Germans, Jews, Nets and Hooks

Posted at 10:42 PM, Sep. 18, 2010

The German part has it origins three years ago when daughter Alice was sailing with us for three months and when we took a break to go back to NZ she went off to stay with friend Anna in Leipzig. The short story is that Anna took Alice to a party, Alice meets Volker falls in love and two years or so later the marriage took place in a beautiful castle (in fact more like a palace) in Lichtenwalde about two hours drive from Leipzig on Friday August 27^th, followed by a wedding breakfast at the castle and then close to an all night party at Volker’s parents farm at Koethensdorf village not far from the castle.  Some pictures below of what was a lovely day.

                                   The happily married couple

                            Exchanging rings

  Happy families - Volker's parents to the left

German weddings have some interesting twists we discovered including such activity as the bride and groom sawing through a log of timber with a long arm saw (to ensure they can work together), Alice “kidnapped” in a wheel barrow and taken to the local pub, much smashing of crockery by guests as they arrived at the farm!!  We had a great time as did the other guests including family from Sydney also.

From Leipzig we drove to Berlin on Sunday the 29^th to catch the 2240 hrs flight to Tel Aviv arriving there at 0335 hrs. Ben Gurion airport at Tel Aviv was packed so we think that maybe many flights arrive/depart in the early hours because of the heat. When we arrived it was in the low 40’s and the previous week they were hitting 50 degrees – and that is hot. So to the Jews – the yard had completed the engineering so we now have a dripless bearing system which will be a huge improvement and I have to wonder why Hanse took the cheap option when the boat was being built. Also the yard repaired the fastenings on the stern door where the rams attach to the underside of the deck – the fastenings were pulling away slightly and the construction has now been significantly improved with the fittings re-engineered. And then it was time for Mo and Sam from “Yellow and Blue” to install the Simrad AIS150 unit which was well done. We got held up for an extra day in Herzliya marina as I had sent the 406 EPIRB away to Haifa fro a service and new battery (due every 5 years) and that got lost on the courier – so at the end of the day the Jewish efficiency did let is down. We were pleased to get out of Israel at the end and the muck up with the EPIRB did mean that our trip to Jerusalem never eventuated.

From Herzliya we had a 195 mile sail to Larnaca in southern Cyprus where we picked up Ronnie (as in Veronica) and Steve. Ronnie is a very old friend of Pam’s from Perth and we have been asking her to join us on the boat for a couple of years. The sail across to Larnaca was on the wind all the way with wind strength up and down. Motor sailed in light winds, sailed when we could and but ultimately laid through to Larnaca arriving there after a 29 hour passage. Called up the marina and they let us come alongside the fuel jetty as they said they could not accommodate us as the marina was full. This seems to be the case at all ports in southern Cyprus and it is impossible to get a berth even for a night. So we had to clear us and the boat in, then meet up with Ronnie and Steve and then clear us all out and the boat again.  So two hours later and early evening we departed Larnaca.

Steve & Ronnie enjoying the view as we approach Cineviz Limani

We had two choices – firstly head westwards into 25 knot headwinds for around 50 miles into the night or secondly reach to the east and anchor off in a bay under the lighthouse at the SE corner of Cyprus. The second option won out and at around 2100 hrs we dropped anchor in a quiet bay just around from the lighthouse – we called it the red light district as the radio towers on the end of the peninsular were well lit in red lights. The following day we sailed up the east coast of Cyprus and dropped anchor on dusk at Monastery Bay virtually under the lighthouse at the NE tip of Cyprus. We stopped off there for about 6 hours and then headed off for the trip to Turkey - exact destination unknown. Basically good winds would mean arrival in Finike about 250 miles, not so good would mean Kemer about 220 miles and bad would mean Alanya about 180 miles but much longer as bad means plenty of tacking. We started off ok laying through towards Finike but eventually we got knocked until it became clear that Alanya was going to be the destination but it was going to be a long day in the office. While motor sailing during the afternoon we fouled a net and Steve and I spent around 90  minutes doing diving duties to cut the net away. The water temp at 29 degrees was not a problem but the 1 metre swell and current made it more challenging. Plenty of evidence on our hands to prove that hanging on upside down to a barnacle encrusted prop with one hand and cutting with the other is not the best job around.

We finally arrived in Alanya at around midday after 32 hours to find Hasan arriving in his boat, from a day sail, just a few minutes later. Now this marina has a great bar and pool set up so we all adjoined there for the afternoon to relax while one of Hasan’s guys attended to our various clearances into Turkey.

The following day saw 20 knots from the SW that gave us a good reach for the 70 mile run across to Kemer. Half way over Steve pulled in a 20lb plus big eye tuna and while extracting the lure it gave a big lurch and one hook on the lure was embedded in Steve’s finger. Eventually we got the lure from the tuna and cut the line but the hook was still embedded so the cat 1 first aid kit was called upon and a new scalpel extracted – then Ronnie cut deep (tentatively I think) into Steve’s finger to release the hook. Despite a limited drinking rule while on passage there were several whiskey’s called for to ease the pain after the extraction and a big dressing to provide the evidence. We finally pulled into Kemer Park marina at 2200 hrs and the following morning we met up with Ellen and Hakaam off KoKo who we had met on the EMYR. Ellen recommended a local pharmacist and they cleaned and dressed it and it has subsequently healed up pretty well. We spent an enjoyable time catching up with Ellen and Hakaam ( who have decided not to do the ARC this year so we may cruise together across the Atlantic next year) but needed to head off so late afternoon we headed off towards Finike and stopped off for the night at the most spectacular bay of Cineviz Limani (about 12 miles out of Kemer) where we anchored with a few other boats in a bay with mountainous sides and pine trees.

             One bandaged finger and one whisky

From here we had a good sail (and some motoring) to get to Kekova Roads where we had joined the rally in early May. Had dinner ashore and then from here motored to Kas and met up with the guy who owns Smiley’s restaurant just off the wharf. He came down and remarkably said hello Keith where is Pam! It was two years ago we met him so how he does that who knows? We picked up Alice and Volker here as they had decided to spend part  of their honeymoon sailing with us. We decided not to stop overnight but to go across to the favourite Greek island of Kastellorizon where we parked up for a couple of nights. A great spot!!

From here a good solid 50 mile beat in up to 30 knots. To Gemiler Adasi (St Paul and Santa Claus territory) where we stopped earlier this year.  Anchored in the same spot and again treated to banana and honey pancakes for breakfast, cooked aboard the small local boat tied up to us. Then continued for a short trip onto Fethiye and anchored off the marina and rowed ashore (outboard not working – bad petrol), left the outboard for repair and overnighted across the bay next to Arwen with Jackie and Rob aboard (another EMYR yacht) and caught up with them the next morning. We had seen them coming out of Kas when we came out of Kastellorizon a couple of days earlier.

The final night with Ronnie and Steve on board was spent on the eastern side of Skopea Limani at Sarsala Koyu where we anchored off with a line ashore amongst a few gullets and cruising yachts.  Peaceful night and plenty of stories before we headed back to Fethiye 14 miles away to drop off Steve and Ronnie do they could go off to London.

Collected the outboard, stocked up the bar supplies and about 1500 hrs continued the push northwards for the 35 mile run to Ekincik near the famous Dalyan tombs that we visited a couple of years ago. Dropped anchor in 10 metres after inching into the bay under radar at 2230hrs and dropped into bed for a good nights sleep. We really do need to spend a lot more time on this coast as there is such a lot to see and experience. It is a fantastic area and there are so many nooks and crannies I can understand why some kiwi’s we met a few years back spent 15 years in Turkey. Pam went ashore the next morning to My Marina as she did a water colour painting of their waterfront and mailed it to them but it was not was not hanging in the restaurant and the rest of the place was closed at that time of day.

Cheers and the next posting soon

Keith