Saturday, October 5, 2013
the new mainsail bag
We had a new mainsail bag fitted which is a great improvement - we can now just let the main halyard run, the main drops in the bag and we zip up the bag - job done! No more flaking (wrestling) the main and struggling to fit the cover. Along with the mast cars we fitted at the beginning of last season for the main, the new mainsail bag makes handling the main a lot easier. We also fitted a new jib sheet with a 2:1 ratio so again much easier to sheet in. Next we need to replace the reefing lines so they are much easier to put in and take out. A constant battle to keep everything working but also make things as easy as possible. We had one small alarm when the water pump was running constantly - an urgent search for a leak in the fresh water system! Found the solenoid switch for the watermaker had cracked and was leaking. Took the pipe off and closed the end with a wooden bung - only to find the water seeping through the actual wood!! Maybe they'r
e meant to swell up when wet! Anyway now looking for a plumber's merchant to buy an end stop. Finally on this week's jobs list I have to go up the mast to tighten up the masthead aerial which came loose in the heavy weather - will wait until the winds die down a bit before doing that!
e meant to swell up when wet! Anyway now looking for a plumber's merchant to buy an end stop. Finally on this week's jobs list I have to go up the mast to tighten up the masthead aerial which came loose in the heavy weather - will wait until the winds die down a bit before doing that!
AUTUMN SAILING
This is not what the brochure promised. We're presently sheltering in Kos (admittedly not a bad place to shelter) as a storm rages. We've had quite varied weather, including thunder showers with heavy rain and lightning, and force 6 winds on several days giving some quite lively sailing. Fortunately on the windiest days we've had friends with us so plenty of hands to share the work or we've been sailing on a reach (across rather than into the wind) so we've had a smoother ride. But now the wind has really got going and since Thursday its been a steady 26 to 28 knots with lengthy gusts of 30 plus. The seas outside the marina are a maelstrom of white horses. The wind probably sounds worse in the marina as it howls through the rigging (which literally shakes from time to time) and the swell rebounds off the harbour walls to send the boats bouncing around and mooring lines are creaking and groaning. Fortunately the wind is forecast to die down over Sunday and Monday and be reasonably good next week. Hope so as the constant noise and movement is tiring and not conducive to a great night's sleep! And it would be nice to end the season with a lovely week's sailing. Hope its also a bit warmer - at the moment I'm in long trousers and wearing my guernsey sweater, windproof jacket and a wooly hat!
Despite this storm we've enjoyed our autumn cruise. We've had some great sailing - quite a few days with Force 3/4 winds and fairly flat seas, perfect conditions and the boat has been going brilliantly - a real joy - and we re-visited some of our favourite haunts, especially the beautiful bay at Selimiye where friends joined/left, lovely Sogut and we visited for the first time several of the Greek Dodecanese islands - Simi, Tilos and Nisiros - as well as Datca in Turkey. We had wanted to explore the Greek islands anyway, but we also had to leave Turkey for a while to ensure we didn't exceed our visa limit of 90 days in 180. Strange rule that forces us to go and spend our money in another country (similar to UK tax residence rules!) but anyway that's the rule so we checked out of Turkey and sailed in Greece for a while. We'll check back into Turkey next week just before we return to the yard for the lift out.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Kas again
But this is the surprising part - now we've come as far east as we'd planned and we're heading WEST again. Feels quite strange. We've had (for many, many years) this target of one day sailing to Turkey - specifically returning to Ali's. What now? Well as a friend in UK said, now we need to set a new goal. (Iain has suddenly been talking about Scandinavia or west coast Scotland?! Think he's just found it very hot here). Anyway, westwards it is and over the next few years hopefully another cruise in the Greek islands, then Croatia, Sardinia, Corsica etc - so many places to see before we sail beyond the sunset and the western isles.
All the best
Helen and iain
Kas
However, Kas is a lovely town - clearly a tourist destination but still a real town and still a turkish town. On our first visit here we stayed in the old port but when we returned we went to the new marina we'd been told about (our pilot book for Turkey is quite old!). The old port was fine and nice to be in the centre of town but it is a bit noisy, busy with dive boats and gulets and as is quite normal in such small harbours anchors get crossed/tangled - although the gulet crews are helpful and relaxed about sorting things out without any stress. Anyway, the new marina was just amazing - easily the best we've ever seen. If Gocek has been voted no 3 in the world then kas is definitely no 1. so we stayed a few days to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury (also the forecast was strong NW headwinds which are normal in summer on this part of the coast - coming down we had 20 to 28 knots which was wonderful for a downwind ride but wouldn't be much fun heading upwind so we waited for a quieter day). This also allowed Iain to watch the second lions v Australia rugby test, some of the Tour and some more tennis from Wimbledon (most importantly Andy Murray's game on Monday). So a wonderful stop.
Kekova Roads
Kekova was spoilt by tourism in a different way - the trade for the few restaurants in the bay (which has a wonderful castle (crusader?) above the village) seems to be tripper gulets and they didn't want small yachts taking up jetty space so we were turned away, and the downside from so many gulets visiting the bay is that the water is polluted - really awfully polluted. It was a wonderfully scenic and sheltered anchorage but we left poo bay at dawn!
Kalkan
Heading east we were now in new territory and wanted to visit Kalkan, Kekova and Kas. Well the first is now 100% tourist (maybe thats slightly exaggerated but the only non tourist building we saw in the whole town was the post office) which is great if you want to watch football, have a lager or a full English breakfast - not our thing although we did watch some Wimbledon tennis so there was a silver lining to wall to wall bars and restaurants);
Ali's Bay
Next stop east was a v small bay with a great restaurant (Ali's) of which we had very fond memories, having visited with both Roy and Jackie and also Terry and Jenny. Sadly, its now frequented by numerous very noisy tripper boats and although the bay is still a lovely spot, both Ali and the restaurant seem to have lost their magic - still OK but just not really special we thought. Maybe that's generally the case re-visiting special places from a long time ago - better to keep the memory.
Gocek
We had some ground to make up and put in a big day (well a big day for us cruisers) across the gulf south of Marmaris, around 60M to Gocek where we'd been a long time ago. Fortunately there was a good breeze most of the way, especially passing just north of Rhodes where the wind seems to be funnelled in the 10M channel between the island and the Turkish mainland. Gocek was much as we remembered it and the marina still must be one of the best in the world. A surprise was seeing a colourful and noisy parade with drummers, dancers and camels - apparently re-enacting a old tradition of taking supplies by camel train from the port up into the mountainous interior. we also ate the same restaurant that we had eaten with Roy and Jackie and Terry and Jenny a few years earlier!
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