Imperial College Sailing Club travels to the Mediterranean

On the 30th of June, 12 members of the Imperial College Sailing Club met at Gatwick’s Wetherspoons before beginning the voyage to Corfu, Greece.

Upon a late night arrival at the marina, they carb loaded with the infamous Greek dish, gyros, and headed into town to join their training partners from the University of London (ULU), with whom they spent the week sailing.

The next morning, after Ariane responsibly stocked up the 50-foot yacht with food and (more importantly) drinks for the week, they set sail for a far-away beach club.

Each day, the crew avoided the mundane task of washing up by cooking instead (the culinary highlights including Calvin’s souvlaki, and Oliver and Charlie’s freshly caught crab). Such exotic cuisines placed them way ahead of ULU who stuck to the standard grub after weekly trainings: pasta and tomato sauce.

However, the friendly rivalry between the clubs, usually demonstrated at the annual BUSA competitions reached new heights when the club set their eyes on ULU’s £50 inflatable duck.

A cunning plan to kidnap the duck was devised by Aidan (demonstrating noteworthy commodore characteristics) and Nick. They decided to hold Toby as hostage on the duck’s boat as a method of distraction for its crew. In the meanwhile, they paddled it to the boat and later rescued Toby in a tender. The next day they named the duck Hoisin. The rest is history.

Over the course of a week, they sailed to Iggy Creek, Lakka, Gaios, Parga and Plataria and spent the nights exploring the local bars and clubs. In between islands they stopped to swim and snorkel, sipped on ouzo (blending with the locals) and enjoyed nautical-themed music such as ‘Reggae Shark’, which was heavily endorsed by Rory, Nick and Aidan.

One morning at 6am, Toby sailed the team to the stunning Emerald Bay. In an attempt to top the previous day’s crab catch, some of the crew tried spear fishing with a rod and a kitchen knife tied to the end, whilst Radhika found the tranquillity of the bay perfect to recover from a bad hangover.

Suddenly, schools of fish came rushing towards us, and the spear-fishers were ready to go in for the kill, but Fraser and Charlie soon realised that the schools’ arrival coincided with the hangover victim’s tactical chunder having been flushed into the sea. Certain that these fish would not be as appetising as they had hoped, the mission was aborted.

Their final stop was Plataria. After a tiresome week of skippering around Greece and being held hostage at the expense of an inflatable duck, Toby went for a much deserved relaxing swim, but was tragically stung by a jellyfish.

Thankfully they had medic freshers Lily, Charlie and Oliver on board, who assured him that “peeing on it probably won’t work” and Calvin’s second year of medical school knowledge led him to the conclusion that a tea tree oil ointment was the best solution (which was surprisingly effective).

Rejuvenated by the natural treatment, Toby stole all of ULU’s flags and hoisted another one of their inflatables, a golden swan, onto their mast.

On the last morning, they headed back to Corfu and stopped on the way to refuel, where Fraser’s docking manoeuvre (drift) impressed even the head of the boat charter company.

Sadly, they had to part without Hoisin the Duck. It was a well-deserved holiday made memorable with great company, and the club cannot wait for more adventures in the year ahead.

The club are very excited to welcome new members and would love to introduce more people to sailing!

You can follow the Sailing Club on social media and attend one of their fresher’s events to get involved.