Finally...the photos from Greece!

Photos to come

I will put a few photos up on the blog when I get a chance. We have moved house and unpacked enough boxes such that I should be able to find the connection for my camera to the computer! I hope all of the sailors have recovered from their time in Greece and had a nice week back in school!

Sunday

The kids were all great packing and getting ready this morning. (not sure that they ever unpacked) They have always been on time this whole week. Very impressive. Girls are happy to have finally won the sweets prize of the morning mainly for being less noisy than the boys, but were also bang on time today. Nice breeze this morning so they have already been shoved onto the water for a session. Lovely and sunny again today. Clouds don't seem to reach Greece. Good night last night with souvlaki and waffles, not together but sequentially. No sign of economic crisis here. Bit eerie.

Saturday

It is SO hot here. Sea breeze is in so they are now out for a sail, equipped with lots of suncream and water. Morning was successful and all sailors made it onto their feet on the paddle board as it was dragged along by the rib.

Friday

They had a great sail in windier conditions yesterday, followed by a swim at the beach and dinner at the club. We had a guest appearance from Chris Boyle who joined us for dinner and bought me lots of drinks, and dinner! It was lovely to see him and milly had a big smile on her face! We refrained from going for waffles again, so we plan to go tonight after a souvlaki. Nice weather again with no cloud in sight. This morning they are just rigging and then will do mobility wake boarding and paddle boarding.

Photos

Cannot get the iPad to upload hits, sorry

Forgot to go back to izzy

There are waffles!

Breakfast

Comments from the sailors Rhys: it's sunny Hamish: don't drink the tap water Izzy: I don't know, come back to me Milly: it's freezing it's only 27 degrees Jessie: it's great Will: the water is sooooo warm Hamish: my mum is on the blog every 10 minutes Alex: we went wind surfing Dan: wake boarding is going to be fun Matt: I'm getting bullied.

In Greece.

We got to Vouliagmenos late afternoon and settled into the apartment, followed by a look around the club. We all had souvlaki for dinner and then to bed. I think they all got sleep. They looked fine this morning Kids were all organised and bags and sailors ready to go by 8:00 Greek time. We had cereal and milk but no bowls so we went for plan B and went out to the local bakery for breakfast. They are windsurfing this morning for 'mobility' Greek style and then will get boats ready. Nice small breeze now and probably building later with sea breeze. Sunny and about 25C. Nice.

Getting close to take off...

Reminder that we meet at Heathrow airport Terminal 5 at 9:00
BA632 to depart 12:00 for Athens

Don't forget to bring your sails (I already have Hamish and Matt's sail).  We will be rolling them up at the airport before we check in. 

Pocket money:
A few £ for the airport this end and maybe a few Euros on their pocket for any extra soft drinks, ice cream or moderate souvenir shopping.  They will be too busy sailing and sunbathing to do much shopping!

Weather forecast looking good, cannot find Vou... on windguru so cannot report on the winds!

See you all on Wednesday

Testing photo function of the blog

Hoodies

I received the hoodies yesterday and they look great.  I will bring them to the airport to hand out to the sailors.  I have looked at the budget and seeing as the flights were more expensive than we had anticipated, parents will have to pay for the hoodies.  You will be able to pay online through IOCA but you will receive more information on that in due course. 

Boat bits

I have had confirmation from Vagelis that the Club boats are fully equipped.  The Greek team uses them so they are well looked after.

The only things we need to bring are (1) sails (2) compass, optional (3) wind indicator, as they dont use them in Greece! (4) main sheet, optional

No need to bring mast clamp or bailers

Travel Insurance

Just a reminder that each sailor will need to have travel insurance for our trip to Greece. 

For your information:
I just purchased a family 'yachtsman travel insurance' for the year and it covers children who are travelling without their parents (but with a responsible adult over age 25).  This is with Bishop Skinner which is the RYA recommended insurer for travel insurance. 

Of course it is entirely up to you.  If your current travel insurance covers the sailor for sailing (training, not racing) and covers when they travel without the parents, then it may well be that you don't need any additional cover.

Another test

Another test, just getting used to this

Just setting up

This is a test of the new blog spot I set up for the Greece trip.