Pork Pies and Carol Singing

Mark decided that he ‘needed’ a Pork Pie for Xmas and so set about ordering ‘real’ bacon from the corner shop in Corfu, along with the right flour for the pastry. He then spent hours on the interwebulater looking for just the right recipe – unfortunately that didn’t exist in Marks opinion so he decided to ‘consult’ the recipes then make his own up.

I, in the meantime, went Carol singing, it involved no cost, no long hours arguing with the cooking sites and no mess on the boat. We met at our Marina community room for mulled wine, mince pies and lovely Greek sweeties to fortify ourselves against the cold before embarking on our singing tour. We sang around the town and rattled our tins, sang at the old peoples home and were rewarded with more Greek sweeties and drinks and much handshaking and hugging until we thought we were never going to get out of the place, then on to the hospital. The hospital wasn’t as hospitable but then who wants to be in a place like that at Xmas! Back into the town and some of the guys join us for a final couple of carols under the huge Xmas tree in the square. By then I was seriously cold and in need of proper food and alcohol so a few of us peeled off and ducked into one of our favourite restaurants for a late supper. Very enjoyable evening.

A couple of days later after much deliberating, Mark is biting the bullet and making his much talked about Pork Pie. He’s been into town and bought the minced pork and sets about covering the boat with flour and all the other ingredients he needs for his masterpiece. Well you can see from the picture, it looks like a Pork Pie, and it will be admired as a Pork Pie for a few days…..

The last Race

The last race of the winter series and the weather forecast was for increasing winds and maybe rain. We set out clothed for wind but not rain – this might be a mistake but no time to go back and change now we’re already pushing it for time. We get down to the race area before deciding on the jib because the wind is building all the way there. At the start area it’s already around 15 knots so we opt for the smaller jib. We get organised with the main up and run up and down the start line to get a feel for what we’re in for – it looks like it’s going to be wet and lively, wind up to 18-19 knots, that’s a lot in a little J24. We’re off heading down the coast to Nikiana, the windward mark. It’s hard work, the wind is still building and it’s a case of just holding on up on the rail trying to keep the boat somewhere like level. As we get closer to the mark for the first time there’s animated discussion as to whether we’ll hoist the Spinnaker, or if the Spinnaker will even hold out in this wind!! Well the helm is just as much a dare devil as Mark so ‘up it goes’. We all hold on for dear life as we hurtle back up to the upwind mark, it doesn’t take us long to get there and now we have to get the dam thing down and try and keep everyone on board. Some boats had given up and gone home, others are struggling to keep going. We round the mark and head down to the windward mark for the 2nd time and down comes the rain. And it rains and rains and rains so visibility is reduced considerably. More boats give up and go home – but not us!! Round the windward mark, now we’re in winds of about 22 knots and still we hoist the Spinnaker – this time we take off like a scalded cat, the whole boat is humming – Mark and Tony(helm) are whooping, the girl on foredeck with me is looking scared and the pit man can’t believe he can have any more fun. The waves are up along with the wind and we’re flying down them reaching speeds of 13 knots!! Out of control or what. We keep this up to the point we all think it’s going to go completely pair shaped or the spinnaker is going to blow out so we decide as we’re still all on board it might be wise to take it down. We’re not far from the upwind mark by now and round it going like a bat out of hell and back down for the last leg. As often happens when sailing here we get nearly down to the mark and the wind dies completely and we really struggle to get round but just as we do the wind picks up again and it’s on the beam for half the leg then on the nose for the last ½ mile and we are wet all the way down to our skin!! We cross the line in 2nd position with half the fleet having retired. What a way to finish the series.

A night of entertainment

Described as off the wall entertainment complete with a four course meal aboard a 97 year old herring boat. Well if nothing else it will be different was our view. And different it was. The main saloon/galley area of the boat (fish hold) is theatrically set complete with stage lighting. The hosts/entertainers are French, Dutch and South African.

The captain wearing large leprechaun ears floppy hat and Dutch clogs welcomes us aboard for the evening. He rides his bike around town similarly attired! We all sit around a very large table, decorated with a model of the boat with its bow decoration of crossed knife and fork (yes the actual boat is decorated with a large knife and fork on the bow). Ouzo and wine is served immediately to get everyone in the party mood. The first course is introduced with a long ‘blow’ on a very strange trumpet like instrument; following it was a short “scary” movie depicting ‘the attack of the giant kittens at sea’. The ‘special effects team’ (read captain and assistant), covered the model ship with tuna fish paste to encourage the kittens to crawl all over it and eat one of the cast (bread person again with the paste trick). Sounds naff, it was but funny. The next course is introduced by a short act with female finger puppets throwing themselves out of the windows of a tall suitcase – not quite sure why other than to provide an excuse for the first of the entertainers to show himself in a dress, which he continued to wear for the rest of the evening (worryingly comfortably). That course eaten, the next was introduced by a French street performer/acrobat standing on his head, then on his forearms allowing him to pick his nose while he’s upside down. The dinner was rounded off with the Frenchman and his piano accordion performing a sketch with the captain seductively dressed in a slinky long red dress and finishing off with a clog dance. Sounds bizarre??? – then my work here is done!


Read more about the interesting history of the Ship of Fools

More pictures of the evenings entertainment