Naxos sailing is a day out on a sailboat or catamaran around Naxos, the largest island of the Cyclades in the central Aegean. The outing is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers Naxos in numbers, the ropes and knots of a sailboat, why a sailboat stays upright, the ancient names of the winds, how sail rigs changed in the Aegean, the island name, and the questions that come up on board: lightning, swimming cramps, photographing water, dolphins, glowing sea water and seagrass meadows.
What is Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing takes place around the tenth largest Greek island by area. The island covers 429.8 square kilometres. It sits between Samos in ninth place and Zakynthos in eleventh place. The island has an oval shape, like an egg.
During Naxos sailing, the island sits inside a larger local area. The municipality of Naxos and Lesser Cyclades covers 495.9 square kilometres. That is more than the area of the main island alone.
Andros is the next island of the Cyclades group after Naxos. It ranks thirteenth in Greece by area and covers 380.0 square kilometres. Naxos has 124 people for each square kilometre of the island.
Naxos sailing passes a coast with a low number of bays and plenty of sandy shores. The island has no large well-formed bays. It also has no safe natural harbours of any kind.
In Naxos town, June brings 2.4 millimetres of rain, while August brings 1.6 millimetres of rain. In the same town, July has 0.4 rain days on average, and August has 0.3 rain days.
- Villages: Filoti had 1,477 residents, Koronos had 526, and Agios Arsenios had 717 at the 2011 census.
- Region: The South Aegean region, which holds Naxos, had 327,820 people in 2021.
- Weather: The mean temperature in Naxos town is 25.1 degrees Celsius in July and 25.0 in August.
The island of Naxos lies at about 37 degrees north and 25 degrees east on the map.
Which ropes and knots matter in Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing calls nearly all ropes on a boat lines. A painter is a rope on the bow, or front, that ties the boat to a dock. The bitter end is the last part of an anchor cable that is fully paid out.
During Naxos sailing, a small square sail needs at least two sheets and two braces. It also needs two clewlines and more than two buntlines. So sailors had to learn each rope’s job.
Sailors tie a halyard to a sail’s head with a half hitch and a figure-eight knot. The figure-eight knot is easier to untie than the overhand knot. It does not jam as badly.
On Naxos sailing, a cam cleat pinches a rope between two spring-loaded cams. To sweat a halyard is to remove as much slack as possible, by winch or by hand.
Synthetic ropes have higher tensile strength than natural fibre ropes and resist rotting better. Certain ones are slippery and weaken in UV light. Polyester rope is about 90% as strong as nylon.
- Rolling hitch: Sailors use a rolling hitch as a stopper to ease tension on a sheet.
- Whipping: A whipping is twine bound around the end of a rope to stop fraying.
- Old rigging: Old running rigging was left untarred for flexibility, so it looked lighter than standing rigging.
A rope’s working load limit is set far below its breaking strength. The safety factor is up to 15:1 for critical jobs.
Why does a sailboat stay upright in Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing depends on a boat that rights itself. To heel means to lean over. In balance, the centre of buoyancy is vertically in line with the centre of gravity. A self-righting vessel returns upright from any position, even upside down.
During Naxos sailing, a yacht stays upright because of ballast, which is extra weight. On larger modern yachts, the keel is made of, or filled with, concrete, iron or lead.
Older boats carried stones or sand inside the hull as ballast. The International 110 racing boat has a cast iron bulb keel of 136 kg. Its minimum racing weight is 414 kg.
During Naxos sailing, small day sailer crews sit on the side facing the wind as ballast. Small boats can use water ballast tanks, which are emptied to cut weight for transport on land.
As a ship heels, one side of the hull sinks. The centre of buoyancy shifts toward the lower side. A naval architect makes sure it shifts outboard, or outward, of the centre of gravity.
- Small angles: Metacentric height describes stability at small angles of heel, about 0 to 15 degrees.
- Limit of stability: The limit of positive stability is the angle past which a boat capsizes upside down.
- Angle of loll: A ship with negative metacentric height leans to the left or right even when upright.
An inclining test on a finished ship finds its real centre of gravity by measuring angles of tilt.
What are the ancient names of the winds in Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing meets winds that Greeks named long ago. The Tower of the Winds in Athens shows eight wind gods. They are Boreas, Kaikias, Apeliotes, Eurus, Notus, Livas, Zephyrus and Skiron. Each god stands for one compass direction on the tower.
A bronze Triton with a rod once topped the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It worked as a weather vane, which shows the wind direction. Naxos sailing deals with wind too.
Today Greeks also call the Tower of the Winds the “Aerides”, which means the “Blowing Winds”. Boreas on the tower wears warm winter clothes and holds a seashell, possibly to show his howling.
During Naxos sailing, the name of the east wind, Apeliotes, means “from the (rising) sun”. The west wind’s name, Zephyros, is traditionally linked to the Greek word zophos, meaning “darkness” or “west”.
Early Greeks reportedly knew only two winds, Boreas from the north and Notos from the south. Hesiod named only three winds, Boreas, Notos and Zephyros, and called them the “good winds”.
- Skiron: Athenians used this name for the wind from the Scironian rocks near Kineta, west of Athens.
- South winds: Greeks told apart three, a rainy notos, a mild, clearing leukonotos and a hot, dusty one.
- Etesian: The Latin form of the word etesian is etesiae, and Turkish calls the wind meltem.
The 16-wind compass rose puts each point 22½ degrees from its neighbours. The 8-wind rose uses 45 degrees.
How did sail rigs change in the Aegean for Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing sits inside a long story of changing sail rigs in the Aegean. Square sails came first, and then the lateen sail, a newer sail type, replaced them. Later, schooners and steam changed how Greek ships were crewed and powered.
Naxos sailing history reaches back to ancient Egyptian pictures of boats with sails. The pictures date to around 3200 BCE and show reed boats. Those boats sailed upstream against the Nile current.
Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Celts used a single square-rigged sail. Pottery, gold and copper objects were found far from home. They show Bronze Age shipping links between the Greek mainland and the islands.
Within Naxos sailing history, the lateen sail first appeared in Roman times. It was common in the Mediterranean by the 5th century. By the 6th century it had largely replaced the square sail there.
Historians think the lateen won on cost. It had fewer parts and less rope to replace than the square rig. Arabs adopted the lateen through the Coptic people of Egypt.
- Bratsera: A bratsera’s front mast leaned forward and its main mast leaned back, with two triangular sails.
- Schooners: Owners replaced brigs with fore-and-aft schooners because those rigs needed fewer men and cut crew costs.
- Steam: Hydra’s shipowning families missed the steamship revolution, which cut crews and the need for wind.
Firms in Piraeus, Patras and Syros overtook the Hydra families. The paddle steamer Karteria carried both sails and steam.
Where does the name Naxos come from?
Naxos sailing is about an island that once had other names. Diodorus Siculus says it was first called Strongyle. Giants later changed the name to Dia. Greek myth knows three men named Naxos as possible namesakes of the island.
On Naxos sailing, the first settlers in the story were Thracians, led by Butes, a son of Boreas. Diodorus says they settled on the island, which was then called Strongyle.
The giants Otus and Ephialtes defeated the Thracians and changed the island’s name from Strongyle to Dia. The Thracians stayed for more than two hundred years before droughts drove them out.
During Naxos sailing, the name story also reaches a king. Diodorus says Naxos left a son, Leucippus. The son of Leucippus, Smerdius, was king when Theseus and Ariadne stopped on the island.
Diodorus adds that the island also goes by Dionysias. The name comes from Dionysus, who was raised there and held the island dear. Greeks stress the first syllable of Naxos, as in NAK-sos.
- Namesakes: One Naxos was a son of Endymion, and another was a son of Apollo and Acacallis.
- Crete: A second ancient Naxos stood on Crete near Olous and was known for sharpening stones.
- Ottoman rule: The province around Naxos was the Sanjak of Nakşa Berre, named after Naxos and Paros.
Scholars list Naxos among island names with a possible root in a language spoken in Greece before Greek.
What do visitors ask about Naxos sailing?
Naxos sailing raises questions about weather, health, photography and sea life. Visitors ask about lightning, cramps, camera filters, dolphins, glowing night water and seagrass meadows. Safety on the water and care for sea life link these topics.
What do visitors learn about lightning during Naxos sailing?
Counting the seconds between a flash and thunder, then dividing by 5, gives the distance in miles. Height, pointy shape and standing alone decide where lightning strikes. Metal makes no difference to where it hits.
What do visitors ask about a cramp while swimming during Naxos sailing?
Stretching and massaging the muscle can ease the pain during a cramp. Standing on the cramped leg can also help. Leg cramps that last longer than 10 minutes are a reason to see a doctor.
How does a polarising filter help photos during Naxos sailing?
A polarising filter cuts the light reaching the camera by about one to three stops. That is 2 to 8 times less. The sky is darkest when the camera points about 90 degrees away from the sun.
What do visitors ask about dolphins and whales during Naxos sailing?
Only one vessel at a time is allowed to stay near whales or dolphins. Signs of a disturbed animal include slapping the tail on the water. Prolonged diving and a female shielding her calf are also signs.
What do visitors ask about Noctiluca during Naxos sailing?
Noctiluca can increase its biomass up to 100 times in one week. Ernst Haeckel moved Noctiluca from the jellyfish group to the dinoflagellates in 1873. The green form gets colour from a small partner inside it.
How do anchors affect seagrass meadows during Naxos sailing?
A dead-weight mooring with a dragging chain leaves a bare circle in a Posidonia seagrass meadow. These clearings last for years. About 46% of Mediterranean Posidonia meadows have shrunk or thinned, and 20% have severely regressed.