Travels with S/Y Thetis


Thetis only

Thetis 2008: Aegean

This is a very personal account of few weeks in May and few weeks in September and October 2008. During this time I sailed my boat, S/Y Thetis, in the Aegean. There are three separate trips:

A 12 day trip when I singlehanded Thetis from Leros, where she was launched, to Samos, where we maintain a summer house. Unfortunately Thetis had to remain in the Samos Marina until September because I unexpectedly had to fly back to Washington, D.C.

A one day excursion in Samos.

A 25 day singlehanded trip from the island of Samos to Leros. There are three legs of this trip:

  1. Samos to Fourni, Arki, Marathi, and back to Samos.
  2. Samos to Fourni, Marathi, Levitha, and Kalymnos.
  3. Kalymnos, Leros, Archangelos, Lipsi, Marathi, Lipsi, and Leros. At the end of this leg Thetis was hauled out for the year at the Agmar Marine (now called Moor & Dock) in Parheni, Leros.
Map of Greece
The routes during this season.

The 2008 sailing season was unfortunately atypically abbreviated. I flew to Greece with the expectation of launching Thetis and then sailing her to Kea. In Kea my brother Byron was to have a party celebrating his birthday. My wife Alice was to fly from Washington, D.C. and meet me there. After the party, we were to sail Thetis together to Samos and spend some time in our summer home in Kalami.

Those were the plans. Unfortunately unforeseen family health related issues intervened. Instead of sailing to Kea I sailed to Samos where I left Thetis in the marina and flew back to Washington. It was not until September when I was able to return. I did sail for about 3 weeks not very far from Samos. As an extra treat my Turkish friends Arzu and Turgut Ayker joined for a few days Thetis with their sailing boat New Life II.