Michel Maartens of Drascombe Nederlands is getting together with some other Dutch Drascombe enthusiasts to organise a cruise in late summer 2025, and using Dragon Drascombe as a base. This is Michel’s story of how it came about.
It was a really long time ago that I travelled with my German girlfriend, backpacks on, from Kos for eight weeks along picturesque Greek islands. I was already crazy about boats, and had known for a long time which ones, but many ferries, walking and occasionally a motorbike were our means of transport. At night the enormous ferry anchored in front of the dark island of Amorgos, a tender with a small white light detached itself from the shore and we were the only ones who were brought ashore via a sliding hatch at the waterline – more or less. We slept on beaches, ate grapes, meze and psári and occasionally allowed ourselves a cheap room with a cold shower. In Astypalaia we took a bus from the harbour and got off when it didn’t go any further. The bus driver asked where we were going – there was nothing else but one house and a little earlier a small village – and offered us a room in his home – the final stop of the bus. There we enjoyed empty beaches for days, swimming, sunbathing and such. In the evening we told the driver what we wanted to eat the next evening in the fluorescent-lit restaurant and bar – and so the warm, sunny days continued to follow one another almost endlessly.
However, not without an almost daily visit to the local harbour (actually more of a creek) where fishermen pulled their boats against the shore and brought the catch – our evening meal – ashore. On all islands of course there were harbour and fishing visits, and there the plan arose to return here – but then on our own keel.
We are writing forty years ago – never thought it would take so long for that dream to come true.
The books of Ken Duxbury who sailed these waters intensively with his wife ‘B’ and Lugger Lugworm were read to pieces and it did not take long before the Drascombe adventures of Webb Chiles and Hans ‘Smis’ Vandersmissen’s literature also captured my heart. A Coaster, that was the ideal camping boat, that would be more suitable here than a Spartan Lugger. And a towing vehicle with which you could launch your ship from the beach and pick it up again single-handed anywhere.
After the devaluation of Sterling in 1993, Coaster Yraida suddenly fell within my budget, followed two years later by a Jeep Cherokee. The latter was of course very stupid, but it did take us to Italy where we sailed with Navis Longboat and Yraida on one trailer via Elba around Corsica. A trip never to be forgotten!
But unfortunately I never ended up in Greece again – except once for work. And now it seems like it might just happen!
Dutch Drascombe sailors have been sailing the Greek waters for a long time. Of course Peter Knape and Elly Jansen in the Elliott Cruiser Longboat Legolas, Gijs van Kemenade (with Lugger, Dabber and Coaster) and several renters of Dragon Drascombe Luggers in Geni, Lefkas. All super enthusiastic about the possibilities to explore azure Greek waters and culture with shallow ships, away from the flotilla crowds in pleasant temperatures.
Therefore, the plan is to cruise through the waters around Lefkas from September 17 to October 16, 2025. Some will prefer to travel there with their own ship on the long journey over land, others may book a ferry from Italy (Ancona or Bari) to Igeomenitsa. But of course you can also fly into Preveza or Corfu to embark for a shorter period. For a quiet trip over land, we are thinking of about ten days including rigging and launching. For example, depart Monday September 8, return to Netherlands Sunday October 26.
The base will be Phil Osborne’s Dragon Drascombe operation in Geni, located in the sheltered bay of Vlycho on Lefkas. Phil has been renting out Luggers and apartments there for years and has offered to launch the boats there and store rolling stock safely. But his Luggers are also for rent! Then you can sail (partly) with the fleet and either stay on board or stay in luxury in a B&B.
So far five Coasters have shown interest. If you want to book a Lugger and/or apartment or B&B at Dragon Drascombe it is advisable not to wait any longer, the number of boats and accommodation with Phil is limited!
Greek authorities require skippers with seagoing boats under 7.5 metres to have at least a small boat licence 1 and 2. Plenty of time to get one!
Michel Maartens
Coaster JUNO