Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

I

t’s hot, and you’ve only got a

few weeks to enjoy your boat

in the beautiful Greek islands.

You’ve been to the shops,

unpacked your clothes, planned

your route... and, just as a smile

fi lls your face, the engine won’t

start, the toilet is blocked or the

depth sounder refuses to read.

You’ve got just one question...

‘So how quickly can you fi x it? We

have to be in Corfu by Tuesday!’

There are a handful of British

ex-pats living and working in

Greece who know these

problems and these phone

calls only too well. Between

them they rescue, repair and

restore both boats and their

owners, working long hours

in extreme and sometimes

dangerous conditions, relying

on decades of experience and

guts to solve problems as

quickly as possible.

‘It’s often lack of maintenance.

At the beginning of the season it’s

dirty fuel or batteries left all winter,’

said Joe Charlton, who runs

perhaps the Ionian’s biggest boat

repair and maintenance business,

Contract Yacht Services in Lefkas,

with his wife Robyn.

‘I’m a sailor,’ Joe said. ‘My job is

100% helping other sailors. I cover

a broad spectrum of work, from

unblocking toilets to offering travel

advice and going out on

breakdowns.’ Joe employs

around 20 people, but he’s not

one for sitting at a desk – he’s out

there on breakdowns, crashing

through waves to assist a stranded

yacht or climbing to the top of a

mast swaying in the breeze to fi x

a wind indicator.

It was in 1979 that Joe left his

job at a sailing base in Norfolk

as an assistant manager and

instructor to answer a job advert

for a new type of holiday venture –

a fl otilla. His skipper and friend on

those fi rst fl otillas was Rod Heikell.

Joe loved the life and settled in

Lefkas, when it was very different.

He said: ‘There were no yachts

based here. No facilities. You

couldn’t even buy a stainless steel

screw. Boats were smaller then:

26- to 28-footers, Snapdragons

and Cobras. Sadler 32s were

considered too big!’

It was in Lefkas that Joe met his

Australian wife Robyn, who was on

a backpacking tour. The couple

have two adult sons, James and

Thomas, who both grew up and

went to school locally.

Spares and

maintenance

Sivota, an idyllic port on the

south-east of Lefkas, is where

Simon Trippier and his wife

Michelle run Sivota Yacht Services.

Simon is more of a one-man (or

rather ‘one-couple’) band. A former

heavy plant engineer, Simon, from

north Wales, came to Greece to

work for Sunsail back in the late

1990s. He met and married

Michelle, who was fresh out of the

army and also working on boats.

The Trippiers decided to set up on

their own in Greece, and quickly

built up a good reputation.

‘Stern glands, windlasses,

toilets and lack of maintenance’

are the main issues Simon faces

on a daily basis. Many of the

boats Simon looks after are

based at the three big boatyards

at Preveza on the mainland,

which sees him spend many

hours driving up and down the

Brits helping Brits

in the Ionian

92

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Johnson is a

former BBC and

ITV producer/

reporter who,

with his wife

Fiona, spends as much

time as he can on their

HR34 in the Ionian. They also

sail the Broads, and Phil is

now an author.

Phil Johnson meets some of the ex-pats keeping

visiting cruising boats afl oat under the Ionian sun

Joe Charlton with his wife Robyn and two sons in Lefkas town

LEFT Simon and Michelle Trippier

are based in the idyllic port of Sivota

BELOW Simon and Michelle

in their chandlery

LefkasO

SivotaO

Nidri O

Preveza O