From gentle and mild, to thrilling and wild, the appropriately named Wildwind sailing centre in Vassiliki, Greece, offers, as I discovered in June of this year, the perfect mix of action, relaxation, and fun, writes Louisa Mamakou of Cowes Online.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Catamarans on the beach at Wildwind
Wildwind occupies an enviable location right in the middle of Vassiliki Bay, on the south coast of Lefkas island in Greece, with stunning views over to the nearby islands of Cephalonia and Ithaca which could hardly be improved upon. What makes the place truly special, however, is the unique atmosphere; at once welcoming and relaxed, with an informal approach designed to make sure you get the most out of your holiday both on and off the water.
The unspoilt island of Lefkas itself is a jewel in the Ionian sea, well known for its unforgettable beaches, beautiful scenery and the friendliness of the local Greek population; something that I can vouch for wholeheartedly.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Wildwind's beach and watch tower
After an easy journey out from England with a flight from Gatwick to Preveza, and a coach journey from Preveza airport to Vassiliki, arriving at the Wildwind centre in the afternoon meant there was time to explore my surroundings. Predictably, my first destination had to be the beach and a good look at the extensive fleet of catamarans and dinghies, all tuned and ready to go. High performance dinghies and catamarans for experienced sailors sit next to a very good selection of less demanding craft for beginners.
As I walked onto the beach, just a few steps away from my accommodation in the Kavadaos hotel, also practically on the beach, I spotted a man from our coach party who was about to launch a Laser onto the inviting, sparkling waters of Vassiliki Bay. I was mildly surprised to see someone quite so keen to get in a first sail but was told: "I didn’t get up at 3am today (to make the unearthly 4am Gatwick check-in) to waste the day!" Good man I thought, that’s the spirit!
In a short while, he was not the only person enjoying his first sail in the beautiful, warm, late afternoon summer sun, as I was out there too testing the Mediterranean in one of Wildwind’s brand new Lasers with a big grin on my face!
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ View from Vassiliki village, Wildwind centre in the distance
My one week’s holiday at Wildwind was, from the very start, all that I wished for and a lot more. There is a refreshingly eclectic mix of activities on offer, which all seemed to me to blend and fit very well together in the beautiful surroundings that the sailing centre enjoys. The charming village of Vassiliki is just a few minutes walk away along the beach from Wildwind, where you can find a wide choice of tavernas serving fresh fish and traditional Greek dishes, and then round off your evening with a cocktail on two in one of the bars.
I found the accommodation on-site to be comfortable; Wildwind uses two, small and very friendly family run hotels, both set in lovely gardens and just metres from the beach. One of the hotels has a swimming pool; perfect for a dip after a day’s sailing, and best followed by a chilled Greek beer!
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Laser instruction from ace sailor Alistair Nichol
The sailing programme at Wildwind is run by Joe Bennett, a man with an impressively long and varied sailing CV, who wears his many years of sailing experience lightly, and has a wonderful sense of humour that he uses to great effect. Besides Joe, Wildwind is run by a multi-talented team of young people, all of whom go out of their way to help you make the best of your holiday.
Variety is the spice of life and variety and choice is available in abundance at Wildwind. Their sailing option allows free use of any of their catamarans and dinghies, together with tuition, and no extra charges are made if you wish to complete an RYA course during your stay.
At the beginning of the season, they hold some rather special training weeks, at no extra cost, and I wished that I could have been there in May to experience a week of top class Laser training with no less a person than Chris Gower, Olympic gold medallist Paul Goodison’s coach. Other training weeks this season included match racing with Ewan McEwan, the RYA’s head of their match racing programme, and coaching for catamaran sailors from 2007 and 2008 Tornado European champion Kostas Trigonis.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Windsurfers enjoying conditions in the bay
The Wildwind ‘free as the wind’ option allows windsurfing to be added to sailing, with boards, rigs and tuition provided by Club Vass, located next door to the Wildwind centre on the beach.
For partners who don’t sail, or for anyone wanting to relax after a hard day’s action on the water, their innovative and very popular ‘healthy options’ programme is ideal. During the week you can expect to enjoy daily yoga and pilates classes, other fitness activities, a herbal walk and guided valley walks, a guided cycle tour, an aqua-safari excursion including snorkelling, a sailing taster session, and a half-hour massage. I took advantage of some of the healthy options on offer such as yoga and pilates, run by the very friendly and patient Karen and Lis respectively, enjoyed a bright and early morning cycle around the valley, and particularly liked the wonderful massage after my very last sail of the week which left me feeling as if I was walking on air, a lovely way to end a holiday.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Max arrives to give our group instruction before hitting the water
Everyone who spends time sailing or windsurfing at Vassiliki becomes very well acquainted with Eric. Eric, like all teenagers the world over, doesn’t relish early mornings as a general rule and usually makes an appearance out on the water some time after lunch.
Eric has a legendary reputation and is the local name for a very special wind. Not just any old seaside breeze but a katabatic wind that provides a strong cross-shore blow most afternoons, making for exciting and exhilarating times on the waters of the expansive Vassiliki Bay.
The more experienced sailor can do some heavy wind training (or just go blasting!) while the novices can team up with one of the instructors for the ‘joy ride’ of their lives! I enjoyed too fantastic and memorable joy rides at the beginning of the week with instructors; the first with Australian Max which was tremendous fun, and the second with Laser 2000 guru Dave Barker.
Novices are extremely well catered for too in the wind stakes at Vassiliki and on most mornings the wind is a gentle onshore breeze, ideal for beginners to get their first taste of the joys of sailing and windsurfing, or for the more advanced to brush up their techniques on the more demanding boats. At all times, there is full rescue cover for as long as the sailing centre is open, generally from 1030 to 1800 or longer, dependent on wind conditions.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ BBQ night at Wildwind gets going
One of the highlights of the week is the famous Wildwind beach barbeque night, which was a night to remember as much for the delicious food as for the comedy and entertainment provided. All the sailing instructors, the yoga and pilates teachers, and the ‘admin chicks’ pulled together to provide an evening of surprises, showing off their other talents, whether singing, playing music, providing amusing commentary, cooking, or making the serving of food an entertainment in itself. There was a great rapport between them all and a great connection with the audience too, ensuring an evening of the sort where you can sit back and be carried away and enjoy it to the full.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ Wildwind sailing centre from the sea
On land and on water, the sailing instruction that I received throughout the week was exceptionally good; the Wildwind team of instructors are highly professional, experienced and approachable, and many of them have competed at national and international level. Many guests chose to sail the catamarans, some were learning in Lasers or Picos, and others chose the centre’s Laser SB3. I spent the week honing my helming skills in a Laser 2000 with a very patient and long suffering crew, another guest named Paul Weston Smith. We made quite a good sailing duo and surprised ourselves by coming an overall fourth on the race day at the end of the week.
There were a multitude of highlights to my holiday, but the last three days, from Thursday’s race training to the race day on Saturday, delayed by a day due to strong winds, stand out for me.
Thursday was designated as the day where we would all put our newly acquired (or almost acquired) sailing skills to the test, with the beach noticeboard advertising a morning’s programme containing the "best race chat ever" and promising us all that "using the knowledge from the best chat ever" we would "become a racing ninja on the water!" I could hardly wait! The day proved to be a most valuable learning experience, but great fun too, and I even managed to get a couple of good starts in the afternoon’s practise races.
Credit: Matthias Zeeman Benny and Dave blast across Vassiliki Bay after race day was cancelled
Race day on the following morning dawned sunny and hot as usual, but with a surprise visit from an over enthusiastic Eric who came out to play at 1015 in the morning! A rare occurrence and one that dashed everyone’s hopes of attaining glory that day on the race course as the wind was already howling through the rigging in the boat park and the forecast was predicting gusts of over 40 knots!
The dangerous conditions in the bay scuppered racing, but an attention grabbing "high wind catamaran survival chat" provided just the right sort of replacement entertainment. Delivered with aplomb and great humour by cat sailor extraordinaire Benny ‘Mohawk’ Kimbell to an amused and interested audience – who were, as one, relishing the prospect of seeing him demonstrate his words of wisdom out on the water with nimble instructor Dave as crew.
Credit: Louisa Mamakou / TKZ No use for the committee boat on race day due to high winds
Famed for his love of pitchpoling in cats, Benny was overheard to say: "This is going to be a little bit fruity," as he and Dave made their way out to the boat after the talk. Guests sat on chairs at the edge of the sea, determined to have front row seats for this performance. By the time they set sail though, conditions were extremely gusty and a lengthy display sail was not on the cards, but we all enjoyed seeing the duo blast across the water in fine style.
Also making waves out in the bay from nearby Club Vass, were a whole host of windsurfers, revelling in the high winds, with distinctive among them, Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers, UK national freestyle champion, executing some fancy manoeuvres to the delight of the shore-side spectators.
Saturday was a much more forgiving day as regards wind, and races were held very comfortably both morning and afternoon, with a pool-side prizegiving afterwards and welcome beers as prizes!
I spoke to British founder of Wildwind Holidays, Simon Morgan, who lives in Greece with his wife Barbara and their newborn baby. Despite being a very active, on-site director of Wildwind, Simon still manages to find time to go sailing himself, and still in catamarans. He said that he has always loved racing Hobie 16s, having taken part in national, European and world championships over the years. He won the British Hobie 16 Championship in 1999 and the Greek Open Nationals for all catamarans in 2000, and has also represented Greece at the ISAF World Championships in Dubai.
Simon has worked hard to establish Wildwind and over the past 20 years the sailing centre has gained an extraordinary reputation; now recognised as one of the best in Europe boasting unbeatable conditions, a fantastic range of dinghies and catamarans, and truly, top class instruction. His plans for next season include a watersports taster package, to be priced competitively and which will aim to encourage people to try out what’s on offer at Wildwind, with sailing, windsurfing, scuba diving, sea kayaking, and much more on the cards.
It’s well worth taking a good look at the Wildwind website, see link shown below, where you can find out everything about the sailing and healthy options holidays, see their latest news and offers, and watch videos of on the water and shore-side action, including the very popular Vassiliki Watersports Festival. Organised by Wildwind's Simon Morgan, the Vassiliki Watersports Festival is now the biggest watersports festival in Greece and is one of the few competitions in the world where amateurs can take on professionals for prize money.
After just a week spent at Wildwind in Vassiliki, I left with the overriding feeling that I'd been lucky enough to have discovered a truly exceptional place। The question is not if I will return for more, but when.
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