Greek traditional boat | The Byron E. Riginos Blog

Athens, 31^st January 2022: or about the Ballroom of the Vampires 🧛🧛‍♀️🧛‍♂️ No. 2

1. <This is an outline for a fictional script>

I woke up today with a vivid dream in my mind. I have elaborated a little from the basic plot…

A. The Plot

i. An old retired businessman, plus amateur shipwreck diver, suffering from Parkinson’s disease is enjoying his aperitifs on an August sunset at the terrace of his French neighbor’s house and in the good company of Patrick de Guignol; his terrace features a wonderful 180 degrees uninterrupted view of the Koundouros Bay and the reef of Makriopounda where below lies Byron’s favorite shipwreck of S.S. PATRIS. A historic paddle wheeler of the 1860’s scattered around the sandy bottom at a depth of -50 meters, whilst the 1/3 fore section of the steel hull is hanging on it’s anchor chain on the outer slope of the reef at -35 meters.

A schematic rendering of the S.S. PATRIS shipwreck.

A.1 The Invention

ii. During such an idyllic set and storytelling of expeditions of the past, a revelation strikes the Oldimer’s mind of Byron, the hero and protagonist of this story…

iii. It’s about an invention by which a modified strong search light-or telescope, can penetrate into the depths of the seas exceeding 200 meters of depth and from a surface distance ranging from 1 to 10 Kilometers depending on the prevailing weather conditions and the focal length of the attached iPhone.

iv. During as the discussion heats-up, the Frenchman, with experience as a former Vice President of Global Business Partners, proposes to his guest emeritus to immediately form an Elderly Wise Men Task Force [1] aiming to exploit such a formidable idea.

2. The profile of BYRON aka BYRON66 or “Sbobyr the Laborer”

Through successful IP tracing, it has been revealed that a 72-year Byron66 is a talented multi tasked old-timer from Kifissia, Athens, Greece, who recently has officially moved residence to KATEBATH, Koundouros, Kéa, Cyclades, GreeceThrough successful IP tracing, it has been revealed that a 72-year Byron66 is a talented multi tasked old-timer from Kifissia, Athens, Greece, who recently has officially moved residence to KATEBATH, Koundouros, Kéa, Cyclades, Greece

When he participated in the formidable Kea Dive Expedition which occurred in June 1998 at his second hometown, he was a young adult aged 46. The bitter experience of losing his father in November 4th, 1974, a successful businessman representing for many years on an exclusive basis the formidable U.S. conglomerate of General Electric Corp.; the difficulties encountered by his mother to survive after becoming a widow, plus a failed first marriage in 1975, scarred the psyche of the young adult. Although he excelled in school and became a talented CEO of a pioneering Automatic Identification Company in Greece, he also pursued various of his beloved hobbies. Such as sailing ⛵️, Classic Cars Collecting, water-skiing, Diving & Underwater photography, and rich social activities often including a good cause 🙏😇🤩

3. Few other Key Players

An Italian Engineer [Luciano] who had worked for many years with a High Tech multinational company and had served time managing its subsidiary in Kobe, Japan at the period of the great earthquake. He often revisits Japan and maintains close contacts with his old colleagues. In addition, his son aged 44, is the owner-manager of a successful web development company based in Bologna.
A Greek-American [Spyros] who was the founder of a specialist IT company in Athens, an ex IBM associate with many connections in the High-Tech sector inside and outside of Greece.
In addition, one of his close friends, resident of Washington D.C., with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, now retired, was developing specialized s/w and managing the final tests of launched Communications Satellites before becoming operational.
The Technical Diver and multi-talented close friend, Dimitris Galon.
Dimitris was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1958. He lived for many years in Athens, Greece, and since 1984 he lives permanently in the Federal Republic of Germany. He studied historic and comparative Musicology, Informatics, Philosophy, Byzantinology and Ethnology at the Universities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. He worked in the Ethnographic Museum and the City University of Hamburg, and since 1994 is the editor of the international publishing house, Sikorski. At the same time he deals with various issues of the marine history of the Eastern Mediterranean region. His articles have been published in the Greek magazines Efoplistis, Naftiki Epitheorisi, Greek Diver and Aiginea, in the German magazine Zenith and also in the Greek news portal www.protagon.gr.
Dimitris lives and works in Hamburg, Germany, and is member of the German Historisches Marinearchiv.

To be continued 👌

On the 4th of September 2008 I met AEOLUS. She is a Motor Sailer of the Greek traditional “Liberty” (rounded stern) hull design, built in 1994 from Samos island pine wood. Her length is 18.5 meters, width 5.5 meters and draft 2.2 meters. She is registered as a commercial charter boat in Piraeus Reg. Nr. 8612. All the decks are inlayed with teak and the companionways are wide and comfortable.

The gangplank (a.k.a. ‘Pasarella”)

leads on to a wide and spacious aft deck with a pick-nick table, where guests can spend many happy hours enjoying the Greek blue seas and the bright sun 🙂

The stern surrounding, nicely carved wooden stanchions, add class to this livable deck, while four wooden bollards, two on each side, allow for secure boat line fastenings in the traditional Greek fishing boat manner.

Then on to face the main saloon, covered throughout with a deep pile plush feeling wall-to-wall carpet.

The saloon is airy and incorporates a glass doored bar/cupboard cabinet on the port side.

At the same time, it is modernly configured with an “L” shaped settee, also on the port side, with two veneered bar tables in front,

while the ergonomic and spacious Galley is placed on the starboard side.

A double refrigerator/freezer is embedded into the cupboard by the entrance, a convenient spot for serving refreshments and catering the food to the guests while on the aft deck during the summer months; all along the fridge is right next to the cook hands (his or hers)!

Onwards is the Helm Station, with an array of instruments to monitor the double Valmet-Bowman diesels, VHF, Simrad Radar, a GPS/Chart Plotter plus an intercom, and of course a multitude of electric switch breakers and so on… On the starboard side there is a pilot’s sliding door which facilitates quick movements during handling and adds to the saloon cross ventilation.

The steering is hydraulic and I am not sure if there is an auto pilot fitted (in fact some instruments were removed from the dashboard, I assume to prevent theft). What seems to be missing is a helmsman’s chair 😦

Moving below deck there are three double cabins.

The Owners cabin features a Queen sized bed while there is ample storage in well crafted cabinets and additional storage under the mattress. The cabin is well ventilated and day lighted from two large size rectangular marine sealed port holes.

The spacious en suite Loo is fitted with a shower and a luxury sink and good sized mirror. The lady owner will appreciate it!

The other two cabins feature double bunk beds, in a style of older passenger liners, again well ventilated and illuminated, with good storage areas. Both these cabins share a spacious Loo with shower and amenities, accessed individually via separate doors from each cabin. Convenient.

The Fore Deck is lovely, spacious and means business!

There are mattresses and awnings to add to the comfort and pleasure of the guests aboard the classic M/S AEOLUS!

A closer view of the Fore Deck. Nice touches are the lovely teak decking, the stainless steel fender rack, the sky-light hatch leading to the crew cabin with its own Loo, the strong double anchor handling Lofrance electric winch, the wooden bollards…

and the “belicima” bowsprit with its black net underneath! 🙂

Oh! I would love to encounter dolphins on the way and photograph or video their playful dances at the bow, while laying face down towards the sizzling seas on this net! 🙂

The Mast and dinghy derrick.

The Dinghy is of the RIB type, a worn out by the sun Gommonautica 3.70 meters, while its 40 Hp Mercury outboard has not seen smooth bottoms, the prop is well beaten up 😦

The Engine Room is fitted with 2 x 218 HP VALMET-BOWMAN diesels

The engine room is accessed from a large sized lockable lazarette located on the port side of the aft deck. A small ladder leads down to the engine room which is clean; the bilges do not smell nor do they have lots of oily water.

The Finish, quality made twin Valmet-Bowman 218 HP turbo diesels, provide a steady cruising speed of 9 knots. They look well taken care of. There is ample and well fitted sound deadening material on the bulkheads and an auto fire extinguishing system sitting above each engine. The fuel capacity is 2.000 liters.

The Gear Box, the coupling and the shaft all look in very good condition, while no sea water leaks are noticeable.

The Household battery bank looks clean and together with the 13 KW Onan GenSet must provide adequate power for the vessel.

The Fresh Water pump system looks heavy duty enough with an incorporated large size pressure tank. A boiler is also fitted for hot water supply. The water tanks have a capacity of 1.500 liters.

The twin props & rudder

The Twin Props look very clean (no marine growth) despite the dirty waters of the marina. The rudder is of good size, also free of marine growth. The combination of twin screws should provide fairly good maneuverability for this heavy wooden traditional Greek caique.

M/S AEOLUS’s hull has been repainted white (from blue) during the spring of 2008 and appears to be generally in good condition.

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