The Greeks pulled through for us last night and showed up to activate the sat com just as we were about to give up and go to Bar Street. So we left Rhodes this morning and turned straight into the wind to head for Symi. This particular crossing is packed with commercial traffic so we were on constant lookout. We played our first game of chicken today with a 200 meter freighter that came up behind us at over 20 knots (we were going about 5). Because we were under sail, and he under motor, the rules of the sea gave us right of way in that situation. But that is purely a technicality, and nobody tests right-of-way rules with ships weighing more than 100,000 tons (we weigh 25). So we accepted defeat in this game and turned out of his way… just like the book says to do.
About half way to Symi the wind dropped to 4 knots, which would have made our progress very slow…. if we didn’t have a diesel engine that is. We motor-sailed the rest of the way (using both motor and main sail) and made it to Symi for lunch as we had hoped. We can’t believe we can spend the night parked against the dock in such a magical place for just 5 euros. Symi is outside the reach of the charter boats and big tourist crowds which is a nice change of pace.
Tomorrow morning we’re heading to Kos, which is another island about 45 miles west of here. We’ll be bashing into the wind again, which means the motor will likely be on most of the day. If we were purist sailors we might be embarrassed about that, but fortunately we aren’t.