The cruising ends for 2008.
Posted at 8:17 AM, Oct. 30, 2008
Cruising season is over and Savarna is now bedded down on the Phoenix Yachting pontoon at the Netsel Marina in Marmaris. We have had a great year sailing from Croatia, via Albania, the Ionian, through the Cyclades islands and across to Turkey. The final few days of the season were characterised by a fantastic final sail back up to Marmaris accompanied by a heavy social schedule. The night at the My Marina pontoon at Ekinic was memorable by virtue of an excellent but expensive meal in the beautiful surroundings of the restaurant followed by the collapse of the passerelle as I boarded Klaus and Renata�s boat for after dinner drinks. Fortunately the water temperatures still make late night swimming acceptable even with jeans and shoes on! One of the people on Klaus' boat was a scientist who worked for the European space agency that has recently launched the final two sections added to the space station.
The following day we had a great final sail up to Marmaris, on the wind in 16 to 22 knots, flat water, full main flat, full jib and trucking along at 7.8 to 8.4 knots, sunny and warm , just the best way to finish off the season and a few other yachts to race (and pass) on the way. Pulled into the marina and pretty much straight away into a taxi to get across to Yot Marin on the other side of the bay to catch up with Ross and Jo (off Sojourn) plus Brenda and David (off Bandit) for a good kiwi dinner aboard Sojourn. Ross produced his guitar and what a singer, James Taylor and Jimmy Buffet watch out. He is fantastic and when people on nearby boats start clapping that confirms my view. A great night!
Ross hits the straps on the guitar
The following couple of days were spent winterising the boat, getting off sails, halyards, bimini etc, organising various maintenance jobs with Bobo from Phoenix Yachting, polishing the hull (I think Bobo thought I was mad) and cleaning the stainless. We caught up with the Gulet owning Scotsman (George) for a late dinner on board Savarna and also a final dinner at one of the marina restaurants called Pineapples (doesn't seem like a typical Turkish name?).
George signs off in the visitors book
While at the marina we found that Phoenix Yachting were co-sponsoring (with Volvo) a regatta for a bunch of Russian sailors as a fund raising exercise for the Russian Round the World entry. The arrival back onto the marina was notable for the number of nubile Russian girls in G-strings, quite clearly they were chosen for their winching capabilities.
Living in New Zealand we are used to having to travel long distances to get pretty much anywhere but at one stage when we met some guys off a Hanse 531 from Israel we realised that we were only 280 miles from Haifa, only 30 or 40 hours sailing time.
Images of Turkey, east meets west - a few miles inland and one senses that culturally they are well away from joining the EU, friendly people, mountainous rugged coast, thousands of gulets, Turkish delight, a net exporter of food, very concerned to preserve sea water quality, no paper down toilets, no pork, great sailing conditions, great weather, a long sailing season and no shortage of carpets or lamps.
Next years cruising as yet not finalised. We were too late to enter the 2009 East Med Rally so have entered for 2010 (entry number 26 so it is pretty popular). Current thinking for 2009 is to head northwards to Istanbul and into the Black Sea and then return via various Greek Islands to somewhere near Marmaris so we can then join the Rally in May 2010.
Cheers
Keith