Special memories of Turkey - sailing, Sogut, Selimye, parking problems and shops

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're 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!

Zia, a mountain village in Kos

Another hill or two in Nisyros, Greece

residents of Simi need to be fit and residents of Nisyros happy to live around the volcano - still smoking

shop staff get younger and crew get older

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.