the bus station right outside of the city center was to follow someone with a suitcase and hope they were also going to the buses.  I couldn’t understand anything on my bus ticket except that the price matched the price of a bus ticket from Athens to Volos so I just hoped I was heading the right direction.  Sunday and Monday, the crew of the Encounter from the summer, an American couple, helped showed me the ropes so to say (boat humor), and were incredible helpful and encouraging.  I am so thankful that Paul, Mary and Marianna (who is the ships cook and is staying on for our voyage) were able to be there for my transition. 

Tuesday night, the World Championship of Synchronized swimming held their opening ceremonies on the water front just a hundred yards or so from the Encounter.  The athletes lined up along the breakwater, as an old Greek rowing shipped rowed up to them and each rower carried the flag of a participating nation.  Then the athletes marched down the breakwater to stage as fireworks and flaresticks lit up the whole harbor.  It was really fun to watch, even though I barely had any idea what was going on.  The announcer spoke in Greek and then repeated in broken English, but I could make out enough to cheer loudly for the American delegation.

On Wednesday the students arrived throughout the day and we shared our first meal together.  There are 12 students total, 8 girls and 4 boys, with 9 from Canada and 3 from the States.  An interesting mix for sure, but already after a few days everyone feels like family.  My tasks for Wednesday were to show the students to their cabins, give a basic tour of the ship and show everyone how to work the toilets.  I am terrified of the toilets clogging or overflowing since it is my responsible to clean them and unclog what I imagine to be miles of poo clogged toilet pipe – honestly a few mornings I have woken up and the first thing on my mind has been to check the tanks in order to make sure they have enough water so that the toilets can be pump flushed.  Fortunately no problems yet.

Thursday morning we left the port of Volos, as our skipper, Theo, showed me the procedure for raising the anchor.  The Encounter is roughly 65 tons, and the anchor chain has 1 inch thick links, so I was told about 12 different ways in which I could lose fingers, toes, whole limbs, my head etc… I was also enlightened on the multiple ways I could send the anchor, or fore mast boom, or RIB or gaff crashing into the hull and gashing her open.  The stakes are slightly higher on this boat compared to the junkers I am used to sailing at the yacht club.  Most of my free time I have spent visualizing my different tasks and practicing different knots and cleats, or reading old sailing manuals.  In principal and theory I understand everything, it’s just the details of which line goes where, through which block, with what direction cleat and what style knot, which is different for each type of sailboat.  Thursday afternoon we anchored in a small cove and had some free time to swim and lounge around the boat.  Theo, is a big fan of afternoon siestas, so we try to have at least one hour of quiet and calm each day in order to catch up on sleep and refresh from the morning’s activities.  Later that night, I was on watch from midnight to 3am.  The winds had really picked up and were pushing our boat dangerously close to the rocky coast earlier in the night, but fortunately all was calm during my watch and I was able to get some reading in and practice tying knots with my off hand.

Friday we sailed to another small island.  Sailed is probably not the most accurate term, since we were under engine the whole way.  The students practiced raising and lowering the sails but the wind was just not strong enough to sail.  It also rained all day, a trend that continued into Saturday.  Again, we spent the day motoring to our next destination.  When the rain would ease up enough, we would all rush on deck and learn more about how to raise and lower the different sails.  The students have done a great job of picking up a lot of information and technique in just a few days already.  Sailing a boat this size takes an interesting mix of brute strength, finesse, and awareness of about 50 different things at once.  I wished the wind had been more cooperative so that our tacks and jibes could be practiced, but we still have 7 weeks to go.   Our anchorage Saturday afternoon was a small cove on a picturesque uninhabited island.  Although it was raining, we spent the afternoon swimming to shore, and hiking over the island to an old lighthouse in the cliffs.  Pretty incredible stuff.   We all come back and took our first “shower,”  salt water and shampoo and then a ration of 2 small cups of fresh water to rinse.  Honestly, it was incredibly refreshing and I might have actually smelled good after.

Sunday will typically be our day of rest, without any activities, but Theo thought it was best to try to make it to Skopelos island, before a big series of storms was supposed to blow through.  We were all on deck setting sails non-stop from 9am till almost 3:30 when we arrived.  It was definitely tiring but already my body has adjusted well to boat life.  I am bare foot 24/7, and a lot of the time I am out climbing on the bowsprit line or hanging on the rails, so my feet hurt, but atleast I don’t have any sandal tan lines.  Sunday evening we celebrated one of the student’s birthdays with a delicious cake, and then had our first worship service together.  I was able to play guitar and lead (barely) everyone through a few songs.  It might not have sounded the best, but it was authentic.

So that’s it for now.  We are probably going to be in port in Skopelos for a few days.  Theo has his home here and I think we will have some free day(s) to rent motorbikes and explore the island.  Apparently this is where they filmed Momma Mia, so all the girls are excited, but the natural beauty is enough for me to be content.   Hopefully it will stop raining for more than an hour at a time, but until then I’m more then happy to fall asleep to the sounds of the rain on my hatch window as the boat rocks me to sleep.

Keep well

-bg