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Basher Member Member#: 165 Location: Registered: 09-03-2003 Diary Entries: 18 |
28th July 2003 Windsurfing: Greek Islands Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Max Speed: Distance Covered: Mykonos MYKONOS This is a Travel article about the Greek island of Mykonos - a windsurfing destination which used to be in the Club Sportif brochure but which , for some reason, is not featured any longer... I've already posted this on the Boards website, but people seemed to like it... so I'm reproducing it here. Windsearch in Mykonos I'm just looking at my holiday snaps from Mykonos and there's a picture of me on a golden sandy beach apparently herding several cows towards some worried-looking Germans. But more about that later. We checked in at Gatwick at 5am to find the only other windsurfer in the queue was my old mate Nik Baker, although it turned out he was travelling on to Rhodes for the Mistral dealers’ conference. Nik's had to miss the Canaries events this year due to a foot injury, although he seems tobe walking OK now. He said to check out Ftelia Beach on Mykonos, which is a well-known wave spot. I couldn't bring myself to tell Nik that my Mom had told me all about the island she'd visited in the 1960s and 1970s. And that I was apparently conceived in Mykonos. Was this in fact a pilgimage for me? Nah. We're just going windsurfing. As we landed on Mykonos we could see this small island is a little gem, even by Greek island standards. The main town encircles the port with a cobweb maze of narrow streets full of cute shops, restaurants and bars. All the buildings are simply painted with white walls and only the window frames, doors and balconies adding a vibrant splash of colour. Bougainvillaea and hibiscus plants sprout from pots at every corner on streets surfaced with painted crazy paving. Fresh fish and flowers are sold on the quayside each morning and vegetables are delivered to the houses on the back of a donkey. It's all very twee but actually genuine. I suppose you could say Mykonos town (or 'Chora') is like St Ives in Cornwall, but bathed in constant sunshine, and dressed for a wedding. Our intention had been to stay on Mykonos for just a few days and then travel on to other islands but we ended up with a good deal in a hotel that overlooked the harbour and which had one of those infinity pools from where you could watch the sunset with a cocktail in your hand. They played chill-out music from 'Cafe Del Mar' and the local equivalent .The non-windsurfers in our party were to take up residency by this pool and we, the more active members of our crew, would just have to be grateful for the free rein this would offer us. We rented one of those Suzuki jeeps, 4 wheel drive but with an engine like a sewing machine. In 7 days we must have driven round the island several times but we only put 20Euros of fuel in the tank – some measure of how small the place is. Mykonos is more of a party island than one solely geared up for windsurfing. But it's more like Cannes or Capri than Falaraki, Aiya Napa, or San Antonio. More club 25-45 than club 18-30. The people on our Gatwick flight (several hairdressers?) were not particularly representative of the crowds who flock to Mykonos in summer. Most people arrive by ferry or yacht, and several touched down at the aiport in private jets and helicopters. We gave up trying to work out what nationalities they were but clearly the jet set from Athens were joined by the equally-well-dressed crowds from Italy, and there were loads of other Europeans aswell. Lots of Americans too, plus the obligatory parties of Japanese, roving in packs, each with one eye glued to the video camera viewfinder. Although most tourists were dressed in a casual, beach-life way, we did not see a football shirt all week. Or a plate of chips. Or drunk people carrying cans through the streets. There is nightlife aplenty in Mykonos town but this is centred around small bars and eateries. For the bigger dance night I went over to Paradise Beach where they held a pool-side foam party to celebrate July 4th (and I have vague memories of toasting the sunrise there before someone carried me home). I didn't do that too often tho. A bottle of local beer costs 4 Euros in a Mykonos bar (Amstel or Budweiser is 5 Euros) and the garden-set restaurants are expensive too – so you can easily blow your week's budget in one night. We found the best way to control our spending was to stock up with food and drink from the supermarket where prices were at least as cheap as in the UK. The most expensive thing you can do is the obvious one; Pick a restaurant next to the water's edge, order the main course of fish (which is priced by the kilo) and wash it down with several bottles of wine and sparkling water etc. But hey. You're on holiday... You can actually eat lunch in Mykonos town quite cheaply because the place is deserted during the day as everyone heads off to the south-facing beaches on the other side of the island. Most go to these beaches because they are sheltered from the wind! Needless to say, we didn't. There are several beaches to windsurf from in Mykonos. Without a car you can take the bus across the island or else launch off several of the towns local beaches; Tourlos beach is as good as any, although the hill and cruise-liner moorings upwind can make the winds a bit gusty there. There's also a car park just to the south of the famous 5 Mykonos windmills from where you can walk down to a small cove to launch into clean winds and open seas with some rolling waves. Should you break anything on either of these two beaches you would only end up safely downwind on another beach called... (ooops!I'll have to look up the name.) You can also launch from there. We had some dodgy weather passing through on the day we arrived which brought up hot southerly winds for a day or two until the northerly Meltimi reasserted itself – but I sailed on 5 days out of 7. I liked Ftelia beach a lot and used a 7m, 6m and my 5.2 there. On the windier day it was indeed wavey but the swell was downwind and only good for tricks, rather than riding. It needs to blow strongly there for several days before it really goes off. Usually this is during August and we were there in early July. On moderate days Ftelia is a nice beach for snorkelling, swimming and there's shelter out of the wind to one side for sunbathing. But our non-windsurfers found the lack of food and loo facilities annoying. The party favourite beach was called Panormos which is sited up the bay from Ftelia and is shelted by a big hill so the launch is gusty until you get a long way out. Great for sunbathing and snorkelling tho. And there's a fabulous restaurant there where the tables are sheltered by camouflage netting and old parachutes (from Nam?). There are drifwood sofas to lay on and even a bed with scatter cushions. This is one cool place to hang out. Broken wave boards frame the door. The waiters and waitresses are dressed in white and the food is scrumptious. The DJ plays more chill-out stuff and Buena Vista Social Club. There's a cocker spaniel, a wire-haired terrier, and even a pet piglet wearing a tartan collar. Said pig/Babe peed on my harness. I warned him I’d get my own back next year. By eating him. Oh yeah. Then there's the main windsurfing beach over at Kalafati. It's a Fanatic Centre and well run with lots of new kit of all sizes (I'll have to check my photos but I think they've got a website ; www.pezi-huber.com). The swiss guy Andy, who works there came by to say hullo, after i sped past him on my Hypersonic. The wind is offshore at Kalafati but this means it's good/ flat for beginners on the inside with most intermediates blasting way out to sea along the coastline. I stayed closer in and preferred to play the streaks of gusts, with the HyperSonic allowing me to keep planing thro the lulls when most others slowed to a halt. What you do is look over your shoulder to check what's coming and gybe back rather than sail on into a big lull. I really enjoyed sailing at Kalafatis but I imagine others might find it annoyingly gusty. It's a pretty beach tho and you can park in front of a cafe where there are free parasols (the only free thing we found in Mykonos?) offering some shade for sunbathers. When it's not blowing and you don't want to eat or party there are still unusual things to do on Mykonos. Ano Mera is the town in the centre of the island where the real people live. There's a cute town square and a magnificent monastery with a chapel you must see the inside of. The outside of the church is so simple and the interior dramatically ornate. They have a small souvenire shop too where you can buy greek Orthodox-style icons at a fraction of the price you pay for the same kitsch in Mykonos Town. On our last morning we got up early and went on the boat trip to Delos. Many millenia ago this small Island is said to be the birthplace of various Greek gods and first became a place of worship and later developed into the main trading post in the Agaean. At one stage, 30,000 people lived there before invaders and pirates ransacked the place and it fell into decline. The remaining ancient ruins there are truly amazing but you need a few hours to take it all in and to visit the museum too. The 9 am boat meant we were outa there by lunchtime and, back on Mykonos, I grabbed the Suzuki and headed back to Kalafatis to spend two great hours on the Hypersonic and my 6m. On arrival I only vaguely noticed a burnt out car, still smouldering up a narrow lane. Some poor tourist's engine had caught fire that morning, apparently. Later on as I was de-rigging, there was a huge commotion as a farmer was trying to get his herd of cows past the still-hot car and into the shed for milking. The cows were having none of it, so the farmer jumps into his van to push the frightened cows. Cows then stampede out of side lane, across seafront road and, rather than heading to milking shed, stumble straight onto the beach where are number of plump tourists are snoozing in the late afternoon sun... I have never seen people move so quickly... One bloke jumps up and holds up a red beach towel, confronting a confused cow. He must have been reading Hemmingway. The farmer comes running onto the beach but the cows are scattering everwhere, many urmm depositing trails of poo across the sand. You have to know that there are several windsurfboards and sails on this beach... and so we all jump in to help. I get one cow cornered and I've got it backing up away from my board but behind there's a German tourist's sail which he's left in the shade next to a tree. I just manage to stop the cow from trampling over the sail but not before he's deposited a cow pat. (And yes, it was a Gun sail). The cows eventually leave the beach but then choose to run into someone's garden and the ensuing row with the irate homeowner is hilarious to watch. I think I was still laughing on the plane home. Today, I really wish I could have stayed on Mykonos for longer. I suppose it's a bit like Brighton and so I felt comfortable there and was able to both sail and enjoy time with my friends who are not windsurfers. And It's not usually windy here in summer, is it? Basher PS My mom's favourite album is a Joni Mitchell one which apparently is full of songs she wrote in Mykonos. One song starts; "The wind is in from Africa, last night I couldn't sleep..." Kinda weird going there for me, but I'll be there for longer next year, for sure. Cheapest deals via www.firstchoiceholidays.co.uk |
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