LOVE ME TENDER

Nordhavn 40 owner, Colin Rae, has posted the question on the blog “when you anchor out and go ashore, are there dinghy docks, or do you just tie the dinghy (tender) up somewhere convenient, or drag it ashore?” Well this has prompted a short dissertation about dinghies! Within a few days I’ll update the blog on our progress etc.
A suitable and robust tender is essential equipment for a live-aboard vessel. It greatly enhances safety and enjoyment, and serves varied uses including:
- Transport to and from shore for up to four people, not always in perfect conditions, often quite a distance from shore, and sometimes with visitors’ luggage.
- Carrying heavy loads, such as supplies, from shore typically with two people aboard.
- Recreational use – the boating life is all about fun, and a suitable tender adds immensely to your ability to safely explore places of interest nearby to the anchored mother-ship, to undertake diving or fishing trips etc.
- Taking lines ashore when mooring stern-to the shore, as is typical in many offshore destinations.
- Deploying and retrieving extra anchors or stern anchors.
- Helping to moor in tight spaces – if you have sufficient crew, one experienced can use the tender to help hold your vessel against the wind or push her into position.
- As an aid to safety, for example assisting in a man overboard situation, or as an additional life raft if weather and sea conditions allow its use.
- Acting as a platform for cleaning and doing maintenance work on the hull when at anchor.
What type of tender is best?
It wasn’t too many years ago that most tenders were traditional wooden dinghies, mostly rowed, but some also powered by small outboards.
Nowadays the tender market is totally dominated by Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs or RIBs. There is however some argument in favour of aluminium tenders where owners do a lot of fishing (fish dorsal spines can puncture inflatable pontoons), or pull their tenders up on very rocky beaches.
RHIBs have the huge benefits of excellent stability and load-carrying ability, robustness, light weight for size, being virtually unsinkable, being able to come alongside a vessel without causing damage, and ease of repair - there is no better testimonial to RHIB’s than their widespread adoption for police, military, search and rescue, and commercial work.
Their few disadvantages would be poor rowing performance compared with wooden or aluminium dinghies (particularly with passengers aboard), the danger of damage to inflatable pontoons in situations like contact with rocks or sharp protrusions from jetties, and long-term deterioration of the pontoons from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The latter two issues can be mostly overcome by fitting “chaps” over the pontoons to protect them, and we have these on our larger RHIB.
Another disadvantage applicable only to small RHIBs compared with conventional dinghies, is they can be rather wet when powering into or across small, but choppy wind-driven seas. This does not apply to medium-sized, higher powered RHIBs which plane over the chop.
Envoy has two RHIBs - the larger one 3.7m long with a 25HP 4-stroke outboard, weighing all-up about 260kg, and a smaller one 2.7m long with a 2.3HP 4-stroke outboard, weighing about 35kg without the motor.
If we were to carry only one tender it would be our larger one as this has met all of our usage requirements, including planing with four people aboard, and being towed in winds up to 50 knots and seas to two metres without problems. But the weight of this RHIB represents its disadvantage, as it can only be launched and retrieved with our electric boom winch, and then only in calm conditions with light winds. For that reason we considered there was a safety risk in case of power failure, winch failure, cable breakage or bad weather, as well as an inconvenience, so we bought the second smaller RHIB.
Most of the time there are only two of us aboard Envoy, and then we normally use our 2.7m RHIB, which without the motor fitted, can easily be manually launched from Envoy’s foredeck by one person, and retrieved by two. This one is ideal for going ashore, and lifting out of the water onto a beach. There are no dinghy docks, except in the fanciest of marinas, so we are normally faced with beaching our RHIB or mooring to a rough concrete wall, or an equally rough wooden jetty with all kinds of sharp protrusions. For this reason fenders (buffers) are essential. Another option we sometimes use is to anchor the RHIB a short distance off the beach with a stern line ashore.
We’ve not had any security issues when leaving our tender, but do normally remove the ignition key (large RIB) or kill switch lanyard (small RIB).

AMY’S VISIT

Santorini has very poor anchoring options in strong winds, especially from the south, and our daughter Amy was due to arrive from London one morning at 0615, meaning we needed to be anchored the night before somewhere safe. Fortunately the weather gods were smiling, and we had only a light westerly breeze and no swell, enabling us to anchor off Kamari Beach on the eastern side of the island. As often happens, this is not mentioned in the cruising guides, which are just that – a “guide”, and not the gospel.

Kamari Beach at Santorini was perfect for anchoring in the light winds


We had all been to Santorini before so didn’t stay there, but headed north to Manganari on the island of Ios. The next day Di and I took a walk ashore on a beautiful, clean sandy beach, and were questioned by two Port Police – they had noticed Envoy, and thought she was a foreign fishing boat.

Amy and I enjoying a beer in very crude Taverna on Manganari beach at Ios

Amy and Laurie swimming at Manganari Beach, Ios

Ios has one of the best Choras we’ve seen with fascinating, narrow cobble-stone alleyways to explore, filled with interesting shops, and tavernas. Here we noticed quite a few “Staff Wanted” signs on shops and tavernas, so despite overall 22% unemployment in Greece, there are jobs around. We were told that until recently Greek Government workers were able to retire at age 52 on a pension of 90% of their previous wage – what country can afford that? Now pensions have been cut by 50% to about Euro 700 (NZ$1,167) per month, and retirement age increased to (still a very young) 62
I wanted to buy a guitar string, and asked a shopkeeper if there was a music shop on Ios. The answer was no, but he directed me to an art shop run by a musician, and there we met Thomas, who teaches guitar, writes his own music and has released 40 albums. He played us a selection of his music, gave me the guitar string I needed, and we bought two of his albums. I have said before, that we never go ashore without something interesting happening, and here it is again.

Laurie with musician, Thomas

Laurie back in action with guitar

The Aegean is notorious for the “Meltemi” wind – a NW that kicks in at 25-35 knots and creates a vicious short, sharp one to two metre chop, with the odd larger wave. This doesn’t sound much, but the waves are steep and close together. Some friends of ours who sailed their yacht across the Atlantic said they’d rather have a 30 knot wind in the Atlantic than in the Med. Anyway this time a SW was forecast at about 30 knots so we decided to shelter at the island of Amorgos – somewhere we’d been before in 2007. Here the jetty backs into the SW so whatever was coming our way didn’t matter. The cost was a very reasonable Euro 10 (NZ$16) per day including power. Boating back in New Zealand, when we get a strong wind warning (a regular event), or even a gale warning, we don’t think much of it. But it’s very different over here, where we’re not familiar with the anchorages, and we always “play it safe”.
One day we hired a car for a tour of Amorgos Island. The most famous attractions here are the Chora and the Panayia Monastery - built into the side of a grim, craggy, towering cliff high above the Aegean Sea, and accessible only by a steep, stepped pathway. It’s not clear when the monastery was built, but it’s known to have been renovated in the 11th century – so that makes it pretty old. The monks are very traditional, so men are only allowed to visit wearing long trousers and proper shirts, while women must wear a modest skirt and blouse.

Enjoying a drink at the Chora at Amorgos

The steep pathway to the Panayia Monastery

The Monastery is accessed through a small door, now reached by steps but in former times by ladder

Near the Monastery is a tiny cove where one small fishing boat is hauled into a cave, while another is suspended above the sea

Later we found the wreck of the 1,000 ton coaster, Olympia, driven ashore by a gale in 1979. It was quite eerie as we snorkelled around the wreck expecting a conger eel to emerge from within at any moment. Many scenes from the movie “The Big Blue” were filmed around here.

The wreck of the Olympia at Amorgos

That evening, we found an absolutely great, inexpensive restaurant, only 30 metres along the wharf from Envoy and enjoyed a fabulous meal. The owner / chef, Vangelis, said “I am really an electronics engineer, and I only run this restaurant for fun”. Judging by his build, he has plenty of fun!

Diane and Amy with jovial chef, Vangelis

There was only one problem with the harbour at Amorgos. Here in the Med it’s very common that you drop your anchor, then back into your berth. But at Amorgos they have two jetties at right angles to each other, so the anchor chains end up like macramé, and I had to spend some time in the dinghy untangling other boats’ anchor chains from ours.
Fortunately the wind had dropped, as this can be a serious issue in strong winds.

Envoy anchored in Katapola Bay, Amorgos

Next stop was the island of Nisos Skinhousa. We had been here previously in 2007, and although the bay was “crowded” with five yachts, we dropped our anchor and reversed back to tie to the shore in a depth of 1.7m. Here was magic – the water clean, crystal clear and warm, a great sandy beach ashore, and we did lots of swimming.

Amy swimming in Skinhousa - Envoy's stern lines in water


Later in the afternoon we visited the hill-top Chora, and had evening drinks in a taverna with superb views across the bays, then had a great dinner of shrimps and pasta.

View from the taverna at Shinhousa’s hilltop Chora

Dining out in Skinhousa

We planned to finish our trip with Amy in Naxos, from where she could take a ferry back to Santorini for her return flight to London. Naxos is great, and we anchored under the breakwater to shelter from a 20 knot NW and 1.5m choppy swell.
Naxos is hugely historical, and we explored first the old town, and then the Venetian Kastro.

Envoy anchored behind breakwater at Naxos

View of Naxos from Envoy

Soon it was time for sad goodbyes – where did eight days go to? Anyway our family is used to this, and we always focus on the next getting-together and adventures to come.
After Amy left, we moved on to Aliki, on Paros Island
TECHNICAL
Nothing to report.
LOG
Up to 15 June have spent 77 days aboard, and cruised 543NM for 98 engine hours

TURKISH GOVERNMENT MAKES IT A LITTLE EASIER FOR CRUISERS AS ENVOY CRUISES THE AEGEAN

We’ve heard that the Turkish Ministry of Interior has eased its position regarding residency permits for cruisers. In a document published 14/5/12 they openly state that cruisers are beneficial to their economy, and that’s the reason for the change. Cruisers will no longer need to provide a Turkish address or have a long term marina contract in order to obtain residency. The accepted address will now be that of the boat specified in the Transit Log. The process still involves some additional cost and inconvenience compared to the previous 90 day renewable visa system, but is a welcome move. Astypalea is one of the most sheltered island groups in the Aegean, and we spent a few days in a bay called Maltezana, mentioned in the last post as so-named because it was a lair for Maltese pirates preying on shipping plying across the Aegean. Here there is a memorial to a French Naval Officer, Captain Bisson, who was sailing an under-crewed captured prize-ship, Panayoti, back to France with some pirate prisoners aboard in 1862. He was forced by bad weather to shelter in a small cove near Maltezana, and here some pirates escaped and met the Maltese pirates ashore. That night two boats containing about 140 pirates attacked the ship, and knowing that he had no chance, and not wanting the ship to fall into the hands of pirates, Captain Bisson, blew the ship up, killing himself and a good many of the boarding pirates.
Memorial to Captain Bisson who blew up his ship killing many pirates

While anchored here a Dutch-built 18m trawler, Sarah Jane, similar to a Nordhavn joined us. She is crewed by a Croatian couple, Captain Raoul, and his wife, Ditsi, who were taking the vessel to Rhodos to meet the owners. One of the owners is the Irish-born author, Caroline Faver, who recently wrote an excellent cookbook. We all got on great and Raoul gave us some useful advice about cruising in Croatia.
Sarah Jane was built from steel in 1962, powered by a 1930 Gardner 180hp engine. This engine is nearly three times the size of our 143hp engine, and cruises at a very low 900 rpm for 7.5 knots at 14 litres/hour. Her extra 4m in length compared with Envoy gives her a much more spacious cockpit, as well as accommodation for 12, including the two crew, in five cabins, and an engine room you can walk around in. Unusually for a motor vessel she has a wind-driven power generator, and Raoul said this supplies about 75% of their power needs at anchor.

Dutch steel trawler, Sarah Jane

Sarah Jane and Envoy anchored in Maltezana

No this is not one of the Maltese pirates, but Captain Raoul of Sarah Jane, Laurie and Ditsi

Colorful local fishing boat

Astypalea has a hill-top chora, with the remains of a Genoese 15th century castle, inhabited until the 1950s, when an earthquake severely damaged it.
Historically the inhabitants of the castle had an understanding with the local pirates, and all co-existed on the island.

15th century Genoese castle and Chora in Astypalea

We met a butcher here with a distinct Australian accent, and it turned out he was born in Sydney to Greek parents who returned to the family home in Astypalea when he was 14, and he’s stayed there since.
En-route to Santorini we anchored off the island of Anafi for a night, and had dinner ashore at a quaint taverna. Like many small Tavernas, they have no menu but just tell you what food selection is available.

The small port on Anafi Island

Above - Envoy anchored off Anafi Island with flopper stoppers out to reduce rolling in the swell
Popy’s Taverna on Anafi Island.

TECHNICAL
Nothing to report – great! New house-bank batteries have been ordered from Deka agent in Italy to be delivered to us in Corfu (Greece) early August. By sheer coincidence that’s the arrival time of Doug & Mary. Doug is an electrician and battery expert.
LOG
To 2 June 64 days aboard, cruised 291NM for 54 engine hours

GREEK ISLANDS OF TILOS AND NISIROS

All is going well – summer is now starting to settle with temps around 25d, although the sea is still a slightly breath-taking 21d. We’ve had a week of unsettled, windy weather causing us to pay close attention to the forecasts, as out here in the islands of the Aegean Sea you have to pick your shelter carefully. There are a few cruising yachts around – mostly local, plus French, German and Dutch - although it’s anything but crowded.
Obviously Greece is having its financial problems – but there’s no sign of this at all in the Greek islands where life seems normal. However work is mostly related to tourism, and we’re told that tourist numbers are down because potential visitors are discouraged by what they see in the media about events on the mainland. Island residents make their money in the six months from May to October - after that many of them are involved in harvesting olives. One lady told us that in Athens the average wage is only about Euros 600 (NZ$1,000) per month, and that typical rent is about Euro 400 (NZ$667) leaving very little to live on. In the islands they are better off because most of them plant vegetables, have fruit and olive trees, keep goats and chickens, and in many cases go fishing.
We spent five days at the sleepy island of Tilos - moving to different anchorages as the wind shifted from W to a strong SE, and then back to W again. The wind itself isn’t the problem so much as the seas that get whipped up - at the main harbour of Livadhiou waves were breaking over the top of the breakwater.
For the first time this year we used our flopper-stoppers to effectively reduce Envoy’s roll in a residual swell entering the anchorage.
Di & I both like Rugby League, and we had a great lunch ashore watching the 1st Australian State of Origin match on laptop via WiFi. Brian take note as you’ll be here for the 3rd and final game.
We’ve said before that every island seems to have a military base and police station, and Tilos’s police station seemed quite large for the population of 533.

It’s only 14NM from Tilos to Nisiros, where we spent three days. Nisiros doesn’t have a safe anchorage, so we berthed in the small, all-weather harbour of Palon, for a reasonable cost of Euro 19 (NZ$32) per day including power.
Envoy berthed in Palon harbour

Looking down on Palon harbour

Nisiros is also quiet, and has a population of only 1,000 but is more interesting than Tilos – it is the only Greek island with a volcano, which last erupted in 1422. Here we hired a car and spent a day touring the island, including the volcano’s crater, the quaint choras (hilltop villages) of Emborios and Nikia, and the main village of Mandraki with its two castles – one ancient, and one medieval.

In the chora of Emborious

Lonely Planet describes Emborios as “empty, with the silence broken only by the braying of a donkey or the grunting of pigs”, but we found the mixture of ruins and reconstructed dwellings in the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets interesting. There’s always something special to discover, and we found it in a one-room taverna, where there was a photo on the wall of a Greek Army Captain, Evaugelos Hatzievangelou, executed by Germans in that same room in February 1945. An adjacent mirror was left in the same condition as on that terrible day, much of its glass shattered by bullets.

Photo of Greek Captain killed by Germans, and shattered mirror.

A view from inside the volcano’s crater

A noticeable feature of Nisiros is the hugely extensive terracing of the hillsides, and you can only wonder in awe at the man-hours of labour that were required to do this. Their purpose was to make flat sections of ground for the planting of crops, to hold the rain water (there being no natural water supply), and prevent soil erosion. Although the crops are gone today, the legacy is little erosion and green, fertile slopes.

Nisiros is extensively terraced to hold water and prevent soil erosion

Normal cars are too large to negotiate the narrow streets of the older parts of villages, and these three-wheel cars powered by 2-stroke motorcycle engines are very popular.

After visiting Simi, Tilos and Nisiros, we were reminded of three things about Greece.
Firstly it is noticeably cleaner than Turkey – where there is a huge litter problem, despite numerous rubbish bins being available. Secondly the small towns and villages have more “atmosphere” with numerous historical buildings, and narrow, winding cobblestone streets. Thirdly the taverna food is just as good, but lower-priced. Typically we start with fresh bread with olive oil, garlic and oregano for Euro 0.50 (NZ$0.85) each, have a wide selection of appetizers for about Euro 3 (NZ$5) each, and main courses at about Euro 5-7 (NZ$8-12) each. Main courses are wide in variety including the traditional Greek dishes souvlaki, stifado, moussaka, pastas and local specialties like roasted goat, rabbit in oregano, rooster in red sauce, grilled octopus, fried calamari. Beer is typically sold for Euro 2.50 (NZ$4) and house wines for Euro 3 (NZ$5) per half-litre. If you order wine by the glass you pay about Euro 1.50 (NZ$2.50) and get a full glass, not like the “standard drink” ie third of a glass you now mostly get served in New Zealand (if you think I’ve “got a thing about this” – you’re right!)
We’re now at the island of Astipalaia in a great, sheltered bay called Maltezana, so-named as it used to be a lair for Maltese pirates preying on shipping plying across the Aegean.
TECHNICAL
A few days ago for the first time since last August, the main Lugger engine would not start first time. Previously when this happened it was caused by a stuck starter relay, and after I tapped the relay with a hammer the Lugger started fine. Same thing happened this time.
The Lugger’s digital tachometer has stopped showing rpm, although it powers up with ignition ON. Not a problem as we have the analogue tachometer. Probably a loose wire from the alternator feed although I’ve not been able to find one.
LOG
59 days aboard, cruised 209NM for 39 engine hours

FIRST SQUALLY THUNDERSTORM OF THE YEAR

I forgot to mention in the last update that here in the Med we get a lot of quite violent thunderstorms (far more than we are accustomed to in New Zealand), especially during Spring and Autumn. These are nearly always accompanied by strong winds, significant shifts of wind direction and rain squalls, so we take them pretty seriously - in fact the only time Envoy has dragged her anchor was during a thunderstorm with 55 knot gusts in 2010.
Before leaving Turkey’s Bozburun we encounter our first of this season. It was soon after sunset, and Envoy is one of about 15 boats anchored off Bozburun village. The boats are reasonably well spread-out, and none very close to us. As we hear the last Muslim call-to-prayer of the day from the Mosque’s loudspeakers, we also hear the first thunderclaps echoing through the rugged hills behind Bozburun. At this stage the wind is less than 10 knots, but we wonder if it will dramatically increase as we’ve sometimes experienced before. The thunderclaps are getting louder as the spire of Bozburun’s Mosque is illuminated by lightning. We put on one of our favorite CDs – Rod Stewart’s Great American Songbook as we watch the spectacular display.
We see a heavy rain squall approaching across the bay, and the wind ramps up to 25 knots. Our GPS position alarm starts an urgent beeping, warning that Envoy has moved a little. I had only set it for a distance of 0.02NM (120 ft), and I’m confident it only sounded because our anchor chain is fully stretching-out with the increase in wind, so I re-set the alarm. I check how much anchor chain we have out – 60 metres (197 ft) for a depth of 16 metres (53 ft), and realise this won’t be enough if the wind picks up dramatically. Suddenly we hear one yacht urgently calling another, “Stargazer ….your anchor is dragging … you’re going to hit us”. Di and I watch as the two yachts collide and they appear locked together. They are well clear of Envoy, and there is nothing we can do to help. We see figures on both decks, illuminated by lightning, working to resolve their problem. Eventually they separate, and we watch Stargazer motor away to re-anchor, and breathe a sigh of relief when she anchors nowhere near us. We drink tea as the wind continues up to 30 knots for another half-hour, fortunately without any change in direction, and then quickly abates. Normality returns as the sea returns to glassy calm once again, and another mini-adventure in the cruising life is completed.
At Symi Island’s Pedhi Bay we met some American friends, Patrick & Chrissy, aboard their Nordhavn 46, “Frog Kiss”. This is a famous vessel as it’s the first Nordhavn passagemaker ever built. She’s in great condition with several innovations, and Patrick & I spent an interesting time comparing our vessels. Frog Kiss is now for sale. Apparently there are six N46s for sale worldwide, but Frog Kiss is the only one located in the Med.

Frog Kiss and Envoy in Pedhi Bay, Symi

Nordhavns age well, and of course as time passes equipment gets progressively updated, for example Envoy’s hull and main engine are 22 years old, but there is very little else aboard pre-2000, and Envoy looks in better condition than many five year-old vessels.
Moving from one country to another generally involves communication hassles. Our Greek phone and my internet was no problem, but Di had to buy a new USB plug-in and SIM card with the Greek company Cosmote, as that was the only one in stock in Symi. They won’t sell the SIM cards separately, and claim that in any case they won’t work unless bought as “a package”. All is working OK now.
While in Symi we also took on 1,340 litres of diesel for Euro 1.60 (NZ$2.69) per litre (US$7.80 per gal), which will last us several months.
We’re now at the island of Tilos, the first time this year we’re in new territory.
TECHNICAL
Nothing to report
LOG
52 days aboard, cruised 132NM for 25 engine hours

MED MONSTERS OF THE DEEP

Several days ago another Nordhavn came into the bay we were anchored in – the first time in over three years of cruising. This was a Russian-owned, three year-old, 85-footer, with five full-time crew, and powered by twin Detroit diesels. Cruising at 11 knots she only uses 35 litres/hour of fuel, but we can only imagine the costs of running a vessel of that size, and paying five salaries.
Nordhavns were originally conceived as Passagemakers, but now Nordhavn seem to be also diversifying into the category of super-yachts or expedition yachts. There is no finite definition of “Passagemakers”, but they are generally considered to be ocean-capable vessels in the range of 40-70ft, able to be operated by a cruising couple. In most cases vessels above about 60-70ft are beyond the typical cruising couple to manage and maintain without crew. Here in Turkey we even see boats of about 50ft with professional crew.
We arrived in one of the beautiful anchorages near Bozburun, with only two other boats there, and a boatman rowed up to us in a small dinghy offering fresh produce and home-made clothing for sale. We bought some honey, nuts and apricots but passed on the Turkish-style clothes. This is always a process rather than a transaction, and we spent half an hour talking with the boatman about the qualities of his produce, his life and family, and our life and family. I can’t imagine doing this ashore, when things always seem to be hurried, but it comes naturally in the cruising life when there is plenty of time to talk, and to really listen. We always try to buy something to help the local people support their families.

This Turkish boatman sells produce and clothing to visiting cruisers

We’ve now cleared-out of Turkey and anchored at Pedhi, on the Greek island of Simi.
With the help of the Greek yachting agency – A1 (who’ve always been very helpful on a whole variety of issues) we managed to clear-in as Captain & Crew in transit, which means we have up to six months in Greece, rather than three, and the Schengen Treaty does not apply. From here we’ll leisurely cruise through various Greek islands towards Santorini, where we meet our daughter, Amy, on 2 June.
Di has been reading the autobiography of an Australian who fought at Gallipoli in WW1.
Sometimes the off-duty soldiers were allowed to have a swim, and mysteriously the occasional soldier didn’t come back out of the water. One day the author was enjoying a swim, when he suddenly heard another soldier shout a warning to him. He turned around and saw a very large eye looking up at him from under the water. He was a strong swimmer and quickly managed to reach the safety of a nearby jetty, then seeing that the eye belonged to a huge squid, with a body about a metre wide and long tentacles trailing behind. That was the last time they went swimming at Gallipoli. Checking this out on Google, there have been two findings of giant squid in the Med, but many more than that in New Zealand, so we feel quite safe in the water.

Laurie hard at work testing out the BBQ

TECHNICAL
We’ve installed our two new Deka AGM batteries for the 24 volt bow thruster bank, although it was quite a mission to maneuver batteries weighing 59kg each into the confines of the anchor chain locker.
With Envoy’s large fuel tanks and low consumption, we only refuel about three times a year, but we need to do so shortly so we’ve been thinking where to do this. Sometimes Turkey is dearer than Greece, but currently they’re similar in price. Here in Turkey it’s Lira 4.20 (NZ$3.00) per litre which is US$9.12 per gallon. It’s not only the price to consider though, but the quality. Nowadays most of the diesel sold for on-road use contains bio-diesel, and this is definitely not recommended for marine engines (although an exception is commercial vessels using high fuel volumes and modified for use with bio-diesel.) Bio-diesel has a far shorter storage life, and has high solvent properties, which reduces the life of seals and hoses. We’ve been advised that marine diesel sold on the Greek island of Simi is bio-diesel free, so we’ll refuel here.
LOG
Will update in next posting.

THE SPY CONNECTION AND ENVOY WINE

We left the marina last Thursday for a four day cruise around the very picturesque Marmaris Bay local area in great weather, and plenty of swimming.On our first day out we launched our large RIB, weighing 350kg, from the boat deck using the boom winch. We’d no sooner got the RIB into position over the side, level with the boat deck just over two metres from the sea, when a stray line caught on the winch’s clutch release and pulled it out. To our horror the RIB then plummeted two metres in free-fall, hitting the water with a great splash. It landed so perfectly that any observer might have thought this was normal! Fortunately no damage was done but it could have been nasty if the dinghy had been in a different position, like half-way over the stainless steel rails, when the clutch released. We’ll certainly make sure that doesn’t happen again.
While ashore at a beautiful village called Turunk we met Orchun, the manager of a family-owned taverna. He goes snorkelling at night-time to catch crayfish and octopus, and to spear fish. He says there are plenty around in 3-4m of water.

Laurie with Orchun and the crayfish he caught while snorkelling. Background is Turunk village

The next day we did our first ancient ruins exploration of the year, checking out the 3rd century BC Rhodian fortress of Amos. It sure wasn’t crowded – we were the only boat anchored in a large bay, and there were only four other people exploring Amos.
We got our money back for the non-delivered house batteries, and the bow thruster batteries are due to be installed in two or three days.
While back in New Zealand and touring the South Island’s Blenheim area, we visited the mysterious Waihopai Valley, otherwise known as Spy Valley, and so-called because there is a large satellite communications tracking station nearby, run in conjunction with the US. This facility made the news about three years ago when a trio of misguided “pacifists” broke into it, caused over NZ$1 million (US$0.8m) of equipment damage, and then somehow escaped conviction, despite admitting doing the damage.
Here is the home of family-owned Spy Valley Wines, who craft a great range of premium wines marketed under the “Envoy” label. Envoy means messenger, representative, or chosen messenger, and Spy Valley Wines chose the Envoy brand to mean Message of Land and Time. They explained that to express the true character of the site and variety, a key component is time, and they never rush Envoy. That’s very much like ourselves, as we’re never in a hurry with Envoy’s 6.5 knot cruising speed.
Spy Valley produce most of the classic wines of this famous wine-making region; sauvignon blanc, riesling, pinot gris, gewürztraminer, chardonnay and pinot noir.

Here we discuss Envoy wines with Spy Valley’s Tracy McKean.

This spy connection also reminded us of when the Turkish Coastguard boarded Envoy last year because they were curious why she has so many aerials (11 plus two radomes). Envoy often attracts Coastguard’s attention because of her unusual, and slightly military-look.
Spy Valley Wines widely export their Envoy wines, and their niche market is restaurants. If you ever see this wine we suggest you try it – we certainly think it’s great.
Coming back into the marina we noticed this large motor vessel - whoever designed this obviously has no taste at all! Different boats for different folks.

TECHNICAL
The Water Maker has been modified as described in last blog, and all working well.
LOG
Spent 39 nights aboard since arrival, and cruised a mere 42 miles for 9 engine hours.

OUR FIRST UNEXPECTED PROBLEM

Here is a great view we get during our morning walks.

Now we do have an unexpected problem – with the water maker (see under Technical) – so our departure has been held up for a few days until about the middle of the coming week. But meantime we’re happy here in Marmaris – the weather is sunny and 27d, and we’re having time to catch up on a lot of things. We have ample time to do long daily walks on nearby Heaven Is, from where we get great views across Marmaris Bay. A couple of times we’ve also seen tortoises by the roadside.

Marmaris elected a new mayor last year, and since then major reconstruction has been taking place in this pretty resort town. The major supermarket, located on prime real estate in the town centre, had apparently been built without planning approval, so this five-story concrete building with adjacent multi-storey car park has been demolished, and a new park is being put in its place. Many roads have been upgraded, and different statues erected.

This octopus is one of the many new decorative statues gracing Marmaris

I have mentioned previously that Turkey has changed its visa rules for visitors so that now visitors can only stay for 90 days in any 180 day period. This is crazy, as it’s bound to deter the cruising community from visiting Turkey for lengthy periods, and especially from wintering over. There is a way around this. If you have an annual contract with a marina, then you can apply for and generally obtain a one-year residency. Some New Zealanders we met here have just done that at a cost of about 750 Lira (about US$416), including agent’s fees, so it’s an expensive option that previously wasn’t necessary.
TECHNICAL
An electrical contractor fixed our forward reverse-cycle aircon unit. It was simply a corroded wire in the control system.
I cleaned the intakes for our three bilge pumps and tested them OK, along with our high-capacity portable 110V pump. Good to know they all work if needed!
The Naiad hydraulic stabilisers have been tested and are running fine.
Delivery of our new batteries continues to be an issue. Now we’re told the batteries for the 24V bow thruster bank will be available about 9 May, while those for the 12V house bank are indefinitely held up in Customs, so the supplier is returning our advance payment for these ones. Actually our present house batteries are holding up quite well for their age of seven years, although they do need replacing, and we’ll do this either in Greece or Croatia. The issue with them is that when anchored, even when we use our genset for an hour so during the evening, they still discharge to about 12.2-12.4 volts (ie 50-60% of full charge) by morning. Also a battery load tester has found them to be deficient. Of course whenever the main Lugger engine is running we’re also getting all three battery banks charged, and on Envoy with a dedicated generator as well as the Yanmar wing engine that can be used as a generator, it’s not a major problem.
I re-commissioned the water maker, which is normally simply a matter of flushing out the membrane storage chemical solution with seawater, and changing the filters, but it didn’t work properly – the salinity was too high. Seawater contains about 35,000ppm of salt, while drinking water should be something like 50-100ppm. The upper limit for drinking water is 500ppm, while we were getting closer to 600 and this level makes your lips feel slightly salty.
A water maker technician checked the system over and found nothing wrong, leaving only the possibility that the two high-pressure membranes we bought new last May have failed. He changed the arrangement of water hoses to test each membrane individually, and found that both are not performing. Why? – we don’t know, as they should last several years – it’s another of Life’s Unsolved Mysteries. The membranes we have are difficult to get and very expensive at about Euro 1,730 (US$2,250) for the pair. So we’re going to change the system from two membranes to one larger membrane of a type which is easier and cheaper to replace. The conversion will include the high-pressure membrane tube, its Kevlar outer casing, and a new controller, but then future replacement membranes will be only(#!$?) Euro 425 (US$550) to replace and are widely available ex stock. So this is happening early in the coming week.

LOG

30 nights aboard since arrival.

BATTERIES DUE IN A FEW DAYS AND THEN WE’RE OFF

With this posting I'm having problems with spacings for paragraphs, photos and photo captions. On Wednesday morning we had a southerly gale here with winds up to about 50 knots. The normally flat-calm sea to the south of the marina raged with breaking 2.5m-high waves as far as we could see, putting up considerable spray onto the road sheltering the marina from the open sea. We put out extra lines and had no problems, and the front passed over in about three hours. Envoy’s new batteries have now cleared Customs, and should arrive early in the coming week, so we plan to get them installed and leave Marmaris later in the week. Diane and I are very fond of cats, and we’re sure they must know this because they always seem to find us. Currently we’ve got one cat visiting us regularly for a feed (we’ve bought some cat food) and two others keep trying as well, but our regular guest cat chases them off. Some people here don’t like this, saying we’re encouraging the cats to come onto the marina pontoons. But too bad - the fact is the cats are there anyway, and we don’t like to see them hungry. Apart from that we’d rather have cats in the marina than rats or mice (not that we’ve ever seen any). Hungry cats always seem to find us, and are never disappointed

I’ve mentioned several times about the friendliness of Turkish people, and here’s another example. I went into an electrical supplies shop, and spent only 10 Lira (about US$6), and they insisted I stay and enjoy a cup of Turkish tea. This happens very often, and there was no attempt to try and make me spend more - it was simply a typical expression of Turkish hospitality. Shopping here is an interesting experience with the different markets, bazaars, spice shops etc, and Diane is proving to have excellent negotiation skills. She is always very polite, never insulting or denigrating of the goods offered, but knows what she wants to pay. This goes down well with the Turks, who love to negotiate with genuine buyers, and most times you can strike a good deal. Diane wanted to buy a new handbag, and the one she liked was offered at 175 Lira (about US$97). However Diane was convinced it was only worth 50 Lira (about US$28), and said that was all she wanted to pay. After a few minutes haggling, including Diane leaving the shop and the owner calling her back, that’s exactly what she paid! In reality this was an exceptional case and more typical discounts are in the order of 25-35%. In another shop we wanted to buy some coloured-glass candle holders. We were told the price was 15 Lira (about US$8) each, but we bought six of them for 10 Lira (about US$6) each. Buying some hot chilli paste in a spice shop

For 15 Lira you can fill a box with your own selection of Turkish Delight

Here in Turkey they of course have excellent hand-made carpets. These are really works of art, and made using all natural materials – hand-spun wool and natural dyes made from plants. They are hand-woven on looms by Turkish ladies, who would generally take four to six months working several hours per day to produce. The carpet tufts are individually knotted in place, and quality carpets have something like 250,000 to 400,000 knots per square metre. Most carpets are made for general use, and are expected to be able to be used for something like 100 years, passing from one generation to another. This type of carpet (the size of a large mat) would typically cost something like Lira 2,500 (about US$1,385) to Lira 4,000 (about US$2,216), but can cost considerably more for especially intricate designs, or for additional knots per square metre. Of course a buyer must be cautious to buy a genuine Turkish hand-made carpet, and not a Chinese machine-made imitation. The silk carpets, designed only to be displayed as wall-hangings, can cost in the many tens of thousands of Lira. We bought a carpet from a Government-certified shop that had over 20,000 of them in stock. Buying a carpet here is a process, not just a purchase, and involves drinking tea, looking at carpets, hearing of their history and of the meanings of the intricate designs. It is possible to negotiate, especially late in the season when the sellers want to reduce stock, but at this time of year they are not very negotiable. Our salesman, Birol, descended from generations of Anatolian nomads, who were here in Turkey before the “Turks” themselves. Although his parents live in a house nowadays, Birol says they still prefer to pitch their marquee and live in that during summer. It’s a good story anyway! We bought a really nice carpet from Birol, descended from Anatolian nomads.

A quality carpet should last approx 100 years in normal use as a floor covering, and because the carpets are so hard-wearing, “new” carpets are defined as being less than 20 years old, while to be an “antique” it must be over 250 years old. TECHNICAL AND MURPHY’S LAW We get Envoy's hull professionally polished annually - see the gloss. Not bad for over 20 years old

One day last October we suddenly found our Northern Lights genset would only pass 110V current through to the inverter, battery charger or water heater if the refrigerator and freezer were on. When they were on, everything else worked fine. In other words the genset needed a heavy current draw to make it operate. This didn’t stop the ability to use the genset, and when it’s running we mostly want the refrigerator on – but it was “one of life’s unsolved mysteries” and annoying. Coincidentally this change happened on the very same day that we replaced the genset’s badly-corroded fresh water circulating pump for a new one, and we were racking our brains trying to work out what might have happened during the changeover to cause this new problem. While we had mechanics aboard servicing our Yanmar wing engine, I told them of the problem and one of them said it would almost certainly be caused by faulty capacitors. He says these can often fail after a few years of service (I don’t know how old our capacitors were, but at least 6 years). Envoy’s previous owner Wayne Davis had maybe foreseen this, as he had placed a spare set on board, and when these were installed – problem solved immediately. When the two capacitors were replaced with new ones our genset problem was solved.

The Murphy’s Law aspect is that the problem had nothing at all to do with the installation of the water pump – just coincidence that it happened on the same day – what are the chances of that? Not much more to do now – install new House and Bow Thruster Battery Banks, run and test Water Maker (fingers crossed on this one), test Bilge Pumps, and that’s about it – Envoy’s “To Do List” is about as short as it’s ever been. LOG 23 nights spent aboard since arrival. No miles cruised yet, but that’s about to change.

ENVOY ABOUT A WEEK AWAY FROM CRUISING

Things are going great as we complete our second week since returning to Marmaris. Our only hiccup is that the eight new “Deka” batteries, imported from USA for our
12V house and 24V bow thruster battery banks are held up in Customs, and nobody can tell us when they will get through. Of course we still have the old ones installed, so we can cruise, and we’re going to be ready to leave in about a week. We had then intended to spend about a week cruising around here, so we could come back to get the batteries. But if they are going to be much longer than two weeks we want to cancel our order, and get our payment returned (this might not be so easy).
In the worst case we’ll have to cruise in this general area (which has plenty to offer) until they arrive - but let’s wait and see.
WHO READS THE ENVOY BLOG?
Our Blog was established in 2006 to keep family and friends updated about our Med cruising. By late 2007 readership had expanded well beyond that, and nowadays even more so. The large majority of readers are from North America, then (in order) New Zealand, UK, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Greece, South Africa, Russia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Guadeloupe, India, UAR, Sweden, Slovenia, Indonesia and Roumania.
TURKISH LIVING STANDARDS
We are using a contractor, Ali Cam, here at Marmaris to organise some of Envoy’s required work, and a few days ago he invited us to his apartment for dinner.
His wife Burcu had prepared a delicious meal, and during a relaxed evening were able to find out more about typical economic life in Turkey.
Ali told us that typical wages in the marina for a six-day week are Lira 2,000 (US$1,170) per month for yard-hands doing polishing and anti-fouling, and up to about Lira 3,000 (US$1,760) per month for master tradesmen. This is net, in the hand, after tax.
The employer also pays medical insurance, provides daily lunch and transport from the town centre to work and back.
Burcu was working in a bank until recently, where the hours were 9am to 7pm, with half an hour for lunch, and she was earning Lira 1,200 (US$680) per month.
Typical rent for a family apartment here seems to be about Lira 500 (US$280) per month, while power, water, lpg, and phone would total about Lira 200 (US$113) per month. Food is fairly cheap here, especially fruit and vegetables in the markets, but meat is expensive. Burcu said a typical small family would spend about Lira 250 (US$140) per week for food and household supplies.
A reasonable quality family apartment can be bought here for about US$165,000.
This is all relevant to western, coastal Turkey. In central and eastern Turkey it is quite different, mostly with small farms providing a subsistence lifestyle and considerably lower living standards.
Unemployment rates are quite high in Turkey – probably about 15%, and Ali said the level of government benefit paid to the unemployed is extremely low, and in any case only paid to people who lose their jobs after working for at least two years.
We have observed Turkish people to be happy, cheerful, friendly, helpful, polite, curious, hard-working and honest, and during the many months we’ve now spent in various parts of Turkey we’ve always felt totally safe, and never seen any form of anti-social behaviour.
TECHNICAL
I have yet to meet a fellow-cruiser who says his boat is perfect and nothing needs doing.
Cruisers do varying amounts of work themselves ranging from virtually nothing to nearly everything, but no matter what skills they possess everybody needs help with some specialist jobs. It’s easy to see how costs mount up with jobs done by contractors here at Marmaris, as they have to build in a 16% “commission” for the marina, and 18% VAT, so only two thirds of the money we spend is “effective”.
Don’t read on if you’re not interested in technicalities!
When we return to Envoy after leaving her for the four months of Med winter we combine re-commissioning after her winter lay-up, with annual maintenance, and with any other jobs that need doing from the previous season.
Apart from a complete polish of the hull and topsides gelcoat, and antifouling, there’s been quite a lot happening, and we’re now about 80% through the total work list.
- All equipment tested except the stabilisers and water maker, and everything working except for the forward aircon
- The main Lugger engine’s dry exhaust system re-conditioned, coolant replaced,
two suspect-looking main water cooling hoses replaced, secondary fuel filter replaced, propeller shaft alignment checked
- All other below water level hoses visually checked and some replaced
- The engine room’s automatic fire extinguishing system checked and certified.
All other extinguishers visually checked. Engine room hot-air extraction metal ducting replaced
- All 21 seacocks inspected and operated. One dismantled and serviced.
After launching seacocks opened one-by-one while I checked for leaks in the seacock or downstream. In several cases pumps fed by seacocks had to be bled of air
- For all three engines and the Naiad stabilisers, vee-belts that were loosened for the winter had to be tightened and for the Wing engine and Genset they were replaced
- The Yanmar wing engine’s prop shaft pulled for inspection and lubrication of the shaft seal, then re-aligned. MaxProp folding prop lubricated. Also leaking vented loops modified, water leak in exhaust box epoxied, vee-belt pulleys removed, de-rusted and painted (rust caused by sea water leaking from vented loops), sea water circulating pump checked and impeller replaced, vee belts replaced, zinc anodes in cooling system replaced, cooling hoses checked, fresh water cooling system header tank removed and cleaned, exhaust riser removed and cleaned, secondary fuel filter replaced, roller bearing in 110V generator mounting replaced
- All external zinc anodes inspected and several replaced
- The hydraulic pump for the Naiad stabilisers modified to enable easier adjustment of the three vee-belts using a bolt that can be tightened to increase belt tension (up to now it’s been extremely difficult to get any tension on these belts)
- Re-install RIB’s start battery which was removed for charging during the winter, fully service Yamaha outboard, replace spark plugs and the complete sea water pump
- Envoy’s storage cover, which was ripped in places, has been repaired, as has the RIB storage cover
- Domestic fresh water system water strainer removed and cleaned, filters replaced, accumulator re-charged
- All batteries that were removed for winter from flashlights, clocks, timers, remotes etc tested and replaced
- Shorepower cable’s connections all re-made
- Bow Thruster propeller nut was cross-threaded and was re-machined to fix
- Windlass gearbox oil leak fixed (supposedly fixed in November but still leaking)
- The newly re-galvanised anchor chain marked for depth, and stowed
- An outdated lpg bottle replaced
- 2 armchairs substantially re-upholstered
- The swim ladder extended in length to make it easier to climb out of the water (as we and our visitors get older!)
- 70 litres of engine oil procured and stowed
- 6 x 30 litre water containers procured and stowed
LOG
Still in Marmaris and 15 nights aboard so far

“ROGUE” WAVES & ENVOY NEARLY READY TO LAUNCH

We are both well here in Marmaris, Southern Turkey - the weather is mostly fine and sunny in the low 20 degC, and progress getting Envoy ready to launch is on schedule..
ROGUE WAVES
This paragraph about the sea from a Clive Cussler novel appealed to me:
“Most of the time, the oceans appear to be at rest. Un-ending waves no higher than the head of a German shepherd give the image of a sleeping giant, the surface of his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. It is an illusion that beguiles the unwary. Sailors can fall asleep in their berths with clear skies and calm seas and wake up to a frenzied sea that quickly sweeps over thousands of square miles engulfing every vessel in its path”
We’ve recently seen the term “rogue wave” used very loosely, particularly by the media. The use of this term could imply that such waves are unexpected or unpredictable, whereas this is not the case at all, and waves of about double the average wave height are entirely predictable.
Because our minds mostly register only the larger waves we see, and not the smaller ones, wave height is usually calculated not as the “average height”, but as the “significant wave height” – that is the average height of the highest third of all the waves (i.e. the ones our minds register).
To give an example, in a sea state where the true average wave height is 4m, the significant wave height (the height the mind registers) is 6.6m.
As the wave trains roll across the ocean, the peak of one wave eventually synchronises with the peak of another, and the resulting wave can be much larger than either of the two waves that coincided. The UK’s National Institute of Oceanography determined that:
- About one wave in 23 is twice the average height – that means in the above case 8m
- About one wave in 1,175 is three times the average height – that means in the above case 12m
- About one wave in 300,000 is four times the average height – that means in the above case 16m.
In practical terms, if we are cruising along in waves of 6.6m or about 21ft significant wave height (which I believe could be quite challenging), then the true average wave height is 4m or about 13 ft, but we could encounter occasional much larger waves up to 12m or about 39ft. If we are unlucky enough to strike that one wave in 300,000, it could be 16m or about 52ft.
I understand that the largest wave ever scientifically recorded at sea was one of 34m (112ft) in 1933 by the USS Ramapo in the north Pacific.
However it’s not all bad news – if you take a wave period of 10 seconds, which is typical in rough seas, that means 6 waves per minute, 360 waves per hour and 14,400 waves per day. So the chances of meeting that one wave in 300,000 are very remote, particularly as these encounters of the wave trains are transient, occurring in one place for a short time, and the resulting giant waves don’t travel much distance.
It’s also worth noting that according to the book “Perfect Storm”, the energy generated by waves does not increase linearly, and waves from a 40 knot wind are likely to be 17 times “as violent” as those from a 20 knot wind. The energy created by waves is huge, with impact pressures typically 250 to 1,150 lbs per square foot, while up to 6,000 lbs is possible from very large breaking waves.
The incidence of very large waves is quite limited statistically, and one study reported that for the open oceans in general, 80% of the time wave heights (not sure if they meant “average” or “significant”) are under 3.7m (12ft), 90% of the time they are under 6m (20ft), and that to encounter waves above 12m (40ft) is extremely rare. This partially explains how many cruisers travel thousands of ocean miles over many years and don’t ever encounter dangerous rough seas. Another part of the explanation is planning their cruise according to weather forecasts.
All of the above relates to waves generated by wind (force) blowing for a period of time (duration) across hundreds of miles of open sea (fetch).
Another entirely different source of large waves is seismic activity or landslides into the sea. These events have historically caused waves much larger than the largest waves caused by weather.
LIVING IT HARD
We’ve been back aboard Envoy over a week now up on the hardstand. We’re fortunate here, as many marinas don’t allow you to live aboard while the boat is out of the water, but it’s an unusual way of living. Firstly everything has to come aboard up a ladder. We have to use the marina toilets and showers, we do dishes in a bowl in the sink, empty the bowl into a large bucket which is emptied twice a day, and use a “chamber pot” during the night which is emptied into the marina toilet every morning. Diane still thinks it’s a huge joke when she passes the pot down the ladder to me, promising not to spill it over my head! Cars drive around us and the travel lifts are constantly moving boats.
During the day the boat is a bit chaotic with different contractors coming and going, but progress is steady with no unexpected issues so far. The most time-consuming job is getting Envoy’s hull and topsides cut and polished. This is a job we choose to have professionally done annually to maintain and protect Envoy in top condition. There’s a lot of gelcoat surface area, and it took two guys six days including during Easter, which is not celebrated in Muslim Turkey. Envoy’s gelcoat is gleaming, looking more like a 5 year-old than 22 year-old vessel. At a cost of NZ$1,240 (US$1,020) we think it’s money well invested.
Tomorrow Envoy goes back in the water.
If you don’t use a car for several months you just jump in it, start, and drive away. Not so with a boat because you normally combine annual maintenance with your winter haul-out. Although I mentioned in the last blog this is all “routine”, it’s still comprehensive, and on the next blog I’ll go into that in some detail.

BACK ABOARD ENVOY ON MARMARIS

We had a long, but event-free journey from Auckland, and arrived back in Marmaris, southern Turkey, on Saturday morning, finding that everything aboard Envoy, out of the water on the hardstand was pretty how much we’d left her four months ago - clean, dry, and so far no surprises.
As I filled in Envoy’s log on Saturday for the first time this year, I noted that was our 744th night aboard Envoy since we started our Med cruising.
The coming week will be hectic as we work to complete all out-of-water jobs before Envoy is launched on the 10th. After that we’ll still have plenty of routine annual preventative maintenance jobs to do, but no time schedules to meet and no pressure.
The first two nights aboard we still had the full storage cover over Envoy, and it’s a bit like sleeping in a tent as it’s dark and you can’t see outside, so it was good to take off today.
World oil prices have risen about 15% this year, and with the rising cost of diesel we’re very happy to own a very economical full-displacement vessel. Diesel costs about NZ$2.79 per litre here, while petrol costs about NZ$3.12 per litre! For our North American readers that’s gasoline at about US$9.72 per gallon. This year we expect to cruise about 2,400 miles and use about 3,200 litres of diesel, including for the generator. We like to keep our fuel tanks more than half-full both to reduce condensation in the tanks, and so that if any major problems develop in a country or region we can just point Envoy in another direction with enough fuel to cruise over 1,000 miles.
TRAVEL
When travelling to the boat from NZ there is always lot of “stuff” to take with us. This is mostly spare parts etc for the boat, but also items that are difficult to obtain in Turkey, like re-sealable plastic bags. Our family and friends help us out a lot by bringing stuff over for us when they visit, but this year we had to bring over 30kg of parts and heat insulation just to re-build the Lugger engine dry exhaust. Travelling economy class Korean Air was great. The standard check-in luggage allowance is 20kg each, plus cabin baggage of 12kg each, plus a laptop, briefcase or handbag. We made a special request to Korean Air to allow us an extra 10kg each of check-in at no extra cost, to which they agreed, and that meant that in total we carried about 95kg between us. We had a nearly 12 hour flight to Seoul, with a complimentary overnight stop in an excellent 4-star airport hotel. Next day another nearly 12 hour flight to Istanbul, where we’d booked an airport hotel for our short stay – arriving there at 9.30pm and leaving at 5am.
Turkish Airlines (part of the Star Alliance) were also great. For our one hour flight to Dalaman - they only charged us about NZ$41 for our 20kg of excess check-in baggage and allowed us aboard with all our additional cabin baggage. Some airlines are just anal about cabin baggage, making their customers really p’d off.
Weather here is cloudy with some showers, daytime temperature in the low 20’s, and night time about 14.
TECHNICAL
An engineer, Yilmaz, spent the whole of today re-assembling the Lugger engine dry exhaust system using the parts we brought from NZ, and all went well. While the engine was drained of coolant we checked the cooling system hoses, and replaced the two main ones which are at least six years old and showing signs of surface cracks and reduced flexibility. The last thing you want is a cooling system hose failing at sea.

REGULAR BLOGGING FOR 2012 COMMENCING SOON

We’ve had a great four months back in NZ catching up with family and friends, and will arrive back in Marmaris 31 March. Envoy has been regularly checked by our friend Ali, who reports that all is well. Our main jobs will be to fit new parts to the main Lugger engine dry exhaust system, and install new AGM batteries for the house bank and bow thruster bank. There’s dozens of other small jobs to do, but these are mostly routine re-commissioning items. We expect to launch Envoy 10 April, and leave Marmaris about 15th. After a “shakedown” cruise of a few days to Bozburun we’ll clear-out of Turkey, clear-in to Greece, and island hop across the Aegean, around the bottom of Greece to the Ionian and on to the Adriatic. We expect to visit Bulgaria and Montenegro, and then by mid-October arrive at Kremik marina, Croatia, to winter-over.



Photo shows me discussing our 2012 cruising plans with my father, Jack, who lives in Tasmania.

We are very much a nautical family as my Dad was in the Royal Navy, then spent many years with the Royal NZ Navy Volunteer Reserve, as well as instructing Sea Cadets.
My mother spent several years at sea with Shaw Savill Line, mostly aboard Northern Star and Ocean Monarch, and was their first female Petty Officer.
My brother is a qualified boat builder with considerable ocean sailing experience, including sailing his 11m yacht from Brisbane to Scotland, and spending many years living aboard.
My Dad's wife, Maureen, has an extensive connection with the sea too. Her parents met and married while active serving personnel, two of her uncles saw active service, and her aunt rose to rank of Chief Petty Officer. Maureen, too, made application to join the WRNS when just 18 years old, but after acquiring the relevant qualifications migrated to New Zealand instead. So it’s not surprising that she and Dad had quite a bit in common when they met all those years ago!
My stepfather, Eddie, spent over 30 years at sea in the Merchant Navy from the age of 14, and saw considerable action on convoys during WW2, including being present at
D-Day.
Carrying on the family tradition my son John has spent several years as crew and First Mate on super yachts, where he met his fiancée Alice, who was also working as crew.
Our next blog in early April will report on Envoy’s condition, and progress upon our return.

ANCHORING IN STRONG WINDS

This is an abridged version of our article published in Pacific Passagemaker.
During 30 years of boating we’ve frequently anchored in sheltered positions with winds over 30 knots (Force 7), and occasionally encountered gusts up to 70 knots. Remember that the Beaufort Scale registers the mean wind speed, for example Force 7 represents a mean wind speed of 28-33 knots, while gusts of up to about 45 knots (or greater) can be expected. In particular thunder storms are often accompanied with extremely gusty conditions, as well as rapid changes in wind direction.
There are numerous theories about anchoring, and we base our suggestions on experience with our Nordhavn 46, assuming your vessel has adequate ground tackle - a major subject itself.
Envoy’s main anchor is an 88 pound Delta Setfast with 400 feet of 10.8mm BBB chain. The only time we have dragged anchor in recent years was in unexpected wind gusts up to 55 knots with insufficient chain deployed.
We’re also assuming there are no safe marinas or harbours available, and anchoring is therefore a necessity – we generally prefer to go into a marina in anything over Force 7.
The process starts with awareness of an adverse weather forecast, and normally there is adequate time to prepare for the conditions. Always write down the forecast and subsequent updates, so you can monitor how the weather pattern develops.
If the wind is forecast to blow directly off the shoreline and there is no significant swell or sea, an option is to anchor close-to-shore, but a disadvantage is the possibility of a wind shift placing you on a lee shore.
A safe, comfortable anchorage depends on finding an inlet or bay largely protected from the ocean swell and seas, suitable for a possible wind shift, and clear of reefs, rocks, moorings or other obstructions. The ideal anchorage also has an easily navigable exit and an alternative nearby bolt hole to go to if necessary.
Explore the general area before anchoring to understand its approaches, layout, depths etc., and record compass courses and gps positions for exiting the bay in poor visibility. Use your radar and plotter during the day to compare exactly how the anchorage looks in reality and appears on screen, because everything looks very different by night.
Consider the placement of other vessels in the anchorage, because them dragging and fouling your anchor, or hitting you, is usually the greatest danger.
We prefer to use just one anchor, as it’s easier to lay and set, avoids issues of anchor chains becoming twisted in wind shifts, and is much easier to retrieve in an emergency.
Our technique is to slowly motor upwind to stop Envoy in the position where we want our anchor to sit, pay out chain until the anchor is almost to the bottom, and then give a short burst of reverse thrust to move Envoy astern at the same speed chain is paying out. We don’t allow the anchor to free-fall, as chain can become tangled around the anchor, or cause damage if obstructed in the anchor locker while falling.
A common method to calculate the required length of chain is adding the maximum water depth at high tide to the distance between the anchor roller and the water, and then multiply that figure by five, six or seven times, depending on the conditions. In very strong winds we lay out as much chain as possible (even up to ten times), keeping in mind the proximity of other vessels and the consequences of a wind shift.
Applying reverse power immediately after lowering the anchor often results in dragging it along the bottom, so we first let Envoy set the anchor using her own weight, allowing the anchor time to settle onto the bottom and dig in properly.
If all is OK after about 15 minutes we motor forward about half the distance of the chain length and let Envoy drift back with the wind to fully dig the anchor in.
We record our GPS position and set our position and depth alarms to monitor any dragging.
In strong winds it’s important to use a heavy-duty, longer-than-usual anchor rode to act as a good spring. We set this up with the snubbing fitting just below water level and several metres of chain hanging on the vessel side of the fitting to increase the spring effect.
If depth, water temperature and visibility allow I check the anchor using a mask and snorkel.
We make preparations for the coming blow, ensuring all gear on deck is securely lashed down, buffers are readily available in case of another vessel dragging into ours, and having a means to cut the anchor chain in an emergency. We leave our tender in the water in case it’s needed, but firmly secure it in the lee of Envoy’s stern.
Now is a good time to plan actions in case of a significant wind shift or a need to move. It’s also a good idea for the captain to get some sleep during the daytime, when others can more easily monitor and handle any situation.
Before dark we rig spotlights, have torches to hand, the radar on standby and ensure the engine is ready to start quickly in case of any emergency arising, such as the need to avoid a dragging vessel or to reduce strain on the anchor in very high gusts. In such conditions I stay in the pilot house, catching a little sleep where possible, but constantly monitoring the situation to react quickly.
When the strong wind arrives it’s usual to see sheets of spray lifted off the surface of the water and wind waves up to about 2-3 feet even in a sheltered bay with little fetch.
Naturally there is some trepidation and a need to maintain a state of high alert, but by following the above procedures we have safely and comfortably anchored though many blows. We have not encountered winds above 70 knots and realise that circumstances may then be very different - the “strength” of wind does not increase in a linear way relative to wind speed, but dramatically more so as the square of the difference. For example to compare the strength of a 40 knot wind with a 20 knot wind:
20 knots squared = 400
40 knots squared = 1600
So a 40 knot wind is 4 times as strong as a 20 knot wind.
Similarly a 90 knot wind is nearly 1.7 times the strength of a 70 knot wind.
I’ll be happy not to experience trying to anchor in those conditions.