Sunday Sept 5th we left the marina at Agios Nikolaus in Crete to make our way to Rhodes and then Turkey. Victoria’s daughter Danae is on the boat with us and V and D are going to spend a week in Rhodes while I take the boat to Turkey to get an arch/davits/solar installed (very excited both to check out Turkey and get the arch and solar….getting 2x400w panels, plus 2x3000w charters/inverters so we will have lots of power).
The weather was supposed to be 15 knots gusting 20. When we left it was already a bit more, and after a few hours it was 25 gusting 35 and we had 2m+ waves/swells. The waves were coming directly from the side. This was still OK. I reduced sail and changed direction so we were not getting rocked so much. It is local knowledge that the east end of Crete is famous for having winds 1 to 2 Beaufort more than forecast…..which turned out to be true.
By the time we got to the top right corner of Crete the winds were now 35 gusting to 40 and I had 3m+swells. Sitting in the captain’s chair I often had the water over my head! I had about 1/3 of my jib out now and 1/3 of the mizzen, no main sail and I was still doing 8 knots. The boat was rolling from +40 degrees to – 30 degrees every so often. It wasn’t scary because the boat is very big and heavy and doesn’t move around very fast…..so the boat was fine. If I was doing this in my old boat this would have been life threatening.
At one point we had a large wave wash completely over the fore-deck! And we had the main hatch open! So we got a bucket of water in the middle of the boat and my 2 volume Complete Far Side collection got wet and our middle couch got wet but nothing too damaged.
When I had to turn south to come around the east side of Crete there is an island to the east….not too close but still I was a bit worried about if the weather would get worse in the short passage. It didn’t and eventually things began to calm down a bit as I got closer to the east cost.
We had 3 more days of sailing to get to the top of Rhodes where I was dropping off V and D. Going up the south side of Rhodes to miss the big winds from the NW in the forecast we again ran into 40 knot winds! This time the waves were not so big, but I was *very* concerned about entering a marina with such high winds. I called the Rhodes marina twice and both times they told me it was windy, but not dangerous. The issue was that V and D’s hotel reservation started that day, and I was expected in Gocek, Turkey the day after, and if I anchored for a night it would mess up all of these plans. Lots of accidents (flying and boating) are caused by people being forced by a schedule to do something they shouldn’t so I was trying very hard to not feel pressured….but I decided I would go into the marina and if I didn’t feel comfortable I would turn around and leave.
We entered the marina and the winds were now 20 knots and it felt like a sunny day in the park in comparison to being outside the marina. The spot I backed into was almost directly into the wind which made docking not too hard (just needed more reverse thrust than normal).
The real adventure was to follow. I needed to clear out of Greece to enter Turkey. Thank the lord I have Victoria and she is a Greek lawyer. First we had to go to the port police for something, then to customs/passport control, then to another office to hand in my Greek cruising log (this lady was not in the office and we had to wait for her) then back to the port police. This was 3 taxis and maybe 90 minutes after a very exhausting day already….and the next day I was sailing to Turkey by myself! I was honestly ready to strangle someone.
Rhodes to Gocek, Turkey is 43nm and should be about 7 hours of sailing/motoring. There were somewhat high winds forecast for the mid-afternoon, so I wanted to leave early. I had tried to recruit a crew member to come with me, but right now there are no ferries running between Greece and Turkey (they are not entirely friendly neighbours). This was going to be my first sail on Spruzzo by myself, and I was going to be crossing a big stretch of water.
The morning when I left the winds were 20+ knots already and I had a very good sail for most of the way. The winds died down a bit and I decided that would be a good time to go on the deck of the boat and exchange the courtesy Greek flag with the courtesy Turkish flag (apparently the Turkish port police will fine you if you show up without a courtesy Turkish flag). I put on my lifejacket and hooked myself up with a tether to a safety line on the boat (which looks a bit old and should be replaced) and honestly with one hand holding the Turkish flag and the other messing with the safety line I felt less safe than ever on the deck! The issue is if you fall off of the boat you are almost certainly going to die…..so you do not want to fall off! I successfully switched the flags but I need to practice more with the tether.
I have no cellphone data in the middle of the trip as was expected…..but then I get no cellphone data or voice as I get close to Turkey. It looks like my Greek sim card is refused in Turkey! I have no data! I can’t call my agent in Turkey who is checking me in! I don’t know the VHF frequency for my marina! CRAP!
I’m supposed to sail into this bay, anchor, and then call my Turkish agent who is checking me into Turkey. They pick me up on a small boat and bring me to Turkish customs so I can check in, then I go to my marina. None of this can happen if I can’t contact my agent….so I decide to just motor into the marina. I’m met by a guy in a dingy and I yell to him that I have a reservation which after a few minutes (I’m bobbing in my 16m boat in a small place trying to not hit anything) he confirms and leads me to my spot.
Again I’m sailing myself so docking is going to be harder. I’m going to have to back in and then when I’m close enough leave the helm and go to the back of the boat and handle the lines. The marina guy notices I’m alone and asks if I want someone on the boat to help, which of course I do, so a young guy jumps into my boat to handle the lines and all is well.
The funny thing here is I’m on the ‘Mega Yacht’ dock so I’m surrounded by 80+ foot power yachts which makes my boat look small! There is always a bigger fish.
Next post will be about Turkey. TLDR: Turkey is awesome!
Adventures on Spruzzo 