Selene@sea voyage voyage

What an experience - passed the Channel of Corinth

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After quite a day of sailing from Korfos with strong winds on our passage to the islands of Agios Thomas where we had a very nice and calm lunch break and further passage passing one of Greeces biggest oil terminals with 20+ super large oil tankers waiting at anchor we"ve reached the entry to the Channel of Corinth.

The channel is usually closed on Tuesdays except: TODAY! So instead of staying the night at anchor waiting to pass the channel on Wednesday we directly continued our journey thru the Channel; and what an experience it was - built in the last millenium the channel is a mixture of old and new epiphanies of modern (and old) day architecture.

Weathering the Meltemi storm on Ikaria, Greece

Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It's been four days by now since I've arrived in the small Agios Kirykos Marina on Ikaria island, Greece.

Since then the the typical regional strong northern wind system called Meltemi is forcing me to stay in the marina.
Winds above 25kts, with gusts way above the 30's, high waves, rain and low temperatures don't quite convince me to make the 50nm long leg to Mykonos with the perspective of anchoring in a poorly secured bay at the south coast of Mykonos.
Beside me quite a few other sailors decided to dock their yachts here in the Marina - today the first yachts started to dock second row (boat-to-boat-to-pier) - it's getting quite crowded.

Weatherforcast says the Meltemi will prevail until end of Saturday followed by a no-wind-Sunday.

Hopefully weather will allow me to make it to Mykonos on Sunday, I might take another day off from work to keep sailing on Monday to reach civilization again (in form of a marina, where I can stay and work until the following weekend).

Keeping my fingers crossed and praying for better weather!

51'st birthday in Marathonkampou, Samos, Greece

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After a short trip west from Pythagorio I've arrived at Marathokampou on the western side of Samos.
At duck pond like seas withou any wind at all I motored my way down the 17nm into Marathokampous Marina.

Marathokampou Marina is a very tiny marina managed by a German guy and in perfect shape. It has two very clean showers, shore power and the pitoresque village has a few nice tavernas and even a decent cocktail bar. It's quite worth stopping and staying for a night or two!

Thanks to the local cocktail bar which supplied me with crushed ice, I've enjoyed a few gin tonics on deck of my yacht in the sun for my birthday before heading out to dinner at a restaurant oposite and overlooking the marina and my yacht - what a beauty she is ;-) !

Out to sea again - eventually!

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What an eventful twenty days lie behind me!

Came back to Kusadasi, Turkey on April-4 to my yacht first time after the big refit and she looks marvellous.
The teak deck makes such a huge difference, the wood in the salon and the floors look beautiful again.

Took her out on a trip to Pythagorio on the island of Samos, Greece where I picked up some equippment I had shipped there (customs in Turkey make it impossible to ship to Turkey directly) and Selene did very well in high seas and winds up to 30kt.

Short after I had returned to Kusadasi 2 days later I welcomed my family Nicklas and Christine on Selene for the first time.
We spent a beautiful week sailing the islands of Samos, Fournoi, Patmos, Arki and back to Kusadasi.
Four miles short of returning to Kusadasi the main sail got stuck in the mast, had to dock in the marina with the main sail set.
The sail had been tied to the mast for the night and taken down next day.

To fix the causing issue the mast needs to be taken down - a major financial desaster upward the 30k EUR mark.
Decided to delay that repair until winter time and had her fixed to the degree she's sea worthy again, which means I've no mainsail until winter time.
Used a spare halyard to secure the mast to the bow and after 8 additional and expensive days lost in Kusadasi Marina I'm finally out to sea again heading towards Athens.

In the meantime I've installed an AIS tranceiver, a new solar charger a 5G-router, a smart battery monitoring system and quite a bit more.

Lost the generator battery (again) today, will fix it on my way somewhere - a minor issue compared to the challenges behind ;-)

Just docked in Pythagorion, Samos, Greece, the first stop on my way to Athens and had a nice Greek dinner - life is good ;-)

Good bye Kusadasi, Turkey

Hello Pythagorio, Samos, Greece

Works on board are finally DONE!

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Works above and below deck are DONE!! Yepee!

The following activities have been completed since Sep 2024 until ~~mid~~ ~~end~~ beginning of ~~Feb~~ ~~March~~ April, 2025:

new teak deck (see pictures below) - full replacement - DONE!
paint job on main boom and spinnacker boom as well as lower part of the mast - DONE!
alignment of enginge & drive shaft - DONE!
wood works in salon, sand and repaint all wood surfaces and floors - DONE!
paint job on hull (golden and white lines) - DONE!
new spray hood - DONE!
new hydraulic switches for winches - DONE!
new bathroom sink - DONE!
new faucet in pantry - DONE!
minor hull repairs - DONE!
engine service (see pictures below) - DONE!
new antifouling - DONE!
fix the bow pulpit - DONE!
replacement of retractable sun shades in boom - DONE!
new black water tank - DONE!
new shaft support bearing - DONE!
prop service - DONE!
anode replacement - DONE

Mar-28, 2025: Prop refurbished and re-mounted with new line cutter

Mar-25, 2025: Hull paint job is good to go!

Mar-21, 2025: Major milestone - the deak deck's done!

Mar-18, 2025: Motor service done, turbo charger refurbished, new mixing elbow:

Feb-10, 2025: The deak deck's starting to look nice:

Jan-08, 2025: Teak deck is getting there ;-)

The first parts of the new teak deck have been put in place:

Cabin floors have been refurbished:

Replacment of the teak deck is in process:

Now she's wrapped like a christmas present:

The old teak deck has been removed, the ground/surface has been repaired and they've set up a roof to keep the deck dry while the new teak deck is beeing mounted:

Below deck the wood surfaces have been sanded and repainted with 5 coats of paint (floor still to be done):

The mast and the booms are already sanded and repainted:

While working on the main boom they found a crack in the aluminum boom which had to be welded:

First thing that got finished was the installation of a (small) new black water tank:

Last day in Kusadasi, Turkey

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

My maiden voyage finally nears its end - tomorrow I'll be flying back to Zurich.

During the last few days I had crowds of mechanics, painters, carpenters etc. visiting Selene - many of them provided quotes for work to fix/improve things that require attention.

Some of the works I've already ordered to be done, some I can't afford and some more orders are to come.
To document the "before" and "after" I took two videos of the "before" situation and I can't wait to take the "after" videos end of Feb 2025 and compare them with those of today.

Here are the "before" on- and under-deck videos:
1) on deck video
2) under deck video

Can't wait to come back mid Feb 2025 to see the difference and to cast off to new adventures!

Nice arrival a quite day and a rough night

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Monday I set anchor in a very remote and lonely bay on the turkish coast and had an excellent first night there with almost no wind and finally was able to sleep well (after quite some time). Worked all day on Tuesday, unfortunately Starlink doesn't work in Turkey so I had to purchase additional cellular data every few hours - anyways all was good.

Started the Tuesday evening watching a Netflix movie (which I previously downloaded) and was very surprised to see a second sailing yacht tying themselves to the mooring next to mine and a large motor yacht anchored a little further away.

Went to bed and all was good until at around 2am all hell broke loose. A heavy thunderstorm with heavy rain and insane lightning setting the entire bay to kind of daylight. Three hours later the wind calmed down but the rain remained.

Now I'm on my 35nm passage to my final destination, Kusadasi, Turkey. Wind from ahead, rain from above so I'm motoring my way forward.

Here are some impressions of my current leg:

https://we.tl/t-Gi3JBfAeb8

https://we.tl/t-jCFknRVqK7

I made it - Kusadasi, Turkey!

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Maiden voyage completed!

I've arrived in Kusadasi Marina, Turkey. Today's passage had it all, heavy rain, storm, no wind at all, sun, motoring and great sailing.

At approx. 4:30pm local time I've arrived at the Marina where Selene will get a new teak deck in the upcoming three months. The way here was very varied, left my night shelter this morning at around 9am with no wind and cloudy skies, found some wind then got a lot of rain followed by no wind at all but still a lot of rain which led to no rain and some wind. Short after noon Neptun showed some mercy and the sun appeared, the last 15nm were just awesome, perfect wind from the right direction, sun and final destination came in sight.

Found my berth now and will finally be among people tonight - yepee.

Short after I've arrived the Muezzin could be heard, remembering me I'm in a mostly muslim country - exciting!

Had a hell of a ride

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Sunday I had a hell of a ride on the passage from Psara to Chios Port.
With winds bt. 25 and 30kts, high waves and quite a few big cargo ships crossing my way it was a real adventure.
Had to wear life jacket and used belts to tie myself to the boat and was soaked by the water blowing over board after a short while.
At first I was afraid of hoisting sail but to protect the engine I later hoisted the genoa fully reefed and cut off the engine, Selene made bt. 7 and 8kts just like that - great!
When passing the most northerly point of Chios wind calmed down a bit to below 25kts but waves remained very high.
The southerly downwind passage on the east coast of Chios was a pleasure, lower waves still good winds bt. 20 and 25kts and speed over ground of up to 9kts (still only fully reefed genoa).

I was happy when I finally arrived in Chios port though after some 6 1/2h.

Good bye Greece hello Turkey

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Monday morning I thought I’d try my luck at port police/customs office to declare out of Greece, expected the worst and - big surprise: was done in 15 minutes - the lady at the port police station was very kind and helpful I had all the required paperwork handy so it was no problem at all.
With my papers stamped and ready to go I decided to leave Greece immediately and casted of around 10am at 20+kts wind. Had a great down wind/beam reach sailing passage to a lonely bay in Turkey which looks like a forgotton pirates cove.
Stayed here last night at almost no wind which allowed for a great nights sleep and stayed here all day working.
While working here I had to find out starlink doesn’t work in Turkey so I had to buy additional cellular data every few hours but made it thru the day.

Food supplies are almost depleted, chewing peanuts tonight and can’t wait to cast of towards Kusadasi which is my final destination tomorrow morning about 35nm away.