David's Diary: Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Back to Lavrion

After an extra day in Almiropotomos, we leave just after 08:00 this morning. The wind has already started, but the wind is behind us as we head back to Lavrion. The sailing is comfortable and all of us are happy to be going with the wind rather than against it. Allen spends the morning running lines through the cockpit in order to make a support system for his special cockpit bed. It is amazing how inventive the children can be during our long passages.

Fishing Boats at Lavrion

We arrive back in Lavrion in the late afternoon. I go over to one of the charter bases and find a person that speaks English. He agrees to come over to Dragonsinger and help remove the windless. He takes the windless apart and discovers that it is completely burned out. When we had arrived in Almiropotomos, I had gone below and smelled a strange smell. What we think happened was that there was a small leak near the anchor windless. This leak was letting salt water drip on the power connections for the windless. This was shorting the connection causing the electric motor to be turned on. Since the anchor was already up, the motor just burned itself up. The smell I had wondered about was the smell of the anchor windless motor burning. Thankfully there was no other damage and no fire. Tomorrow, I'll have to find a new anchor windless and install it.