My connection with Greece started in 1983, when I was skipper (captain) of a Dutch 12m sailing boat, taking groups of small boats on a two-week round tour to the south of Peloponnesus. I recognized characteristics of the Greek idiosyncrasy with those of ours in Argentina: the welcoming attitude, the permanent moaning about the state of the economy, the solid resolution to survive any coming bad times, the very strong feeling of the universe ending at the limits of their comfort zone.
When you sail for pleasure, what is important, as Kavafis stated, is to make way, but it is the arrival which always creates a very strong impression. An arrival always touches the heart. It can generate comfort, disappointment, worry, happiness, safety. Greece has the blessing of generating pleasure, happiness, comfort, authenticity. Maybe it is due to the fact that they have been welcoming boats for over 3000 years that has refined this almost religious feeling? Maybe Poseidon decided to make it happen forever?
Everybody loves Greece and the Greek nautical industry seems to ignore it. Is it to protect the country against modern invaders that could spoil the coastal natural resources? If so, I find it a bit of an extreme reaction: Greece is very far from a boat density that could harm the environment, far from a saturation that would spoil the beauty of its coastal features, both continental and islands. I feel a missing pride of the great Greek seafaring nation, and its modern development as a nautical industry. It seems Greeks live with their back to the sea. Is it lack of knowledge of the great yachtsmen of a non-so-distant past? Onassis invented the superyachts with his “M/Y Christina” in the early ’50. He made Monaco his homeport, but all the cruises with politicians, singers, actors and socialites from around the whole world were done on the Ionian and the Aegean seas. Stavros Niarchos bought his “S/Y Creole” around the same time, both boats remaining classic beauties. The Livanos and the Latsis families have yachting histories, dating back to then times when they were the rulers of the world’s shipping routes. When “Greek” was synonymous with shipowner.
They really ruled the waves in a far more realistic way than the British. But I guess that is not taught at schools and not for lack of opportunities or events. Little celebrating was done when King Constantin II won a gold Olympic medal in the Dragon class in 1960. The yachting tradition is fading away and is resuscitated by the nautical tourist, who is good, but cannot replace a national culture, tradition, and pride. It is not difficult to take steps to bring Greece back to the nautical scene but it is the nautical industry that must make it happen. We must spread the word, of course in publications and conferences but in schools, associations, and social gatherings. We must make the effort to broadcast the message and not wait for people to come to us. We can tell stories of ancient and modern sailors, of traditions, of curiosities, of sustainability. We can organize short outings during weekends in municipality boats (police, fire fighting, garbage collecting), brokers and shipyard boats, and voluntary boat owners. We can include people as crew in regattas, both as participants as well as organizers, creating regattas to emulate ancient travel as Troy to Crete or Hydra to Rhodes. We can organize visits to both shipyards and workshops, training sessions for people interested in a career in yachting. The list is unlimited if some effort is made.
I am now thinking that a simple magazine with yachting and nautical stories and facts could be published monthly and distributed through local marinas, harbour offices, brokers, and yacht agencies. Another way would be to elect a Prime Minister that is already a consummated yachtsman, more difficult but not impossible😊. But those shock moves and reactions fade as fast as they happen. I believe in consistently laying the groundwork and creating the foundations for something to grow and transcend. Over time it can reach the critical mass necessary to generate the momentum to keep the activity in motion. It is us who can initiate it, and the young generation (no exclusions) that must perpetuate it. Greece has the enormous advantage of being able to learn from the mistakes of other Mediterranean countries. Greece is pure and unspoiled; the deep blue of her sea and her infinite coast is there to be loved and enjoyed by locals and visitors.
Oscar Siches, CMP, GMBA Spain
Tel: +34 667 494 858
Email: oscar.siches@gmba.blue
Disclaimer: Global Marine Business Advisors is a registered legal entity and is a network of independent marine industry advisors. In all articles the opinions expressed are those of the author and does not necessarily reflect those of GMBA.
It was, for many of us taking our first steps in sailing, the price to pay if we wanted to earn the right to peek overboard, to act as counterweight, or be assigned the responsibility of tending a jib sheet. Different dinghies would carry tins, plastic containers, even square ones, and the novice sailor duty was collecting the bilge water and throwing it outside. The scooping was done by rubbing the bailer’s opening against the keel, which due to the constant friction, kept the area in bare wood, no matter how many layers of paint was applied.
We as an industry have for long been guilty of not analysing or forecasting in a unified manner. The western world learnt the lesson the hard way and has started to adopt strategic alliances to reduce the possibility of being caught empty-handed by an uncontrollable situation and having to fend off disaster alone.
Hemingway lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960, and his visits to the fishing village of Cojímar and long talks with the local fisherman Gregorio Fuentes, originally from the Canary Island of Lanzarote and future skipper of the “Pilar”, were the basis for “The old man and the sea” and its main character, Santiago. This novel won him the Púlitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize (Literature) in 1954. Hemingway always liked challenges. He had to permanently prove how macho he was: he did it as a war correspondent, hunter in Africa, fishing marlins in the Gulf Stream off Cuba or the Bimini Islands where he kept sharks away from his catches with a Thompson submachine gun that he always carried on board, and befriending bullfighters what would, by being close to them, associate his image to the tough, bravest guys.
The difference between a Stateman and a Politician is that the Stateman sacrifices time and energy to achieve the best level of living for society, while the Politician tends to blindly obey the Party, and protect their position and status first. A famous contemporary Spanish writer defined the moral pains southern Europe suffers as “having chosen the wrong God”. The Northern European God is sober, hardworking, pragmatic, modern and encouraging progress while in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal) there prevails an antique God: vengeful, opulent, and menacing. While the power of the Catholic faith has faded, the cultural legacy left behind affects today’s social (and governmental) behaviour.
It should then be no surprise that those governments do not pay attention to the needs and requirements of the nautical industry or their associations. They are seen as a small group, from an unpopular economic class (educated/ affluent) and they do not want to be identified with the sector.
