Helen's Birthday Party

Helen's one of the regular 'crew' on my boat and the week before her birthday party we were chatting about what it would be. She wanted a beach party near Dhekelia to do gymnastics in the water. So Lukas and I had the idea of sailing over to where she wanted the party and giving her the possibility of a sail or motor back from it in Liza. She was told that Richard would be dropping Lukas (her brother) off and she just assumed that meant by car and not by boat!

So where to go? I sent Sheila (her mother) an image from Google Maps with four points marked based upon her description. 

'Halfway between 2 and 3' was her best estimate.

So I put a waypoint into the plotter and directly after church Lukas and I set off. 

I had no idea how long it might take, but in reality the wind was perfect for a broad reach the whole way over so we did it in a couple of hours and had a top speed of 6.5 knots, though mostly it was about 3.5 - 4 knots. It was a really great sail and we both enjoyed it.

Of course a broad reach over meant that we had an onshore wind and the waves were choppy so when we arrived we had lunch and then set a second anchor as I didn't want to be on the beach and find it drifting in to meet us!

So then took a couple of photos of the shore to send to Sheila to check we're in the right place…

Then onto shore for the party...

And I learned something about getting onto an inflatable dinghy from a small boat: Bring the dinghy alongside and step sideways from the platform, don't attempt to have the dinghy at the stern and step that way.  We paddled to the shore - well we were pushed by the waves mostly. 

It was the first time I had actually seen Liza from the shore. And as Helen arrived by car she remarked to Sheila 'That boat looks exactly like Liza'. To Sheila it looked like a small boat, but to Helen she noticed everything about her... shape of the hull, sails, bimini… Some people recognise cars, others of us recognise boats. But Helen wasn't expecting to see Liza there so didn't say 'What's Liza doing here?'

A birthday party without a cake is not really a birthday party so Sheila had made a cake and brought it out. No lit candles as they would have blown out as fast as they were lit.

According to the wind forecast the wind should drop then become northerly at around 19:00 which was when the party was due to end. So all being well we'd have a broad reach all the way back again! 

As the sun dropped... the wind didn't! Nor did it change direction.

So we paddled out to Liza. It was only a few hundred metres but paddling against the waves with three of us in the inflatable was quite a task. Then with Liza still bouncing up and down in the waves we had to get back on board. The same procedure in reverse... come alongside (not at the stern) and go sideways onto the swimming platform trying to gauge when the dinghy and boat at in synchronisation!

We were wet from the waves, so first thing was to sit down and take stock and get the dinghy ready for towing back to the marina.

No, the wind hadn't changed direction and it would have taken quite a few hours to sail back, so although that was preferable it would have meant Helen was excessively late to bed so we decided to motor back, which even with the wind against us to start with we did in less than two hours. It was enjoyable motoring back and seeing all the ships lit up like Christmas trees... one of which Helen thought looked like a German Christmas Market!