{"id":4030,"date":"2013-06-15T17:21:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T17:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=4030"},"modified":"2013-12-03T16:59:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T16:59:22","slug":"regatta-week-on-spetses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=4030","title":{"rendered":"Regatta Week on Spetses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"With<\/a>

With Ray and Heather after the Parade of Sail<\/p><\/div>\n

Tuesday 11 June 2013 – without warning, the Government shutdown the Greek National Broadcaster ERT’s 5 TV channels, as well as it’s radio stations, with the loss of some 2600 jobs!\u00a0 No one denies something needed to be done, however, it was the suddenness of the decision, without a leaner and more efficient public\u00a0broadcaster set up to replace it that shocked the nation and this whole debacle has left the coalition government on shaky ground.\u00a0 The Greek people were paying for ERT – interestingly, funded by mandatory payments in their electricity bills.<\/p>\n

None the less, my life here on Spetses\u00a0continues to be\u00a0both a\u00a0relaxing and very happy one.\u00a0 Nights out in\u00a0Bar Spetsa\u00a0– where there is now a notice above the door “Spetses\u00a0Classic Yacht Race 2013 – Official Moorings” – how cool is that!\u00a0 No matter what time I go in or how long I stay, there is almost always someone I know or someone new to meet and talk to.\u00a0 This week there was the Danish gamekeeper who works on the nearby privately owned island of Spetsopoula.\u00a0 Katie and Alan, Stratos, Beatrice from Holland, Roland, Nikos, Sotiris, Panayiotes, Pavlos, Carolina, Kim,\u00a0Ray and Heather – many of whom have fascinating and interesting backgrounds.\u00a0 Generally, Costas\u00a0seems to be the last establishment to close and so there is no where open for us to\u00a0move on to, however, one night we did find Delfinia open … a couple of drinks for the road.<\/p>\n

The weather, as I have so often written, has been heavenly!\u00a0 Every day I walk down to Agios\u00a0Mammas beach … an hour or so lapping up the sun, followed by a dip in the warm, salty sea – it is so, so good for mind and body.\u00a0 This week, here on the island, everyone has been gearing up for the Spetses\u00a0Classic Yacht Race and wouldn’t you know it, on Wednesday the weather took a turn for the worse.\u00a0 Ever hopeful, I walked down to the beach –\u00a0the sun refused to show its face so\u00a0I returned to the house, going back around 1100 hours. \u00a0I timed it well … later in the afternoon came thunder and rain – all very nice as we enjoyed our siesta.<\/p>\n

Thursday was registration day for the boats and crews …\u00a0the first day of racing would be on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0Thinking positively, I left for the beach, returning home just half an hour later … the clouds had rolled in and again the afternoon would bring good rain.\u00a0 Stayed home that night, saving myself for a busy weekend to come.\u00a0 Friday’s weather forecast had been for more of the same … not ideal for race participators or watchers on.\u00a0 However, I awoke at 0900 hours to a blue sky and sunshine … made ready for my walk up into the hills for a panoramic view of the Saronic\u00a0Gulf.\u00a0 By the time I had made it to the tiny pink church, the skies were overcast, very little wind and just a few spots of rain.\u00a0 Decided to return to the town and find Costas.<\/p>\n

We met at 1800 Bar and Internet Cafe for a cappuccino.\u00a0 Again parting company, I walked to the end of the pier which is very close by, met Pavlos\u00a0with his mum, Heather and Beatrice, the latter and I lingering for quite some time before leaving.\u00a0 As luck would have it, bumped into Costas\u00a0outside the Poseidonion\u00a0Grand Hotel where, after viewing Carolina’s painting exhibited inside,\u00a0we decided to sit on the Verandah amongst the rich and famous to enjoy a couple of Fix beers.\u00a0 Still with next to no wind, the boats were going nowhere.\u00a0 By the time we arrived at Bouboulina\u00a0for a lunch of lettuce salad, patates\u00a0tiganetes\u00a0(fries) and our favourite barbounakia (small red mullet) the boats were on the move.\u00a0 A strong wind had come up … enough to cause me to put my towel around my shoulders, however, it was not to last.\u00a0 Feeling replete and very satisfied with quite a perfect day, so far, around 1500 hours we returned home for our siesta.<\/p>\n

Later that evening in the Bar, I was told there had been a “No Race” … unfortunately, too little wind – what a pity!\u00a0 There was to have been three\u00a0races that day … Classic Yachts, Aegean Classic Schooners and Lateens.\u00a0 Yet another most enjoyable evening, spent mainly in the company of John and Julie,\u00a0Anna, then Beatrice and later Ray and Heather.\u00a0 Home and in bed around 0500 hours … up again at 1000 hours.\u00a0 It was Saturday and I was on a mission … to be down at the Poseidonion\u00a0by 1100 hours to watch the Parade of Sail for Spetsiot\u00a0Schooners.\u00a0 Just like on the previous day, I met up with Beatrice, Ray and Heather and together we watched the magnificent spectacle on what was a hot, gloriously sunny day, with far more importantly, better conditions for sailing … two races starting at noon – Classic Yachts and Lateens.\u00a0 By 1230 hours I was in the Bar to help Costas\u00a0followed by\u00a0coffee out at Delfinia\u00a0and an opportunity to watch and photograph something of the racing.\u00a0 When Costas returned to the Bar at 1400 hours, I came home to cook English breakfast … by 1500 hours it was siesta time.<\/p>\n

With still one more day of the Regatta to go, I’m feeling that this Blog has gone on for long enough.\u00a0 So, I will close for now and write the final chapter on this subject in my next Blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 11 June 2013 – without warning, the Government shutdown the Greek National Broadcaster ERT’s 5 TV channels, as well as it’s radio stations, with the loss of some 2600 jobs!\u00a0 No one denies something needed to be done, however, it was the suddenness of the decision, without a leaner and more efficient public\u00a0broadcaster set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4030"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4619,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030\/revisions\/4619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}