Two days later they are back and refit the serviced injectors and fuel pump.

A quick 20 minute sea trial and the engine appears to be okay.

We moor inside the Corinth yacht Harbour and prepare to leave the yacht.

Claire, Dave and myself have been on the yacht for 15 days and are 38 nm from our start point.

With 3000 still to go, at this rate, it'll be 2014 before we're finished and all of us are extremely fed up with the job, the delays, the yacht, the overall neglect and, basically, all of it.

I know these things happen but the yacht has been sitting in Marina Delta for nearly 8 months and nothing was done on it to maintain it.

As a delivery skipper/crew, you expect to have to do a certain amount to prepare the yacht for the passage but a line has to be drawn when basic 'things' aren't done.

Ah well, can't win 'em all, back to the UK then.

An engineer is sourced from Athens and comes to the yacht.

He quickly diagnoses the problems as:

- water in the diesel.
- possible problem with the injectors.
- HP fuel pump.

Here's the engine running at 1900 rpm:

Him, and his oppo, empty the fuel tank and there is no evidence of water in the diesel!

They then remove the injectors and fuel pump and depart the yacht.

Well, to cut a long story short and without getting too graphic, the 'reaming' I had from the port authorities here would have been a tad better had I gone equipped with a large jar of vaseline!!

I was always under the impression that assistance for ships in an emergency situation had to be provided under International Maritime Law. Guess I kinda got that wrong.

Even though I never saw the inside of a Greek jail, there was a time on the Monday when I thought I might! The authorities were @$#%&@#'ds.

Anyway, the situation (engine-wise) was escalated (there's not much in terms of yacht support in Corinth) and George, the previous owner, came to the yacht to assist.

Both of us went to the port authorities and, surprisingly :-), as he is Greek, the whole [paperwork] situation was quickly resolved, and very amicably at that - strange that - bastards!

1.3 nm SW of the canal is the Corinth Marina.

Headsail out, engine on and we head towards the marina.

Manage to moor safely in the main harbour the fun starts.

As the yacht was orignally owned by a Greek (now it has a Finnish flag) I was told by the Port Police in Athens that as I was leaving and wasn't stopping then I didn't need a transit log.

As our next port of call was Reggio di Calabria in Italy the plan was too save some cash and head straight there - no wind so we had enough fuel to motor.

Problem is, now we have stopped, albeit in an emergency situation, there's now a big problem [for me].

One problem after another...each time getting worse.

The stern gland was properly repaired this time by the previous owner George.

We then headed off at 0800 the next morning (5th) and motored all the way to the east end of the Corinth Canal. Tied up, paid the canal transit fee and then, when permitted, slipped lines and followed another yacht into the canal.

And then the next problem started. The engine started fluctuating - BADLY - revving low, racing high and white smoke billowing out of the exhaust.

Halfway through the engine sounded like it was going to die! More comfortable at lower revs we nursed the yacht to the end of the canal (gawd knows what the fine would be for breaking down and blocking the canal?).

I called the canal authroities and requested permission to stop at the west-end dock but was told to go to the marina...

Will we make it?

Managed to get an 'engineer' yesterday who came to the yacht and 'fixed' the leak from the stern gland.

Everything seemed fine, no water coming in when stationary, engine on in neutral or when on and in gear, so all up at 0515, cup of coffee and slipped from Marina Delta at 0600.

At 0700, on checking the engine bay, we see that we've got more water coming in now, lots more than a couple of days ago.

Turn straight around and another hour back to Marina Delta.

Won't tell you my thoughts of the bodge job by the local 'engineer' but hopefully the problem is now sorted and we can leave tomorrow, get through the Corinth Canal and get clear of Greece AND finish this delivery.

We left Alimos marina shortly after 12 o'clock to try and make the Corinth Canal before nightfall.

Two hours out of Alimos and a check of the engine bay showed lots of water in it again - too much!

The impeller is running fine but this time the leak is from the stern gland - and the water is streaming in.

We stop the boat and tighten the flange, this appears to have stemmed the flow so we continue.

An hour later, the engine bay is rapidly filling up again and the leak is as before...not good!

It's too risky to push on so we head back to where we left and, as there's no room for us, then head 2nm north to Marina Delta...back where we began.

Only problem is there is literally nothing here so it may prove difficult to source an engineer.

Ah well, tomorrow's another day

Arrived in Athens and got onto the yacht at about 10 pm.

Another pleasant journey courtesy of One Railway (or wahtever it is they call themselves these days) and EasyJet .

Spent the first couple of days going over and sorting out the boat ready to deliver it the 3,000 nm to Kiel and realising, in the process, what joys a 21-year old boat bring.

Apart from the general weariness of the boat there are the blocked sink outlets, blocked shower drains, substandard cooker, no manuals for anything, no boat diagrams, in fact, very little; guess I've just been spolit in the past.

Also, at Marina Delta in Athens, there is NOTHING here, nothing!

It was built for the Olympic games and, in subsequent years, nothing else has been added: no shops, bars, restaurants, chandlers, fuel pontoon, nowt!!

As a result, we moved the boat 2 nm this morning to Marina Alimos to finish provisioning, to refuel, take on water and then to depart...oh no!

On our huge trip down here (an hour), the engine bay was starting ti fill up with water.

This was flooding out of the impeller housing and, seeing as the impeller is okay, seems that the seals within the housing itself are washed...

Now to see tomorrow if we can get replacements...ho hum!!

Fly out of Gatwick on Friday afternoon to join the yacht for delivery to Kiel, Germany.

This one will be a fairly long trip taking around about a month.

Weather's grim at the moment but I hope it'll improve in the Eastern Med by the end of the weekend.

I have two experienced crew with me on this one, Dave and Claire so should be a good one