Still in beautiful Naxos for the weekend, we decided to have a lazy morning and then explore the town in the afternoon – I was keen to get up to the Castle and see the views from the top of the hill.

I was half way through a chapter of my book when Jacques said he was ready to go out and I said ‘give me 10 more minutes – just finishing the chapter’.

Four hours later, we were still on the boat – not because I am a slow reader – but because with the 10 minutes I had given back to Jacques he decided now would be a great time to change one of the lines (ropes) – the very, very long one that goes to the top of the mast. I surfaced just in time to see the new line come unattached from the old line and therefore no line where a line needed to be and the old line being completely out of reach swinging 12 metres above us!

After half an hour of contortions with a boat hook and Jacques climbing precariously up the mast we managed to get a grip on the old line – now it just needed re-inserting back into where it had originally come from.

It is difficult to explain and you’ll understand why I don’t have any photos but after another hour (and buckets of sweat) of trying to thread the line back through a tiny hole at the end of the boom – which was way beyond arm’s reach – we abandoned that plan and I thought we had abandoned the whole enterprise and would organise a professional to come help.

I dared to head back to my book only to hear sounds of grunting – when I went back on deck to investigate there was Jacques trussed up in the Bosun’s chair and asked me to winch him up!!!

Bosun’s chairs are designed to have people sit in them and be manoeuvred up the mast – vertically. Jacques had decided that it would work just as well horizontally to swing him out to the end of the boom – a mere 10 metres above ground level!! To say I was terrified was the least of it – at some points Jacques was nearly hanging upside down!!!

After many attempts it was clear that this would not work or Jacques would
have to die in the process!

We booked a professional rigger, Fiori, to come and do the job on Monday plus a couple of other jobs that would require elevation to the top of the mast!!

Then we went and ate Souvlaki and afterwards got drunk in a fab bar called Swing!

Guess which Cocktails we chose!! Shame there wasn’t one called “Dangling with Death’!

And the toilets were very special too!

After two (very strong) drinks we realised that this was not a Jazz and Blues bar as I had expected but a hangout for the young and beautiful and we took our leave and stumbled our way back to the boat!

The following day we decided we needed a day on land so hired a car and set off to see inland Naxos. I’ll tell you more about this next time but to close this chapter a couple of photos of the wonderful Fiori up the 76 foot mast!

We now love Souvlaki, Naxos and Fiori!

More soon!