July Newsletter
Early June commencement with Simon and Philippa sailing down to Frikes for their 10 day stay. The visit was quite symbolic for Simon since it was the village that he was based at, teaching wind surfing and dingy sailing some 35 years or so ago, and his first holiday with Philippa. Very special memories and…
The New Season Begins
Another overland drive from Wales to the Ionian Islands, with Lugger Katerina in tow, kick starts my 2022 summer season of ‘Sailing Luggers in the Sun’, with the first couple arriving on 6 May. The drive through Europe now takes me six days, this with shorter driving days and regular overnight camping spots. For the…
The Lady is ready for the water
This is Katerina, now 49 years old and ready to charter for 6 May after a total rebuild. Would YOU like the great opportunity to sail this magnificent example of a Honnor Marine Lugger, originally built in Totnes, Devon in 1973, and now totally rebuilt with modifications and equipment suited to Med sailing by Dragon…
Happy New Year 2022
At the beginning of January 2022, can you go forward in your thoughts six months and envisage sailing, swimming, exploring and having a relaxed holiday in the South Ionian Sea, sailing a Drascombe Lugger? Yes, this is more than achievable, take a good look at our client reviews of 2021 and in previous years. They are…
End of Summer 2021
Our last sunrise across Vliho Bay In mid October 2021, and still enjoying the warmth of swimming off the Luggers. With groups still enjoying the more temperate weather of late September and early October in the South Ionian Sea, in the daytime it’s around 26 degrees, a perfect time to explore the islands and harbours…
Swallows & Amazons!
A Swallows and Amazons adventure arranged by Dragon Drascombe and associates for children of local families proved to be a huge success.
Clear crystal waters, slightly shingle beach, no tides to be concerned with, just brilliant for kids to enjoy being on the water. What other boat is so easy to transform into a great learning and fun experience for kids?
August Newsletter
A very, very warm welcome to my early August Newsletter Over the past 10 days we have experienced a heat wave that has been widespread over the Eastern Mediterranean. So, to get some relief I have moved my summer office from my Kamper base to the sea facing terrace of the Hotel Iris, just 200m…
The Great Opening of Lugger Charters
Sailing at last! The decision was made in early May to make 4 July the start of our charter season. For this date I had two crews booked, George and Melanie from Canada/Kentucky US, staying at the George Studio apartments. George, known to all as Skip, has a Longboat in the US which he sails…
Angie rigged and ready to go
After eight weeks, Angie has turned out a truly magnificent Lugger, totally rebuilt and with modifications to suit her new life in the Med including full Bimini sun shade and picnic set. It will be a pleasure to have her moored on the apartment jetty at Geni Garden Apartments, awaiting one’s desire and time to…
Angie – Week 4
So at last, Friday 28 May 2021! Angie is rolled out into the sunshine in Wales, a very exciting day to see the endeavours of the past 7 weeks come to fruition. You will note that I have managed to straighten and clean up the original 1967 builder’s plate. She is now completed with just…
Angie – Weeks 2/3
Whilst acknowledging her age now since she was built 53 years ago, it is evident that she has been used extensively, based on the damage and repairs that have been undertaken, some reasonable and others at best negligent in terms of safety of the craft. But yes, she has survived and will be of a…
April Newsletter
So much has changed since my last Newsletter, so let’s hope this progress with the vaccination programme will continue across Europe and the world in general. Like most of my age group we have had our first if not our second jab and yet are still aware that the virus is causing great concern in…
Angie – Restoration Begins
So here she is on 10 April 2021, at last in Wales ready for work to commence. I’ve removed most of the clutter and debris that came with the purchase, it wasn’t even cleaned out! One thing I had not realised is that she did not have a Bumpkin stern spar, or rather there were…
Newsletter January 2021
A very warm, welcome and Happy New Year to friends old and new for this coming year of 2021, a year so long awaited and needed after the past 10 months of 2020. It has been a period in which we have all experienced in some form or other personal or family hardships, illnesses and…
Newsletter October 2020
What an inspiring image to lift ones thoughts to next summer and your holiday ‘Sailing Luggers In The Sun’. Yes, this is what we have all missed and been deprived of this past spring and summer. The calm mornings at Geni, the sun not quite over the ridge to the east and ahead is the…
Newsletter June 2020
Welcome back everyone from this very difficult and stressful period since I last met with you in my January Newsletter. The past 3 months has seen so much change, not gradually but applied within days, inflicting life-changing events for some, and throughout society devastating influences to ones work and family lives; sadly I fear this…
Happy New Year for 2020
A very warm welcome everyone to my first Dragon Drascombe Newsletter of 2020, a year in which I will be focused on providing an even greater spread of accommodation alternatives within the community of Geni and Vliho Bay. The past year of 2019 has seen a lot of change which has impacted on my Drascombe…
December 2019
This will be my last post of this year. I do hope you will appreciate the diverse nature and approach of the holidays available for this coming summer. As you can read on our Cycle and Sail page, we have teamed up with Simon and Lucy at Get Active Lefkas to offer a variety of…
End of Summer Blog 2019
My morning starts with getting the weather forecast for the day, walking Bengy my Greek sheep dog and then the 15 minute motor in the tender south into Vliho Bay, and to the bakery owned and run by Harri. As those who have stayed with me at ‘Luggering about in the sun’ will have experienced,…
Late Season Activity 2019
The first day of September, and what a lovely change this morning at 6.30, a calm, clear and fresh atmosphere, temperature around 20 degrees and the Meganissi Chanel very quiet. We are now coming into the last six weeks of the charter season. September especially is a great month, the locality is much quieter, the…
Clara joins the Dragon Drascombe fleet
You may have followed Lugger Clara’s progress from October 2018 when I acquired her and brought her back to the workshop of Dragon Design at Tredegar in South Wales. This is the home and base of my Cabinetry and boat building business. She has now travelled across Central Europe, enduring a dramatic fault with her…
Return to Nidri – part 2
It was good to leave the Chiemsee campsite, still wet and cold and have the certainty of hitting better weather as each day we headed south, firstly through Austria, into Slovenia where the new roads are excellent and dropping into the northern end of Croatia. Again, I had pre-booked a campsite at Selce for 2…
Clara’s maiden voyage
Less than 24 hours after discovering the leak and the damage to Clara, the repair has been completed and she sailed across to Frikes Bay. The daytime heat meant that the glassing had to wait until nearer to sunset, but the job was soon done. So at 6.30am on Friday she was back on the…
The Dangers of Automotive Filler
To all DIY Drascombers, avoid using automotive body filler on your ‘Pride and Joy’, especially below the water line, it could be disastrous! You will have ready my review of the rebuild of Clara by my cabinetry making company, Dragon Design in Wales. Despite a thorough check of the underside when we cleaned all the…
Back to Nidri
For those that have followed Dragon Drascombe, ‘Luggering about in the sun’, you will be aware of my return to Wales in mid-July to visit Steph, my daughter, who had just undergone surgery for ovarian cancer. Yes, the procedure at BMI, Birmingham has gone well, but the post operational period and chemotherapy is going to…
Early Summer 2019
With winter cabinetry projects very close to completion and 2018 Lugger Clara totally refurbished it’s time yet again to gather my Lugger fittings and equipment together for packing into the campervan for the drive over to the Greek Ionian. Along with our tent based awning, it is home for us and Bengy throughout the summer…
Final completion and debut of Lugger Clara
On a cold and grey Wednesday, 12th December 2018 at the home of Dragon Design, Cabinetmakers, Clara was wheeled out for the first time after undergoing a full and extensive refit. It has taken 6 weeks, not all full time work, and 280 man hours to complete. As a Mk 1 Lugger, with a hull…
Clara Restoration – Week 4
She is not quite completed as I had anticipated, and it’s the small and time consuming work on the boat in readiness for her launching in May 2019 that has taken the time. The fittings have now arrived from Jimmy Green Marine Company to enable its last stage of fit out. The hull graphics have…
Clara Restoration – Week 3
So here we are at the end of week 3. All the spray finishing has been completed to the cockpit in Manilla with the hull lower section in white and the top plank in a grey, and she’s looking good. The next stage was the fitting of the Iroko hatches and centre board casing cheeks.…
Clara Restoration – Week 2
The hard work on preparing the hull is over, with all the masking up done, and by Tuesday the upper plank was in grey and the lower part in white, all left to cure for 48 hours. Next was to prep the underwater area up to the white hull before roller-painting with a Seajet primer.…
Clara Restoration – Week 1
Clara with a hull number of 937 would have been an early 1970 boat and a Mk 1 model, still with the original short Gaff. Despite being a little dirty from some 4 years of being unused and left undercover, her hull gel coat was original, very little damage apart from some scratches. The early…
Clara – the refit begins
So this is Clara, an early 70’s Lugger bought just in the last week or so. She was owned and sailed as a part of a University Marine Studies programme in Cardiff, predominantly in Cardiff bay and the Bristol Channel. She has been lightly used and in a clean condition, requiring now to be stripped…
End of Season Diary 2018
The delightful calm of Vliho Bay with cool mornings and temperatures of sustainable levels are now behind me, having taken the Igeomenitsa to Ancona ferry some 2 weeks ago for the shorter drive back to chilly Wales. With charter groups continuing through to the last week in September it was a very busy period getting…
Mid Summer Diary
Nidri, The Greek Ionian. It’s a sad day for Bengy today, he does not know it yet but the boat he uses for a day time shelter is being moved, I will have to make him another shelter out of a Lugger winter cover – with temperatures at around 33 he has to have shade…
Early Summer 2018
From my stunning summer office / home on the water’s-edge overlooking Vliho Bay, I can watch as boats enter and leave. My Luggers and workshop are close by, so in between introducing groups to Lugger sailing I am on hand to clean and maintain the boats before launching. All the boats were cleaned last October…