A British couple aboard a 38-foot yacht got far more than a typical Greek island summer this year — flat-out sailing in the Gulf of Patras, a first-ever cutter rig experiment, and a Meltemi storm that hit Force 9-10 with 5-metre seas.

Richard Thomson and his wife Maxi had originally planned to sail west out of Greece, but a serious illness in the family kept them in familiar waters — Greek cruising grounds where they knew the weather patterns and, crucially, the airport options if they needed to rush home. It turned into a summer of extremes.

The sailing was at times spectacular. In the Gulf of Patras, with a steady northerly funnelling over the low-lying delta where the Acheloos and Evinos rivers meet the sea, their Voyager 38 Namika sat a full knot above her theoretical hull speed for two hours — flat water, 5m under the keel, 8.5 knots on the log. Nearby Missolonghi, with its lagoons and stilt houses, felt more like the Mississippi delta than the Greece of postcards. It's also where Lord Byron died, likely of malaria, and the couple were glad of their mosquito nets.

With time on their hands, they finally solved a puzzle left by previous owners: how to rig a storm jib on the baby stay, turning their sloop into a makeshift cutter. The extra small headsail forward balanced the helm so perfectly that dolphins somersaulted alongside off Kythnos — a moment that glowed in a difficult year.

Then came the other extreme. After an unusual spell of southerlies pushed them north to Euboea, a screaming Meltemi arrived and howled for over a week, hitting Force 9-10 in waters they'd recently anchored in. Caught en route to Serifos with 2-3m seas building into short, steep monsters around spreader height (roughly 5m), they reefed down to a tiny third reef — just in time. Thomson hand-steered the boat like a giant dinghy, surfing down wave faces for three hours before a mile or two of calm in Serifos' lee ended it as abruptly as it began.

For anyone dreaming of a Greek sailing holiday, it's a useful reality check. The Meltemi is a genuine force in July and August, and sheltered cruising areas like the Saronic Gulf exist for good reason — the couple deliberately retreated there rather than risk the open Aegean with a first-time sailor aboard. Their reefing rule is worth borrowing too: if anyone on board thinks about reefing, reef immediately. It bought them a 10-minute head start before conditions went from manageable to wild.

The story also shows the quieter rewards of Greek cruising: anchoring off barren Dhokos and stumbling onto boats crewed by old friends, dawn fish leaping in Missolonghi's lagoons, and the sheer variety between the flat-water speed of the western gulfs and the proper ocean-style seas of the Cyclades. You don't need ocean-crossing ambitions for an unforgettable season — but you do need to respect the wind forecast. Full story courtesy of Yachting World.