Island Rambler...

WORK (now) IN PROGRESS on this site, and lots more to come over this coming winter of 2014/15. I have a huge amount of information/photo's to add, of both the trip back to UK from Leros, and the ongoing major refit of Island Rambler. Which is going well by the way. Time has been short for me re updating this site/blog, but I'm on the case now. I've had so many emails from existing/prospective Contest 33/Contest owners and admirers, (thank-you), its inspired me to get my proverbial finger out... ha ha :-)

Well.. what happened? Its now August 2019.. obviously the proverbial finger stayed where it was.. ;-) I will do my best to get sorted this coming winter as I do have tons of information and photo's that really do need to see the light of day.. 

Before I start, I'd like to give heartfelt thanks to my crew, Joe Bosher and Jon Uriarte, who helped me sail Island Rambler safely back to Falmouth UK in the summers of 2011/12. Joe and Jon sailed with me on independent legs of the trip, and proved themselves to be really great guys, and yachtsmen too. I would most certainly sail with them anywhere in the world without hesitation.

So... Hello & Welcome to my place on the web for "Island Rambler", a Conyplex Contest 33 sailing boat. I've set up this blog/site in the style of a website with different pages. To do this I've had to segregate the posts into different months so that I could have a start and finish with different sections of information. To navigate the site just click on the BLOG ARCHIVE drop-down box. Each month represents a different page. Also I have put a link to the NEXT PAGE in the last posts. Although information associated with "Island Rambler" and the Contest 33 can be found in this blog, I have also placed PDF documents & more photo's online. They can be found at the URL's below.

Photos on Photobucket - Leros to Falmouth 

PDF Documents and Information

The first pages of the blog/site will be dedicated to the trip back to the UK. Because basically it was a delivery trip and we were pushing on to a destination, a lot of the minutiae that cruising in a sailing boat entails is kept to a minimum.  Also, as this is as much about the Contest 33 as anything else, over time (work in progress) I hope to be able to provide a lot of detailed information about these boats on dedicated pages, and the full refit of 'Island Rambler' in particular. I am going to give a brief run down of our trip though and include some pics... More photos of the boat and trip can be found on the Photobucket link above, and the the Photobucket slide-show in the side bar...

My New (Old) Boat...

Launch day and Joe chilling in Pantelli.
I bought "Island Rambler" in November 2010 after seeing her advertised on the Apollo Duck private sale web site. She's a Contest 33, built by Conyplex in 1972. Being a registered British Ship Part 1, I must say gave me some piece of mind during the buying process. It's not foolproof by any means, but is far preferable to the simple SSR registration that gives no title to the vessel. She was situated in Partheni boatyard on the Greek Island of Leros in the Dodecanese chain which are but a day sail away from the Western Turkish Coast. I flew out to Leros on the 24/05/11 with my crew Joe Bosher, and after approximately ten days of preparation to get her sea worthy, we launched at 8.30am on the 03/06/11. We picked up a mooring nearby the hoist station for a couple of hours, carrying out engine and underwater fitting checks. All was well so we set off southbound to a little port called Panteli on the East coast of Leros, and then to Lakki harbour on the West coast. See map of Greek Islands. We were on our way back to Falmouth UK, a voyage that would take us right across the Mediterranean, through the Straights of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic. The sun was shining and the sea blue.... What more could you ask for...

Leaving Leros in the Dodecanese...

After a couple of days filling tanks, sorting through the last bits and pieces and saying goodbyes, we left Lakki Harbour at 6.30am on the 06/06/11 and set sail for the Cyclades island of Amorgos about 50 nautical miles west of Leros. See map of Greek Islands. From Amorgos our planned voyage would take us through the Cylades and the islands of Ios, Sikinos, Milos, and on to the Peloponese. It didn't quite work out that way, but more later.

Amorgos and on...

Our arrival in Amorgos (see map) at about 20.00 pm - 06/06/11 seemed to be quite drawn out if I remember. We were looking for an entrance between the cliffs that just didn't seem to want to appear. All was well in the end though. A quite night at anchor and then a run ashore in the morning for an iced coffee... frappe... Lot's of hiking back packers in Amorgos as promised by the pilot book. The island certainly gave an air of tranquillity that relaxed you without effort, ideal for walking and taking in it's beauty on two feet instead of a hire car...

Through the Cyclades...

Rambler slipped away from Amorgos at 6.00am - 08/06/11 on route for Milos with the option of stopping off in Ios if we felt like it. In the end we pushed on for Milos, arriving off the south/eastern tip of the island at about 16.00pm. We dropped the hook in a beautiful anchorage, and got on with the normal chores involved with the running of a boat. Unfortunately, things didn't stay quiet in our peaceful haven. The barometer was dropping like a stone and the Navtex gave warnings of a southerly gale-expected soon. Our anchorage was totally open to the south, we had to move. The nearest safe harbour was Adamas, a long haul to the western side of Milos. We had to go... and arrived at about 4am - 09/06/11, very tired...

Above : Anchored just off the town quay in Adamas/Milos. A place we had to evacuate in a hurry later in the day as all hell let loose in the harbour with boats smashing into the quay and each other...

When you view the photo above, you are looking due south. You can see Rambler and another yacht anchored off in Milos bay. Later in the day conditions got so bad that we had to seek shelter under the lee of the hills you can see in the background. We were anchored not more than 200 meters of the beach in 3 meters with 40 meters of chain out. It was screeching as the wind accelerated down off the hills, and we nearly had the dinghy blown off the deck. The blow didn't moderate until about 4am - 10/06/11, resulting in a restless night on anchor watch...

On to Sifnos...

As I mentioned earlier, the original plan was to get to Milos and then head west, rounding Cythere off the Peloponnese and into the Ionian Sea. Well, best laid plans eh! All the weather info we were able to pick up on the net was negative. Westerly gales blowing continuously off the Peloponnese, no go. We weren't up for that, so it was head north to the Corinth Canal. First stop the little harbour of Vathi on the island of Sifnos. Got there at about 1800pm - 10/06/11, So glad we visited too, it was truly beautiful...

Above you can just see the entrance to Vathi opening up on the starboard bow...

I couldn't resist taking this picture while sat having a beer. I've marked out Island Rambler with an arrow on the hill. And no, that's not Joe and I paddling. A truly stunning place that these photos don't do justice too. We won't be staying long though. We'll be off tomorrow 11/06/11 to Kythnos and it's pretty port of Merichas... CLICK THIS LINK TO GO TO NEXT PAGE.