We’re done sailing, but it’s been an interesting adventure:

2004: Bought a 30ft S2 boat and learned to sail with 5 half day lessons with captain Greg Morash aboard our own boat ‘Toodle-oo!’

2005: Took a 2 week holiday around Martha’s Vineyard in Toodle-oo! and when we returned to our mooring, Laurie announced that “that was good but if we’re going to do more, we need a bigger boat!” That was the last time we sailed the S2.

I had already picked out our cruising boat – a 2003 37ft Pacific Seacraft to be named Toodle-oo!

We spent a lot of time preparing Toodle-oo! making sure she was solid and well equipped and slowly increased our sailing experience – sailing to Maine and doing our first ocean passage to Bermuda and back.

On the return from another trip up to Maine, right after a tropical storm had blown through, we had a rotten passage, unable to get any speed up in the large swell and not quite managing to point in the right direction and I got terribly seasick… It was during this passage in that we decided we needed a bigger boat!

A long search and visits to multiple boats, yielded the insight that an Outbound was the boat for us – if only it would fit our budget!

We bit the bullet and in 2011 purchased Toodle-oo! a 2007 Outbound 44. It was located in St. Augustine, FL and our very first sail aboard her was 950 miles (insufficient to qualify for OCC full membership!) to Tiverton, RI. We had Mike Eslinger and Pete Sterrett along as crew and had a fantastic 6 day passage – right up until day 6 when a nor’easter hit us and the whole crew got sick – just as we entered the Sakonnet river with only an hour left in our passage!

In 2013 we took 6 month sabbaticals and did our first Atlantic crossing – from Boston to Glengarriff, Ireland by way of the Azores. From there we cruised around to Whitehaven in Northern England where we parked the boat for the winter.

In 2014 we took another 6 month sabbatical and sailed up to Scotland (were we bent the rudder), through the Caledonian and across to Denmark. We followed an OCC cruise in the Baltic – about 3 weeks behind them – and had a fantastic summer. We ended that year by cruising through the Standing Mast Route in Holland to Amsterdam, then sailing west along the English Channel to Cornwall and finally back to Southampton where Toodle-oo! was loaded onto a ship and returned to Newport, Laurie and Bill destined to go back to full time work for the nest 3 years…

3 years turned into 18 months and in 2016 we retired and moved aboard Toodle-oo! full time and we sailed up to Newfoundland then down to the Caribbean, back up to Newport and down to the Caribbean again. In 2018 we crossed the Atlantic again from Antigua, sailed up to Shetland and across to Norway, then down through Holland again where Covid hit. We escaped Holland and fled north to enjoy the pandemic in the Yorkshire Dales. As soon as we were set free, we came down the west coast of Scotland via the Caledonian canal and crossed Biscay from Dingle in Ireland to A Coruna in Spain then carried on down the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal overwintering in Lagos. 2021 saw us do a loop out to Madeira and the Azores, and we finished our voyages with a 2 year stint into the Mediterranean and a winter in Turkey.

Statistics

Our sailing career has seen us visit 44 countries or territories in our 45,000+ miles of sailing. We’ve met countless new friends along the way that we will keep forever.

We visited 25 different Greek islands – some of them multiple times.

Since cruising full time, beginning in 2016, we have anchored 541 times, we’ve sailed overnight 88 times and we’ve had 107 nights on free docks or moorings.

Sadly, since 2016, we’ve used 1,395 gallons of diesel – which means we only averaged 21.5mpg! (My mini did better than that!)

It’s been a great adventure, one neither of us will ever forget. Now, what’s next?

The blog left us in the Northern Ionian and then suddenly Toodle-oo! is sold… what in the world happened???

Well, late in 2022, as we were heading towards Turkey for our winter berth, Laurie announced she was done with cruising! As one might expect, that led to some serious re-planning… We spent an interesting winter in Turkey and then come spring, made a bee-line towards Portugal, stopping in places we’d not visited before. Previous posts document our trip as far as Corfu in the northern Ionian… here’s the rest…

From Corfu, we headed up to Montenegro for a short visit – short because it’s coastline is pretty small but the mountains around Kotor are rather spectacular.

From Montenegro we moved on to Sicily. Our 350 mile crossing of the Adriatic to Sicily took 72 hours (27% with engine) including a short 5 hour stopover to wait for wind at the bottom of Italy’s boot. We arrived to the very sheltered natural harbor of Siracusa on the east coast of Sicily – which turned out to be a fantastic destination with very interesting architecture.

We were also reunited with Stefan and Anne on Mokendeist and again cruised with them. We took a car ride around Sicily and up to Etna to see the volcano – and after a horrible walk up were disappointed not to be able to get right to the Caldera.

We continued the eastward progress by sailing south(!) to Malta! We had such as marvelous visit to Valetta – a gorgeous old city with the most magnificent architecture – that we seriously considered moving there! The architecture is spectacular indeed.

However, a car rental allowed us to tour the whole island to find that it’s really only Valetta that’s the gem… scratch that moving idea!

We sailed out to the island off Matla, Gozo which has a wonderful anchorage and stayed there several days, waiting for weather to take us east to Sardinia.

Heading to Sardinia was proving difficult with forecast strong winds from the west, so we decided to head to an intermediate stop – Hammamet, Tunisia. Another country, another continent just an overnight passage away! On the way there we heard multiple radio exchanges about small overloaded and disabled boats with migrants searching out a better life – it all sounded rather dire. Fortunately none were encountered directly.

Tunisia was an interesting stop (including a visit to one of the Star Wars sets in the desert), but the place is filthy with a trash situation every bit as bad as India’s.

A weather window opened to make an almost direct passage to Menorca in the Balearics – with just an overnight stopover in southern Sardinia. The 190 mile overnight passage to Sardinia was all sailing – just motoring out of the anchorage (a brief stop to dive on the prop to remove some debris) and then motoring into the anchorage.

This was followed the next morning with a 270 mile passage to Menorca which was a mix of 25% motoring and 75% sailing, arriving in a favorite anchorage of Es Grau where Brendan and Brenda of catamaran ‘Lir’ joined us for several days.

We took several days sailing around the north east of Menorca to Adaia where Steve and Sue had rented an Airbnb for a week. It was great touring around the island in their rental car – especially bumping into a fascinating festival featuring Menorcan horses prancing around a crowded town square on their hind legs!

After Menorca we did an overnight sail to Formentera and just before arriving, met up with Jil and John on Moon Shadow who were heading in the opposite direction. We hadn’t seen them since Annapolis in 2017! We came alongside each other and while shouting greetings, dolphins came to play alongside us and between the boats! Magic!

We left Formentera for Motril – 312 miles – and (almost) completed the trip in 48 hours with only 8.5% engine. We used all the sails – multiple times and only averaged 5.5mph – but it was quiet! To avoid arriving in Motril at night we decided to shorten the trip and went into Almerimar instead – again meeting up with Stefan and Anne there. We intended only a couple of days there but in the end spent 5!

We did make it to Motril where we received a super friendly reception from the marina and where we met up with Dietmar who’s boat ‘Mermaid’ is on the hard there. Dietmar did us a huge favor storing our Monitor Windvane in his garage in Portimao.

We had a deadline to get to Gibraltar to meet Lois and Tom (Abigail’s in-laws) who would join us for a week but the weather was not cooperating – a single day with zero wind followed by a week of strong westerlies ☹

We took the no-wind day and motored the entire way to Gibraltar and as we got closer were dodging numerous tankers and cargo ships drifting around waiting to transit the straits. In view of the pitch-black night and the target rich environment, Laurie left me to handle the overnight passage until finally allowing me to get some sleep at 6:30am! At 7:45am the engine quit! ☹ We were right at Europa point – right in the middle of the traffic, drifting towards Morocco! Laurie reported that the engine died with a bang and a hiss – and there was an unusual lingering smell.

Turns out the exhaust mixing elbow (mixes engine exhaust with sea water) broke. It was a complete mystery to me as to why that caused the engine shut down – but I was glad that it had – or we’d have had sea water and soot all over the engine bay! Fortunately, we carry a spare elbow and exhaust hose and by 10:00am we were back underway. [We learned during a recent survey that our Halon fire extinguisher in the engine room had activated and was empty – it had shut down the engine when the elbow broke – phew!]

Before Tom and Lois arrived, we had some time to complete some things we’d not done – including walking the Mediterranean Steps and seeing the caves. We also got to meet up with some cruising buddies!

We had an excellent visit with Tom and Lois (in spite of their questionable politics 😉) and sailed with them from Gib to Barbate and then on to a favorite city, Cadiz.

We finished our sailing year with some lovely spinnaker sailing and stops in Ayamonte and Culatra where Laurie’s bestie, Sandra joined us, then on to Ferragudo and finally to our winter berth in Lagos.

Toodle-oo! – our sailboat of 13 years, in which we’ve lived for the past 8 years and in which we’ve travelled more than 40,000 miles to 35 different countries is SOLD!

We wish the new owners, Bruce and Erika, fun times, great voyages and happy memories in the future.

… What’s next?

Thank you for your interest in Toodle-oo! Here is more detail about the boat – and if you have questions, please contact me.

2007 Outbound 44 Bluewater Cruiser “Toodle-oo!”

SOLD

^{For sale by owner. Located in Lagos, Portugal}

Designed by Carl Schumacker to Phil Lambert’s exacting design criteria:   “I was convinced we could develop a boat with the capacity required for serious cruising, with sufficient comfort to encourage living aboard, and with the added safety that comes with performance and handling,” he said. “But too often, that quest for performance led me to vessels that were too exotic, expensive, and uncomfortable. I wanted a solid-glass hull-heavy, yes, but safe, and well suited for hard offshore work. I felt we could still achieve high performance through sophisticated shape, a powerful rig, and by keeping the weight well away from the ends.”

Above Deck _{– (click on any photos to enlarge) –}

The aft cockpit is large and comfortable in a seaway providing a wonderful platform for enjoying the ocean passage as well as the company of good friends in anchorages around the world.

She has a Monitor windvane self-steerer which is mounted on a custom swinging gate system which allows easy on and off access via the swim platform when not in use.

The large primary winches are in easy reach of the helmsman while two cabin-top winches (one electric) manage the aft-led lines.

The full enclosure, and sun shades, ensure a comfortable environment no matter what the weather and the wraparound pushpit provides excellent security.

In addition to access to the ‘garage’, there are three lockers in the cockpit: a capacious lazarette to starboard, propane locker to port and a transom locker, ideal for a 6 person liferaft.

Wide side decks, effective non-skid, high lifelines and mast pulpits provide security when moving forward and working at the mast or deploying the carbon fiber spinnaker pole.

Forward is a large watertight sail locker where light air sails and ground tackle is stowed.

Above the cockpit bimini, on an elegant stainless frame is a 680W solar array, which combined with the wind generator is sufficient to charge batteries, heat water and power the induction hob.

Below Deck _{– (click on any photos to enlarge) –}

Three broad steps provide easy access to the light and airy belowdecks. Toodle-oo! is beautifully finished in warm cherry wood and has a traditional teak and holly sole.

The well ventilated U-shaped galley is very practical and has ample storage for the most demanding chef. Cooking can utilize both the Force 10 propane stove or the 230V induction hob. The galley is open to the main salon so that the chef can enjoy the company of invited guests while preparing the feast.

The functional salon provides easy access to seating around the port-side table as well as allowing enormous storage capacity both behind and beneath each seat. The starboard settee also has a bar cabinet and a functioning small table for when larger parties are entertained. One large and two small forward facing hatches provide excellent ventilation.

The salon floor is slightly raised giving excellent visibility to the outside world and providing space for the four diesel tanks and two water tanks below the waterline, contributing to the overall stability of the yacht.

Forward, the light and airy master berth has a queen-sized island berth with good access on both sides of the bed, which has enormous storage capacity below and stowage cupboards on both sides via sliding doors. The berth is provided with two large hanging lockers, two cupboards, seven large deep drawers and a vanity. A hatch, six opening ports and two dorade vents provide excellent ventilation.

The head with separate shower stall is located opposite the galley.

The aft cabin provides a spacious queen-sized berth with storage below and to the sides, with a hanging locker and cupboard storage. The berth has a hatch and three opening ports providing excellent ventilation.

Aft of the galley is the navigation area with up-to-date electronics and a large chart table for route planning. This area provides an excellent place for monitoring all systems and navigation while underway.

Behind the navigation station is the ‘garage’ where many boat systems are maintained – including generator, watermaker, large chest freezer and stowage for tools and spares. With the port-side cockpit seat open, headroom in the garage is unlimited!

More information about Outbound Yachts can be found here: https://outboundyachts.com/

Equipment List

Sails

Main, Genoa and Solent were made in 2012 by Quantum Sails.

• Main is slab reefed (3) with lazyjacks and ladders on the boom. Halyard, mainsheet and reefing lines led to cockpit clutches. Boom preventers and pole handling lines set-up on port and starboard, lines led through clutches beside cockpit
• 125% Genoa on headstay furler
• 105% Solent jib on inner headstay furler
• Code Zero (Z Sails) on it’s own furler
• Asymmetrical spinnaker (Sanders Sails) new 2022 – in sock
  • Code Zero and spinnaker fly from short removable bowsprit extension
• Hank on Storm jib for removable babystay
• Spare genoa

Propulsion

• Engine: Yanmar   55KW, 75 MHP, turbocharged
  Engine Hours: ~ 5,100hrs (fully inspected/serviced by Sopormar December ’23 – injectors serviced by Bosch – new nozzles)
• Luke feathering prop (2016)
• PSS Shaft seal (2023)

Rig

• New standing rigging 2016 – inspected 2023
• Standard Outbound solent rig – Sparcraft
• 2 x Lewmar 68 primary winches
• 2 x Lewmar 48 winches on cabin top (one electric winch)
• 2 x Lewmar 40 winches on mast
• Sailtec adjustable hydraulic backstay
• Pneumatic/mechanical vang/kicker
• Carbon Fiber pole on mast track

Ground Tackle

• Lighthouse 1500 windlass – controlled at bow or helm
• 77lbs (35Kg) SPADE on 75M 5/16” (8mm)HT Chain and 100M Brait rode
• Two 100M shore lines
• Fortress FX37 stern/kedging anchor + 100M Brait line (doubles as drogue rode)
• Galerider drogue

Electronics

All instrumentation was professionally installed in 2016 with Raymarine Axiom instruments (depth, wind, small MFD for speed/direction at companionway), 9” Axiom Pro MFD at helm pod, 12” Axiom Pro at Nav Station, Raymarine hydraulic autopilot

• Icom M604 VHF
• Icom M802 SSB with Pactor IV Modem
• Independent Furuno GPS

Electrical

This boat is fully capable in both 110VAC and 230VAC

• 600AH Victron LiFePO4 battery bank (2022)
• Victron Lynx BMS and Distribution
• Victron Cerbo GX with Touch screen
• All required safeties in accordance with new ABYC recommendations
• Victron Multiplus II 3000W – 230V inverter and 120A charger
• Mastervolt 100A, 230V Charger
• Mastervolt 2500 W – 110V inverter and 100A charger

• Nextgen 5KVA generator – 230V
• 680W Solar through 4 MPPT’s
• Air-X wind generator with blue blades (quiet)
• 100A Balmar alternator and 614 regulator

• 120AH FLA start battery (2023)

Fluid Storage

• Diesel: 190gal (720l) in 4 tanks below floor
• Water: 200gal (760l) in 2 tanks below floor
• Hot water tank: 13gal (50l)
• Holding tank: 25gal (100l)
• Propane: 40lbs (18kg) in 2 tanks in dedicated propane locker in the cockpit

Safety

• EPIRB
• Personal Locator Beacons (2)
• Lifesling
• Landfall Navigation Abandon Ship ditch bag
• DeLorme ‘inReach’
• Winslow 6 person liferaft (requires recertification)
• Handheld VHFs (2)
• SOS LED Electronic flare
• Jacklines and tethers (6)

Other Systems

• Large chest freezer in garage, large fridge/freezer in galley
• Sea Recovery 40gal/hr (150l/hr) (230V) watermaker
• Monitor windvane on custom swinging bracket
• Full cockpit enclosure (2013) with sun shades
• Achilles 8’6″ (2.6M) lightweight fully inflatable dinghy
• Epropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus outboard (2021)
• Coppercoat antifouling (2019)
• Espar diesel heating
• LED dimmable indirect lighting in salon
• LED task lighting in galley
• Teak grates in cockpit and shower
• Installed insect screens for companionway doors and all hatches
• Ten bottle wine rack
• Open plate rack in galley
• Privacy and sun filtering roll-up window shades for large salon windows
• Fusion entertainment center with interior and cockpit speakers

For further information contact Bill Balme:

bill@toodleoo.com

WhatsApp +44 7902 591414

The only thing the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth offered us was a reunion with Tinike and Herbert on Zahree at the strange little port of Mesolongi at the exit of the Corinth. We sailed with them and Mokendeist to a small anchorage on the western side of the mainland and then took off with Mokendeist for Vasiliki on Lefkas.

We enjoyed the anchorage in Vasiliki which was inundated with windsurfers and small sailboats making for entertaining viewing. We also rented a car with Stefan and Anne to tour around the interesting island.

We moved onto Corfu which was a disappointing island (neither of us took a single photograph!) – quite dirty and with limited anchoring possibilities – though we were able to reacquaint ourselves with Ian and Jackie on Nova Jean.

Where to next?? Montenegro why not??!

We treated ourselves to an expensive berth at Pyreas – right in the heart of the activity and with decent train access to Athens and the Acropolis. Despite the crowds, the Acropolis was fascinating. Lots of broken down ancient ruins, crawling with wannabe historians!

The icing on the cake was that Laurie had managed to secure seats at the Odeion of Herodes Atticus amphitheater for a performance of Madame Butterfly. While I’m not an Opera fan, the experience of sitting in a 2000 year old amphitheatre and watching/listening to an un-amplified performance was fantastic!

A gastronomic delight was to be had at Laurie’s chosen restaurant. We walked past it 3 times before recognizing that yes, this was the entrance!

After Athens we continued west – and through the impressive Corinth Canal – the most expensive (per mile) waterway in the world! But it took 300+ miles off our journey towards the Ionian.

Unfortunately, the gulf of Corinth was uninspiring – other than a fantastic hour-long chase by a large group of dolphins that insisted on spinning underwater while leading our bow.

We did stop to look at more ruins in Delphi…

Next stop: The Ionian…

As I write this, we’ve crossed over the Aegean, gone through the Corinth Canal and up the Ionian and are now in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro! So this and the next post will only be quick summaries of our travels so that I can catch up! (Sorry!)

After Lipsi, we sailed (yes really!) north to Arki where we attempted to anchor in three different locations but failed at each attempt to get the anchor to set – so we headed further north to Fournoi where we found a really favorite anchorage right on the southern tip of the island.

We stayed in Fournoi a couple of days and then decided to move up the island some – but again, couldn’t get a comfortable set on the anchor, and in the end decided to simply move on again – this time to Samos and an anchorage on the north coast to gain protection from the southerly winds…

In the gap between Fournoi and Samos we experienced a dramatic acceleration zone with winds blowing 30, gusting to 45knots. Very uncomfortable and occasionally we’d see the wind falling off the high mountains of Samos looking like steam. Unfortunately, when putting in the third reef to the main, we managed to rip the back of the sail (leech) as we turned towards our anchorage with over 50 knots over the bow.

We rely on the App ‘Navily’ for our anchorage information – and this one spot had only one review – but at least it was a good one! As we got closer to it, we fell into the shadow of the mountains, the winds dropped and we were able to anchor safely in front of a very pretty stony beach. We could watch the wind hitting the sea just a few hundred yards behind us, but our spot was nice and calm. Exhausted!

We got an early start the following morning in rain – and headed to the south side of Samos to gain protection from the northerly ‘Meltemi’ winds and planned to stay there a few days (turned into 8!) and make repairs to the mainsail. Samos was really nice – we got to tour all over by car. Most interesting was the underground aqueduct – they managed to dig from both sides of the hill and meet in the middle! (Something the Brits and French struggle with!)

Our next planned stop was Ikaria – but once again, when we entered the gap between Samos and Fournoi we experienced the same acceleration zone, to turned tail and sailed with the wind back to our favorite anchorage at the southern end of Fournoi. What a great bailout! We stayed several days!

Finally we left Fournoi and headed towards the Northern Cyclades – specifically Rinia. Quite a long passage – 65 miles and along the way, had a close encounter with another yacht (Breukens) going a similar direction – and both of us were flying spinakers! Thank you Astrid for the excellent shots of us!

From our anchorage on Rinia we were able to dinghy over to the island of Delos – the old center of the Greek nation. It’s only a small island but gains protection from all wind angles, so was a natural place for a large city. And boy are the ancient ruins at Delos huge!

From Rinia, north to Tinos for a few days in a lovely little bay with three tavernas. We sampled two of them – excellent! Had a super walk up to the village high above the anchorage.

Then on to Yiaros (Devil’s Island), an uninhabited island that used to house a large prison for political prisoners. Unfortunately, anchoring there is notoriously difficult and we were unable to get comfortable in the small space – so we didn’t stop but continued on to Kithnos, to a wonderful anchorage which featured both a hot spring (sadly only bathtub sized) and a sandy isthmus between Kithnos and the smaller island of Loukas.

While there we watched the filming of a short Nescafe commercial… The crew had been setting up for days, when the actors arrived, they spent the whole day (7am – 7pm) doing the filming, and followed by another couple of days taking down the sets – for a commercial that last maybe 30 seconds!!! Great fun to watch though!

We were able to leave our anchorage, head into town for some supplies, then come back to the other side of the isthmus where we were able to complete a couple of nice walks.

We finally made it to mainland Greece, arriving under the temple to Poseidon – a quite dramatic relic right on top of the hill.

Kalimnos

Our trip from Kos to Kalimnos was a motorboat ride which culminated in a nasty beat into wind and waves, so rather than continue on to Kalimnos town, we decided to head up the leeward east coast of the island to several interesting possible anchorages. The first was idyllic – but try as we might, we were unable to get the anchor to set sufficiently – so we moved on to Vathys – which turned out to be very narrow and not very enticing! Our third choice was a sheltered anchorage with mooring balls and we made our way in and collected the first buoy we came to and settled in for the evening. Cocktails were served!

When I got up to refresh my drink, I casually observed out the window that there was a group of sailboats not far away. It then dawned on me that we were supposed to be a part of that group of sailboats! When I came up on deck I found that we were still tied to the mooring buoy, but it wasn’t attached to the sea floor anymore! We’d drifted 200-300 meters – fortunately straight out of the harbour and hadn’t hit anything.

We tied the mooring to our stern and motored back in to the harbour to find another buoy – and then set an anchor alarm!

Leros

With the westerly winds we’d been experiencing we were unable to take advantage of the west coast of Kalimnos, so instead we moved north to the next island, Leros – and stopped at Agia Marina (a town not a marina!) and anchored out. Good thing we did as when we inspected the quay where we would have med moored, we saw that for sure we would have touched bottom and risked another bent rudder!

Agia is very pretty – much more so than the main town of Lakki on the western side – which we cycled to.

We were here for Easter celebrations – and it seems the islanders like setting off the loudest fireworks (bangers) possible. The noise of some of them is just incredible! I think they use dynamite! We’d be quietly pottering around the boat and then BOOM – which echoed all through the bay.

We moved onto a secluded anchorage in the north of Leros – Blefuti which was really pretty and very quiet. Unfortunately I’d underestimated out anchor position a little and we came close to some rocks during a wind change. I shortened the scope to 3:1 to get away from them – and immediately started dragging right on to them! So we had to re-anchor (in the same bay)… After 3 or 4 attempts we succeeded… Getting quite frustrated with the performance of our anchor – or is it the challenging sea surface we’re finding in Greece?!

Patmos

Patmos is the northernmost island of the Dodecanese and an Israeli couple we met in Blefuti – Samuel and Shanne on Aurora – were heading out there and described a nice bay with well maintained moorings – so we decided to follow.

Unfortunately, on the way there, the head blocked up again – and this time it was serious! So we stopped midway in deep water and I jumped in the dinghy and started the lovely task of freeing things up with a long piece of narrow hose. Success was achieved, but it felt somewhat temporary… I’d have to look to replace hoses and diverter valves when next possible.

The recommended bay was nice indeed and protected from virtually all wind directions. A single taverna was open and we enjoyed a lunch there.

After a couple of days we moved upto to a very secluded anchorage just 4 or 5 miles north – but despite trying 6 times, we were unable to get the anchor to hold. Very frustrating! So we made our way back to the moorings and as soon as we got there, we unhooked our Spade anchor and replaced it with our spare Mason Supreme that has been sitting in the sail locker for years. We’ll see how this one does.

It was great that we came back here – because we’d been told that the marina at the bottom of this bay is actually quite capable – so we took a dinghy ride down there and found a very well organized and well stocked operation. I went there looking to buy a simple plastic handle for one of our diverter valves and ended up coming out with new diverter valves and 7mtrs of hugely expensive hose – for a cool €600! I spent the next day finally sorting out a permanent fix for the head situation!

Our visit in Patmos was also a nice social affair – we met Mal and Karen on Talisker and had drinks aboard Toodle-oo! (and the following night on Talisker) and then Ethel settled on a mooring near us and we had Mal Karen, Michael and Roseanne on Toodle-oo! again. We had previously met Ethel in Kardamaina, Kos last year – right after bending our rudder!

We got a lot of use out of our bikes on Patmos – cycling over to the main town of Skala several times – mostly to get provisions. One time we were there, Laurie managed to leave her handbag on a bench and only after we’d cycled all the way back to the dinghy (3 hilly kilometers!) did she realize… I cycled back to find that it had been (actually was still in process of being) turned in to the police. Even though I identified it – including unlocking Laurie’s phone and showing pictures of us – they insisted that Laurie had to sign for it – so I got a ride in the back of the police car back to Laurie and the dinghy! We never once feared that the bag would have been stolen – how nice is that!

Lipsi

Our final stop in the Dodecanese was Lipsi and we chose to anchor in a bay right in the south – to gain protection from more northerly Meltemi winds. The anchor set first time! Woo-hoo!

It was a very nice (if very brief) stop – though none of the tavernas around the bay were open for the season yet – so we walked over to the main town – Lipsi – to take a look. It’s pretty enough but very quiet without any tourists! Unfortunately they’ve rather messed up the charm of the place with lots of concrete parking areas around the harbor. They must have 10 times more parking spaces than cars on the island!

However, we did get an excellent lunch at a Taverna that has been open year round (sort of) and stuffed ourselves silly!

Next stop: Fournoi in the Eastern Sporades…

With a lift out scheduled for early Monday morning, we arrived to a slip on Sunday and made preparations… Knowing that as soon as they lifted us they’d be removing the rudder, we made sure the cockpit locker and garage lockers were empty, giving access to all the rudder’s mechanicals and then made our way to an Airbnb where we would be staying while Toodle-oo! was on the hard.

On Monday morning we met with ‘yard manager’ Spiros who would be orchestrating our repairs. I also got to see our new rudder – it really had arrived!

Lift-out was at 09:00 (ish) and they took us directly to our designated short term parking spot. By the time we’d arrived at our spot I had most of the internal rudder mechanisms removed, just waiting on the final bolts to be removed.

Heavy! The shipped rudder weight was 240kgs – of which 200 must have been the rudder. It took 5 men to manhandle it out of the boat and lower it to the ground. Now the fun begins!

First thing in the afternoon we transferred both new and old rudders to Kos Marina’s friendly workshop where the old one would be measured and holes accurately drilled (at the right angle!) into the new one to ensure a good fit aboard Toodle-oo! Due to the size of the rudder the workshop manager decided that he’d have to do the work outside and bring the drilling machine to the rudder – this would take a couple of days.

The new rudder came with new bearings. The old bottom one had come out with the rudder, but the top one was still in place, held by four large cap screws. Even though every other nut and bolt in the rudder system had been easy to remove, of these four only one would budge! After a frustratingly long time, I managed to get two more to come, but the fourth broke! I had to drill it out in order to free the bearing. Once out I was able to drill and tap another hole for a replacement fourth cap screw. We were now ready for when the rudder returned.

We assessed the state of our hull below the waterline, which was covered in small Pox-like blisters. Initially I thought this might be a Coppercoat (our antifouling regimen) application problem, while Spiros figured the hull was showing early signs of Osmosis. In the end, and in consultation with Coppercoat Ltd., we concluded that the blisters were originating between layers of a barrier coat we had had applied back in 2012… Our treatment decision was to ignore any un-popped blisters and concentrate on only popped ones (only about 500 or so! ☹) by sanding them with the intention of then painting new Coppercoat on the pox when painting the rudder…

While the rudder was out, the propeller shaft could be removed without having to take the prop off the shaft (something I wasn’t looking forward to). I wanted to remove the shaft in order to replace two critical items – a ‘PSS’ seal that seals around the shaft and prevents the ocean from entering the boat, and the ‘Cutlass’ bearing that supports the propshaft just ahead of the propeller. Both items are wear items and due for replacement. All I needed to do was disconnect the coupling that tied propshaft to gearbox, remove the coupling and the propshaft should slide rearwards out of the boat…

I estimated that it would take me three hours to remove the propshaft… After I’d been pounding on it with my new heavy duty hammer for several hours, I decided to consult the book, and the fantastically helpful group of Outbound owners on our forum. Oh shit! What have I gotten myself into??  The book indicated that the propshaft coupling could be an absolute bear to remove and several Outbound owners had resorted to cutting the propshaft in two and replacing both the shaft and the coupling!!!

I struggled on for two days and finally threw in the towel having only moved the coupler about 1cm with another 5 or 6 to go… I asked Spiros to take a look and he arranged for his engineer to come and remove it. And that’s what he did – using a special puller designed for the job (along with my new big hammer!) and after a couple of hours the coupler was off! Phew! After that, the removal and replacement of the seal and bearing was straightforward thankfully.  

When the rudder came back from the workshop, it immediately looked like the angle of the hole was off – but I thought I had a workaround that would compensate…

Spiros arranged for us to be lifted to install the new rudder – something that should basically take about 30 minutes. It was then that we found out that the rudder was a different shape from the old one – in that the back of the rudder fouled the hull before the shaft was in far enough! We had decided against getting a new rudder made in Turkey on the basis that we were confident Outbound would be able to build a new one accurately and correctly… best laid plans…

The ever-inventive Spiros came up with a relatively quick solution – we’ll cut off a wedge at the top of the rudder to allow for clearance! Since the rudder cost over $9,000 I wasn’t too keen on taking a saw to it – but couldn’t see another way – so off it went for the chop! They did a quick job of it – cutting through the solid fiberglass and the fairing and covering with a couple of layers of GRP. The following day they lifted us again and the installation was successful! Phew!

With the rudder now installed we could set about painting the Coppercoat to rudder and the hull pox. In the end the process went well. We’ll see how effective the painting of the pox was in due time.

While out of the water we arranged for a surveyor to review the rudder repair – and took advantage by arranging for a full boat survey (which we had to get done for our insurance company). The surveyor came and was interested in both the rudder replacement and the blistering hull. It was while he was studying the rudder that we realized that the rudder turned far less to starboard than it did to port. This can only have been caused by the hole being drilled at the wrong angle. I thought I had a workaround – but quickly realized that I was mistaken and we did indeed have a problem. (What else can go wrong?)

Consultation with the Outbound owners group – and indeed the former owner of Outbound Yachts – concluded that the remedy lay in removing the stops that prevented the rudder from over-travelling to port or starboard and having them altered to facilitate equal swing to port and starboard.

The following morning we arranged to meet with the surveyor and Spiros that afternoon to discuss the rudder remedy. Spiros quickly concluded that we should alter the rudder stops! The surveyor concurred and within two or three hours, including two trips to the workshop, Spiros had the stops modified and replaced. The remedy worked – equal throw to port and starboard. We could splash in the morning!

After splashing, a quick test on the way to our slip revealed a nice smooth and even rudder operation and no vibration from the propshaft – the effort was worthwhile! A formal sea trial the following morning confirmed all is well.

Kalimnos here we come!

Rhodes was closed! We’re too early…

We’d rented a car for 2 days so that we could do the island justice. Happened to be Monday and Tuesday. Rhodes town is situated on the top (North East) point of the island so we decided the first day we’d go down the center of the island to the east coast down at Lindos.

The interior of Rhodes is pretty but not spectacular in any way – but it was fun winding along the narrow roads and not meeting another single vehicle until we got close to the coast. Once on the coast, clusters of large hotels – mostly empty in March – showed that Rhodes is a major tourist destination with most folk attracted to the beaches and warm weather. Unfortunately, many of the beaches are stony – though there are several sand beaches.

We arrived in Lindos to find it closed. The only activity were locals making places ready for the coming tourist season. The castle sits high over the town below, but we didn’t have the urge to climb up to it, so we wandered through the ‘streets’ looking for a place to enjoy a beer and perhaps some lunch. No such luck – Lindos is closed!!!

We made our way back towards Toodle-oo! stopping off at Lidl for a pretty major provisioning event.

The following day we went down the west coast. Again, lots of evidence of hotels and beach bars – mostly closed for the off-season. We arrived at our first destination of the day – a Monastery – but guess what? It was closed! This time, not because of the season but because it was Tuesday! We’d forgotten that all Government run museums and tourist areas are closed on Tuesdays!

We met with two other couples in rental cars in the car park and chatted with them briefly. They too were caught out by Tuesday! However, one of them said they’d been to Lindos on Monday and found a place to eat and drink in the old town… and that the castle was a must see! Oh rats!

We continued our tour, moving away from the coast and up into the hills – where we happened upon some vineyards – and a winery… It was OPEN! First day of the season – and in fact we were the first customers of the year!

We also scored a first – when some weeks later we opened one of the bottles we’d procured there, it was really nice! Always in the past we’ve bought at a winery and it’s like they sell you bottles of something different because as soon as you get home and try it, you find it to be total crap! What made it better is that the owner – a nice young man in his 5th year of business – threw in an extra bottle since we were his first customers!

On the news that Lindos wasn’t completely closed we decided to head back there and maybe walk up to the castle – and find ourselves a drink… Nope! We confirmed that Lindos is definitely closed, including the castle that we walked up to… don’t know what that guy was smoking!

We scored again when we got back to Rhodes town – a great chandlery with a super selection of familiar products.