Passagemaking with a Nordhavn

Summer 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

In just a couple days Roberta, the doggies, and I, fly to Turkey to start this year’s cruising.

Last year, I predicted my blog would be boring, and I delivered on that promise. This year, I’m predicting the blog will be exciting, and I hope I’m wrong. I’ll talk later in this blog entry about those things which have my stomach in knots.

But first, I have some dull logistical things to cover…

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Conversely, if you like my blog, or think your friends might like the blog, help spread the word. I’d appreciate it if you’d ask them to visit my site, or forward them this link: http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/m/Register.

I’ll be experimenting this year with Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/kensblogdotcom) and Pinterest (#kensblog), neither of which I'm an expert at, so .. no promises. It will be a learning experience.

And, with that said, let’s look at this year’s cruising plans…

Summer 2013 Plan: Turkey, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia

Our big picture plan is to work our way slowly west over the next few years, staying longer where we’re having fun, and moving quickly when we aren’t. That said, we do have a plan for this summer, which starts in Turkey, and finishes in Croatia, with many stops along the way.

I’m very happy to report that…

In 2009 we crossed the Bering Sea in the company of two other Nordhavn boats; Seabird and Grey Pearl. It was the trip of a lifetime, and our hope is to someday reunite the three boats for another big adventure.

Sans Souci, Seabird and Grey Pearl

Happily, I can report that we are now 2/3rds of the way to accomplishing that goal. Our friends Steven and Carol Argosy (Seabird) have been cruising in Thailand, and made the decision to ship their boat to the Med. I’m sure it was a tough decision. From what Steven says, Thailand is a near-perfect cruising ground, with light winds, calm warm water, great diving, beautiful beaches, low prices, etc.

I was a bit of a bad ambassador for Med cruising. When Steven and I would speak, and he would ask about cruising in the Med, I felt under pressure. I wanted to say enough good things that he would join us, but not so many that I’d promise more than the Med could deliver. The Med is a terrific place to cruise, but it does have its challenges. The season is short, the diving mediocre, the prices high, the regulations overwhelming and the winds a nightmare. All of that said, what the Med lacks in some areas, it more than makes up for in others.

Here you see an example of the kinds of emails we were exchanging:

-----Original Message-----

From: Steven Argosy
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 3:57 AM
To: Ken Williams
Subject: Re: Croatia

I will miss this area, but I am sure turkey and Greece have equally good spots. Hope there is some diving over there.

Steven

-----Original Message-----

From: Ken Williams
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2013 7:03 AM
To: Steven Argosy

Subject: Re: Croatia

Do all the diving you can, because in all the years I've spent in the Med, I can't remember ever having a positive diving experience. I'm amazed whenever I see fish on a menu, because, where did they catch it? I haven't seen any swimming.

Cruising the Med is a little like when we were cruising in Japan, with water that has been fished for thousands of years, and there aren't a lot of the critters left swimming. I think of it as a dead sea.

Just as overall, we had a great time in Japan, there are good times to be had in the Med, but most of the fun will come from events ashore, and from the few good anchorages we find. We'll meet some good people and lots of interesting people, and see a lot of history and cultures up close.

But, boating-wise, you are in as good as it gets. I am very jealous.

-Ken W

Seabird lifting onto the freighter in Thailand

Seabird, being lowered into the water in Marmaris Turkey

When Roberta and I transported our boat to Turkey we “cheated” and loaded it onto a freighter, forfeiting our shot at a circumnavigator merit badge. Steven and Carol had the same hesitation about tangling with Somali pirates as we did,and elected to also load their boat onto a freighter, using the same company we did; Seven Stars.

Steven and Carol flew to Turkey ahead of their boat, to explore Istanbul before working their way south to Marmaris to meet the freighter carrying their boat.

When the freighter arrived, they were invited onboard to unload Seabird. After hours of waiting they received word that the unloading had been canceled. There was too much wind. It would be too dangerous to have Seabird dangling off the side of the freighter. Unloading was rescheduled for a couple of days later when the winds would hopefully subside.

Then, the next morning I received this email from Steven:

“… Well, you won't believe this one. My cell phone rang at 1am this morning. It was our agent, and she told us that she was picking us up in 5 minutes because the straps were on the boat and they were launching her right away! We jumped out of bed, still sleepy and rushed over there. The winds were still blowing at 20 kts. They lowered us into the water and Carol and I had to climb down a rope ladder on the side of the ship to the boat, which was moving around in the dark with a 3+ foot chop. We then had to go to the marina in the dark and med moor for only the second time. It was a hairy experience that I hope not to repeat. Anyway, we are all tied up and back in the hotel. It is 5:30am and I am going to bed!

Steven …”

And, while I am talking about transporting boats by freighter…

Check out this article about Yachtpath, another yacht transport company:
http://the-triton.com/article/yacht-path-fails-to-pay-and-yachts-are-arrested.html

I’ve never been a big fan of Yachtpath, having spent nearly four years in litigation with them after a botched delivery of my boat. Theoretically, I won the litigation, although the real winners were the lawyers.

Yachtpath’s failure was a huge disaster for dozens of boats, who happened to be in transit when Yachtpath failed. Their boats were impounded on arrival! I spoke with several owners who were devastated by the loss of their boats. In order to bail their boats out, they had to pay for the transport AGAIN, after having originally paid Yachtpath for the shipping. In some cases this wasn’t enough. I spoke with one yacht owner who couldn’t pay even though they wanted to. Their boat was impounded in Vancouver, and couldn’t be released until ALL owners paid the freight fee. One owner wouldn’t be enough. And, there were impound fees to be paid! A very sad, and expensive, turn of events.

As to my boat, Sans Souci…

At the end of last season Sans Souci was put “on the hard” for storage.

Caption: Sans Souci, hauled out for storage

My belief when putting Sans Souci away was that nothing would happen with the boat for the next six months. I liked the idea that I would have six months of nothingness with respect to the boat, as did my checking account.

However, that was not how it turned out…

I hadn’t thought it was possible to even go onto the boat. I left Turkey with a list of offseason projects, but I had thought they would be done after the boat was unwrapped at the start of the season. That’s not how it worked out. Instead, there has been work going non-stop since I left the boat.

I’m not complaining, and am quite happy with how it turned out, but it was unexpected. Somehow the local mechanics were able to find a way to get access to the boat, and get work done.

I swapped maintenance companies in Turkey at the end of the season, to a company called Moda Yacht. Some maintenance companies are reasonably priced, and do good work, and others charge a fortune while doing poor quality work, or worse. For example, there was a 75’ Nordhavn which sunk in Mexico when a local mechanic used the wrong type of hose and fittings for some critical plumbing. Moda Yacht was a new company to me and I didn’t really want them touching the boat without supervision.

My regular mechanic, Jeff Sanson stayed behind in Turkey, after Roberta and I left, to work with Moda Yacht on putting away the boat for the season. Jeff had great things to say about them. So, when Jeff and I started discussing projects we decided to have some work done. As confidence in Moda Yacht built, one project became another project, and that became a long series of projects. I can't imagine how they were able to work on the boat, from inside the shrinkwrap. It must have been miserable working conditions.

The project that started the ball rolling was one that has been on my list for years.

I’ve had a deck drain that has never drained correctly. It’s not a big deal, but has been frustrating. Various mechanics have tried plunging it, snaking it, and even shooting compressed air into it. I thought this might be a perfect project to test Moda Yacht, and they rose to the occasion. This is the PDF I got back: [CLICK HERE]. They are Turkish, so ignore the occasional typos and misspellings. The bottom line was that I liked how they think, and we kept them busy throughout the summer.

Some of the projects done were:

Replace the tube on the tender, and clean it
Figure out, and resolve, a grey water leak that I’ve had for years
Pressure test the fresh water system, and replace a valve that has been sticking
Move the backup grey water pump (it was in a place where I couldn’t get at it, making maintenance impossible)
Clean the bilges
Clean out the grey and black water tanks
Fix the underwater lights (one bulb not working)
Add an electric valve so that I can press a button and route grey water directly overboard, or into my grey water tank, according to the situation
Replace burnt out LEDs in the electric panel
Get the bottom ready for bottom painting

Here’s something unusual…

An electric motor for the tender?

Sans Souci has two tenders: a big tender (15’) and a little tender (8’.) Our original thinking was that we’d drop the little tender when it is just Roberta and I, and use the big tender when we have guests. Our goal for the little tender was that it would be as light as possible, so that we could easily drag it onto beaches. Therefore, I went with a tiny pull-cord outboard motor. In actual practice, we’ve discovered that we never use the little tender. Once a year I drop it in the water, only to discover that the stupid pull-cord won’t start the engine. Engines like to be run, and they clog up when rarely used. It takes just as much effort to drop the large and the small tender, but two tenders require twice the maintenance of a single tender.

I thought about cutting back to a single tender, but it’s nice having two tenders, so that I have a backup. After doing a little research I found the Torqueedo electric motor. It’s perfect for my use. It is fast to charge, and light enough to be stored in a closet. It will only run for a couple hours, but that’s more than enough to make most runs. We’ll see how it actually works, but my hope is that it will need no maintenance, and that it won’t complain about being rarely used.

A review of my new motor:

http://www.panbo.com/archives/2011/07/the_travel_1003_a_serious_case_of_torqeedo_love.html

And, here's something for the boat-geeks...

Each year, I send the oil from my boat's engines out to be tested. There are four different diesel engines; the two main engines plus two generators. My test results can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

I've been saying that I believe this will be an exciting year for the blog. Why?

I’m never completely comfortable when going someplace new for the first time, and this year we will be cruising places that are unfamiliar. We have cruising guides, and other boaters to talk to, but it’s still tricky going places for the first time. We have at least four new countries we’ll be visiting (Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia). This means four different countries to clear in and out of, and four sets of authorities to deal with.

The biggest concern for me is always: the wind. There’s a lot to be said for “local knowledge.” Everywhere we go we’ll be going for the first time. We’ll be at anchor most of the time on small islands, in anchorages we’ve never seen.

It’s not wind at sea that I worry about, but wind at anchor. I suspect that most people when thinking about world cruising think about the danger of being out in the middle of the ocean, and a huge storm comes up. In reality, large storms are best handled before leaving the dock. If there is a risk of a large storm, the right answer is: Don't go to sea.

The bigger problem that I've had is dealing with the reasonably frequent 25-40 knot winds that we encounter in the Med. Locals know where the good places are to anchor, we don’t. Locals know which direction the wind comes from, what the bottom consists of, the best places to hide, what the weather patterns are. We know none of that. Crusing guides give some information, but I've known them to be wrong, incomplete, or out of date. The wind can sometimes do funny things when sitting at anchor. If you pick the wrong spot, the surrounding terrain can become a funnel, and the wind can literally stack up, then come shooting down the hillside. What might be a 40 knot wind elsewhere can suddenly be a 60 knot wind where the boat is sitting. And, the problem with being at anchor, is that you are close to shore, so there isn't a lot of time to move if anything goes wrong.

There aren’t a lot of marinas along our route, and those that do exist are mostly too small for our boats to enter. Plus, on my boat, we have an extra challenge. Roberta had shoulder surgery this winter. She can’t help tie up the boat. Entering marinas, if there were any, is a huge challenge for us. Ultimately, my biggest worry is always arriving at an island after a long run, fatigued, and finding no good place to anchor. When the wind is high, it only takes one mistake…

Actually, I'm just being paranoid. I know we'll have a great time. But, over time I've found that agonizing over what can go wrong, and making sure I'm over-prepared, has served me better than when I've done the opposite.

Although this year will have technical challenges, the real excitement will come from the places we’ll be visiting. It has always been a dream to cruise the Greek islands on our own boat. After Greece, we will enjoy adventure of a different sort, as we head to Albania, a former communist country, which was effectively closed to the world for fifty years. Then, in Montenegro and Croatia we’ll find hundreds of islands to explore as well as medieval castles and towns to visit. Croatia will have an extra level of interest, in that we'll be arriving within a week or two of their joining the European Union. My guess is that the entry and customs procedures will still be evolving.

This will be a year to be remembered.

Here's a book worth checking out...

From Family to Crew - Book about an Australian family acquiring an N62

There's a new book out, written by an Australian reader of my blog, who purchased a Nordhavn 62. There's always a big gap between "the dream" and "the reality" of cruising. The books chronicles his, and his family's experience, as they buy the boat, take delivery, and plan their initial cruise. Entertaining, and educational, plus 150 pages of color pictures. If interested: http://pendana.net/order_book_now

And, lastly…

Over the last few months we've been accumulating stuff to go to the boat; spare parts, electronics, and more. I knew there was a lot, but when it came time to ship it, the shipment weighed 1,100 pounds!

Carry on baggage? Nah.

Normally, Roberta and I take a TON of stuff with us on the plane. Although we keep a full set of clothes on the boat, there always seems to be spare parts and other stuff that needs shipped.

Above you see that our shipment of parts for the year just arrived at the boat in Turkey. This was exceptionally good news. I always agonize when shipping anything that it will actually arrive. Clearing customs can sometimes be an extreme adventure. Also, interestingly, I can see in the picture that it looks like the shrink wrap may be off the boat Yay!!! The boat will have a fresh coat of bottom paint, and be back in the water by this weekend.

That’s it for this installment. My next blog entry will be from Turkey!

Ken Williams
Nordhavn 68
Sans Souci

PS Here’s an “interesting” email I received from a boater who almost lost their boat during hurricane Sandy.
[Click here]

Start your own blog now! Free!

Comment on: Summer 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:28:33 GMT

Hi Ken. Glad to see you're back on line. I may have swiped the "unsubscibe" link while accessing this on my iphone. Would you make sure I didn't do that ? Josh and Natasha are underway here to Kodiak in their new 52' Nordy. Blew the steering system on the run up the Inside Passage with the attending excitement. Fixing up in Petersburg.

Comment on: Summer 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Tue, 14 May 2013 03:50:04 GMT

SUBJECT: Summer 2013 Hi Ken, You have no idea how excited I was when your email arrived to say your summer season is starting! As a Crew Commander in charge of a Fire Station (and crew)in one of the biggest chemical complexes in Europe i totally agree with you and understand your decision making process when deciding where to anchor. It is far better to try and plan for every eventuality or worst case scenario rather than get caught out and having to make a quick decision which could ultimately end up being the wrong one. Really looking forward to your blog again this summer and I have to admit if I ever get the chance I would own a N63 or N68 with the latter being my favourite. Have a safe summer!! Martin Evans Sent from my iPad

Comment on: Summer 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:10:24 GMT

Ken, First class blog and hugely enjoyable read, thanks for the good links and enjoy your season. Your thinking on expecting the worst and to be as prepared as possible is spot on, that's how you have a great time as a result. A note on diving, you may remember my story where the super yacht Princess Mariana almost crashed into the concrete dock on the Spanish island of Isla de Cabrera when the captain wasn't looking. Well I snorkelled there with hundreds of fish which was a special experience, it's a nature reserve so that may account for why. Regards, Ruaan

Comment on: Summer 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:01:04 GMT

SUBJECT: Blog Great read today Ken....enjoy your summer and be careful out there.

[KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta and I are now back home in Seattle.

I had planned to do one or two more blogs, but nothing blog-worthy happened in the final days of our trip. The season went out with a whimper, not a bang. We stayed at anchor until the last possible moment, only a few miles from the marina. Each morning we would wake and say, "You ready to go to the marina?" "No." "Me neither." Finally, the fun had to stop and it was time to return to reality.

End of the season for Sans Souci. Time to go home.

In preparation for our trip home, we needed to obtain a health certificate for the dogs. We found a vet who spoke ok english, but he insisted we didn't need health certificates. We've done this drill a few times, and are experts on what we need, so we insisted. Arriving at his office, on time for our appointment, he was gone to lunch, and had to be coerced via his cell phone to come in. We then guided him through the paper work, and paid his $15 fee. As we were leaving we asked if he wanted to see the dogs. He looked at us like, "Why would I want to do that?," and we left quickly.

Our last two days on the boat were spent with mechanics. It was a strange feeling. For over three months the boat had been our home. It had transported us safely to some amazing places, and suddenly it wasn't our home anymore.

Putting the boat away for the season

Mike Kronfield, Jeff Sanson

Jeff Sanson, of Pacific Yacht Management watches over our boat in the off season. Twice each year, Jeff Sanson, flies to the boat with his team. Once to prepare the boat for our cruising season, and another to "put the boat away" for the season. Jeff will be assisted this winter by Sanli Gulec, of Moda Yacht

Sans Souci has a seachest, which is central distribution point for sea water, used to cool the hydraulic system, the air condition compressors, and generators. It also provides water to the watermakers. The seachest is fed by dual 3" hoses.

As you can see in this photo, the hoses are partially obstructed by coral.

The strainers themselves were caked with crud. This is surprising in that they were just cleaned a couple weeks earlier.

The seachest was also loaded with crud. I'm not sure I would have been running much longer.

This is the sea water intake, viewed from the bottom of the boat. Lots of crud! I had hoped that the cooler water in the Med (as opposed to Asia), and lack of life in the water, would translate into less clogging of my lines. Wishful thinking.

My watermakers have always been rock-solid and one of the most reliable appliances on the boat. However, this year, the quality slipped. I have two Village Marine 800 gallon-a-day watermakers, both of which ran fine, but produced bad water. In order to have water for showers I tweaked the watermaker to pass through water that it thought was no good, and used the water only for flushing toilets and showers. We drank bottled water.

This is one of the membranes, a long cylindrical filter through which water is pushed at high pressure. I'm not sure how it ocurred, but rust had worked its way inside the membranes. We'll start next year with fresh membranes (and have clean water!)

I insisted on having twin engines, but it does come at a price. One of the downsides of having twin engines, each capable of running my boat at full speed, is that at normal cruising speeds, the engines are lightly loaded. One possible result of under-loading a diesel engine over a long period of time, is that the turbochargers can experience a shortened life. To counter this I run at full throttle 15 minutes a day. In this picture we see one of my turbos, which is now in need of replacement.

One of Jeff's tasks is to exercise all of the various valves and thru-hulls on the boat. Here you see the valve which selects between two sea strainers, and the result when a valve sticks. I prefer doing this exercise when the boat is out of the water. One of my great fears is that someday I'll turn one of these valves, while in the water, and the handle will snap off with water flooding into the boat.

These little pieces of metal, called zincs, are attached to the bottom of the boat, and are my first line of defense against electrolysis. The idea is that if there is electricity in the water, such as someone in a marina with an electrical short, that the zincs will be eaten by the electricity rather than my props or shafts.

Approaching the haul-out lift. The decision to haul-out was a tough one. I've always left my boat in the water during the off-season, but Gocek is prone to rough winters, and the boat took a beating last winter. This is an experiment to see how I like leaving the boat on shore all winter. My goal is that we put the boat away clean and ready to go, and that next year when I return, it will be exactly as I left it.

My bottom paint did an amazing job. Zero growth on the bottom of the boat!

Another experiment -- shrinkwrapping the boat. The boat is freshly washed and waxed. Theoretically, because of the shrinkwrapping, the boat will look identical to when I left it when I return next year. The shrinkwrap was expensive ($4,500).

I had never seen the process before. It's quite a project! Here you see them constructing a netting that goes around the boat, prior to putting on the shrinkwrap.

The Istanbul-based company (www.coverport.com.tr) that "won" the bidding to shrinkwrap my boat was a lot less happy when they physically saw the boat. Sans Souci may only be 68 feet long, but it's a BIG boat.

Using a heat gun to seal the shrink wrap.

The package is wrapped, and all ready to be opened next May!.

Memories Of The 2012 Cruising Season

I apologize for repeating pictures, but as I look at this blog entry, it's depressing to see all of the effort required to keep the boat maintained and prepared for cruising each year.

Therefore, I couldn't let the season end without a few reminders of what makes it all MORE than worthwhile:

Cave exploring and warm crystal-clear water, near Dalyan Turkey.

Making new friends, and seeking lattes in unusual places!.

Exploring hundreds of miles of coastline and islands.

Anchoring in amazing places. Sometimes, having entire bays all to yourself.

Seeing history, up close.

Roberta insisted there be at least one picture of me before she'd approve my sending the blog out.

Dropping anchor in the ancient port of Knidos, just inside the submerged walls.

Does life get much better than this?

Looking Forward

I mentioned at the end of my last blog that our GSSR group (Great Siberian Sushi Run - three boats that crossed the Pacific together via the Bering Sea in 2009) is back in discussions about cruising together. Those discussions are continuing, and it is looking good for the group to reunite. No plans have been made, and it is all just discussion at this point, but the idea tossed around most frequently is to gather in London, in 2014 or 2015, and head north. My fingers are crossed.

The Mandalina Marina, in Sibenik Croatia, will be Sans Souci's base of operations for the 2013 cruising season.

Shorter term, Roberta and I are focused on the 2013 crusing season. Our plan is to traverse Greece and Albania, heading northwest to Croatia. I predict it will be a great year for the blog, and a longer season on the boat. We hope to return to the boat in mid-May and be underway by June 1st.

As always, the blog wouldn't be what it is without all of the assistance and helpful emails I get from all of you.

Thank you, and I am looking forward to the 2013 season!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com

PS You don't need to miss the blog this winter, check out this page for my books:

http://www.lulu.com/kenw

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:14:18 GMT

i have so caught up in your blog and being the noses one that i am i was woundering how did the grey pear catch fire and is the ocean pearl a nordhavn they as well as yall r good people your blogs r great have and will injoy

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:19:44 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta,looked all over to find a place to write to you and eventually found this comments page. My wife and I will be chartering a sailboat in June and will be doing the west coast from Marmaris around to Orhaniya then making our way back past Symi and Rhodes then a few other ports and back to Marmaris. Your blog is so informative and you bring the dream alive for others. Well done. I have started a blog which I took from your site and being a computer dummy, have learned to build it with the great help of John in support. We are keen sailors and keep a holiday home and a yacht (holiday 23) at the Vaal Dam South Africa which is the largest dam closest to our domain in Johannesburg. We recently lost our Boerboel pet dog which was more a child than a dog to us and have not had the opportunity to get away for the past 7 years due to his constant needs with bad back legs but that's another story. We have travelled extensively but always separately to to our Dog's needs so this is a special and exciting break. We hope to see you somewhere on the water in Turkey. We usually say "may you find lots of down wind in your sails " but in your case, this could create lots of smelly diesel fumes so " smooth sailing to you both. Allan and Debbie Rosenberg

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:36:24 GMT

Sorry for crashing your blog, but I just wanted to thank you guys for everything you did with Sierra games. Thanks to you, it was great being a computer gaming kid in the 80s / 90s!

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:25:50 GMT

Hi Ken, I'm a big fan of Sierra games, they meant so much to me when I was younger. So, now I was looking to find something about them on the Internet, and I stumbled upon your sailing blog. It's a real pleasure to read that you're coming to my country, Croatia, the next year. There's a lot to see here, the coast is beautiful, and I hope you and Roberta will enjoy yourselves. And, now for some trivia... did you know that 15 minutes away from your marina in Sibenik, there is a town called Skradin where Bill Gates (really!) used to come for summer holidays?

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:25:13 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta, My wife and I love your blogs and read every one of them. Keep up the good work :) I noticed the growth in your sea chest and intake hoses. We - own a Nordhavn 57 - installed a seperate through hull for the A/C last winter and can report that it has resulted in zero growth in our Sea Chest after a whole season in warm Gulf Water. Another 57 owner did the same thing after a miserable summer in the Bahamas with lots of growth challlenges and has had the same experience (we exchanged ideas the other day and discussed this subject). In addition my fellow N57 owner added fresh water "back flush" that will kill any growth before it can take hold - next on my to do list since I am jealous. The 76 Nordhavn Sheer Madness did this with great success as well. Enough bla, bla from me.... Have fun in Mexico and look forward to your next blog installment

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:50:01 GMT

SUBJECT: Thanks for the blog Hi Ken and Roberta, My husband and I enjoy your blog very much. Being a working stiff I have missed reading some of the emails but plan on revisiting the blog during your off season. We were able to sail quite a bit before kids. My husband navigated and I crewed/provisioned and cooked on many southern Californian to Mexico sailboat races. We now dream of owning a trawler. My husband also cruised for a year from Florida through the Panama cannel after grad school back in the 70’s. After moving to the Northwest in the late 80’s, we just couldn’t get used to the no wind in the summer and freezing sailing conditions up here. We ended up with a wake boarding boat and enjoyed many lake vacations with the kids. I hope someday we can cruise during our retirement……although it just might end up being a trailer able one and exploring the San Juan’s. Oh to have had kids earlier in life and not have to deal with 2 college tuitions! All the best to you and Roberta. Keep up the fun! PS Just had a thought…..you should consider getting a Philips AED for the boat. I believe CostCo sells them on-line. They are rated very high in the industry and have saved many lives. Best regards, Cathy D -------------Response by Ken -- 2012-09-18 Cathy, Prior to us selling our company, Roberta and I had a smaller boat that we could only cruise on weekends. We did that for many years. We bought our trawler within a month of selling the company, and have never regretted it. We do have a Philips defib on board. I took over replacement pads and a new battery this year. Last year, it beeped almost non-stop... Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 18:28:52 GMT

Ken, Thanks for great information and sights this year. Somewhere down the road I will be following in your footsteps, although my San Souci will be slightly less 5th avenue :). I am curious about the "out of water experience" the boat is having. I keep mine out when not in use and added a small vented battery charger as well as a portable air conditioner that works fabulous. They keep the humidity out (I'm in Fla) and usually the boat around 80-82f. All this comes from an outlet at the house. I am anxious about Croatia! There and Greece are/were my absolute treasure vacation spots. Enjoy.

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:31:37 GMT

Thank you, Ken! We always enjoy reading your blog. Glad this was a great season for you and Roberta. Did you hear or experience any of the uprising about the anti-Muslim film in the middle east while you were there? There was supposedly a riot in Istanbul. Be safe, Julie -------------Response by Ken -- 2012-09-16 I was never concerned for safety while in Turkey, anywhere. That said, we would have avoided any protests, and we avoided Eastern Turkey. In a prior blog I said that Turkey was a little "too good to be true," and I meant it. I don't understand how Turkey has managed to avoid the unrest that exists in all the surrounding muslim countries. My hope is that over the next five to ten years, Turkey's success spreads to its neighbors, but it wouldn't surprise me if things skid the other way around. On the positive side, I googled to see what protests there were in Istanbul, and the first news story that popped up had this headline: "Istanbul sees peaceful protest over anti-Islam film." Perfect. I'd say I am cautiously optimistic. -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:17:53 GMT

Thanks for another great year, Ken! As you say, good for you, boring for us; but I don't think there have ever been more beautiful photos, either. Nor do I recall seeing a photo of Sans Souci out of the water before; I bet they felt a little less smug about winning the bid! Don't hesitate to entertain us with maintenance details; I for one love the technical stuff. London would be incredible.... Can't wait to for Greece in the meantime, though, and may the marina treat her well over the winter. ------------Reponse by Ken - 2012-09-16 My biggest fear, with Sans Souci in Shrink wrap, is the humidity inside the boat. They are putting fans to keep the air moving, but I'm not sure that moving around the humidity is much better than letting it sit. Also, my first understanding was that the boat could just sit there, and now I have people going onto the boat every week to charge the batteries, and air it out. Ask me again in May, but thus far, I'm not that enamored with haul-out as an option. Nothing is ever easy with a boat. Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] End of the 2012 Cruising Season

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 18:20:22 GMT

Great blog Ken. Glad you had a good time. I especially liked seeing all of the pics regarding your layup process. Nice to see someone a little bit more paranoid about seacocks than me. ----------Response by Ken -- 2012-09-16 Thank you!

[Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Sans Souci is currently at anchor, only about 10 miles from Gocek, where this season's adventure began. We'll hang out here for a couple more days, then when we have no other choice, we'll head into port, and this year's cruising will end.

The season did throw a few curve balls at us, right at the end...

At the end of my last blog, we were anchored in our favorite anchorage of the trip, near the town of Bozburun. For four glorious days we had the bay to ourselves, and it was cruising at its best.

Then, a couple of boats arrived, and set up camp next to us. The two boats were traveling together, and wanted to anchor side by side. The problem was that there was only room for one of the two boats on my port side. In order to cram in, one of the boats dropped their anchor over mine. I saw it happening, and ran out on the bow to warn the other captain.

He said, "No problem. Leaving early tomorrow morning." I asked what would happen if I wanted to leave, and he said, "Just tell me. I will help."

There was no stopping him from dropping the anchor.

I started emailing friends for advice. Here's what my Turkish friend Alvi advised:

Ken,

When your anchor is “under” another’s chain, the way to pull it without the other one moving is (In the Greek islands many boats would not move and expect you to do it this way !) to start pulling your chain until your boat is on top of the other boat’s chain. Obviously your windlass will have quite a difficulty at this point as you can’t lift the other boat’s chain (His chain is very tight at this point) and your anchor. What the other boat does is to release a lot more chain and give a lot of slack to his chain so that you can lift your anchor WITH his chain until your anchor is up just below your bow and his chain will be on top of your anchor. At that point you will need a rope, where you attach one end to a cleat on one side of your bow, extend the rope until the loose end reaches below the chain and take the loose end of the rope, under the chain (you will need to use your boat hook to retrieve the loose end), and attach it to a cleat on the other side of the bow. Then you release your anchor a few meters. Since the rope will hold the chain of the other boat, your anchor will go down but the chain will stay in the air. And therefore your anchor will get rid of the chain. Then you release one end of the rope and let go of the chain. And you are free ! It seems complicated but once you experience it it is quite easy. Also, you might be the one who is on top of another boat who wants to leave before you (in many Greek islands, you can’t avoid being in this situation) and then you will have to let go of a lot of chain until the other boat does the same and once your chain is free, then you take the slack back and make it tight again. Of course, you have to start your engines before doing this and be ready to keep your boat not hitting the wall behind you as your anchor will not be holding you anymore until you tighten it again. I hope this makes sense.

Alvi

Not liking that answer, I emailed another friend, David. I liked his answer a bit better:

Ken,

It is usually easier to raise your anchor if his chain is over yours rather than under it. Start pulling anchor and slowly ease the boat up so the anchor chain is being lifted mostly vertically rather than in front of the boat. As you pull up his chain will fall off of your chain because of gravity. By the time your anchor starts to come out of the bottom his chain will be past your anchor - I am sure this is now moot since he has already been gone but this has worked for me several times.

David

David's answer sounded much better than Alvi's. Although, at this point, it was all irrelevant. In the morning, my neighbor would leave, my chain would be free, and I'd be free to depart.

As the next morning arrived, my neighbor was still there. We waited patiently until noon. It was the Captain who had fibbed to me, so I decided it was time to speak with the owner. We were watching the weather, and a meltemi was predicted for the next day (a windstorm). When I saw the owner standing on the flybridge of the problem boat, I shouted over, "Do you speak english?" He answered, "Yes of course."

I shouted back, "What time do you think you'll be leaving? Our chains are tangled." He said he wasn't sure, and I said, 2pm? 3pm? 4pm? He answered, "We'll be long gone by 4pm for sure." I did some mental math, and where we were going next, where I thought we'd be safe from the Meltemi, was only a two hour run away. This worked.

As one would expect, at 4pm, instead of my neighbor leaving, two more boats, big gulets, loaded with friends of his, anchored in front of us!

Our perfect anchorage was invaded by a group of: two large boats, and two huge gulets. This was one big group, with at least fifty kids, all of whom were very noisy.

It was immediately clear that our neighbors were not going to leave. Roberta and I thought about going over and asking for help untangling the anchors, but it was already late in the day. The storm wasn't scheduled to hit until 3pm the next day. We would depart in the morning one way or the other.

Helping us sleep was this email from my Turk friend Alvi:

Ken,

The forecast looks like the you will have very strong winds (25-30kts) even below Datca line and the winds come head on to where you are anchored. Though i am sure your anchor has a great hold there, i would move...

Alvi

I wrote to tell him that we were going to move, one way or the other the next morning. This prompted another Alvi email. I think he was worried that I wasn't getting the message that I was in the wrong place to greet a storm.

Ken,

You are at very shallow waters and even if the boat whose chain is possibly on top of yours does not move you can easily get your anchor up with the method i have described you and the boat's crew will help you all the way as they have to yield. it will be a good practice for you to get out of a cross chain situation. And when and if the wind goes up to 30kts, i would not want to be trapped under another boats chain, with three or more boats, med moored and facing their sides to the wind. if anything goes wrong you would quickly run out of options since you are already at shallow waters. My point is, i would get out of that situation as quickly as possible.

Alvi

Roberta and I did not sleep well that night. I was awake at 5:30am, watching for any sign of movement from the boat next door. At 8am, I saw the captain sitting on the top deck. I shouted across, "I would like to leave now." "When?" he answered. "Now," I said. He didn't seem to be getting the message, so I jumped in the tender and went to his boat.

He greeted me at the swim step and said, "Why do you want to leave?" "A meltemi is coming," I explained. He said, "Yes. Your boat is fine. If you leave here, you will have a major problem." I said, "You really think this is a safe place?" ... "Yes," I have been here many times. You are safe here. The wind will stop tomorrow, and we both can go. But, if you really want to go, we can do that"

This rang true, so I went back to our boat, to discuss it with Roberta. We thought again about Alvi's emails. We had only a two hour run to a safe anchorage, and there was no wind. It was time to leave. Our neighbor's credibility was not high.

I went back to our neighbor's boat, and said, "We are leaving now. I need help." The neighboring captain was actually a really nice guy. Captains are at the mercy of what the owner wants to do. I do believe that both the owner and the captain believed what they said, when they said it to me. The Captain actually seemed to feel some guilt. He said he would be happy to help, and took his tender personally to retrieve my lines to shore. He did mention that his goal was to do this in a way that would not wake the owners.

As I started pulling the anchor, I kept repeating to myself, "Dear anchor, I have always treated you well. This is the time to repay me. PLEASE do not be tangled."

It didn't work...

Sure enough, once I was down to 30 feet of chain out. The windlass ground to a halt. No more chain was coming up. My anchor was tied to his chain. The other captain looked seriously depressed. He would need to start his engines to release his chain, waking the boss. To his credit, he never complained, he just rushed back to his boat, sending his helper back with the tender. As he took the tension off his chain, mine suddenly came up. In a minute, there it was! My anchor, and his chain.

We solved it slightly differently than Alvi had recommended. We tied a line from my bow to the roll bar at the end of my anchor. I then lowered my anchor six feet, and his chain fell off. After all the tension, it was no big deal. We were free!

As we exited the bay, we were immediately slammed

For the first hour of our two hour run, we would be into the wind, and for the second hour, the wind would be behind us. The wind was immediately at 25 knots, and then climbed to 35 knots. We were getting bumped around, but it really wasn't bad. Nordhavns are made for days like this. We took great pleasure in being the only boat we saw. Others were in port and we were having a nice cruise. The only excitement was that the bimini top on Sans Souci suddenly made a very loud noise. One of the supports for it had come apart. With some creative use of duct tape, I was able to stabilize the top.

As we turned the corner, putting the wind behind us, I saw this catamaran heading into the wind. I tried to call him on the radio to see if he wanted some cool pictures of his boat, but the light wasn't right to get good pictures, and besides, sailors never seem to listen to their radios. He did not respond.

Our expectation was that our anchorage would be calm...

We dropped anchor at a bay called Buzukkale. We had been there on our northbound trip, and had fond memories. We suspected it might be a bit windy, but the weather report showed the winds as only 15-20 knots in the bay, and calming the next day.

Our nice calm anchorage at Buzukkale.

Instead of the anchorage being calm, the wind was running 25-35 knots, and seemed to be planning to stay that way.

Here's some video I shot. To view the video, click this link:

http://vimeo.com/48648073

Video is never quite as exciting as the real thing, particularly when I shoot it. And, in this case, the video isn't great because the wind stepped on my narrration. I wouldn't have uploaded it, except that it does show how rough our "protected" anchorage was.

You can also see that I chose to anchor alone, far from shore. Most of the boats you see in the video are stern tied. We probably also should have stern tied, but, as you can see in the video, I didn't want to try stern tying with such high wind.

The high winds continued for two days, and were consistently higher than forecast. The good news was that we saw the worst of it during our first few hours. Once we saw that the boat held solid at 35 knots, there was no need to stay up all night and stand anchor watch. Most of the wind over the next couple of days stayed in the 20-30 knot range. We wouldn't be able to swim, but we did tender to dinner, which was exciting.

Finally, after being beaten up for a couple days, the weather report was starting to look cheerier. We had planned a stop at the town of Marmaris, but were now thinking it was time to start heading to our home port. We made a 60 mile passage back to the bay of Fethiye.

The ride was a strange one. We had fairly strong (20-25 knot) winds on our port side the entire time, which the boat handled just fine, although the steering got a little strange. In order to run 90 degrees, I had to steer to 105 degrees, a 15 degree difference! I couldn't account for it, and spent most of the trip worried. My only theory is that the wind was pushing Sans Souci's rear harder than the bow. The wind was trying to turn us to port, so I had to steer to starboard.

As soon as we neared our destination, and altered course, the boat returned to normal steering. We've seen much bigger winds, and much higher waves, without the same issue, so I'm a bit stumped.

You aren't there, until you are there

As we were congratulating ourselves for completing a tough-ish ride, we had another minor incident.

Sans Souci has twin engines, whereas the standard version of our boat has only one. It's a long story, but essentially it comes down to my wanting twin engines for added tight-quarters maneuverability, and for redundancy.

Each of Sans Souci's engines have the horsepower required to run the boat at full speed. This is normally a good thing, but there is one negative. Diesel engines do not like running at low RPMs for extended periods, lightly loaded. When we cruise long distances, each of my two engines is only running at about 35 to 40% of its power potential. I spoke with the engine's manufacturer, and they said it would not be a problem, as long as once a day I throttle the engines up to full power for 15 minutes. It's like letting a lion out of its cage once a day, just to let it get a little exercise. Who wants a grumpy lion?

As usual, I throttled up the engines, which went well. Their temperature went up, from 181 degrees to 195 degrees, as expected. However, when I put the throttles back to where they belonged, the starboard (right) engine was suddenly at 149 degrees. I put it in idle, and the temperature dropped to 123 degrees. This had not happened before, and my best guess was "blown thermostat." I quickly sent an email to my mechanic saying, "Is it ok to run the engine at such a low temperature? " He will be here next week, and I only have ten miles left to run. I am more than capable of swapping a thermostat, and have spares on board, but... if Jeff will be here next week, why not let it be his problem? The answer came back, "You'll be fine." Right answer.

Sans Souci drops the anchor, for the last time this year. Several times.

Roberta and I are now skilled at stern tying. We back to shore, and tie the boat up, in minutes. Or, so we thought. What we didn't know what that the boat gods thought we were getting a bit too cocky, and needed a refresher course on humility.

Returning to our favorite anchorage near Gocek, we sought an empty place in the wall, where there were bollards (the bright orange balls, which are somewhat easier to tie to, and more reliable, than rocks.) We found our place, and positioned to drop the anchor. At 200 feet from the wall, the depth was still 250 feet deep! That wasn't going to work. We nudged backwards until we saw a depth of 150 feet, nervous we were getting too close to the wall, and dropped the hook. However, the wind had blown us such that we weren't centered correctly to the bollards anymore. So, up comes the anchor, and we tried again. This time we thought we nailed it, and I even swam to shore with a line, but when we tried to tighten, we decided the anchor wasn't stuck. We were too close to the wall.

We moved the boat to a different location, and nailed it on the first try.

Sans Souci, tied to shore, near Gocek Turkey.

After a few tough days, we are reminded why we love boating.

This is our view sitting in the hot tub, drinking coffee, in the morning. Not too shabby!

Taking the tender to lunch, with Roberta driving. I'm babysitting the dogs.

Tied up at the dock, at the restaurant. Gotta love that water!

This is the market boat. It makes a turn through the anchorage a few times a day. There is also a bread lady in the mornings, and another boat selling fish. I notice one boat at anchor that I'd swear was here a couple months ago when we departed. I could easily envision a summer sitting here quite happily.

An, in closing

Although we'll be in port starting on Monday, I do expect to do one or two more blogs, to talk about the process of "putting Sans Souci away" for the season.

Although there were some tense moments at the end, this was one of the best years ever on Sans Souci. We will be heading next year to Greece and Croatia, and I'm expecting that the year will be less fun (but, still fun), and that the weather much more of a factor. Roberta read me an excerpt from a book, yesterday, saying that Croatia had the most "unsettled" weather in the Med, and has over 50 thunder storms a year. Ouch. The good news: It will make for a great blog!

On a much happier note, we had an inpromptu gathering yesterday, via speaker phone, of the GSSR partipants (the two boats we crossed the Bering Sea with in 2009). None of us would have dreamed that our boats would become so scattered apart. Seabird (Steven and Carol Argosy) have their boat in Thailand. The Grey Pearl (Braun and Tina Jones) caught fire, and was replaced by the Ocean Pearl, now cruising in Maine. And, as you know Roberta and I have Sans Souci in Turkey, working our way West across the Med.

The topic of discussion, was, "How do we get the team together again?" We had the trip of a lifetime, and would like to find some similar challenge, perhaps one that none of us would consider doing alone. Steven and Braun are hatching an idea that they didn't want to tell me about, yet. I also gave them some ideas of mine. Gathering in one spot, three boats, which are literally a world apart, is virtually impossible.

But, hey! They said that about us crossing the Bering Sea the wrong direction, and we did it!

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com

PS If you are new to the blog, check out this page for my books:

http://www.lulu.com/kenw

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:19:07 GMT

Ken Just a quick word that we really like your Blog, and that your praise of Turkish waters has brought us to Feiyhe now awaiting our charter to start next week. thanks for all the sharing --------Response by Ken -- 2012-09-11 Great! Once you get away from Fethiye, and out on the water, you are in for an amazing time. There are a few good, upscale, restaurants, on the waterfront at the west end of the beach in Fethiye. They looked interesting but we were never ever to check them out. We mostly ate at a restaurant, at the east end of the beach, that was the last restaurant prior to the marina -- called Iskele. Nice people, good service, and "ok" food. You are an easy drive to Oludeniz, which is worth checking out. But, as I said, the good times don't really begin until you get out on the water. Enjoy! -Ken W PS We just arrived back in Seattle, and already miss Turkey.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 21:15:41 GMT

Thank goodness for all of us that you both love to contribute to this blog. My wife and I have appreciated it for some time now (since GSSR) and look forward to your further adventures (particularly excited for Croatia next season). Thanks so much, and best wishes to you both. Cedric PS: bootie sock, ken, bootie socks. LOL -------Response by Ken --- 2012-09-02 Cedric, I just received an email from another boater cruising in Croatia saying that what Roberta read about the weather is hogwash. They said Croatia is wonderful cruising and we should expect to have good weather most of the summer. Great! As to the socks... you've caught me! I have now officially given up all dreams of being a GQ cover model. Fashion is not my strongest attribute. Grin.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:06:23 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta, Interesting post as always and enjoyed the Video ! I’ve been anchored in 35knots on my 25Tonne flybridge cruiser, and it was hard to walk around outside safely, never mind make a Video ! Just shows what an extra 75 Tons will do ! With each of the three GSSR boats in such diverse and beautiful cruising spots you must be tempted to consider some form of a boat swap/visit program? Since you all know each other well, are all experienced Nordhavn owners, and presumably trust each other’s boating skills, then why not let the each of the three GSSR crews cruise the other two’s boats for a month or so to experience their diverse geographical locations. I think it would be a great way to explore the region the boat is in, without having to drive your boat all the way there, and also it would be good to get the perspective of running the other’s boat. On the logistical side the joining crews provision the boat and fill the tanks, and the owners would need to develop a set of detailed handover and real world running notes. Anyhow if that is too radical just have the others over for a cruise onboard. Either way it would be great to get a taster or refresher of the area ! Happy cruising. --------Response by Ken --- 2012-09-02 Bill, A cool idea, but it will never happen. None of the three of us charter our boats, and all consider the boats like our homes. I'm practical and would certainly consider it, but I'd never sell Roberta on the idea. I remember when we were building our boats I was speaking with another person building an N68 at the same time. I asked Roberta if I could pitch him on the idea of setting the two boats identically and placing one in the South Pacific (or Caribbean) and one in the Med, and just taking turns on the boats. She wouldn't even consider the idea. The boat is personal to her in a way I'll never understand. Oh well.... -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:27:00 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta and dogs, Well, you are complaining about your swivel! Are you substituting shackles? For the crossed chains I was once again thinking of your deck crane. I'd have tied a few feet of rope to the cranes hook and then placed an open ended hook on the rope's end. Then, I'd hook and lift his chain just before your bow would overrun it. Tying the rope to the Rocna's bale was good. Rocna also supplies two holes on the far end of their anchor for the attachment of lines or a second anchor in a big storm. They offer various solutions on their website. Those folks would have driven me crazy. The video was excellent. When do you use your anti-roll plates for stability at anchor? I guess you folks could consider the Nortwest Passage on Oceal Pearl to get them back to the West Coast? I sure would stick with the Med for a few years. I hoe that you visit Dubrovnik. Ron+ ------Response by Ken --- 2012-09-02 Hi Ron! I didn't realize that Rocna had a section on their site with tips. I'll check it out. The swivel problems seem to have gone away. I received an email from a reader of my blog who advised that the swivel was installed upside down. I mentioned it to the Turkish mechanic who installed the swivel, and I'm not positive, but I think he reversed it while I wasn't looking. Anyway, the swivel seems to be working perfectly now. I do have a problem gettig the anchor off the boat, in that the swivel is catching a rail, but I've got that one figured out, and am currently happy. As to the "flopper stoppers" -- We haven't been in a rolly anchorage yet! We've had every flavor of anchorage you can imagine: windy, tight, wonderful, crummy, good holding, bad holding, etc, but no rolly ones. The roll happens when you have an anchorage open to big swell. Thus far we haven't had to contend with that. I thought about the Northwest Passage for us. Steven and Braun are together concocting some idea to sell me on. One of Roberta's and my theories is that the Northwest Passage is on the list. It's a remote theory though. My #1 guess is that they'll lobby me to head north to England, Ireland, Sweden, etc. I'm a warm weather guy. Without the incentive of traveling with the other GSSR boats, I'll never head that direction. It would be nice to do a big adventure again. Without them pushing me out of my comfort zone, the blog is going to get pretty boring over the next few years. I just reserved my moorage in Croatia: Mandalina Marina, about 50 miles north of Split. I'm no expert on Croatian geography, so I don't know where that is in relation to Dubrovnik. We were in Dubrovnik, as tourists, a decade ago, but it will be much different on a boat. Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 13:14:47 GMT

Hello, Ken and Roberta I have been reading and enjoying two blogs about travel in Turkey: yours and one by Leo Woodland. Both feature unique means of travel: yours by boat and Leo's by bicycle. I love the notion of seeing a country more closely than a hotel stay in its capital city would afford. I suppose it is a stretch to think that you would have sought out Mr. Woodland's blog on your own, but he writes well and has your eye for seeing relevant differences in a foreign culture. My reference to Leo's blog begins where he enters Turkey, but there is much that precedes it, since he left from Toulouse, France. Being a bike nut as well as s boat nut, I regard the crazyguyonabike website as my favorite magazine for pleasure reading. I have not found its equivalent in the world of boating. Have you? http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=299196&v=k Neal Fridley Port Angeles WA -------------Response by Ken -- 2012-09-02 Neal, Thank you for the link. I read a couple of entries, then got lost and confused on the website. Great writing! I'll go back and see if I can figure how to register for Leo's updates. Thank you.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Working our way back to port

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:25:48 GMT

As always, wonderful to hear of your trip and adventures. Thanks for sharing with us! Great photos too!

[Kensblog] Contest Results (from yesterday)

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

This is a short blog entry, just to follow up on yesterday's contest...

Before I announce the winners, here is a bit of an update on our perfect anchorage.

As you can see, our anchorage has gotten more crowded. The picture greatly exaggerates how far these boats are from my bow. The white boat is perhaps 50 feet from me, at most.

After four days of bliss, our anchorage welcomed two more boats yesterday. We're not complaining as they have provided some entertainment. It was interesting watching the process as these boats, with crew, entered the anchorage. We didn't see the passengers (couples with LOTS of kids) until after the boats were fully tied up. Instead we saw the crew, who attached the stern lines, dropped the tenders, placed in the water all the water toys, including the toy rafts and floaty rings for the kids, and spread towels on the bow for sunning. Once everything was perfect, the passengers came out to play. I was jealous! (but, not so much that I want crew...)

The bad news is that I am 99% certain the white boat put his anchor rode across mine. I can't leave until he leaves. If I try to pull my anchor, I'll also pull his. I pointed it out as he was dropping his anchor, and luckily he spoke english. He said he was leaving this morning, as had been my intention. It is currently after noon, and he is still here. I asked him, and he says he still plans to leave, but that if I am in a hurry, he can let out more chain. That comment makes no sense to me. How would him putting out more chain help resolve that his chain is on top of mine? Oh well... I'd rather not find out. He'll leave soon (I hope!), and then I'll follow. In the worst case, we get another night here, which is not a bad thing. I do sympathize with him. He has passengers on board, and they are his #1 priority. He can't leave until his passengers say, "Let's go." If he doesn't leave tomorrow morning early, it will be interesting, and I'll have something to blog about!

And, on a different topic...

I received this email from Steven Argosy in reference to my picture yesterday, of sand(?) on my swimstep, from dissolved ice:

Have you tasted the crud that was left on your platform from the melted ice? It looks a little like salt, but there is only one way to tell. Since you have been drinking it all of this time, a little taste cannot possibly hurt. You should get a sample tested if it is not salt. It could mean it is something in your tanks deteriorating.

I liked the pictures in the blog. I especially like that anchorage. It reminds me of the San Blas Islands. Steven

Both Roberta and I tasted the crud, and I'd say the result was "inconclusive." It was salty, but not that salty. It had not ocurred to me that it might be indicative of some other problem. I'll melt up a fresh batch and take the residue back to Seattle for analysis.

Lastly, before I announce the winners...

One very mild problem I am having is balancing the boat. This is the first time, that I can remember, where I have run the boat so low on fuel. Sans Souci holds 3,000 gallons of fuel, which will takes us somewhere between 1,900 and 3,000 miles, depending on the speed we run at. As of today, we are down to 800 gallons of fuel. We really haven't gone very far; only around 500 miles. But, we've had the generator running around the clock for over two months. At a gallon per hour, that's nearly 1,500 gallons of fuel!

Anyway, fuel is connected to the balance issue, in that each gallon of fuel weighs approx. 7.1 gallons. Three thousand gallons of fuel, at 7.1 pounds per gallon, means Sans Souci carries 21,000 pounds of fuel! (10 tons). That's a lot of weight! With a big chunk of that weight gone, Sans Souci is sitting higher in the water.

Normally, I keep the boat balanced, and sitting upright, by moving fuel from place to place around the boat. This isn't normally a big deal, and in fact, I rarely need to make an adjustment. The tender sits on the port side, and weighs fifteen hundred pounds, so when I drop it in the water, I'll usually move some fuel, to offset its weight, and keep us perfectly vertical. That's it.

The current situation is aggravated by a problem I have with the fresh water system. Sans Souci has two water tanks; port and starboard. There is a valve that flips between them, and chooses where I want to take water from. Unfortunately the valve has stopped working, and I can no longer pull water from my starboard tank, which is full. The bottom line: With the tender off the port side (reducing weight), the water tank perpetually full on the starboard side (adding weight), and not much fuel to level things out, Sans Souci has developed a slight list to starboard. My guess is that I could solve the water valve issue if I really wanted to, or patch around it somehow, but a) It isn't really that bad, b) Jeff (my mechanic) will be on the boat in a couple weeks, and is bringing a new valve, c) We're not leaning very badly. Most people wouldn't even notice. And, d) Hey! Sailboaters live like this all the time! I don't want them thinking us powerboaters are wimps.

The bigger issue is that fuel might be what ultimately ends the season. I don't want to take on fuel if I can avoid it. I like the idea of the boat close to empty when it is hauled out for the winter. I want to have just enough to make it to Greece, at the start of the season next year, where I can buy fuel for a third to half the cost of fuel here in Turkey. I'm not worried... it will be fine.

Which brings us to the contest!

It's a lifeboat!!! (details below)

The first correct response, was by: Tony E! I'm sending him a copy of my book about the GSSR and our trip across the Aleutian Islands.

I'm also sending a book to Bill P, because he responded just minutes after Tony, and had a good explanation of what that thing was:

I am sure that others will explain it much better than I, but since the Vessel is some form of Tanker carrying either Chemical or Petroleum products, there is the need for a safe, quick and fully protected escape route from the Tanker for the crew should there be a fire, or explosion and fire, of the cargo and the vessel.

That is provided by the item in the picture which is a Fully Enclosed Free-fall Lifeboat.

Should there ever be the call to abandon ship the crew will muster inside the lifeboat and it will be released, and free-fall with gravity down the guide way, and then off the ship into the sea.

I believe this type of Lifeboat will have a specific survival rating for how long it can survive within a fire on the sea surface, whilst it is able to move away under its enclosed engine power.

The lifeboat will obviously have water, sustenance, medical kit and life preserving apparatus, all of which will be checked, serviced and certified on a regular basis.

Also, I believe that the second red boat on the Starboard Side is their Man Overboard boat, that would be set down if there is a need to recover a crew or any person or object from the sea.

Just as an aside when I did my Safety Training and we were brought into the Lifeboat, (Davit deployed), for familiarisation and training, the instructor asked us how we felt about it. Quite a telling question. He followed that up by telling us if we ever had to use it for real, there is a good chance we may never survive.

Not what you want to hear really, but very thought provoking.

Happy Cruising !
Regards, Bill P PS [....] did anyone comment on your picture of Roberta & Chris at the cafe ? You must have stitched two photos together or had an amazing double exposure; in any case you seem to have dissected Roberta in half !

Great shame you did not take your boat through Malaysia, Singapore and Phuket, Thailand; sure you would have loved it; although understand your reasons.

I parked next to Seabird and Grey Pearl in Port Dickson, Malaysia last year, on my trip North to Phuket, although I didn't actually get a chance to meet up with them, believe they were travelling onshore, and we were only in for a quick overnight stop. It was fun though to get up close to the boats after following the Great Siberian Sushi Run (aka Wrong Way gang !)

On the "funniest" comment, the truth is... none of them made me laugh. That said, I am selecting a winner, because I'd rather "move on." Therefore I'll pick: Colin, who said, "Mother-in-law's stateroom!" Congrats Colin, you also get a book!

Thank you to everyone who participated! I received several hundred responses. Most just said "lifeboat" but some took the time to provide a bit more information, and I really enjoyed reading all the emails. I've pasted a bunch of the responses below. Form your own opinion. Some have good information, and some don't. Most are about the contest, but there's also some great feedback on the firefighting in my prior blog entry. All are interesting, and collectively, they give some insight into who reads the blog... so, enjoy!

That's it for this non-blog entry. Thank you everyone!

Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

A SAMPLING OF CONTEST RESPONSES

The small boat on the rear of the tanker is a life raft for the crew. They are designed for severe weather to keep the crew protected.

I really enjoy reading your blog, K

It was a Japanese freighter with a whaleboat on it's stern.

Sincerely, Randal

Lifeboat.

Most expensive waterslide ride in the world.

North Korean rocket.

Fred

Ken, The captains wife is onboard obviously. When you pass by those beaches with all those beautiful girls and wonderful shopping its a mad rush to the sport boat, first one there gets to fly to shore, expand their impressions for a few moments then fly back to the ship. This way the captain doesn't have to explain why the ship stopped to his bosses. Either that or its the Starbucks Express to get your favorite spot.

Enjoy!, JC

Hallo ken

I will not be the first or the last to tell you that the orange boat on the back is a rescue boat.

I have seen this on many boats and even on a training site. The boat is being launched in the water and is supposed to be watertight.

Greetings fom the netherlands, Johan

Ken, I believe that would be a lifeboat in the launcher on the centerline and a chase boat or rescue boat on deck...

Great question, Dan

Its a standard commercial life boat! do I get the book??? :o)) enjoy your cruise as much as I enjoy your posts! Regards, Rob!

Hi Ken,

It's a lifeboat! You get in and release it and it drops into the water, submerging at first, then pops back up to the surface. David

Hi Ken,

I think it is a MOB boat "man overboard boat" A lot of the north sea fishing boats have them.

I love your blog keep them coming. Safe winds, George

Ken, The boat dead center above the stern is a lifeboat. It's mounted on a quick deployment rack that literally shoots the boat off in a big hurry. The lifeboat is fully enclosed and takes a bit bit of a dive when launched. I have not ridden one but have seen a video of a launch. Must be quiet a ride for the crew! Steve

Hi Ken, They are actually more common than you might think and we see them on many of the tankers that call in California. It’s made by a company called the Verhoef Aluminum Scheepsbouw, located in the Netherlands. They specialize in totally enclosed, free-fall lifeboats, which are designed to get passengers quickly and safely away from danger, from sinking ships to burning off-shore oil rigs. Here is a link to their website if you want to know more about it: http://www.verhoef.eu/index_industry.html Regards, Tom

it is a emergency rescue boat, fully enclosed to be launched from the stern in case of an emergency

but as a joke i would say it is a little red submarine!!

Met vriendelijke groet, Willem

It is a lifeboat. If it is necessary to abandon ship, the upper arm is rotated down to form a ramp, the crew climbs in, straps in and the boat is released to slide down the ramp into the water. It is like a Disneyland ride but much shorter. Love your blog. John

Free fall life boat.....and i think you would rather freefall down the waterslide, than in this thing :-) . Used for many years on oilrigs . If you ever get to Northern Europe/Scandinavia....wich I am sure you eventually will....I "insist" you visit the Norwegian city of Stavanger and it's Oilmuseum (my homecity) . The area, on the Westcoast of Norway, have as many Islands as days of the year....365 ! Thanks for the excellent blog! I have been following you, and your companions, since you left for the Aleutians ! No name given

You can see these on drilling rigs as well. The profusion of piping said it was more than just petroleum. I’ve seen that before, but I’m not sure where. Oh, did you note the water monitors to fight fires? After sending you a quick response to win the pot of gold, I went to Google and if you put in “ship Zuga Istanbul” you get her pedigree. Were I not lazy, I could have checked her AIS listing which should reveal all. Can you imagine trying to trace a problem in the piping? Potential Simon customer? Is there a gross oversimplification of the problem with Simon? Ron

That is a life boat for the ships personnel to escape in rough weather in the unfortunate event of a case where the ship is goping down. Note that it is covered so it can take a wave going over it & not fill with water, offering protection to the crew in rough weather. So it is a life boat. Mike

That thing on the stern is a fully enclosed life boat. But when not in use as a life boat it can be used as a submarine because of the great height it falls it reaches a dept of 60 to 90 ft when it comes off its pulpit. There is enough air inside for about 20min. but one can add more time if you bring suba tanks.They are made near anacortes wa. and one can see them being tested before they are shipped .

It's an escape Lifeboat--able to submerse on falling and pop back up to the surface. Ed

That is a very seaworthy lifeboat capable of launching under all conditions. Rich and Anne

Hi Ken, It's a lifeboat! Must be a scary ride down, a bit like your waterpark escapade! All the best, Colin

Hi again Ken, Having now read further down your blog, I guess that little boat is launched so that when you are snorkelling or scuba diving, you can hide under it. This will prevent you from being scooped up and dumped into a raging forest fire!! All the best, Colin

Ken, I very much enjoy the blog. The boat in the picture is a rescue pod to be used to abandon ship in a hurry. it can be launched by releasing the locks and sliding nose first into the water.

Richard

Hi Ken, I am totally convinced this is a life raft. The apparatus hold it is for rapid deployment is emergencies. You just pull the pin, so to speak, and it drops in to the ocean.

In respect to your first Sans Souci, Nordhaven 62, was that a dry exhaust or wet exhaust vessel? Can one have keel cooling in combination with wet exhaust? Love your new boat!

regards, James

It is a free fall lifeboat. 2nd funny/wrong answer coming up - if creative juices get flowing. May have to wait until afternoon yard work dwindles down and beer has been consumed. And I guess this is a perfect opportunity to thank you for sharing. Absolutely love and enjoy reading your blog. Thanks again!

the boat from james bond in diamonds are forever

doug

Ken, We see those sorts of lifeboats frequently here on the Columbia River.

Cheers!, Douglas

Ken, The vessel pointing down is a crew lifeboat. Pull the pin, lock, and away you go when the abandon ship order is given.

Robert

Hi Ken, It's a rescue pod for an oil rig. I saw a couple being transported recently on a truck parked, I stopped and asked the driver what they were. I believe he said they could hold at least 8 people.

As dog owners ourselves, it's great to see you've been able to enjoying dining out in Turkey without any problems bringing them with you. I've never been able to understand why we in N / America are so negative about well behaved dogs in restaurants.

Fair Winds and Following Seas. Graham

Hi Ken, That is a lifeboat. The overhead rail tips over the stern, and gives the crew a thrilling ride down into the water!

Paul

It’s a quick-launch life raft! If all h*ll breaks loose onboard, the crew can get in and be launched off the stern into the water in a matter of seconds.

Steve

Ken, The tanker you have in the picture can carry crude and sometimes gasoline

Just in case they need to bail out of the tanker the red boat is boarded by who ever makes it there then launched in the water on the red slides on the side of the boat.

Also on long voyages when they get tired of the grind on board they launch it and have some fun in the middle of the ocean

Choose whatever answer you deem fit

Have a good time next year in Greece. I have been there once and liked it

Alex

Hey Ken That's a quick launch lifeboat. You get one last amusement park ride as your ship goes down. Bill H.

Hi Ken, I believe that is a powered life boat that can also be used as a Captain's tender.

Best, Peter

"Number one........... That's the last time the shore relief get to use the life boat, for re-sups if they don`t stow it properly."

Robin

I think it is the means for the captain and crew to escape in case of a fire. Ship looks like a tanker so could be flammable.

Great blog and enjoy reading pur Turkey experience . HR

Hi Ken, We have seen these before on oil rigs. They are life boats for jettisoning off of high rigs at sea or boats that do not have lowering devices or time to do so.

Below is a link to a page that describes them and their use.

Good luck with your trip back to your home marina, Paul and Marlene

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/escape/pioship.html

Hi Ken, I used to travel on huge cargo ships with my husband, Marine Chief Engineer, before we set up in business here in Banderas Bay, he was known as Teapot Tony and I’m Ronnie the Tea Lady... we were in contact years ago as I was the rep for Dockwise but that’s when you went on the non Yachtpath trip! I won’t rub salt in that wound...

I’m assuming you are referring to the orange boat pointing downwards in the cradle,that is the emergency abandon ship lifeboat. This is the fastest way to abandon ship. Of course you also abandon the contents of your stomach. I have had to participate in boat drills. Inside it is really cramped and you are NOT facing downwards, but reclining (which makes it sound pleasurable but it is not) with your back to the sea. Having got into the seat you are in a backward tilted foetal position, and it is a feat of gymnastic ability to get back out of it! The crew at the time were Russian and we all wondered about the similarities of conditions for the original cosmonauts. You’d use this rather than the traditional boats lowered over the sides if you were carrying highly explosive or volatile cargo, when being hurled into the water would be a fate slightly preferable to death!

Even if I don’t get a free book ( do have a USA mailing address!) I still enjoy reading your blogs!

Regards, Ronnie

That is a life boat for the ships personnel to escape in rough weather in the unfortunate event of a case where the ship is goping down. Note thaqt is is covered so it can take a wave going over it & not fill with water, offering protection to the crew in rough weather. So it is a life boat.

Hello Ken , I have just been reading your blog and you showed a photo of a ship with a funny boat on the back. Looking at the ship it looks like a tanker and the boat looks like a protected lifeboat on a freefall launch ramp. If anything happens the front part would be rather hot, so the crew would get into the lifeboat and drop off the back end and get as much distance from the vessel asap before it went bang!

Regards John

Paul Allen's private submersible?

Doug

Hi Ken, Its a lifeboat. Its set up on the ramp for speedy deployment. I've actually seen one deployed on a Discovery Channel program.....very intense! Safe travels!

John S

Hello- Thanks for your great blog. It allows a landlocked sailor to enjoy the sea! Some day I hope to have more time to enjoy the cruising lifestyle. I think that thing on the stern of that ship is a lifeboat. I have fished many times in the Gulf of Mexico out of Venice, LA. The oil platforms 60- 100 miles offshore have similar lifeboats that would drop into the Gulf in the event of an emergency, often from 30-40 feet, a wild ride for sure. Check out the picture of the Horn Mountain Oil rig in the Gulf below... http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/horn/ On another note, I enjoyed the pictures of the fire in Turkey. I work in the Summers as I wildland firefighter in western Montana. I have never seen that type of helicopter before, but the planes are CL-215s, made in Canada. We us a lot of planes and helicopters to suppress wildland fires and the CL-215s are great when you happen to be close to a lake. No salt water here!! Thanks for blog. I hope I win, I would love to have a copy of your book! Ben W

Hey Ken, I assume you are talking about the life boat as opposed to the fast response boat on the starboard quarter. These are usually seen on tankers but have worked so well in our industry that many merchant ships are using this system. The old lifeboat arrangement had a huge flaw in that they were deployed from the side of the ship (a big problem if the ship was sinking because they usually start to list). Some fun things to know about these boats are that most have an external fogging system to cool the hull as it makes it's way over water with burning bunkers or product on the surface. On the inside the crew has to strap in before deployment. It is not uncommon to see the monthly lifeboat drills happening while in harbor. There is a gantry that folds out to retrieve it after the drill. If you are talking about the smaller boat, it is designed to lend assistance to other boats or man overboard scenarios. (All though not required by the IMO, I have seen creative crew members use these boats for more clandestine operations (beer run)) Hope this helps. And please remind your readers to please call us on channel 13 for any passing or crossing concerns. Every tug, ship, ferry or commercial vessel has to monitor channel 13. (16 gets a little crazy) Regards, Captain Tim Boehmer Tug Susquehanna (East Coast) .....

Is an offshore lifeboat of course, unless of course you're referring to the vessel on the starboard quarter which is a launch I believe.

Enjoy receiving your blog immensely Ken. You are a brilliant writer, and being a marine systems engineer and cruising sailor in Socal, I can appreciate the detail you delve into regarding tech topics. Not unlike myself you continually slam your thumb with the hammer of systems complexity since you simply can't help it; the stuff available is just too effing kool, eh?

BTW I'm on your list thanks to a good friend and customer, Ron Freese (Sundance, Vikjng 65 yachtfisher) who you may have met on one of the Fubar rallies to Cabo roundabout 06 or so.

All the best to you, Roberta and the dogs.

Fair winds and following seas, Sean H

Everyone climbs in and they launch into the water.

Samuel S

It's a lifeboat…or a submarine to check the rudder

Chris K I believe it is an escape craft in the event of an emergency!

My funny response is: the Holy Crap Mobile

Cheers, Mike

Hi Ken, It's been awhile since I've seen you, but we love to follow your Blog. I'm pretty sure that the small boat is a Life Boat that will plunge into the water upon launching with it's crew. Best regards, Neil

This boat is used in the colder climate in the event an abandon ship order is given. The boat are equipped for survival in icy cold waters.

Rene

Hello Ken, That is a long-range emergency lifeboat designed to accommodate the entire crew through inclement weather even if they are in the middle of nowhere. With no guarantee of a quick rescue.

Sincerely, Jonathan

P.S.- And if by chance that is not right, then clearly it is an Atlantian (as in Atlantis) boat salvaged from the sea-floor, by an evil mastermind bent on using the power of the Atlantians to take over the world.

Small one appears to be an air boat, larger is an emergency escape vessel, similar to the ones used on oil rigs.

Robert

Hi Ken, Roberta and pups. I think it is their rescue boat. It looks like it will launch right from that position and dive into and under the water (looks fully submersible) allowing for the quickest deployment possible in the event of MOB.

Either that or a boat shaped suppository for whales?

Love the blog, keep 'em coming.

Best, Tony

Hi Ken, Nice contest and I enjoy your blog immensely. Two years ago we chartered a boat along the Turkish coast for a couple of weeks and loved seeing pictures of the area again. BTW that is a lifeboat all set up to drop off by gravity off the back of the boat in the worst case scenario. Sure looks better than the liferaft option you must have on Sans Souci but it would be a thrilling drop fed by the adrenaline of an abandon ship scenario. Best avoided all together. Enjoy your time, George Portilla

It's an emergency boat that will loterally plunge to the sea. No cables to lpwer it. Pull the trigger and you are in for a hell of a dive !!

Source : Discovery Channel ;)

I alao think that some americans got held hostage from the somalian in one of these boats as they fought to escape the freighter they were in circa 2005

Hi Ken, It’s a life boat!!!

Thanks ,mate Malcolm B

It appears to be a lifeboat. Very similar in look to the launch mechanism on oil rigs in the Gulf here in the US (however they drop much futher). My guess is that the ship is in the oil/gas industry and this is a standard piece of safty equiptment.

Keep up the wonderful blog.

14 yrs 7 months (age 55) and counting til I join the Nordhavn cruising family.

Jim

Hello there. really enjoy your emails down hear in new zealand . it is a life raft in caes the ship just happens to sink on them. Have a nice day and take care out there.

regards John s

Ken! You are very lucky to have seen these fireplanes. They are Canadair CL-215 to be exact. These are the most versatile fire fighting planes around the world. So great, we (canadians) even ferry them to other countries to help and then come back.

Do you have a closer shot of one of these? I would like to see it's identification number. I should be able to dig out its exact specs and maybe its history too.

You are right about the pilot fighting for control, low speed and very random and hot air create a good challenge.

We're back onto land. And i got my first experience in rough seas. 5 hours of hell for me as I got sea sick. I estimated 10 foot seas at worst of time.

Thank you for writing this blog!, Nicolas

PS The coffee shop seems a great place I'd enjoy!

Ken, Those aircraft are CL-215s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_CL-215

I think that with the minimal smoke column, that the plane movement you might have seen was the pilots trying to line up precisely for the drop. They will lift quite a bit on the drop as the 4 tons of weight is released but it takes about 5- 20 seconds to drop depending if they drop all at once or in series to spread the drop over a longer pattern when the fire isn’t really intense. Too high won’t quell the BTU’s, too low will spread the fire. Too far left or right will either be useless or again spread the fire. To cause enough turbulence that will effect aircraft the fire would have to look like this: http://www.wildlandfire.com/

A firefighter was killed in a Southern California fire two weeks ago from a water drop that the crew was not aware that it was coming. 1000 gallons of water at speed causes a lot of damage.

The ‘Bambi Buckets” that the helicopters were using carry about 300 gallons and are used for more precise dropping.

Paul

Comment on: [Kensblog] Contest Results (from yesterday)

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:08:01 GMT

ken, i just remember looking at diesel tenders a few years ago, for the benefit of not having to carry gasoline. in relation to williams tenders, there seemed to be quite a few postings about the location of the driver at the stern being a negative/design flaw. i just looked at their website and it seems the williams diesel jets now have a forward driving position, the gas ones at the rear. the other point that seemed to come up was smokey, noisy engines and the reliability of the jet, susceptible to sucking things up and corrosion. things may have changed in the past few years though. the williams is a very nice looking tender! jon

[KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Sans Souci is back on the move!

After spending several days in the big city of Izmir, we returned to the boat at the Didim Marina, where we spent several more days. Our son, Chris, isn't into cruising, so this left us seeking ways to stay entertained on land.

I'll start this blog entry with a few pictures...

Chris convinced me to visit a water park near Didim. Water parks are pervasive, and extremely popular, here in southern Turkey.

Chris is 33 years young, and was probably the second oldest person at the water park. You can guess who the oldest was. The park was HUGE, and incredible. We left the park after I experienced freefall on one of the slides, and my back decided it was time to go home. Roberta wisely declined visiting the park.

The beach at Altinkum is next to the Didim Marina. I could not believe the crowds, mostly British. Normally, I like beaches, but not when they are this crowded!

A highlight of the marina is their coffee shop, which has a rooftop deck with a 360-degree view of the marina and sea. Chris and I would go there each morning for coffee, and then sometimes for dessert late at night. Called Kahve Dunyasi, it is part of a chain, and seems modeled on Starbucks, although they have more desserts, chocolates and ice cream than Starbucks.

During the morning, Chris and I were usually alone in the place, but when we (including Roberta and the pups) would visit at night it was almost impossible to find a table. Despite being located in a marina, the night crowd was young, hip and extremely well dressed. Unlike at nearby Altinkum (British) the crowd at Kahve Dunyasi was Turkish. We would stop by late -- around 10 or 11 p.m. -- and the action seemed to just be starting. My guess is the crowd would build as the evening progressed.

On Chris’s last night, we found a table, but then had to convince someone to take our order. After a 30 minute wait without our desserts/drinks, I called over the waiter, who apologized. 30 minutes later, still without being served, we walked out. I hated doing that but it was getting ridiculous. The next morning, bright and early, Chris and I returned for our morning coffee. I wasn't sure if they were going to call the police on me for skipping out the night before, or if there would be harsh words, but it was fine. Our waiter from the previous night was there, and even though he spoke no English, he greeted us warmly at the door apologizing profusely. They had been slammed, and we fell in the cracks. I smiled and said, "No problem." We shook hands, and all was good.

My theory, about the popularity of this coffee place, is that some percentage of the Turks, being Muslim, are non-drinkers. The lack of alchohol doesn't mean people stop having fun, though, or that dating stops. The coffee shop was a popular, evening venue and meeting place. I didn't have to stretch my imagination too far to imagine what these people must think as they pass by the noisy, tacky, party-zone bars of Altinkum.

This is the entrance to the harbormaster's office at the Didim Marina. Note that the green light is on the right side, a reminder that the "Red Right Returning" rule is reversed here in Turkey.

After Chris flew home to Seattle, we were stuck in Didim waiting for high winds to subside so that we could depart and start working our way back to Gocek, our starting point and Sans Souci’s winter “home.” Didim marks the furthest point of our cruise this year. From now to the end of the trip, our only goal is to revisit the places we liked the most, and to take our time doing it.

Finally, after two days, the winds dropped and I called the marina to send staff to help us untie the boat. As the lines were being untied several of the marina guys, as had those in the front office, asked when they'd be seeing us again. The truth is, we never really bonded with Didim or Altinkum. But even if we had loved the area, we will be heading to Greece and Croatia next year. My guess is we won't return to Turkey any time soon, other than to pick up Sans Souci next June and start heading west through Greece. The marina itself and the marina staff were incredible, though -- so I fibbed and said, "Maybe. I don't think so, but, we shall see." With that, we left the marina and started the return journey.

Sans Souci, back at sea, finally....

We passed by this little island with several boats anchored near it. Note the castle on the hill. Ancient remains are everywhere in Turkey.

This island is not listed on the charts as an anchorage, but boats are anchored. My perception is that the anchor symbol on a chart means only, "this location has reasonable protection from the wind, and almost certainly has a restaurant." In other words, there are thousands of places to anchor. A lifetime could happily be spent cruising southwest Turkey.

Let's have a contest!

As we were running along the coast of Kos, a nearby Greek island, this freighter passed in front of us. As it went by, I noticed a small, strange “boat” on its stern. Roberta and I debated what it was, and arrived at our conclusion.

Would you like a free copy of one of my books? Send an email telling me your guess as to what that thing is, and I'll award a free book to the person I think got it most right, plus another book to the person with the funniest (albeit wrong) response. In the event of a tie (which is almost certain) I'll look to see who responded first. Email your guesses to: whatIsThatThing@kensblog.com

Our first day back at sea was a long one, approx. 80 miles. We decided to stop for the night at a place we had bypassed on our trip northwest, when we had stopped at nearby Knidos. It is called Palamut Bay. It has a nice beach and a small town, and we were able to anchor just off the beach in front of the long swimming area. We actually had some trouble dropping the hook because swimmers were nearby (outside of the swimming area), and didn't seem to understand that getting too close to a moving boat is a bad idea. We had to proceed very carefully.

Within 30 minutes of dropping anchor I noticed smoke on the hillside and remarked to Roberta that I thought there might be a fire starting up.

Smoke on the hillside. Fire? No one seemed to be very excited, so I took this picture, and forgot about it -- until we heard a helicopter outside our boat.

I couldn't believe it. The helicopter was collecting water, right next to our boat!

The helicopter dumped the water on the smoke, which had little impact. The smoke was getting worse, and for the first time the crowd on the beach was starting to pay attention. Everyone stopped swimming, stood up and stared.

Minutes later, the helicopter was joined by a friend. They set up a rotation where one was dumping water while the other was collecting water, and were flying a clockwise rotation.

Even with two helicopters, the smoke was thickening, and it was becoming obvious that the fire was more serious than I had thought. When suddenly a plane appeared, I wasn't sure what it was going to do.

The plane looked like it was going to land next to us, when it scooped up a bunch of water, and took off again, taking its turn in the rotation with the two helicopters.

Soon a second plane joined the fray. The noise was deafening!

It took over an hour to put out the fire. But it was quite a show!

The bravery and skill of these pilots is amazing. What the pictures don't show is the incredible turbulence as they were flying over the flames. I could see the planes shaking as the pilots fought to maintain control as they dropped water. Imagine being close to the ground, the weight of the plane shifting radically as the water in the belly rattles side to side then drops, the smoke cutting visibility, and the hot rising air creating strong random currents.

Our night at Palamut was ok, but not great. One thing I have discovered is that, often, when you see a wide beach, it might be a fun anchorage, but it is rarely a comfortable anchorage. I remember when we would go to San Tropez as tourists and visit the 7-mile wide beach. I would be envious of the many boats sitting at anchor in front of the beach. Years later, we were one of those boats (in our Nordhavn 62), and we discovered that the fantasy is often better than reality. A busy, rolly anchorage means little sleep. After Palamut, our next stop was Bozburun, which readers of my blog may recognize from over five weeks ago. We had had an amazing anchorage then, complete with what we had called our own “private swimming pool.”

Unfortunately, when we arrived back, our previous anchoring spot was taken. On our last visit we had anchored at the entrance to the bay, but now another boat was there – a gulet.

Roberta suggested heading to the back of the bay. The bay wasn't small, but was small enough that on the chart it mostly showed as too shallow to merit providing depths. The one depth that did show on the chart was only 14 feet. From our previous stay, we had noticed a few gulets heading to the back of the bay to take guests swimming, and even a few who stayed the night. But they know where the deep places are, and where rocks may be hiding. As usual, I said "No." And Roberta said something similar to, "Don't be a wussy. If those boats can do it, we can do it." So, with courage on loan from Roberta, I fired up the sonar, sent her to the bow to watch for rocks, and headed for the back of the bay.

I quickly discovered that sonar is useless in water so shallow. What I should have done was have Roberta drive Sans Souci, while I explored the bay in the tender, checking the depths. However, the water was so clear that I felt confident we could explore by eye. And, truth be told, there was nothing to see but clean, white sand – beautiful!

With Roberta's guidance, we did make it to the back of the bay, and I dropped anchor in 35 feet of water. We then started backing slowly towards shore. As we went, we were constantly monitoring the depth. Soon, the depth gauge read 6 feet, and stayed there as we nudged our way backwards. The 6 feet on the gauge, added to my own 7.5 foot draft, confirmed the 14 feet shown in that area on the chart. As near as I could tell, the bottom was very flat and sandy, stretching for a hundred feet in every direction. I dropped far more chain that I probably should have, putting out over 250 feet, before swimming two stern lines to shore. It looked like a pretty awesome spot, and I wanted to make sure we could stay should the wind come up.

Sans Souci, stern tied near Bozburun. The water is 85 degrees. We have total privacy, except a few times a day when tourist boats drop by for a quick swim. The depth shows as 10 feet or 14 feet, depending on if you use the depth gauge on the boat, or the one on the tender. Luckily there are no tides here. There's a cool little town a tender ride away with at least one great restaurant, the Karia Bel. The bottom is white sand, and is holding the anchor perfectly. I doubt we'll ever see another anchorage this perfect in quite a long while!

Here are links to a couple of 360-degree pictures showing how we anchored: (don't forget to look for the little icon that makes the picture full-screen. It's worth it!)

Our view at night, while dining on the upper aft deck. The landscape around the boat looks like the moon surface.

Note that the lines from Sans Souci extend straight back to shore (in the picture it looks like they converge, which is an optical illusion.) This is an error on my part. They should actually be spaced more widely apart, extending outward in a giant "Y." Roberta and I are getting much better at stern tying, and have come to prefer it. It's nice not having to worry about rotating into other boats, and to be able to anchor in tight bays where anchoring would not otherwise be possible.

Tendering into town.

A very real side-benefit of my blog is that, no matter where we go, there seem to be people who read my blog, and they are as eager to share their country with us, as we are to learn about it. Here we see Alvi with his wife Cynthia, and brother Ari. They are readers of my blog, and, over the past few months, have shared a wealth of information about anchorages, cruising tips, anchoring tips, restaurants, where to buy good wine, bread, etc. The blog, and our cruising, wouldn't be what it is without the help of people like Alvi.

A highlight of the trip was getting a tour of Alvi's boat, a Trader 64, by Sunliner. It is interesting to see how the boat was optimized for Med cruising. For example, the boat was designed with outside living and entertaining as a primary goal. There were huge, comfortable seating areas, both on the aft deck, and on the flybridge. The aft deck had a large automated passarelle (gang plank), which integrated into the deck when closed. There were little details that are uniquely designated for stern tying, such as anchor chain controls on the stern. The boat felt spacious for its size and had many sleeping areas, plenty of room for Alvi’s group of ten -- plus two dogs.

I also admired Alvi's tender - a jet tender, from a company with a good name (Williams). I was blown away when Alvi just drove over my stern lines -- as if they weren't there. The absence of a prop also makes it easier to take lines to shore, without worrying about banging the prop. I went to the website, and discovered they make a diesel jet tender: http://www.williamsjettenders.com/D445 I "might" consider one, but it isn't clear how a bimini top could be attached. I spoke with their dealer in Istanbul, and they sent a picture showing the top glued to the tubes. I've been down that road, and it is a dead end. The poles glued to the tubes only stay glued until you leave the showroom, and then no amount of re-gluing will ever get them to stay attached. Darn -- because it looks like a fun tender!

As we said good-bye to Alvi and Cynthia, their dog, Sheba, dived into the water and followed us on the tender. Here we see our dogs, Keeley and Toundra, watching Sheba as she nears us.

One topic Alvi and I discussed was the internet here in Turkey. Sans Souci has a satellite internet unit (called VSAT) which is incredibly expensive (I pay over $5,000/month for internet). Although I have the VSAT, I haven't used it this trip, instead I've been relying on the fast, and very inexpensive, internet that they have here. Turkey "gets it" when it comes to tourism. I mentioned in an earlier blog that it is almost as if someone planned southwestern Turkey as a “theme park for cruisers.” There is some truth to that. Some government person took the time to think about where the boaters would be, and put cell towers (along with other nice amenities). We hit only one dead spot this entire trip on internet, and it was when we were somewhat out of Turkish waters, cruising along the coast of Kos, Greece. I've never seen it like this, and it is great.

All of the attention that Turkey puts on tourism works. Turkey is now a top-10 worldwide tourist destination, raking in over 25 billion a year in revenues from tourists, and tourism has tripled in just a decade. I'd contrast this with some other countries in Europe that seem to throw roadblock after roadblock in the path of cruisers, and are losing tourist revenues as a result. I know of several cruisers who have left Europe, or not come over, due to the hassles (and fees) associated with keeping their boats, and themselves, in the country.

Let's talk technical issues for a minute...

This has been a very good year mechanically on Sans Souci. Thus far, nothing has broken. Actually... almost nothing. There have been a couple of very interesting challenges.

Sans Souci's diesel furnace, used for water heating, warming the hot tub and space heating.

Sans Souci has a diesel furnace which takes care of all the heating needs aboard ship. It has been one of the most reliable pieces of gear on Sans Souci. Early in the trip, it stopped heating our hot water. The air temperature has regularly been in the 100 degree range, so it has been only a very minor annoyance. I knew the Kabola was still working, because it heated the hot tub just fine. My suspicion was, and is, that the problem is with the sensor at the hot water heater that sends a signal to the Kabola asking for hot water. That said, I did a test one afternoon, and noticed that the Kabola heated up well beyond the maximum temperature it was set for. I immediately shut the Kabola off. On Sans Souci, we have backups for everything. My thinking was that I could either lose a day debugging the Kabola, or use the backup and let my mechanic Jeff worry about it at the end of the season. A very easy decision.

The hot tub has a built-in electric heater. It is very low wattage and doesn't heat the hot tub quickly. In Alaska, where the ambient temperature is in the 40s (fahrenheit) it might take a couple days to heat the tub. But, here, with the air temperature over 100, heating the tub (to 98 degrees) took only about six hours.

For water heating, I have electric heating elements inside the water heater. There are two small heating elements (I think 2kw each) plus one mega-heater (8kw). Once a day, I shut down the chiller on the air conditioning system, for about ten minutes, and turn on the mega-heater. In 15 minutes, there is plenty of hot water, and I turn the chiller back on. No problem.

Sans Souci has two 800 gallon per day watermakers, from Village Marine.

Whereas we can live without hot water, we can't live without water, and I've been fighting watermaker problems since the start of the trip. Here's an email I sent to an engineer describing my issue:

Miguel,

I have two watermakers: WM1, and WM2.

Status of WM1:

The salinity probe is bad. Actual salinity is around 400, but is reporting consistently as around 200 -- even when the watermaker is first powered on. It doesn't countdown as most watermakers do. It shows as 200 (+/- 50) right from the beginning. In other words, it is dumping salt water into the fresh water tank.

Status of WM2:

It is consistently reading around 550. In order to be able to use the watermaker I set the "good water" set point to 850. I've back flushed the sand filter, replaced the watermaker filter, and flushed the watermaker (several times). Nothing will get the salinity down. I assume I need new membranes.

-Ken Williams

To interpret this email, here's a bit of background. Watermakers take in sea water, run it through filters, that hopefully take the salt out, filter the water, and then route good water into the boat's fresh water tanks. While they are functioning, they constantly measure the quality of the water they are producing. Specifically, the watermaker measures the salinity of the water in "parts per million" (ppm). Most city water ranges from 100 to 400ppm, although some states, such as California, consider the acceptable salinity threshold as up to 1,000 ppm. Sans Souci's watermakers are set to reject any water with a salinity content higher than 500. My second watermaker was rejecting all water, because the membranes (filters) had deteriorated to a point that they could not produce sub-500 ppm water. My goal was to readjust the watermaker's threshold for clean water, so that we could get it back online.

I included the picture of the circuit board above, because I couldn't figure out, from the manual, how to tell the watermaker not to be so darn picky. One of the great things about owning a Nordhavn is that there is a large owner's group. I posted a message to the group asking how to readjust the salinity threshold higher, and even though I posted my question at what would have been the middle of the night US-time, I started receiving responses in minutes. I would have preferred a response that told me to push buttons, but instead, I had to take apart the watermaker and dig out this circuit board, where I was supposed to turn a dial. What dial? I posted the picture above to the group, and once again, within minutes, someone pointed me at a little, well-hidden, knob that adjusts the salinity. It worked!

This is the most frightening picture I've seen in a while!

The picture above takes some explaining, but it's a very scary photo, and has to do with this watermaker discussion.

Sans Souci has an ice machine. I don't know why, but I haven't used it much this year. In Europe they drink their cokes without ice, and I suppose I'm readjusting. However, one day recently I decided I wanted some ice in my diet coke, and went to the ice machine. Because I hadn't taken any ice in over a month, instead of seeing nice, neat, ice cubes, I was confronted by a huge block of stuck-together ice. The right thing to do was to take the entire tray (about a cubic foot of ice), and dump it into the water, and start over.

As I went to Sans Souci's swim platform, I realized that a gulet had come in, dumping dozens of swimmers into the water around Sans Souci (tourists on a day trip). Pitching hundreds of stuck-together ice cubes into the water could be misinterpreted as a hostile action. I didn't want to put the ice back, so I turned the tray upside down on the swimstep, and left the giant ice-block there to melt peacefully.

The next morning, as I went out to swim, I noticed the mess of “white goop” you see in the picture above, on my swim step. It took a minute to realize what it was. It was the minerals (salt?) left over from the melted ice!

Now, I'm totally stumped. The ice was made from clean water, from before I started having my challenges with the watermakers. Is this what we've been drinking? I'm sure it is. What must my liver be thinking? (Although we’ve felt fine.)

We are now drinking bottled water on Sans Souci, until I know more.

Sans Souci's monitoring system, called Simon.

There is one piece of equipment on Sans Souci, which most boats do not have, that I consider essential equipment: Our Simon monitoring system. While we were in Didim, Simon just suddenly stopped working. The screen said "Abnormal program termination" and no amount of coaxing would bring it back to life. I had to make the 80nm passage to Palamut Bay without Simon and it drove me crazy. With Simon, I can instantly review hundreds of little sensors around the boat, and see what is happening. For instance, the screen above (one of many screens) shows me the load on our generator. Power management on a boat is a big deal, and it is nice knowing exactly what the load is on the generator at all times. I can call up screens which show me obscure, but critical, details, such as my transmission temperatures, the gallons per minute of cooling water flowing, or even the pressure in the hydraulic lines.

Most importantly, Simon monitors all of these things, hundreds of them, constantly. If anything looks suspicious, Simon has a large glowing ball on my dashboard. If it is glowing green, I know all is well. If it is yellow, I investigate, and if it turns red, I prepare to swim (not actually -- but, red does get my immediate attention!). Without Simon I doubled the number of engine room checks, but still felt out of touch with the boat.

The people at Palladium, makers of Simon, were incredible to work with. They assigned a support person to me, and one of their senior engineers. For literally two days, we worked together in a way that can only be appreciated by a true computer geek. Garvis, Palladium's support guy in Florida, and Chris, their engineer in Dallas, used a desktop sharing app to watch, and control, my computer in Turkey, as I linked remotely into the Simon computer on Sans Souci, and the three of us conducted intricate surgery on Simon. It wasn't easy, and it took a lot of time, but when Simon's track-ball started glowing green again, it was a big moment for me!

Which, brings us to: READER MAIL!

Drogue, or Sea Anchor?

Hello Ken, We have Nordhan 57-[...] We are planning on cruising from San Diego to Hawaii, late Oct-early Nov. We have been talking with the people at Ace Sailmakers re: Jordan drogue. They incicated you bought one from them... Can you please give us your opinion on their product.. and any other thoughts on the whole concept.. Thank you so much for your help, Larry and Mary

----------------Response by Ken--------

The truth is that I haven’t tried it, and it isn’t even on the boat. I’m not sure where it is sitting…

I did a lot of investigating, and even spoke with the creator. All of my investigations indicated that the drogue is the right solution, and much easier to deploy than a sea anchor.

Thus, I bought one and put it on the boat.

Then, for the Bering Sea run, I had a friend/captain along for the ride, plus, an Alaskan commercial fisherman, both of whom have a long history with sea anchors. They ganged up on me to swap to a sea anchor. The winning argument was, “It’s what we’ve got experience with, and know works.” There’s a lot to be said for experience, and these guys have me beat. I’ve never actually deployed either a sea anchor or a drogue.

The bottom line is that I bought a sea anchor, which I “think” is onboard, somewhere – but, am now doing coastal cruising in calm conditions, and not focused on it.

So.. I’m not sure if this helps, but, I believe I was on the right track with the drogue, and that particularly with just Roberta and I, it would be much easier to deploy.

Good luck with a tough decision!

Med Mooring?

What's up with the blog?

Hi Ken,

There are many of us dreamers who rely on the best Nordhavn blog there is. That blog would be yours. You post the best pics and descriptions of Nordhavn life there is. But.....recently you have cut us off, and you are making us work hard in this "relationship". Therefor, you must do the following:

1. Finish that glass of wine in your hand.
2. Get out of the hot tub
3. Fire up that laptop, log into kensblog, and type away!

Hope you & Roberta are ok.

Dan -------------------Response by Ken ----------------

Thank you Dan! I am blushing as I type this, as is Roberta. Although I try to take all credit for the blog, it really is a team project for Roberta and I, and a fun one.

This has been a rough year for the blog. I have a rule that I won't write anything unless there is something to write about. I always say that my blog is a tug-of-war between myself and the readers. Either the readers are winning, and I'm struggling with some disaster, or I'm winning, and sipping wine from the hot tub. Have you ever noticed that on freeways, everyone stops to look when someone's car is flipped over on the side of the road, but if the exact same car were right-side up, everyone would speed on by? This has been my year, and I'm savoring my victory.

Next year will be different. I'm going to do everything in my power to make traversing Greece boring, but I suspect it is a battle I will lose. There's a lot of wind, a lack of good anchorages, and some long-ish passages. We'll also run the coast of Albania, and I'd like to try to stop there. And, then there's Croatia, where we'll do most of our cruising. It should be a fun, and exciting year, full of adventure!

I am not unsympathetic to your pain, so I have taken the liberty of pre-writing the blog for the next four days, and here it is:

[KensBlog] Wake up, answer email for hours, dive in the water, play with computer, tender into town for lunch, back to the boat, swim, play with computer, open wine, barbecue, hit the hot tub, watch tv, sleep.

Life is good!

And, in closing....

I'll close out this issue of the blog on a somewhat serious note. As our time in Turkey winds down, it is impossible not to think about Turkey and its future. There are elements of Turkey that seem too good to be true, and my rule of thumb is: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Turkey is in a unique position, in that it is a place where highly dissimilar cultures are thrust together. Turkey borders eight countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It's an East meets West meeting of cultures. Sometimes, when cultures bounce off each other, good things happen, and sometimes, there are sparks.

I'll share a couple of memories from the last few weeks:

We were anchored in a bay, behind a gulet with several female passengers. From their appearance, I'd guess they were lesbian, although I really have no idea. Some of the girls were topless, one of whom was paddling amongst the anchored boats in a kayak. A panga, with a local lady selling clothing, approached the gulet. It became a bit of a fashion show, as several of the girls tried on clothes. This caused several other pangas of merchants to rush over, in hopes of getting business. No one cared, or thought it was a big deal (which it wasn't.) However, there's a part of me that questions the sustainability of several pangas of conservative Muslims, in a country bordering Iraq, Iran and Syria, interacting with semi-nude women. Maybe that’s a good thing -- maybe no. Don’t know.

A different memory, on a much less striking, but probably more culturally interesting scale: I'll refer back to our evening at Kahve Dunyasi (the coffee-shop mentioned earlier). I mentioned that the crowd was all Turkish. Most were wearing western attire, but some percentage, perhaps ten percent of the women, were wearing head-scarves and conservative clothing. The conservative ladies were at the same tables as other women in very western evening attire. How do you mix racy mini-skirts and high-heels at the same table as head-scarves and conservative garb? Everyone, though, was laughing, listening to music and having a great time. There was no tension anywhere.

Perhaps Turkey has pulled it off, and proven that culturally diverse people can live together happily everafter. I certainly hope so, and want to believe it is possible! It does feel right. That said, even though we'll leave Turkey next year, you can bet that over the next decade I'll be watching to see how this all plays out. We hope for nothing but the best for Turkey!

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:45:43 GMT

Have a couple of questions about Long Range Cruising. Going as slow as 10 kts how do you manage the nighttime travel? Shifts or autopilot. Does your boat require someone to a very skilled boat person? ------------Response by Ken 2012-09-29---- Greetings Bob! Nighttime travel is a combination of autopilot and doing shifts. Roberta and I normally do fairly short three hour shifts and take turns. As to experience required: It really depends on where you are cruising. If running the boat in a modern country, fairly close to shore, then no experience is required. You can learn as you go. But, once you start crossing oceans, or heading to the boondocks, you need some serious experience and mechanical training. -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:20:49 GMT

I think after the "Turkey has pulled it off" closing, the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism won't let you go so easily. By the way, I'm a complete nonprogrammer with several domains looking for homes, and Talkspot looks great. I've been looking for a WSYWIG site builder. Thanks for the link.

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:01:48 GMT

Hi Ken, Have been following your blog for years. Thank you for the very interesting and enjoyable hours reading it. One question, which came to my mind while reading your stories; when you leave Sans Souci at an anchorage alone, such as in Bozburun, Turkey to go to a restaurant, how to you protect your ship while you are gone against intruders, and such? Regards, Ross ---------------Response by Ken -- 2012-08-27 Ross, The quick answer is: I don't really have much in the way of protection. Someone could theoretically break-in and steal everything. It's no different than when you leave your "real" home to go to the store. I guess the way I look at it is: If they are going to break in, and I have my choice, I'd much rather they do it while I'm at a restaurant! We do lock the doors when we leave, and we don't anchor in locations we're worried about. Here in Turkey we feel exceptionally safe. I also use a "dog barking alarm" which sounds exactly like a huge guard dog, and goes off if anyone gets very close to the boat. And, of course... the bad guys don't always know if anyone is on the boat, or what weapons they might have. The bottom line: No one is ever completely safe anywhere .. but, overall, I feel safer on the boat than virtually anywhere else. -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 07:40:35 GMT

i would do research before buying a tender such as the williams. they use a diesel jet and from what i have read theres a lot of problems with them, reliability being one of them. jon ------------Response by Ken --- 2012-08-27 Jon, You can bet I'll do LOTS of research before buying something. Williams does offer their tender both in diesel and non-diesel. Your comment surprises me. Normally, nothing is more reliable than a diesel engine. In any event, I don't need to make a decision until next year. My guess is that I'll go to the Miami (or Ft Lauderdale) boat show, and that before I leave the show I'll have changed my mind twenty times as to what I want. I won't really know until after the show, when I get home, and ask myself if there was anything that really excited me enough to write a check. My current tender is a mess, but it does move me from point A to point B .. and that's all I really need. Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:04:25 GMT

These lifeboats are called Free-Fall Lifeboat Tanker version and are normally installed on tankers and gas container ships; specifically for the last ones to leave in cases of emergency. They have there own water spray system to prevent fire damage and normally 10 minutes of air to get away from a chemical cloud.

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:41:39 GMT

that thing is a life boat

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 13:01:02 GMT

SUBJECT: Tender Hi Ken, If you are truly interested, you might want to give the Williams another look as the bimini is not glued to the tubes per se. The two forward and aft supports are firmly attached to the boat itself and the two side braces are attached to a built-in mount amidship that is incorporated in to the side tubes in the same manner as the hand-holds and line tie points. A couple has a gas one here in MdR and their bimini is still doing fine after 4 seasons… Regards, Tom MV XS TECH ------------Response by Ken 2012-08-27--------------- Ton, Thanks for the info. I was planning to circle back to the dealer (in Istanbul). My assumption was that the dealer would "figure it out" rather than lose a sale. Your message helps. Now, the decision is: gas, or diesel. I want to confirm what the fully loaded weight of the diesel is, and if there are any downsides. Also.. I need to do a bit more selling on Roberta, on the idea of a jet boat. We had a jet tender before and it was always broken. Ultimately, we sold it .. at a big loss. The problem was that it was two-stroke, but Roberta equates Jet with "always broken." -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] The Perfect Anchorage

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:10:02 GMT

SUBJECT: Internet Hi Ken, I do have to ask: Was the figure of 5,000 a month for Vsat internet on your boat actually correct or did a decimal point get misplaced? If that figure WAS correct, you have my deepest condolences! (And I thought that *I* was addicted to the internet!) Regards, Tom ------------Response by Ken 2012-08-27 -------- Tom, Actually, it's even worse than that. I pay $5,999 (plus extra fees they tack on) monthly for internet. VSAT is expensive, and is primarily intended for use by commercial freighters. The fee ranges from $1,000 per month for 256kb speed access to the $6,000 I pay for a 2mb connection (their fastest speed, but still slow compared to what I get at home). I'm retired, but started a small "dot-com" company (www.talkspot.com), which I'm working very hard on. I need the high speed in order to stay on top of my business, and keep everything going. So... it's expensive, but without it, I'd be stuck in Seattle, and not able to travel the world. So .. it's a necessary evil. -Ken W

[Kensblog] Ancient Turkey

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

It has been a while since I last sent a blog entry, because Roberta and I are currently off the boat, staying in a hotel in Izmir, Turkey.

Our son, Chris, is visiting with us, and he isn't much into cruising. Instead, he wanted to spend a couple weeks driving around, seeing Turkey and visiting the historical sites. Roberta and I still have another month on the boat, with plenty of cruising ahead. But, for now, we're "land-cruising." We put Sans Souci into a marina (Didim, Turkey), and are using our rent-a-car to explore.

The Didim D-Marin Marina

Didim is above the primary cruising area. Most of the gulet cruising, and sailboat charter, happens farther south, between Bodrum and Kekova Roads – south of Gocek. One of the reasons for this is that as you move farther north, along Turkey's west coast, particularly in summer, the meltemi winds become a bigger factor.

We're now somewhat outside the traditional, tourist cruising area, in Didim, Turkey.

This shows our journey so far. We’re slowly working our way north, and have covered just over 300 miles of coastline.

To reach Didim, Roberta and I would need to make a short, 40-mile passage. We waited four days at anchor in the bay at Bodrum for the wind to calm down, and then headed north. We timed it perfectly, leaving at 5 a.m. from Bodrum. Our arrival at the marina was in perfectly calm conditions, although, it became windy an hour or two later.

The marina is incredible, less expensive than those further south, and has a great haul-out facility, with a 400 ton lift. I seriously thought about hauling out the boat here, but have already committed to do so in Gocek, plus we still have more cruising to do.

The Didim D-Marin Marina has its own yacht club/gym/pool, tennis courts, shopping center, several restaurants and more

Roberta wanted to bring Sans Souci to Didim, because, at this point, we would primarily be land-touring, and this would put the boat closer to some major historical sites. Also, Chris wanted to be near a major "real" Turkish city (i.e. not tourist-centric), so that he could go to movies, concerts, museums, etc.

The Didim marina is amazing! It has only recently opened, and excels in all ways except one...

Most of Turkey is hilly and mountainous. However, the Didim marina is located in a "what were they thinking?" location. The terrain around the marina is flat and dry, as in "no protection from the wind." We've only been in the marina a few days, but since our arrival the wind has often been in the 17 to 25 knot range -- inside the marina! I'm not accustomed to seeing white caps inside a marina. Googling Didim Marina, we ran into one blog entry claiming gusts up to 70 knots inside it, during a winter storm.

That said, once the boat is moored, the wind, unless it gets truly crazy, is irrelevant. I still look at the wind gauge from time to time, but now that Sans Souci is safely tied up, the wind has no meaning.

The marina staff was awesome when we arrived here. I radioed ahead and asked if they could put a couple people on the boat to help with line handling while docking, and they put three people onboard, plus had an additional person on the dock, and another in a tender. It made docking very easy.

Overall, the Didim marina is an amazing, brand new facility, with an incredible staff, and I highly recommend it.

Electricity can be shocking

The marina handles electricity via a "debit" system. The marina staff issues you a little computer chip, and then sells you credits, which are placed onto the chip. By pressing the chip against my power pedestal, the power turns on, and my credits start ticking downward.

Strangely, the credits are sold in euros. The marina asked how many euros of electrical credits I wanted to buy, and I guessed at 200 euros (about $250 USD).

The next morning, I checked the LED on the power pedestal, curious to see how much money I had left on the meter. It was down to 158 euros! I had somehow burnt 100 dollars of electricity in about 18 hours. This triggered a quick trip to the marina office to ask that someone check the meter. After being assured that the meter was correct, the girl at the desk asked whether or not I was using air conditioning. Other people in the marina office all looked at me to see how I would answer. Given the 100+ degree heat, I thought the answer was obvious, but suddenly I felt on the spot. "Yes," I responded rather sheepishly. She looked surprised, and they all exchanged knowing glances and words in Turkish.

We were going to be in the marina for two weeks. I started doing math in my head, and didn't like the number I was arriving at. This would be the first time in my life that the bill for electricity would exceed the bill for moorage. I said, "1,000 euros please." The girl assumed she misheard me. As she realized I was serious, she translated my comment to the girl next to her, in Turkish, and now all eyes, behind, and in front of, the counter were directed at me.

Realizing that I had apparently said something stupid, I softened it, and said, "500 euros please." This seemed to be more palatable, but still amusing. I personally preferred getting it all out of the way at once rather than hiking every few days to the marina office, but...I'm a team player.

Walking back to the boat, I studied the powerboats around me. Most had someone on them, but all had the doors cracked and windows open. [NOTE: I did a little research after writing this. The marina charges .4 euro/kwh (52 cents) versus in Seattle the typical rate runs from 4 cents to 10 cents / kwh. I do not believe the marina is gouging. Energy is expensive here. $10/gallon fuel has an amazing impact on conservation! ]

Essentially all power boats have crew on them – not the owners. My guess is that when only the crew is on the boat, the standing orders are, "No air conditioning," but that when the owners are on board, the rules change. It's possible the marina office thought I was crew (what owner would drive his own boat?!) and that I was going to be in big trouble when the owner discovers the air conditioning has been running non-stop.

Altinkum - A long way to go, to wind up in a seaside resort in England

The adjacent town, Altinkum, is somewhat "unusual." I had heard before our arrival that British people here outnumber Turkish during the summer. Now, having been there, it seems to be true. I had thought this meant Alktinkum is a British ex-pat retirement community. It may be, but most of the British I saw were young, like to sleep late, hang out at the beach, drink beer, choose restaurants based on price not quality, and like to party all night. None of which I fault, but I can't say that it's my scene, at least not these days!

Altinkum has nearly a mile of white sand beach! We did see a few boats anchored offshore, but it is not great anchoring. When I asked the marina if there was a nearby place to anchor, if it was too windy when I arrived at the marina, they said, "None -- it's too dangerous."

We've struggled a bit trying to find a great restaurant in Altinkum. Thinking it might be a good idea to ask a local, when we encountered one of the marina staff who seemed to speak some English, we asked him what the best restaurant in town was. His answer, "There are mostly restaurants for British tourists." Roberta responded, "We know that. But, where do you eat? What's your favorite restaurant in town?" His response, "When I go into town, I usually eat at McDonalds, Burger King or Dominos." Roberta and I found it hilarious, and all Roberta could think to say was "Oh! Classic Turkish food." The marina guy didn't understand the joke.

The Temple of Apollo, at Didyma

Over the next few days, we explored some of the most impressive archeological sites Turkey has to offer.

The Temple of Apollo, at Didyma. Commissioned around 300 BC by Alexander the Great. It was never finished, though, despite being worked on for hundreds of years.

Ephesus

Ephesus, near Kusadasi, Turkey, dates back to the neolithic age, and has been a Greek city, a Roman city and a Byzantine city. At one time over 250,000 people lived at Ephesus. It is an active archeological site, and estimates are that only about 15% have been unearthed. For far better, and more accurate, information about Ephesus than I can provide, try this link (or, just google Ephesus):

http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/ephesus.htm

To explore Ephesus, we parked our car at one end, took a taxi to the other end, then hiked a kilometer through the ruins back to our car. We arrived at opening time, 8:00 a.m., in order to get ahead of the crowds of tourists – and to also beat the heat; it was still hot, though! Afterwards, we drove to the wine-producing village of Sirence, about 10 kilometers from Ephesus, for lunch.

I put our pictures of the Temple of Apollo and Ephesus into a photo gallery, here:

http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/m/ephesus

I also took a few 360 degree pictures:

Of the Temple of Apollo:

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=b2bc49c0-8b8d-4761-b8ae-2219f22a6b9f (apologies for this one. It didn't work out.)

And, of Ephesus:

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=3099046e-98ff-456d-aecd-95530b240d89
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=dc54621b-1b86-41fd-9905-f12e7cf98552
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=3b3ad1bf-c6d9-4eb5-b596-c9021c04eb2e
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=23f5a3ab-db1d-4c08-a4e6-f868e7044345

For those of you who took the time to click on the pictures above -- very cool, huh!

Starting to think about next season

I've been using the time ashore to start thinking ahead to next season.

We are just starting to think about next year. Generally, I like to keep our schedule as loose as possible, for as long as possible.

Our current thinking is to use June 2013 to traverse through Greece, then head north past Albania into Croatia. We'll then cruise Croatia for a couple of months.

Our big picture plan is to work our way slowly west through the Med over the next few years.

For the 2013 cruising season, we are planning to spend a month on various Greek islands, and then cruise Croatia.

I've started researching the various marinas in Croatia. Even though we spend very little time in a marina, we like to have some marina that we call “home.” It is also important to find some local person, preferably someone who runs a boat maintenance company, who can help us should we need mechanical assistance during the season, and who can look after the boat during the off-season.

Annual Maintenance

Even though we still have another month of cruising, I'm assembling now my list of maintnance items to be done over the winter. As I've mentioned in prior blogs, I have an engineer/captain, Jeff Sanson, of Pacific Yacht Management in Seattle, who prepares my boat at the start of each season. My goal each year is to arrive at the boat, have Jeff throw me the keys as he heads to the airport, and we immediately start provisioning the boat for departure. I can't say that we always achieve that goal, but it's darn close. Jeff spoils us, and makes life easy.

This year is a little different than usual. Our plan is to return to the boat earlier next season, by mid-May, in hopes of getting through Greece as early as possible. Greece, unfortunately, has the same meltemi winds as we are experiencing in this region of Turkey, and those winds will be in our face as we head northwest toward Croatia. On a boat, if the wind is behind you, it is usually not a problem. However, if you are going straight into it, the ride can be very uncomfortable.

As part of our research, I've been emailing anyone who has cruised Greece before, trying to learn all I can about our upcoming journey. One thing that is coming through is that we need to get moving early, before the summer meltemi winds kick in, hence the desire to get through Greece in June.

Email about cruising in Greece from another Nordhavn owner

...Getting across the islands is quite easy really because nothing is too far apart, except heading west, it is a good idea to get going early because of the Meltemi. From north of Mykonos down past Kos, it blows hard all the time from the NW after June. We loved Kos, the town is a bit similar to Marmaris but with a magnificent old castle, a good marina that is far enough out of town to be quiet and comfortable, also some nice anchorages on the South side. North of there Kalimnos and Leros have good anchorages.

We did a long hop to there from Mykonos because a Meltemi was on it's way and we couldn't afford the time to hole up. Ornos Bay on the south side of Mykonos is a good anchorage with a bus service into town and you can easily day sail to Pireaus from there with easy (although not that pretty) anchorages along the way. We want to see Naxos and Paros on the way back, which we missed, again because of the Meltemi.

Generally speaking, the islands are barren and personally think they are a bit overrated, Turkey is much better in our opinion. Mykonos and Thira are quaint and typically Greek but crowded (just about impossible to get into Thira for us but worth a ferry visit), Crete would be good but getting back north is a bit of a bash. The seas in the Med are like nothing we have experienced elsewhere, they are not particularly big but they are short, typically 4 seconds, so beating is an arduous and uncomfortable affair...

Rather than waiting until the start of next season to do the boat's annual maintenance, we are going to do it at the end of this season. I'll then shrink-wrap the boat, haul it out of the water, disconnect the electricity, and let it sit until we return next year.

I've never left Sans Souci out of the water during the off-season before, and am a little nervous about it. I have to believe there is humidity inside all that shrinkwrap, and I'm not sure that my electronics, and humidity, will get along well.

My maintenance list for this year is fairly short. I'm pleased to report that nothing major needs maintenance (although, I really shouldn't say that, as we still have another month on the boat, and anything is possible. At this point, the only significant items to be fixed are: 1) We heat water on the boat with a diesel furnace (Kabola). For some reason, probably something simple, the Kabola and my hot water heater, have stopped talking. I have an alternate way to heat water, so it is only a minor annoyance. And, 2) One of my two watermakers has a failed salinity sensor. It is producing water which may not be good. I have a second watermaker, so not a big deal. I will still have Jeff go through everything on the boat, to perform annual maintenance, but overall, it should be an easy year.

What Turkey Is Really Like

In addition to Jeff, I have another electronics specialist I've asked to come to Turkey. I have several minor, but annoying electronics issues around the boat. I upgraded my navigation software this year, plus upgraded the computer that monitors the various systems on the boat. Neither upgrade has gone smoothly (do they ever?). My various navigation electronics aren't working together as they should. I'm highly technical, and am arguably the best person to solve all these problems, but its not really how I want to spend my time on the boat.

Interestingly, after identifying, and interviewing, a technician, I was blindsided by this email from the salesman at the electronics company...

Email declining trip to Turkey

"... Well, [the technician] just informed me that he has decided that he would not like to go to Turkey. He says it looks a little unsafe. I will talk with [the technician] and see if there is any other tech that would make sense. Sorry Ken..."

The email caught me completely by surprise, and shouldn't have. I remember having a similar reaction when we first talked about bringing the boat here. Amongst other countries, Turkey shares borders with: Iran, Iraq and Syria.

However, now that are actually here in Turkey, I've seen no signs of any problems or tensions. We are in western Turkey, hundreds of miles from these other countries. The Turkey we see around us is a modern country, and one very similar to our own.

The town of Izmir. We were advised before heading there, that "it is a real Turkish city." After spending too much time hanging out in tourist-centric towns, we were looking forward to seeing the “real” Turkey.

In the off-season, Roberta and I divide our time between Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) and Seattle. This picture shows a Tex-Mex restaurant in Izmir. Roberta didn't want to go there saying, "What are the chances it would be good?" I wanted to try anyway. The margaritas and ambiance were great, and the food, well…a reminder of how far from Mexico we really are.

Hanging out in a shopping mall in Izmir. As always, Roberta's first priority when hitting town was to find a Starbucks for her morning latte. Chris and I spent an afternoon at the movies seeing the movie, “Total Recall.” The theater was awesome, but with only a couple of differences from at home: 1) They asked me to pick our seats going in, and 2) Suddenly, in the middle of the movie, the film just stopped, and a message was announced in Turkish. The lights came on and the theater emptied. Chris and I looked at each other, "Fire drill? Fire?" No one seemed concerned, and outside the theater, we figured it out. 10 minute intermission.

We feel very secure in Turkey. Thus far, I've seen zero grafitti, and have never felt concerned walking the streets, even at night. Interestingly, there are metal detectors at the entrances to all the major malls, movie theaters, and at the entrances to the hotels. We also went through metal detectors to get into the concert at the park. I don't know if there have been problems, or they are trying to ensure there aren't problems. But, security seems to be taken very seriously.

On Wednesday, when I received the email about the hesitant technician on my iPhone, I happened to be standing in a giant, modern shopping mall. Chris (our son) had wanted to spend the afternoon shopping. As I was reading the email, I was surrounded by busy shoppers. We had just stopped by a couple of multi-screen theaters to see what was playing, and had another mile (literally) of shopping center to run through. Had I just woken up and looked around, nothing would have indicated I wasn't back home in Seattle.

I have seen a few women wearing the conservative garb, but 99% of the ladies wear the same western clothes I'd see at home. And, as I look at the people, at least here in Izmir and in the shopping center, nothing about them would tell me I'm not in Seattle.

The concert at Gasworks Park.

Chris saw an announcement of a free concert, in Gasworks Park. This seemed too bizarre a coincidence to pass up. At home in Seattle we have our own Gasworks Park; in both cases a park which used to be a giant gasworks company. The concert was fun! The large crowd was very polite, and the band great. I'd call it traditional Turkish music, done in a contemporary, new age style. If curious, Here's a link to a YouTube recording of their music: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkTNauZdbc). We liked the band enough (called Yansimalar) we tried to buy a CD, but they didn’t seem to be selling any there.

The crowd was of all ages, and, seemingly, no different than what we would have experienced in Seattle. Perhaps fewer tattoos, but not by much.

On a vaguely related note, a few months back, when I was in Seattle at one of the fanciest of hotels, I happened to be chatting with one of the senior concierges. We were just making small talk, talking about the multitude of hotels he had worked at around the world. Roberta and I are always seeking new places to go, so I asked where he had liked most. His response, "Syria." This made no sense. I've been watching the news, and Syria doesn't look like a place I'd want to hang out. Apparently, as I've discovered here in Turkey, perceptions are not always reality. It's sometimes easy to forget that these countries are big places and that television news reports focus on only the most newsworthy events, without always showing there is a world beyond the news stories they focus on. (We also know this from living in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and are always frustrated by the universal “fear of Mexico” generated by the news media.)

The bottom line on all of this. Turkey is safe -- and a great place to be! By the way, the technician has now changed his mind, and is once again slated to come this direction.

Across from our hotel in Izmir was a warship and sub. I didn't see anyone touring them, but saw what I thought might be a ticket booth.

As Chris and I were standing at the ticket booth, I really had no idea what the ship was, or whose it was, but figured it was an old Turkish battleship. There were several very official-looking people standing around, in naval uniforms. I asked if any of them spoke English, wanting to learn more about the ship. A gentleman in plain clothes, who seemed to be there in an official capacity said he spoke some English. "What can you tell me about the ship?” I asked. “Is it Turkish navy? How long has it been here?" He asked where I was from, "Seattle." He said, "I have been to America. I was in Norfolk, Virginia, ten years ago. The ship is American! And, so is the sub!" I then asked, "Then, why are they here?" To which he responded with a big smile, throwing his arms wide-open, "We are friends!" It wasn't how I intended the question, and didn't give me much information, but...I liked his attitude.

The ship and sub were well worth touring. They both looked ready to go to sea. Some of what I saw was in English, and some was in Turkish. Our tour guide spoke only Turkish, and knew Chris and I couldn't understand, so he made no attempt to explain what we were seeing. Basically, Chris and I ran through the two ships wondering what we were seeing. After the tour, I did some googling, and discovered that it was indeed a US frigate (the USS Ainsworth), commissioned in 1971, and serving the US for twenty years, before budget cuts caused the ship to be given to Turkey, where it served another 10+ years (as the TCG EGE).

Upon returning to the hotel, Chris and I noticed that something had changed. A huge wedding was being organized, but it didn't seem like an ordinary wedding. There were as many police as balloons, and lots of very serious looking guys who clearly were security forces. All we could think was that someone VERY important must be getting married at the hotel. Hours later, as we were heading to lunch, we saw that security was even more intense and that the lobby was loaded with photographers, security, and wedding decorations. We walked through it with our two dogs, asked for a taxi, and, as we left the hotel, we realized that the hotel was the epicenter of something big. There were police positioned along the road and police boats offshore. I saw snipers on the freeway overpasses, with police at the off-ramps -- even two miles away. I asked the taxi driver what was going on, and it took a while for us to communicate. Finally, he said something that I could google and get a response. "Abdullah Gul" he said. The President of Turkey! "Abdullah Gul at hotel." OK. Now it makes sense.

Bizarre Incident Du Jour

Sometimes, language can be an issue.

Roberta, Chris and I were in a taxi yesterday, returning from a restaurant. As I was getting out of the cab, I asked what I owed. The cab drivers never seem to speak English, but they all know how to point at the meter at the end of the ride (this is not unique to Turkey). It said I owed 39 turkish lira (approx $20). I gave the driver a 50 TL note, and watched as he searched for 11 TL in change. I said, "Five lira is fine," which had no impact on him whatsoever. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just held up five fingers, and said, "Give me five." This caused him to smile ear to ear, slap my hand, and stuff the fifty in his pocket. At this point, I realized my error. He was still smiling, but had a "Thank you, and goodbye" look on his face. I couldn't figure if he was kidding or serious -- so I reached in my pocket for five lira, and showed him a 5 TL note, and pantomimed "You to Me". He got the message this time, and looked horribly embarrassed. Sheepishly, he fished around for 5 TL, gave it to me, and we parted company, each a little worse for the experience.

Reader Mail

From a Nordhavn owner, about his anchor

Just thought I would post this to the site in the hope others can learn from my own misfortune. Certainly lesson learned on this side of the world. I may note that the same goes for the tender and making sure it is also properly secured.

Morning of day three return trip from the Gold Coast to Sydney in what was a rough ride we were now only five hours out from the calm waters of our home port and all aboard were looking forward to a change of pace after what had been thirty six hours of uncomfortable conditions which to say was tiring, would understate the reality. One hour out and disaster struck.

With a sound reminiscent of a giant opening and closing his fly quickly our lovely (magnificent) 300lb stainless anchor decided to let go and head into 44 meters of water. What? How could this happen? Steve, a friend of mine quickly ran into the anchor locker to see what had happened and came up with the news that the hydraulic motor that attaches to our Maxwell 3500 windlass had come away leaving the anchor at the mercy of the rode we had tied to her.

With [the boat] now wallowing in 2-3 metre seas and 30kt winds we tried to refit the motor but without luck. We also tried to tie a large fender ball to the line but with the bow pitching the way it was it was impossible so after twenty minutes I made the call to cut the anchor free and with that she was gone forever. What was jubilation of our imminent arrival soon became sadness at the loss of our anchor.

Our anchor was secured to the boat three ways and even this was not enough. We had an anchor lock, line tied to the anchor and back to the boat as well of course we also had the windlass. All three failed and while a trip south was rough [the boat] has been in a lot worse. We will never know exactly what happened but we do know our anchor lock had popped early on the final morning but with only a few hours to run and with the bow pitching the way it was we decided that we still had line securing the anchor to the boat as well as the windlass. With the windlass hydraulic motor coming loose without our knowledge all that was holding the anchor to the boat was the line which as it turned out was simply not up to the job.

I guess the lesson here is that from this point forward I will be securing the new anchor via chain directly to the boat this way if lock and windlass fail it will still hold. [The boat] did not sustain any damage which was lucky with the 400ft of 1.2inch anchor chain free-wheeling into the sea in front of a 75T boat doing 7kts it could have been a lot worse. Lesson learned that is for sure. Also from now on I will check the windlass bolts before heading out!

Hope my misfortune averts others from making the same mistake.

Regards James

One of many emails, suggesting new tenders for Sans Souci

Ken:

Just read your latest blog. Great as always. Never worry about writing too much. You will always hit the mark with someone on just about any topic.

A couple of suggestions for your consideration:

1. I, too, have always worried about puncturing my dinghy for years. On my new boat I am putting on a 15 foot Stabicraft 1530 Fisher as my large dinghy. It has a tubed ring design just like the RIBS but it is all aluminum. They will customize quite a bit in terms of biminis, seating layouts and will even give you the option of a commercial hull with thicker aluminum in case you really want to bash the rocks. They are fairly light for lifting with the davit. With a slightly smaller tubular ring than a RIB they also have more room inside. I am dealing with Marty Smith (marty@stabicraft.com) in Everett but I am sure they can be delivered anywhere as they are made in New Zealand.

2. You may want to consider a “dead man” for stern tieing in certain situations where there are no trees, etc. to tie to. Basically all you do is carry a few 3 foot long ¾” or 1 inch steel spikes and some short pieces of chain or line. When you go ashore you pound the spikes into the ground with your fire axe leaving a few inches out of the ground depending on how hard the pounding is in a line with your stern line (in sand you might need to pound well down but in hard dirt you don’t really have to pound that far). Then tie each of the bases of the spikes together with chain or line at ground level and finally tie your stern line to the closest pin to the boat. The principle is that you are pulling perpendicular to the way the spikes are driven into the ground and each spike, in turn, is pulling against its neighbor so it provides a great deal of resistance much like using multiple anchors. When you are finished you pull up on the spikes vertically which is their weakest point of resistance and the spikes should come out fairly easily. You might have to wiggle them a bit but in the worst case scenario you have to leave one behind. I have used these to pull very large trucks out of mud and sand with winches where there was nothing else to tie on to. If you put them at a bit of an angle to the direction of pull and tie a number together it can provide a very strong tie point. For boating you don’t usually need more than 2 or 3. The best source for them is concrete contractors as they often use these spikes to hold boards for temporary forms for things like sidewalks, walls, etc. Home Depot might have them. I have never checked. They are very cheap. I would wrap them for storage as they are just low grade steel and will rust unless you paint them.

I hope these suggestions prove useful.

Cheers Murray

--------Response to Murry, and the many others who wrote to suggest various tenders:

I'm not sure what we are going to do about a new tender. I did find that the cost of a new tube for my existing tender, including delivery and installation, is $6,000, and buying a whole new tender will probably run $10,000 to $20,000.

I have just made the decision to replace the tube on my existing tender, and think about getting a new tender sometime in the next few years. The biggest problem is "buying sight unseen." It's tough to go to various websites, and look at tenders, and know what you want. I'd rather go to a boatshow, and see something that excites me, and then place an order. Our current tender is only fifteen feet long, which seems good, but as I look at other tenders, all the ones that I like seem to be slightly larger. I want to do some measuring and see if I couldn't fit a larger tender onto Sans Souci. One idea I've had is to get rid of my smaller tender (which never gets used) and put a larger tender athwartship, or slightly diagonal on the deck. With a new tube, the time pressure is off.

Thank you to everyone who sent ideas. It has made for some fun research!

Email, asking about Grey Pearl and Seabird

Ken and Roberta,

I have been following your blogs since you left Seattle with the other two boats. What are your partners up to? I want you to know your blogs are truely a high light of my day. I would love to have a boat even a 24 foot overnighter for here on Puget Sound, the economic gods have not been very faithful, so probably won't happen. But I get enormous vicarious pleasure from reading your excellent blog!

Happy and Safe Cruising! Jim

---------------Response from Ken

Jim,

Steven and Carol, on Seabird, are still in Thailand, but starting to think about "what comes next." Meanwhile, Braun and Tina, on Grey Pearl, have just taken delivery of a new boat (the Ocean Pearl) and are happily enjoying getting to know the new boat, and are cruising the east coast of the US.

We've been corresponding regularly, and I've been lobbying them to meet us for the run to Croatia. Transporting these boats around the world is expensive, and the schedules of the shipping companies can be "random" at times. I hope we find a way to cruise together again, but it's tricky to get all of the boats in the same place at the same time.

Good luck getting a boat!

Email about clearing into Greece

Hi Ken,

Last year I pulled into Symi and anchored in the bay on the right close to shore. My boat was Delaware registered and I was flying an American flag. I stayed a whole day an no customs people came to see me. You do not need to go through cuctoms as they are used to casual visitors who shop and buy cheap diesel.

-----------------Response from Ken

I'm compulsively paranoid about these sorts of things. I have visions of hordes of military descending on me, and a life sentence in some dungeon, if I were ever to attempt sneaking an extra bottle of wine through customs.

It was difficult to be so close to Greece and not be able to spend even one night at anchor (without lots of hassle and expense.) I did seriously contemplate having a mechanical problem, which could only be resolved by dropping anchor in a bay at Symi, but chickened out even on that. Oh well... this year is about Turkey, and next year we'll see plenty of Greece.

That's it for now! We have another few days on shore, then our cruising resumes.

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

Comment on: [Kensblog] Ancient Turkey

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:57:42 GMT

Ken, For how long are you planning to be in Turkey this season? The reason I am asking is: it gets really pretty for the areas from south of Didim to all the way to Antalya in September and October. Air gets cooler, but water temp remains nice and warm. Regarding Izmir - it's by far the most western (culture-wise) city in Turkey. If you decide to drive into more interior land, you will notice that things will start to change. However, safety and hospitality will remain the same allover the country, never worry about that part. Hope you enjoy your trip. John Osten San Antonio, TX & Izmir, Turkey ------------------Response by Ken 2012-08-20 John (Can), We were in Turkey later last year (until mid October I think), and it was great. The air was cooler, and as you said, the water was still warm. We start hitting dicey weather in mid October. Thus far, Bodrum is our favorite city, with Izmir not far behind. If we lived on this side of the world, I could easily see having a second home in Bodrum. We're currently sitting in Didim waiting for the wind to let us get off the dock. I need a window of about an hour, with winds under 15 knots, in order to safely escape. Once we're out of the marina, we'll be fine. Our goal for the next three weeks is to go back to those places where we had the most fun. It won't make for a great blog ....but, we'll enjoy it! Next year, unless something changes, we won't cruise Turkey at all. We'll clear out in May, and start our way across Greece, on our way to Croatia. It's tough to believe that Croatia will compare. We're pretty spoiled here in Turkey. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Ancient Turkey

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:20:01 GMT

SUBJECT: Re: Croatia Sent from iPad On 2012-08-15, at 10:05 AM, Patrick Festing-Smith <pfestingsmith@mac.com> wrote: > A friend of mine following your blog passed it along to me. > I'm a Canadian living in Split now for three years. I've spent a lot of that time skippering around the Dalmatian Islands between Split and Dubrovnik and know the area and marinas pretty well. Happy to help with any Qs on Croatia that I can. > > Cheers. Patrick. > > > Sent from iPad ----------Response by Ken 2012-08-15 Patrick, I am doing my research now, and need all the help I can get. I'll send you an email. Current momentum is towards the Mandalina marina in Sibenick. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Ancient Turkey

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:23:09 GMT

Hi Ken, at the Didem marina how are the boats secured. From the photo it looks like they are med moored but I dont understand how the anchors do not get fouled and how it really keeps the front of the boat from moving side to side in those winds? thanks -----------------Response by Ken 2012-08-15 Steve, I'll try to post some pictures on the next blog. Surprisingly, I'm no expert. When we arrived, three marina employees jumped onto the boat, and did everything, while I was at the helm. They worked hard at it, and had me moving the boat forward and back several times. It was probably a 15 minute process to get tied up. Here's the quick story. I'm not sure you know about Med Mooring, so I'll do what I can to describe the process. Without a picture, this may not make sense... At the Didim marina, none of the boats use their anchors, not even the big boats (I see several boats in the 100-150 feet range around me). Instead, there is a chain running down the center of the fairways, with thick lines attached to it, every 20-30 feet. These lines vary in length, but are generally around 1" thick by about 40 feet in length. Tied to the end of the line is a much smaller, quarter inch line, which is long enough to be tied to the dock. While I was being guided to my slip, by a tender, another marina tender was grabbing the small line from on the dock and using it to retrieve the thicker line, which is tied to the bottom. Once my boat was backed into position, one of my thick mooring lines was lowered through one of the hawseholes on my bow, and secured to the marina's mooring line. This was done on both my port and starboard bow. I then backed to the dock, and stern lines were put on. My bow was being held in place by the mooring lines secured to the bottom. The person on the bow left just enough slack that I could back up to the dock. Once stern lines were attached, it was just a matter of going forwards, and backwards, in order to tension both the bow and the stern. They take this tensioning serious at this marina, because of the extreme wind conditions. My boat has been help solidly in place since I've been here, despite the high winds. Hopefully this makes some sense....

Comment on: [Kensblog] Ancient Turkey

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:11:13 GMT

In regards to shrink wrap, around here (Toledo,Ohio ) they put vents in the shrink wrap for ventilation. I didn't see any vents in the picture you posted of a shrink wrapped boat. Bill Kelleher

[KensBlog] Good times, and some not so good times

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta and I are now in Bodrum, Turkey..

This shows our journey so far. We’re slowly working our way north, and have covered just over 300 miles of coastline.

Roberta and I have had a good week, but not a perfect week.

As we work our way north and west, we are now in an area which is more exposed to the meltemi winds (high winds that last for days). The winds aren't really that bad, and are so pervasive in the summer that most of the boats around here just ignore them and continue about their business. The gulets (chartered boats carrying tourists) don't slow down. They may change where they anchor, in order to get better protection from the wind, but they don't sit still.

Sans Souci is a very rugged boat, and probably one of the most seaworthy cruising these waters. So, with all that said, one would think that Roberta and I would not be affected by the wind at all. Well, that is not completely true. Boaters that are based here in this part of Turkey, and who routinely cruise these waters, know the drill. This is their home turf. They know where to anchor to avoid the wind. They are accustomed to entering the marinas in high wind. They've been Med mooring all their lives and, to them, it is natural. Roberta and I are by no means beginners, but we are not so experienced that there isn't more to learn.

Sans Souci, Med Moored, in Kucuk Cati

I mentioned in my last blog update that we anchored in a cove called Kucuk Cati. It was a tight location with not much space to maneuver, and anchoring was trickier than usual.

The chart was wrong. I didn't have much information about depths in the bay, and my chart plotter was showing the boat as driving on land (the chart wasn't correctly positioned)
The wind was high, causing ripples on the surface. This inhibited my ability to see rocks beneath the surface
I'm relatively new at Med mooring (tying stern-to rocks).

The bottom line is that we did most things right, but erred in our choice of a location to anchor.

Sans Souci, stretched across the back of the bay, with our anchor out in front, and a line tied to shore in back. Note the direction of the wind and current. Wind and current on the boat's nose is much less a problem than wind and current on the side (beam).

As you can see in the picture above, we anchored with our side to the wind. For some reason, while anchoring, I convinced myself this was not a problem. I had figured we were at the back of a well-protected cove, and that hardly any wind would penetrate.

Once the wind started blowing, we were constantly rocked side to side, and miserable. Something had to be done, and there was too much wind to try to re-anchor.

Sans Souci, anchored at Kucuk Cati, after I loosened the stern line. Much better!

As a short-term fix, I loosened the stern (rear) line, that was stretching us across the back of the cove. This caused the bow of the boat to point into the wind, solving the problem. It put us closer to the reef, on our east (starboard) side, but unless our stern line let go, there was no way we could get to the reef. I doubled up the stern lines, for added safety, and settled in to wait out the weather.

This is how I should have tied the boat. This particular cove looked too tight when I entered the bay. I didn't think there was any way that Sans Souci could fit. However, shortly after we tied up, I watched a large gulet tie for the night in this location and realized that we could have fit easily.

Another reason I ignored this cove was that I didn't see any rocks on shore to which to tie my lines. The gulet solved this by running very long lines to the trees, up the hillside. Whereas the gulets have 20-year-old crew memmbers, I have only me, and I'd confess that I'm not as athletic as the young crew guys. They make it look effortless to scale rock walls, or trees, to find a place to tie a line. Oh well.. thirty-five years from now they'll be my age, and I suspect they'll also find it isn't as easy as it used to be.

The bottom line: We were tied down in a wonderful location, unable to move, for four days. To our delight, the gulet that tied up just after us disappeared the next morning. We had three days of privacy. We had the place to ourselves.

I don't want to make the wind seem any worse than it was. It was high, but wasn't stopping us from having fun. I was 99% certain we could pull the anchor and go elsewhere, or re-anchor safely. But, given the proximity of the reef, and the wind pushing us towards it, and, especially given that we liked our little cove and were having a great time -- we decided just to wait it out.

For three days, we swam, hot-tubbed, barbecued, sipped adult beverages, played with our computers, etc. We were not suffering.

Finally, a morning came with no winds, and in minutes we were back at sea.

Our next stop was a small bay only a three-hour-run away, called Cokertme, across the Gulf of Gokova on the north side.

The bay at Cokertme. Large, with plenty of room to swing at anchor. There's a few restaurants along the beach -- and that's about it.

Cokertme is a large well-protected bay. I wouldn't call it particularly pretty. Boats anchor there to have a place to hide from the winds, or as a mid-stop in the Gulf of Gokova -- not as a destination. There are a number of restaurants lining the beach (four or five, I think), each with a dock that holds 10 to 20 boats. As boats enter the bay, someone from each restaurant runs to the end of their dock and waves madly, trying to guide each arriving boat to that restaurant's dock. I ignored the restaurant docks, knowing that Sans Souci, with its heavy weight, and broad sides, would easily rip apart any of their docks in a high wind.

Once we had the anchor dropped, I wanted to take the tender and go visit the restaurants. My mission was to select one for dinner. My other two objectives were to 1) grab lunch and, 2) find someone who would take our full trash bags.

I tendered to the nearest restaurant, ordered lunch, and was waiting for my food when Roberta called my cell phone, from Sans Souci. "Can you come back to the boat right now? I'm worried we might be dragging anchor." That's the kind of call that gets your attention! I wasn't sure what to do, in that I had just ordered lunch minutes before. I chased down the waiter, and tried to explain that I had to go, and needed the check. However, he wasn't understanding me. I decided to just put 50 turkish lira ($25 USD) on the table, and dash to the tender.

Whenever Sans Souci drops anchor, I place a circle onto the chart, based upon calculations of depth of anchor to amount of chain out. As Sans Souci moves, a blue line is traced on the chart. It's like playing with crayons. Coloring outside the lines is a bad thing.

As I was tying the tender to the swim step of Sans Souci, the waiter appeared behind me in his own tender. He thought there must be an emergency of some sort. I was still on the swim step, but could see no sign that the boat was drifting. The waiter had the 50 turkish lira in hand, and tried to give me me the lunch money back, and I wouldn't take it. Then he said, "Will bring your lunch. 10 minutes." I was in a hurry to get upstairs and find out if the boat was drifting. I was no longer in the mood for lunch, and told him. "No worries. Keep money. Don't bring food. All ok." He left in total confusion.

Once upstairs, I quickly realized all was fine. The standing orders on Sans Souci are that if there is any doubt, call me. Roberta was right to alert me if she had any doubt, and luckily it had been a false alarm.

This is when she said, "Is that our tender drifting away!???"

In all of the confusion of talking to the waiter, dogs on the swim step barking, Roberta rushing me upstairs, me worried about Sans Souci, etc., the tender had gotten poorly tied. In 30 years of boating we've never mis-tied a tender, but .. now, we had. I dashed down the stairs, peeling off shirt and shoes as I went, and dove into the water.

The winds were calmer than they had been, but still in the 15-20 knot range, and strong enough to move a little tender very quickly. I had trouble keeping up with it! What started as a 50-yard swim quickly became a 100-yard swim. And, as I reached the tender, I suddenly realized I hadn't thought through what to do once I got there. Someday, try to swim as fast as you can for 100 yards, then try to get into a tender from in the water – without a swim step to help you! It's tougher than it sounds. My alternative was to try to swim backwards, towing the tender, upwind, to the boat, which was getting farther away rapidly. My first few attempts to get into the tender didn't go very well.

I heard a noise behind me, and turned around. It was my new best friend, the waiter, in his tender. He motioned for me to throw him the line to the tender, which I did, and he took off pulling the tender towards the boat. I quickly grabbed a handle on the tender, and bodysurfed my way back to the boat. Once back at the boat, while retying the tender, I asked Roberta to grab a 20 Turkish lira note. The waiter refused to take the tip, and seemed very serious about it, but I was firm, and he finally relented.

In case you are wondering, I decided to have lunch on Sans Souci.

"Did you identify a restaurant for dinner?" Roberta asked. The waiter had come from a restaurant called "Rosemary’s" so I said, "I think we have no choice. We're having dinner at Rosemary’s, and I plan to eat there this time. Besides, he also said he would take our trash!"

One of the restaurants on the beach had this as their sign. I thought it was funny that their sign advertised "Slow Food." I wonder if this works at bringing in customers.

Waterfront dining at Rosemary's restaurant in the bay of Cokertme. I was told that the restaurants in this bay will deliver dinner to your boat if you ask, but since I don't speak Turkish, I didn't want to try.

Welcome to Bodrum!

After only one night in Cokertme we were ready to move on. Our next stop was Bodrum, and it is a major town. The doggies hadn't been on land, other than our brief dinner at Rosemary’s, in nearly a week. Civilization sounded good!

Sans Souci, anchored in front of Bodrum Castle – from medieval days, built by the Knights of Rhodes. We were warned that the anchorage would be in front of the "party zone,” and to expect lots of loud music, light shows and action, throughout the night.

Bodrum, called Hallicarnassus in ancient times, somewhat reminded me of where Roberta and I live in Mexico (Cabo San Lucas), in that there are two Bodrums: There is the tourist town, full of extreme nightlife where tourists go to party all night, souvenir shops, and so-so restaurants, cafes and bars. Then, there is the other Bodrum, less obvious to run-of-the-mill tourists. This other Bodrum is quite upscale, with excellent restaurants, amenities, and a very livable, beautiful community.

There's another thing about Bodrum that I've noticed, which is different from other places we've visited previously...

As we've moved north, where the winds seem stronger, we've seen fewer chartered sailboats. Further south, most of the boats around us were small, chartered sailboats or smaller gulets, loaded primarily with French, German or British tourists. Here, 90% of the boats we see are large, beautiful gulets. Whereas further south there is less wind, and the bays and coves are closer together for good anchoring, we're now in an area which isn't quite as easy for cruising, and distances to get from one place to another are farther.

We've seen two Starbucks already in Bodrum, including this one on the waterfront, next to the castle. How many Starbucks allow you to tie your tender in front? Roberta is very happy.

As we were tying the tender, I noticed a topless lady standing nearby on the beach, and another lying a little further down. I've seen a lot of casual dress (and less) at anchor, but it was unusual to see this in the heart of town, in a Muslim country.

There are two Bodrums; the wild and crazy tourist town, and the more sophisticated, upscale community.

Hiking around town not far from the castle, we passed a Spanish restaurant (La Pasion) located inside a beautiful courtyard. We were in the mood for something different and reserved a table immediately. We asked if they would take the dogs, and they said, "No problem." Dinner was excellent. We enjoyed various tapas and shared a wonderful beef paella!

And on a completely different topic...

I will sidetrack for a second and mention our tender. We use it to go back and forth to shore, often several times a day. We have two, but I don't really like the little one, and consider it our emergency backup.

Sans Souci's tender has been through a lot, and is starting to show it!

The tube to our tender looks like it has been through a war. It was gaffed (stabbed) in the Aleutian Islands and has had leaks repaired several times. I've seen hippies with fewer patches on their jeans than our tender! Over the years, various lifting accidents have ripped off the radio, and pulled loose the chrome handles. The straps on the bimini top have been replaced several times, and the tie downs for the bimini top seem perpetually to crumble apart with rust. Through all of this, it has never failed to start, or get us where we want to go.

Last week, I started exploring what it would cost for a new tube. Jeff, who works on my boat in the off season, said, "Ken. That tender has been through hell. There's only about a $3,000 or $4,000 difference between replacing the tube and getting a whole new tender." The comment caught me off guard. I still think of Sans Souci as a ‘new’ boat! I have my local Turkish repesentative looking for a new tube for the tender now. I don't know if we'll get a new tender, or just a new tube. I was thinking just a new tube, but...maybe Jeff is right. This tender has a lot of miles on it. If we do replace it, I would like to try something different. I'm tired of dealing with inflatable tubes, and may explore other options, but Roberta has a good point in that the tender (An AB Inflatables, 15DLX) has been reliable and solid – and is not so heavy; her and I have no trouble lifting and lowering it ourselves (using the davit) to/from the bow.

I recently installed a new swivel on my anchor and it already has failed.

And, as long as I'm talking about technical issues, I should mention that my new anchor swivel, intended to help the anchor rotate into the correct position for retrieval, and installed just a few weeks ago, is already flaky. At my next opportunity I'll do what I should have done a couple weeks ago, and eliminate it entirely. It kinks when bringing up the anchor, and the anchor is backwards when I'm trying to get it lifted onto the bowsprit. The anchor weighs 350 pounds, so twisting it to the right position using a boathook (a long aluminum pole with a hook on the end) isn't easy.

A Very Blustery Day

Our respite from the meltemi winds was unfortunately short-lived. On our second day in Bodrum the wind started picking up, and each day has been worse. Our next passage will take us 40 miles north to a marina called "D-Marin Didim." I'm not as worried about the wind here in Bodrum, or the passage to Didim, as I am about our arrival into the Didim marina. Roberta has a sports injury to her right shoulder (impingement syndrome) which has limited her ability to assist in mooring. Because of pain, she has difficulty working the lines and hauling around fenders. So, she’s mainly been maneuvering the boat while anchoring, coming into/leaving coves, bays, etc. And positioning and holding the boat while stern-tying. (She’s getting good at driving the boat!) We're newbies at Med mooring in ports and marinas, and doing so with only two of us is difficult. With Roberta's ability to work lines severely limited, and with high winds, I'm not sure we can get into the Didim marina. Our plan is to stay in Bodrum until the winds calm, which should be in a day or two.

Our third day got off to an interesting start. In the pictures above, I noticed that the smaller of the two boats was drifting to the larger gulet. And, both seemed to be drifting towards Sans Souci.

To prepare for the forecasted high winds, Roberta and I re-anchored the boat. Our anchor was well set, but we were in the thick of the action, with too many boats around us. Thus, while things were still relatively calm, we chose a location away from other boats, and dropped the hook. With 20/20 hindsight, a location upwind of other boats might have been the better choice, because within minutes of dropping anchor, I noticed two boats drifting our direction! In the pictures above, the smaller boat was pulling his anchor, when instead of his own anchor coming up, the anchor of a nearby gulet came to the surface, tangled in his anchor chain. This left both boats drifting, umbilical-corded together.

I have always wondered what would happen if this ever happened to me, so I watched as they worked it out. The process was actually simpler than I expected. They tied the gulet's anchor to the bow of the smaller boat, and lowered the chain back into the water. This took the weight off the anchor, and allowed them to work, from a tender, to untangle the chain. Once untangled, they were able to lower the anchor back into the water, and the two boats were separated. It took about an hour. Had it occurred an hour later, when the wind became higher, someone would have had a bad day.

As night arrived, the wind picked up strength. Whereas we had anchored away from other boats, dozens of new boats arrived to fill any gaps. By nightfall, we were surrounded on all sides by boats. What is surprising is that the boats you see on this radar display are constantly coming and going. During the day, it seems like every 10 minutes, another boat comes or goes from this anchorage.

And, most annoyingly, the action doesn't stop at night. There are huge boats that are essentially floating dance floors with blaring music, that circle the anchorage at night. There are also "booze cruises" which seem to take pleasure in zig-zagging at high speed through the boats at anchor. I am constantly worrying that one of them will snag our anchor chain.

As Roberta and I settled down for the night to watch television, I thought I noticed motion out the window. I paused the TV, and stepped outside for a better look. There was an unlit boat (Roberta and I called it the ghost ship) moving silently through the other boats. It was too dark to actually see it. All I could see was the silhouette of the boat against the anchored boats behind it and the pulsating disco lights on the shoreline. The boat seemed to be gaining speed with the wind, and was heading directly toward a 120' motorsailer anchored next to me. There was over 25 knots of wind, with gusts over 30. Wind-force is exponential, not a straight line. Remember your highschool physics?, and the old E=MC squared formula? In other words, a 20 knot wind is far stronger than that of a 10 knot wind, and a 30 knot wind is no fun at all. The boats in the anchorage were sailing back and forth, on their anchors, as they were pushed back and forth by the wind. One power boat, anchored in front of me, was sailing back and forth in a wide arc, as though it were running at full speed; left, right, left, right...

My first reaction was, "Why doesn't that gulet have on any lights?" And, my second reaction was...

"Oh crap! I bet he is dragging anchor!"

The lack of lights and steering indicated that no one was at the helm. The motorsailer had apparently noticed the potential for a collision, because suddenly their tender lit up and was rushing towards the ghost ship. Minutes later several other tenders also started racing towards the ship. It passed between Sans Souci and the motorsailer still with no apparent life, and was headed towards open sea.

I'm not sure exactly what happened next, but while the ghost ship-gulet was circled by tenders, lights appeared in its masts. I don't know if the crew woke up on their own, or if the other tenders somehow woke them, or if the problem had been mechanical, rather than an anchor that dragged. In any event, I am amazed that no one was hurt.

Once the lights appeared on the gulet, it was able to maneuver back to the anchorage and drop anchor for the night -- right in front of us! The odds weren't good that it would drag anchor twice in one night, but then again, we already knew his anchor wasn't the best. And, to no great surprise, as soon as his anchor was down, he turned out all lights on the gulet, and it was dark again.

This is the "ghost ship" seen in the light of day. It's not nearly as frightening with the lights on!

The gulets are somewhat a modern invention. Although they look like they have been around for thousands of years, and are loosely based on ancient ships, the gulets as they exist today, date back only to the 1970s. They were designed to carry tourists, and appeal to tourists. Although they all have sailing masts, I can't remember ever seeing one sail, and suspect that many of them couldn't sail if they had to.

Didim

As I type this, we are still sitting at anchor, waiting for a clean weather report for our trip to Didim. It's a town near some of the key historic sites in Turkey, like Ephesus. My guess is that we are stuck for the next three days, but, as usual, even though I whine about the weather, things aren't so bad. In fact, both Roberta and I have said that we are very impressed with Bodrum, and understand why it is so popular. If we lived on this end of the planet, this is a town we could live in. There's good weather, great restaurants (we've dined in three now), worldclass boating, great people, and plenty to do. Once we are safely tucked into the marina at Didim, we plan to drive – by car! -- back here in order to visit the many historical sights that Bodrum has to offer.

Reader Mail

Email from Nicholas M

Hi Ken and Roberta !

Stop apologizing on the length of your blogs ! They are just amazing !

I'm 33, and reading your stories literally makes me drift away to Turkey !

I think you had me with boating now. I never considered boating as a hobby/way to go on vacation before I started reading your blog. Maybe I'll consider trying it to see if I like it or not, when the kids will be old enough to follow us.

I'm a private pilot, I like reading your comments on the weather. I do understand what a gusting 27 knots wind is ! Navigation is very similar. You move through moving waters, I fly through moving air. Heading, currents, waves, winds also apply to flying. You can have shallow waters, I can fly too low near a very high antenna. Results may vary however ;P

I'll be in Corsica in August for a week. Lots of boats there. Do you plan ever going to Corsica or Sardegna one day ?

Have fun in Turkey, I wish you guys the best.

P.S. Does Turkey produce some Wine ? how is it ?

Nicolas M Canadian follower

-------
Response from Ken -- Nicolas, Yes! We are working our way towards Corsica and Sardinia. Realistically, it will be a couple years before we get there. And, as to wine, we've been quite impressed! We've been drinking the higher-end, but still fairly inexpensive (about $40-50 USD per bottle) Turkish wines, usually Cabernet/Merlot blends. There are foreign wines available here, but they are heavily taxed (at least double the normal price), and not worth the steep premium.

Email from Steve L

Loving your blog! Can't recommend Symi enough. You are so very close. Steve L

-------
Response from Ken -- Steve, we decided to put off Symi, and all of Greece, until next year. It was painful to cruise past Symi and not be able to stop, but I didn't want all the hassle of clearing in and out of Greece.

Email from Cody M

[...] I was reading your blog and it's not a big deal or anything but I just wanted to inform you that some states in the US do require a license to operate a boat. Being a resident and boater in Oregon, I know everyone in Oregon needs to take a sort of test before you're handed your license. I'm pretty sure you need one in Washington as well. The government were rolling it out slowly to people depending on their age. I'm pretty sure everyone in Oregon has to have one now to operate a boat. Washington may not have rolled it out completely yet, though. Anyways, like I said, it's not a big deal but I just thought I'd bring it to your attention.

I hope to be in your shoes one day on my own Nordhavn and cruising the world.

Happy cruising! -Cody

P.S. Everyone under 40 years old operating a boat with at least 15 hp motor must have a boater's license. http://www.boaterexam.com/usa/

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Response from Ken -- Cody, this is the first I've heard this. It's great news!

Email from Pascal L

Why can't I see any pictures in the blog?

-------
Response from Ken -- Pascal, some email programs remove all pictures from emails, such as the newer versions of Outlook. This is to protect your computer from attackes by hackers. There is usually a way to see the pictures, for instance, on Outlook, usually all you need to do is click on the warning message at the top of the email. If this doesn't work, you can always do it the easy way -- go to my website: www.kensblog.com and click on the first blog entry.

That's it for this week!

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

PS There are no 360 view pictures this time. I took several, but none were good enough to post.

As a reference for future cruisers, here's a map to the locations in this blog:

View Kensblog - Gokova to Bodrum in a larger map

Comment on: [KensBlog] Good times, and some not so good times

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:56:55 GMT

Ken, is everything ok? You haven't posted in awhile. Has Roberta thrown you overboard? Have you hit a rock? Run out of wine? Need bail money? :) please post soon with pics! *****Response by Ken - 2012-08-11 ***** Dan, Thank you for asking ... but, the only problem is I seem to have caught a horrible disease, called "laziness." I'm trying to shake it off today, and start writing. With a little luck there'll be a new blog entry later today! (Sadly, not a great one, as not much has happened) -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] Good times, and some not so good times

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:33:25 GMT

Hi Dad, "Slow Food" is a real thing. It's quite popular, actually! It means ... a mellow good time, with excellent quality food, by people that care (and are in the know!). I recommend you eat anywhere promoting "slow food". It's the good stuff! I don't know if this is what your particular restaurant meant, but ... it's a good thing and fun to share.  So ... here ya go! <center><img src='http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/SlowFood.png' /></center> Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food' target='_blank'>More ... ></a>

[KensBlog] Visit to an Ancient City

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta has come up with a succinct description of the region of Turkey in which we are now cruising: “Disneyland For Boaters.” I understand what she means. It’s as if someone started with a blank sheet of paper, wrote down all the things that make for great cruising, and then went out and had it built.

Everything seems “too good to be true.” The anchorages are spaced the right distance apart. Most days, we travel only a couple of hours, and, thus far, our longest day at sea has only consumed six hours. By comparison, I've always dreamed of cruising the South Pacific, but my friend, Braun Jones (Grey Pearl), summed up the South Pacific by saying, "The candy is good when you find it, but there's not much, and it's spread out over thousands of miles." Here in Turkey, the distances are small. There are often historic sites within an easy hike, or directly on shore. The water is clear and warm. There are no sharks. The internet is good, and there are restaurants everywhere you look, often in the smallest bay! The winds can be high, but they reliably die down each night and usually are polite enough to stay gone until you've arrived at your next destination the following day.

Our voyage thus far. We've cruised 250 miles, and feel like we've just touched the surface. For every bay we've entered, there are a dozen we passed by. The cruising in Turkey reminds me most of the cruising in the Pacific Northwest, except with water that doesn't subject you to hyperthermia in minutes should you fall in.

We were sad to leave Bozburun, but the time had come to move on. We moved the boat to an anchorage in front of the small town of Selimiye. After our idyllic anchorage at Bozburun, neither we, or our friends, liked being right in front of the town. It was very charming, but after one night, we decided to move on.

This picture is from our passage to Selimiye, as we were running just off the coast of Symi, Greece. The water was dead calm, and no one was around for miles, except for us and this boat. I was moving 9 knots, and he approached quickly from behind at 16 knots. All I could imagine was that he was curious to see our boat. As he overtook me on the starboard side, he suddenly cut directly across my bow. Why not cross behind me? Or, overtake me on the port side, if that was his goal? I don't know.

Sans Souci anchored in front of the town of Selimiye. We had a nice dinner at the Sardunya restaurant (which was packed!) and then woke early to buy bread from a lady who baked her own each morning in a fireplace in front of her house -- on the street. It was fresh, warm and excellent. We dove into it immediately!

We all wanted to repeat the Bozburun experience and find another quiet anchorage. Our friends would be departing the boat from the town of Orhaniye, so we started seeking a nearby quiet bay to drop the anchor. On the chart, the bay of Orhaniye itself looked promising, but our cruising guide said that the wind could be a problem.

Thus, we dropped the anchor a couple miles away from town, in a larger bay that didn't work at all. We were too exposed to the wind, and the anchorage was rolly.

The Angel's Peninsula Hotel

We passed this fancy 5-star hotel and noticed, on the internet, that it had a small marina. We were in the mood to pamper ourselves, so I phoned the hotel to ask about their marina. Our plan was to stay on the boat, but enjoy the hotel's amenities for a few days. They said we would be welcome.

Roberta and I like to scout new marinas with our tender before bringing the big boat in. As we approached their dock we were cut off by a very serious security guy in a tender. We explained why we were there, but he still wouldn't let us approach the dock until someone from the main office came to the dock to greet us, and even then, he wanted us at the far end of the dock, away from the other boats.

The hotel was amongst the most incredible I've ever seen. We were given a tour of the whole place, including the private beach, restaurants, and spa.

The hotel had a "surprise" specialty. It serves a very conservative Muslim clientele, and most of the women were in traditional garb, even while swimming at the beach or pool. (Note: But there were also some in western bathing suits, shorts, and dresses.) The young lady giving us the tour pointed out that no alcohol was allowed in the hotel, or at the restaurants, and that there was a separate facility, beach and pool for the women who wanted to take advantage of it.

The hotel staff was incredibly nice to us but, I have to admit, we felt conspicuous, and were receiving confused looks from some of the guests. Once back on the boat I emailed to the hotel canceling our reservation saying that we really didn't want to create any discomfort for their usual clientele.

This meant taking another look at Orhaniye

We tendered into Orhaniye to "check it out." There isn't much of a town there. What town there is, is dominated by a large marina (called Marti Marina), several charter boat bases for renting sailboats, a small market and a few restaurants. Across from the marina, there is a small island with ruins of a Byzantine fort and, whereas on the chart, the back side of the island looked too tight for a boat our size, from the tender I could see that it looked well protected, and a perfect place to anchor.

Briefly, I should discuss the chartering. Renting a sailboat, for a week or two, is very popular here in Turkey. Some of this has to do with licensing. Europe, in general, has tight regulations regarding the requirements to drive a powerboat. In the US, anyone can take the helm of a powerboat, with no license required. In Europe, there are few owners who drive their own powerboats. Some of this is a cultural issue, not just licensing. In any event, the loophole in the regulations is that sailboats are OK for anyone to drive, or rent. I don't believe we have seen a chartered sailboat with the sail up yet. I'm sure it happens, but in my observation, most of the sailboaters are running them as powerboats.

Some of the charter operators offer flotillas. These offer the same benefits as the rallys that we've participated in. There is a pre-defined set of destinations, a guide boat, dinners and parties. It could be a good option for someone who can't have their own boat in Turkey, but wants to sample the local cruising in their own boat, themselves. We've run into a lot of these flotilla groups at various restaurants and anchorages.

Our anchorage behind the island at Orhaniye. Beautiful!

This was the beginning of four, wonderful days of perfection at anchor. There isn’t much to say about it, other than that we sadly said goodbye to our friends, John and Gloria Buchan, who had been with us for a couple weeks. During that time, we had swam a lot, had great dinners on the boat and on shore, and had cleared out a lot of formerly occupied space in our wine cooler.

Boat's at anchor at the Marti Marina, in Orhaniya. We had been told that it was one of the most scenic marinas in Turkey, and I can't disagree!

We did have one "interesting" event. The tender needed fuel, and on our first day the fuel dock was out of gasoline. The fuel attendant said, "Kaput!," and when I asked where to buy gasoline, he just shook his head no. I was able to buy some fuel from a local jetski rental merchant, at double the usual price of $10 per gallon. When I went back to the fuel station a fuel days later, an entrepreneuer was there selling gasoline in 2-liter plastic bottles. He siphoned, by blowing into the bottles, TEN of them into my tender. It was quite a show.

Orhaniye's claim to fame is the 600-meter-long sand spit called "Kizkumu,” or "Maiden's Beach.” According to the legend, the daughter of the Bybassos king, a beautiful princess, went into the sea to escape from pirates. As she didn't know how to swim, she filled her skirt with sand, cast this before her so she could walk on it, and tried to cross the cove. She lost her way when it got dark, and as she neared the far shore, she ran out of sand, and was tragically drowned.

Whether or not the story is true, it has certainly been a tremendous boost to business for the adjacent restaurant. There is even a statue along the sand spit commemorating this legendary event. By late afternoon most days, there is an elbow to elbow, nearly 1/3 mile line of people walking the length of this sandbar.

Our anchorage at Orhaniye was about as good as it gets. For most of the day we had calm seas, privacy, a short tender ride to restaurants, swimming, barbecuing .. all those things that make boating fun. And, in the afternoon, the waters around us would come to life with a non-stop parade of activity and people-watching.

The second picture above shows the boats that would arrive several times a day, carrying one hundred or so tourists in swim suits. The boat would drop anchor in seconds, and a ramp would fold down into the sea. Within minutes the passengers (like lemmings) would walk down the ramp, into the sea, and collect in a drifting flotilla of humanity. I don't think I ever saw any of them actually swim much, they just bobbed around in the sea. After 10-15 minutes, a whistle would blow, and the floaters would march back up the ramp, hose themselves off quickly, and be back underway to the next drop-point. The whole process was easily under 30 minutes.

It is very interesting watching the local captains, and how they use their anchors. Whereas my anchor is slow, and a "process" to deploy, the local captains seem to drop theirs in seconds, and raise them practically as fast. I've seen them drop the anchor multiple times while maneuvering, as quickly and as effortlessly as an athlete might plant a foot, in order to pivot.

Dinner at the restaurant at Marti Marina. They allowed the dogs (everywhere has!), and had a Spanish group playing Latin music. A romantic evening dining on the water.

One nice thing about Turkey -- the prices are very reasonable. It will be culture shock when we enter the EU, and are confronted by higher, EU prices.

Tendering to dinner is always an adventure, particularly when surrounded by sailboats.

I tend to "over-light" Sans Souci. We were at anchor in St. Tropez when a tender smacked into the side of a boat, killing the driver. We've seen a lot of tenders here in Turkey running at full speed in pitch black. We've also seen a surprising number of sailboats with no lights on at all. On those that are lit, the coast guard regulations seem rarely to be followed. Lighting is random or non-existent. In the picture above, there are sailboats around Sans Souci. See them? Neither do I.

One reason we stayed so long was that our next passage was fairly long and to the northwest. We are headed towards an area, called Gokova Gulf, which we have heard is awesome, and difficult enough to get to that you can sometimes have whole bays to yourself.

Amusingly, the good cruising area of Gokova isn’t really that far from where we were at Orhaniye, however, we are separated from it by a 30-mile-long peninsula. The prevailing wind here is from the northwest, and to reach the end of the peninsula, we’d need to run for five hours directly into the wind. The wind wouldn’t be anything our boat couldn’t handle (25 knots on our nose), but, when given the choice of staying another day in an anchorage where we’re having fun, or pounding into head seas, I prefer going “tomorrow.”

Too quickly, the weather forecast improved, and it was time for our next voyage.

Imagine anchoring in an ancient city…

We had a smooth ride to the end of the peninsula, where we dropped anchor in one of the most unusual harbors ever: in front of the ancient, Greek city of Knidos! It's not Ephesus, but to me, it is almost as awe-inspiring. We couldn't believe where we were!

The ancient amphitheater, with Sans Souci at anchor in the background

Entering Knidos is a bit of an adventure. It's an ancient harbor, surrounded by a ruined city 2,500 years old. You have to enter between two seawalls, one of which is damaged and partially submerged, and the other which is fully underwater. Roberta asked why, with 2,500 years to figure it out, they couldn't put a red and green light at the entrance, or at least place some buoys to show their locations!

The ancient city covers an entire hillside, plus more on the adjacent island. You could easily wander for days through it, and unlike many historical sites, there are no fences to separate you from the artifacts.

Toundra and Keeley enjoyed the chance to "be dogs again" and get off the boat. We worked them hard going up and down hills. They were much more limber than we were!

When Roberta and I entered Knidos, there were dozens of sailboats tied to the dock (we're too large to fit) and three other boats free-swinging at anchor, so I did the same. As the afternoon came, more boats started arriving, most of which anchored far closer to me than I was comfortable with. The blue boat anchored practically touching my bow, despite plenty of room in other places. Luckily, he only stayed a couple of hours. However, he was immediately replaced by the white boat that anchored even closer. This led to a sleepless windy night waiting for boats to start bumping into each other (none did).

The morale of the story: ALWAYS find a way to stern tie. If not, your “circle” will be compromised, with your anchor possibly interwoven with several others. I'm learning this lesson the hard way.

View from the restaurant at Knidos. Sans Souci can be seen towards the back of the harbor.

A happy captain, and a member of his crew, after a hard day at the office.

I wonder what the process is for awarding concession rights. The restaurant at Knidos is very good, and I'd assume it is a money factory. I was surprised when I asked about reservations and was told that they would be full that night (luckily, they were able to fit us in).

Our night in Knidos turned out to be “difficult.” After an excellent dinner, we were in bed by 11 p.m. At 1 a.m., we were awakened by rising winds. The wind was supposed to be calm! Instead, we were seeing gusts to 27 knots inside the harbor. This would have been fine, except that we were now packed tight with other boats, some of which I suspected were on my anchor. We thought seriously about leaving the marina, but that was impossible in the dark. It was a long, tense night and we took turns at anchor-watch.

Kucuk Cati

After our uncomfortable night at Knidos, we were tired, but eager to get moving at first light. The winds let up a little for our departure and the forecast was getting better. We had a long run to make eastward through the Gokova Gulf, but knew the wind would be behind us the entire way. And at the other end we'd have a wonderful bay in which to anchor.

The pups, helping Roberta drive Sans Souci.

I call this the tender-cam, a small monitor on the dashboard dedicated to keeping an eye on the tender. I like to watch it as we run.

The view from our upper aft deck, while at anchor in Kucuk Cati, in the Gokova Gulf.

I stern-tied, but goofed. It's a tighter cove than I'm accustomed to anchoring in. As I was coming in, my focus was on the surrounding rocks and finding the easiest place to tie up -- not on thinking about the direction of the wind and swell. This led to an uncomfortable situation in which the boat was taking more swell than necessary on our port, bow quarter.

The gulets shoot into these bays picking the ideal location, cram themselves into tight spaces I'd never even consider, and are tied up perfectly in minutes. I'll get there but... learning is a process. It's not instantaneous (at least for me!)

Kucuk Cati is off the beaten path. There are so many choices for bays at the head of Gokova Gulf that you have a reasonable shot of getting one all to yourself. It's far enough away from the major tourist centers that when you do see other boats, they are usually Turkish, not the pervasive chartered sailboats with British, French or German tourists that we see farther south.

Our approach to Kucuk Cati was complicated by a problem with the charts. Our chart was showing us driving on land! Adding to the fun, there were white caps at the entrance to the bay, obscuring visibility, and as this picture shows, shallow places and rocks.

I'm not sure what is happening with the charts. I have a chart plotter in my tender, and it is showing the same thing. The charts are off by over 100 feet! Perhaps it is some magnetic disturbance in the area? Or, perhaps, the charts for this area are just wrong.

As I type this, we are still at anchor at Kucuk Cati. The gulet and small, sailboat that joined us in the cove left early this morning. With a little luck we'll have the place to ourselves for several days!

A few pictures that didn't seem to fit elsewhere

Although cruising Turkey is nearly perfect, there are a few flaws.

For instance: Sans Souci's underwater lights are usually a terrific way to attract fish to the stern of the boat. The first picture above was taken near Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. The second picture is typical of what we see at night here in Turkey. We have not seen one fish over four inches yet. The restaurants all serve fish, so we know they are out there .. somewhere.

Even though I have Vsat, for satellite internet, I haven't been using it. Sim cards are available cheap, that plug into my Pepwave router. They provide fast (3gb) internet, and 10gb costs only about $40. There are lots of rules that I don't understand, and language has been an issue at times while buying the cards. But, overall, it is awesome, and so far, has worked everywhere, even at all the anchorages in which we’ve been.

Steve Dashew just did a write up on the Pepwave routers for those who want to know more: http://setsail.com/the-ultimate-cruising-communications-tool/

Links to 360 degree photos from the places in this blog

When viewing these, there's a little icon that makes these full screen. To get the best effect, go full screen, and move around the image with your mouse (or with your finger if on a mobile device). They are pretty incredible!

Orhaniye:
http://tinyurl.com/dydc7ns
http://tinyurl.com/cck95ng

Knidos:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=4e9bc558-c5b4-4801-b1fd-66115d41b5e6

Kucuk Cati:
http://tinyurl.com/ch8u3j8
http://tinyurl.com/bu2zncy

Reader Mail

Here’s some reader mail. If you’d like to write to me, I can be found at: ken@kensblog.com.

From Peter Sheppard, Nordhavn owner

Ken & Roberta,

I search your blog for what I can learn about your experiences with the boat and not with the places you go to, but thats just my bent. Firstly I'm interested why you lose sleep on anchor watch and not rely on your Furuno anchor guard. I have a child crying intercom alongside my pillow turned up loud from the wheelhouse and one foot always on the floor. Secondly don't take any notice of the detractors of your big Rocna as it is the best in my view. The biggest problem I have is weighing it as it buries itself so deep some of the mud, sand, surely comes from China. Rule 1: if anchor drags, go straight to a mirror and have a good gaze in it for the answer to the dilemma. When my 110 kg Rocna is on the bottom and only in the correct bottom for holding, I reverse the boat and try and break it out going up to 1500 rpm. If I cant, I can sleep, but need to plan for how I'm going to get that sucker back to the boat. Even though I have a 4000 Maxwell windlass, my Rocna beats it completely sometimes, so on goes my enormous chain lock, and I then have to drive over it to get it unstuck. The other day it came up with so much mud the windlass was punching way above its weight. Rule 2: If it still won't set, get the hell out of there. When I see boats bailing, I immediately have respect for the skipper. Enjoy, and keep the boat stuff coming.

Peter Sheppard
N55 SKIE (30,000 nm in 5 years all around the Pacific)

------------
Response from Ken = Peter, Thank you! Good advice, as always.

From Phil Eslinger, Nordhavn owner

Ken,

I know how much you like to take your dogs with you on your cruises because I sent you some back ground on Hawaii and dogs. Now, I am in the same boat. We acquired a yellow labrador retriever last year who is now 11 months old. Currently we are cruising down the West Coast of the US to San Diego. We'll pre-position the boat there until the end of hurricane season and depart at the beginning of November. Then we will take the boat to the Panama Canal, through the canal, and into the Caribbean.

What was your experience with taking dogs with you in Central America?

What are the difficulties in flying dogs in and out of foreign countries? I know that your dogs are small so you probably take them with you in the cabin. Amos is 87 Lbs. now and he could barely fit under a seat when he was ten weeks old and 18 lbs. Does customs for any countries give you guff about the dogs?

Thanks,
Phil Eslinger
Flat Earth N5025

----------

Roberta and I both responded to Phil via email. Our response had a lot of good information in it for people contemplating cruising with a dog. To read all the correspondence: CLICK HERE

Email from Brian

Hi Ken-

Great writing and entertaining blog reading as always!
Thanks for sharing your adventures and I vote that you keep moving the boat.
I also wanted to tell you that I saved the pictures of your boat at anchor near your "private bay" and the aft view of your "personal swimming pool" and the American flag. Hope that is ok, it is just for my inspiration!
Best regards,
Brian

-------
Response from Ken -- Thank you Brian, and good luck!

Excerpts from an email from a friend now traveling in France

[...] We are in Antibes where we literally squeezed between a couple 100 footers one foot at a time. Departed from our berth in Nice with boats a fender away on the sides and a boat in front of us. Got within 6" of the boat out front before I could turn and then almost caught the bow of the boat on my stern. Amazing what these marinas put you through. [...] Had a Frenchman towing his tender trying to anchor in front of me, wrapped the painter around the prop and drifted back into me. He kept letting out chain until he was next to me on the stern. As the boats sailed in the wind we would come together and the people on his boat would scream. Took him over an hour to clear his prop..........

Good luck!

-------
Response from Ken -- Boating is a lot of things, but it is never dull!

Not really an email to me - just interesting reading

[Note from Ken] I know of three Nordhavns that were struck by lightning last year, plus my own very minor run in with lightning.

Kathy, on Shear Madness, a Nordhavn 72, wrote a detailed accounting of their lightning strike. It's a long read, but interesting and educational.

http://shearmadness72.com/about/lightning-strike/

And, a couple of emails about the interview I conducted, about the Turkey economy

Hi Ken,

[...] I participate in the Turkish Gov Health plan--SGK & the cost is 426 TL every 2 months (Approx $250). I pay only for myself & [name withheld] is included automatically. This includes medications for asthma which in the US would cost close to $500/month & with the SGK coverage is about $35 every 3 months. Also when we go into a hospital & request a routine blood screening it takes about 10 minutes to get an authorization from a Dr., about 10 min to sequence thru the line at the lab to get ID stickers for the blood tubes, another few min for the blood draw and get the computerizer results about 10 minutes later which we hand deliver to the authorizing Dr. [Name withheld] has chronic lymphocytic leukemia which requires testing every 3 months & is followed up at the Mayo Clinic in US. We balance our care between here & the US but generally find care here--both public & private so much more efficient (no lawyers) than in the US. [...]

David

Dear Ken,

I’m a lifelong boater from Vancouver, British Columbia. I’ve followed the GSSR and your follow on commentary with great interest. I hope to do a similar trip when I’m in retirement which, given than I’m 39, is still a few years away.
I enjoyed your recent piece on Turkey. “Hearing” about the current state of Turkey’s economy, health care system and tax regime were very interesting. Particularly for this Canadian who is continuously disappointed with our country’s socialized medical services and our federal government’s refusal to permit a parallel private system. I have not verified that this is true, but other than Cuba and North Korea, I understand that our country is the only one with socialized medicine that does not permit a private alternative. Be careful with Obamacare.
We can read about history from myriad books. If you have a choice write what feels right to you. If right is writing about other countries from locals and on current conditions then spectacular!
Thanks again for running your blog.

All the best,
Mark

That's it for this week! (as usual .. it's too much... My apologies, but when I start typing, it's hard to stop. And, when I stop typing, it's hard to start.)

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

PS I just noticed, looking at my website (www.kensblog.com) that the page counter will soon pass TWO MILLION! Who would have thought that was possible for a blog about boating written by a computer programmer? I am very amazed.

As a reference for future cruisers, here's a map to the locations in this blog:

View 2012-07-23 Sans Souci Blog in a larger map

Comment on: [KensBlog] Visit to an Ancient City

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:43:21 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta. I was so pleased to know that the two of you are together and happy. The same can be said for myself and my wife Diane. Our three boys and our daughter are all doing well and we have six grandchildren. Oldest boy, Richard Georget is Board Certified in internal medicine and is currently doing his cardiology fellowship. Youngest son, Chris is a CPA who just joined Ernst & Young in their NYC office. He just spent two years working for KPMG in Honolulu. Before that he worked for Deloit Touch in Fresno. Middle son, Bennett has his own pool maintenance company "Pool Doctor. Our daughter Jennifer is a design consultant for several local builders. Before the real estate bubble broke she was a conultant for CENTEX Homes and doing extremely well. Now she is still doing very well. Tos see what we all look like now go to my Facebook page. Not the one that says Richard Kiel "Jaws" but the one that is just Richard Kiel. Oldest son has the same first and last name so there is one for him as well. I remember your family fondly as we did those informercials for the Las Vegas Electronics Show. Your children played my children. Those were the days! Apple 512 was state of the art. Hard to believe. I remember having difficulty switching over from using a Smith Corona word processor to Microsoft Word using a P.C. Diane and I are going to London in September and will be staying at Claridges. We love to cruise and perhaps the next time we go to Mexico we could connect. All the best! Richard "JAWS" Kiel

Comment on: [KensBlog] Visit to an Ancient City

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:10:02 GMT

SUBJECT: Inaccurate Turkish charts I also have enjoyed reading your cruising blog especially about those places I've never visited. The problem with inaccurate charts is the charts were published far earlier than the advent of GPS. As a result GPS vividly displays those positional errors that in many cases are over 50years old. The modern electronic chart manufacturers must use the official government published charts. They do not have the option to add corrections because if you think about it, the world is so large it is impossible to add the thousands of changes each from different sources plus all chart correction must be certified as correct. Some countries are diligently working on corrections but many are not or cannot. I hope this helps you to understand chart errors. Your option is to cruise conservatively and do not rely 100% on electronic charts. Stay safe, Chuck Worst, " Anmchara" Sent from my iPhone

Comment on: [KensBlog] Visit to an Ancient City

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 07:14:06 GMT

The boat that cut in front of you may have been trying to avoid giving you a big wake. I have seen this a few times, if they keep going straight, you will be hit on the beam, if they cut in front of you, you are hit more on the bow. --------------- RESPONSE BY KEN 2012-07-24 Fred, You may be right. This hadn't occurred to me. Had it been me, I would have slowed down, and crossed the boat I was overtaking from behind rather than in front, or gone enough in front of the other boat to make my wake negligible. My guess: The powerboats in Turkey have professional crews. The crew's goal is to give a smooth ride to their boss. It isn't me that decides what to pay them each year. They needed to cross over me, and had their choice of slowing WAY down, bouncing in my wake, or keeping their boss's ride smooth and crossing in front of me. Easy decision. -Ken W

[Kensblog] Sometimes, I win

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

I have said this before, but will repeat it for those who might have joined us recently....

I consider the blog as kind of a tug-a-war between myself and the readers, in which only one of us gets to win. When the seas are rough, the boat is broken, the winds are high, and danger is in the air, the blog is lots of fun to read. You, the readers win at our game. And when the seas are calm, the hot tub is warm, the seawater is warm and clear, the barbecue is hot, the wine is cool, and nothing is broken on the boat, it is my turn to win. You may get a boring blog, but you can bet that I will be smiling.

This time it is my turn.

When last we spoke, Sans Souci was working her way northwest to Marmaris

Our goal was to find a quiet bay that we could have all to ourselves. We were headed towards the "big city" of Marmaris, but wanted a night or two at anchor first, for some swimming and barbecuing.

Our first stop was a bay named Kadirga, only a few miles from Marmaris. On the chart the bay looked to have a tricky entry (rocks partially blocking the entrance) and was only a thousand feet in length. As we approached the bay, we could see dozens of boats already lining it. I entered anyhow, but immediately had to spin in place and back the boat out of the bay. It was WAY too crowded.

Turunc

A little closer to Marmaris, we saw another bay – called Turunc -- that looked like a cute little waterfront tourist town. There wasn't much space for anchoring due to underground cables and swimming areas lining the bay. However, there was one corner at the southern end where I thought we could squeeze in.

Click here if you don't see an image in the box above

Turunc - Looking out at Sans Souci sitting alone in the bay

I could never quite relax in Turunc, because our location was closer to a rocky point than I really wanted to be. Before going to bed I said to Roberta that if the winds topped 20 knots, I'd have to stand anchor watch (sit in the pilot house ready to move the boat should we break anchor). At 3am the wind hit 20 knots, and was blowing us straight into the rocks. I sat in the pilothouse until nearly 5am, but our anchor held, no problem, and I went back to bed.

Click here if you don't see an image in the box above

Although Turunc looks calm in these pictures, overfilled tourist boats regularly arrive and depart from here. At times we felt as though we were caught in the middle of a "boat freeway."

My suspicion is that the tourist boats weren't completely happy I was sitting in the middle of their route. Many were passing within 10 feet of Sans Souci, to send a message.

John and I raising the tender, to prepare to enter port in Marmaris. We've been leaving each day at 6am, and had nothing but smooth rides. Here you see that the davit can "extend" to make itself longer. This allows me to drop either tender on either side of the boat, or even drop the tenders directly off the front of the boat, if I am wedged between two other boats.

Marmaris is the hub of boating and tourism in southwestern Turkey. I figured our guests should see the town, and reserved for three nights at the marina closest into town (Netsel). The marina asked me to prepay the moorage (670 euros, around $900). To my surprise, our guests weren't particularly excited about visiting Marmaris, but we decided to go in anyway, because I had already paid for the moorage.

The Netsel marina is adjacent to the "old town" district in Marmaris.

You can't tell it in this picture, but the wind was steadily rising as I was approaching the marina.

A shaky welcome to Marmaris

Usually, Roberta is the calm one in tense situations. However, and I'm not sure why, even though the wind was rising, I was confident I'd have no trouble entering the marina. Part of the reason was that I was driving outside the boat, partially sheltered by a corner of the pilot house, and didn't realize how high the wind was. It had been less than 10 knots minutes before, but was suddenly over 25 knots! Roberta questioned if I was sure I could enter the marina and I stopped the boat and tried the thrusters. The boat felt fine, and I had good control, so I went for it.

A tender came out of the marina and motioned for me to follow him. Once inside the marina entrance, I started really feeling the wind, and the guy on the tender suddenly made a VERY steep turn to the right (starboard). He wanted me to follow him, but they had parked a 110' boat next to the entrance, which was partially blocking me, making a tight turn even tighter. I wasn’t sure I could make it given the higher winds. I immediately spun the boat around and asked Roberta to call the marina and say we were bailing. Roberta looked relieved, and when I asked her later what the marina said, she said they didn't seem surprised at all.

As it turned out, the bay in front of Marmaris is a perfect depth for anchoring (50 to 80 feet), wide open, and stretches for miles. I dropped the anchor in front of the “old town” of Marmaris, and no sooner was the anchor on the bottom than the wind dropped -- as I knew it would.

I asked the team if they wanted to make a new try at entering the marina, and everyone said, "Why?" I agreed. We had a perfect location at anchor, an easy tender ride into town, and far more privacy than we'd have in the marina. Later, I tendered into the marina and spoke to the harbormaster, knowing I wouldn't get a refund. They easily agreed I could have a future credit should I return. I would think that if I come back to Marmaris I'll anchor out, but, who knows? It seemed more than fair on their part.

Marmaris was as predicted. Crowded. Hot. Touristy. To my great surprise though, we had a wonderful dinner at a rooftop restaurant (named Jan De Witt). Our waiter that night told us that it had been 46 degrees Celsius that day, which translates to 114 degrees Fahrenheit – and it felt every bit that hot!

Walking along seaside at Marmaris. Thousands and thousands of people – of all European nationalities.

Looking down the beach from where we were anchored. There is a nearly 2.5 mile walking path along the waterfront, with an endless stream of hotels, restaurants, bars, and beach. One of my motivations for coming to Marmaris was to walk the beach. I walked it last year in May and had a great time. However, May is a lot cooler than July -- with it over 110 degrees, my desire to walk ended after the first 50 feet or so.

Our fascination with Marmaris lasted exactly one night, and we were ready to move on. For our next stop, we selected an anchorage in a bay named "Buzukkale."

When we arrived there were only a couple of other boats in the anchorage. Within a few hours we were surrounded on all sides. We were disappointed to see all of the other boats, but had plenty of fun swimming and scuba diving, anyway.

Click here if you don't see an image in the box above
Within hours of our arrival we were surrounded by boats on all sides. One large gulet passed within a couple of feet of us, And seemingly dropped his anchor on top of ours [Note: I'm not sure how, but our anchor was not snagged, and came up fine the next day]

To our surprise, the bay, although small, with no one living around it, had three restaurants!

We had dinner at a restaurant called "Sailor House" which was actually quite good, particularly given the remote location.

You may recall that last year I asked a local how I could find a bay in which to anchor with a restaurant. His response, "All of them!"

This is basically true. Virtually every bay has a restaurant with a small dock, usually for 10-20 boats. Moorage, as I understand it is usually free, with the vague understanding that you will dine at their restaurant. The restaurants are strictly seasonal, open only from May 15th to the end of October. Most have no electricity, but will have an antique generator, that powers a few lightbulbs during dinner (and produces an annoying sound). The restaurants are generally small budget affairs, very inexpensive, with food cooked on an open grill. The restaurant staff is usually a family – including the young children, learning the ‘biz’ -- who lives at the restaurant during the season. Calling most of them "casual" would be an exaggeration. It's a long story, but I was caught one day without a shirt, and wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to lunch without one. My concern turned out to be wasted energy. I would have been the only person in the restaurant wearing a shirt!

Menus tend to be minimal with very little selection. I'm a fussy eater, and have been ordering chicken schnitzel – a lot! I don't even like it, but I'm not a fish eater... or a "mezze" eater, and that leaves only "chicken schnitzel." The wine list is usually limited to color (red or white). The restaurant staff are always fun to talk to, happy to see you, and will do anything in their power to please you. I'm not complaining. The outlying, “bay” and “cove” restaurants are one of the many simple pleasures of cruising in Turkey, and a real highlight.

One personal challenge for us has been the many the dogs and cats. Virtually every town and, often, restaurant, has dogs and cats. At this particular restaurant, our guests had four cats lined up on the wall behind them throughout the meal.

In this picture, Roberta and I are each scolding our dogs, who are screaming, because of the big dog that is trying to make friends. Our little dogs are deathly afraid of other dogs, cats, and, seemingly, their own shadows. We should leave them on the boat... but, they are hopelessly spoiled.

A side story about our guests...

Our guests, John and Gloria, are serious world-class boaters. They've owned both power and sailboats, large and small. They've crossed the Pacific twice, and John has raced sailboats worldwide.

Although John and I share a love of boating, we are very different people, and the differences can be amusing at times. Whereas I am "mellow" and sometimes need kicked a little to leave my computer screen, John is a bundle of energy. Both of us are captains, but we are very different captains. This morning was a typical example. I plotted a course that ran several miles offshore, and was effectively "the long way around." John doesn't like to waste fuel moving from point A to point B and will cut every corner. If I see a pack of boats, I'll swing wide around them. John will maneuver through them. If there's a way to move slower, I usually find it. If there's a way to go faster, John will complain that it isn't fast enough. We play little games with each other while running the boat. When I'm not looking, he steers us closer to the coast, and rounds corners. When he isn't looking I steer the boat towards deeper water. I'm not going to argue that my way is better or his way is better, but they are certainly different, and that's fine with me. There's a place in the world for all types of people, and the one thing John and I have in common is that we are very focused on safety.

Anyway…a personal goal for me is to "turn John onto the cruising lifestyle." When he looks at my boat, he sees a boat that could go faster if I would just offload a lot of the "stuff" and make it 100 tons lighter, and put in bigger motors. However, I see it as a portable, waterfront home that takes us anywhere we want to go in comfort and safety. John likes the movement, the trip. I like the “being there.”

It took John a few days to get into the slower rhythm. A few days ago, when we were discussing where to go next, John just naturally assumed we'd pull anchor and move out early the next morning, whereas I thought we were in a pretty cool place, and should dig in for a few days. Lacking tact, as always, I said to John that I had a new idea, "John, why don't we try this strategy. I'll swing in close to the next bay we come to. You get up on the bow, and start the anchor dropping. I'll alert you as soon as it is half-way down, and you can start bringing it back up while I dash to the next bay." I was just kidding, but as it turned out, I didn't need to encourage John at all. Because, our next anchorage turned out to be so perfect, that no one would ever leave it quickly.

Perfection. Bozburun

Our next stop was an area known as Bozburun. I had a recommendation from a local that his favorite anchorage was the east side of an island called "Kisel."

When we arrived, we could immediately see why the place was so highly rated. It was beautiful! However, it was also a poorly kept secret. The anchorage resembled a parking lot!

A popular anchorage. Pick your spot, rub some butter, or any other slippery substance, down both sides of your boat, and squeeze on in.

Before committing ourselves to a spot, we all agreed we should look around and see if there was somewhere more private.

Sans Souci tied up in our own private bay, a short tender ride from Bozburun. We had our own beach, and called the area behind the boat our “personal” swimming pool.

We noticed a beach in a bay with no one around, just south of Bozburun. My first reaction was, "If no one else thinks it is safe to be here, why do we want to be there?" There can be meltemi winds of 30+ knots that last for days. Perhaps this was not a safe location. We checked the chart, checked the depths, and decided, "This is too good to pass up." We dropped the anchor in about 120' of water, backed up as close to shore as we could get
and put out a couple of stern lines. Where we finally settled was in 50 feet of crystal clear water. Can you imagine being able to see the sandy bottom clearly, 50 feet down?

This was the start of three full days of fun and relaxation. Lots of swimming.

We had fun scuba diving off the back of the boat. We even discovered a wreck, or at least lots of wreckage and debris, around the corner from where the boat was anchored. We also discovered several abandoned fishing nets on the bottom. In one of my spookier diving moments, I suddenly realized there was a fishing net beneath me, and the corners were being held vertical for 10 feet or so, by floats that were still attached. In seconds I should have realized that the net had been on the bottom probably for years, but it was more the feeling than the visual that was creeping me out.

Each town has had a different personality. For whatever reason, all of us would say that Bozburun was our favorite so far. It is a fishing village, and not nearly as touristy as other towns we've been in. The bay around Bozburun seemed to have lot of small, boutique-style, upscale hotels. We had dinner TWICE at one of them, the Karia Bel.

A few photos from Bozburun

Roberta loves her latte in the morning. In downtown Bozburun we found a barista capable of making a latte that met with Roberta's not-easily-earned approval.

The restaurants seem to love our dogs! I'm not sure why, but Toundra and Keeley seem to be a hit wherever they go. They have been a great ice-breaker with the locals, and seem to lift us above being "generic” tourists.

We stopped by the Bozburun Yacht Club for a drink, and met the sailing instructor. He is very proud of this catamaran, featured in the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair." I tried to keep up with him on the tender as he gave a lesson, lifting one pontoon well out of the water (which I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch.)

A small, but very nice hotel/restaurant, the Karia Bel. Recommended.

John and I were lucky enough to be able to tour a shipyard in Bozburun, where they are building some of the huge wooden gulets so popular here for tourism. We watched as they cut the logs by hand, and assembled the boats. It was like a trip backwards in time!

Someday, I should summarize all of the different techniques I have seen for hauling boats in and out of the water. This was a new one for me. A giant platform/trailer/sled, pulled by a hydraulically driven cable to bring the boat out of the water.

And, in closing

Yesterday, my friend John started lobbying me that Roberta and I should end our plans to continue cruising the rest of Europe and just stay here in Turkey year after year. Like us, he is enamored with the cruising here – but also with the immense history of the country. This really is as good of cruising as I've ever seen. The people, the weather, easy visa requirements, the clear water, the diving, the restaurants, everything. That said, nowhere is ever completely perfect, and there are a few negatives. For instance, the wind at times can present a challenge, the summer days can be extremely hot (110 degrees and warmer!), and language can be an issue. But, overall, I've cruised a lot of the world, and this is incredible by all standards.

So...will we be staying year after year? The answer, unfortunately, is no. We'll enjoy this cruising season, but, we'll move on next year. It's in our nature to always want to go new places and see new things. But, it will be very difficult to leave this beautiful country of Turkey.

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

PS I do have some reader mail from my last blog report that is worth sharing. As usual, this blog entry is longer than I intended. If you've read this far, you've already spent too much time reading. I'll save the mail for another time.

And lastly....

As a reference for future cruisers, here's a map to the locations in this blog:

View Sans Souci Blog July 13 2012 in a larger map

Comment on: [Kensblog] Sometimes, I win

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:41:23 GMT

I was about to say my favorite photo was the one of you two scolding your dogs but then I saw the one of Roberta wearing my favorite tank top I have from Anthropologie! The brown one with embroidered flowers, while you were eating at the Karia Bel restaurant. Roberta has very good taste!! :) Always love reading your blogs regardless of how long or short. A long time Sierra fan, Julie

Comment on: [Kensblog] Sometimes, I win

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:56:55 GMT

When you lose ... we win. When you win ... we win! I love the blog. Often, when there's little to talk about, you get into the silly little details, with comic whimsy and fun. I love it! Keep 'em comin'! Where you off to, next?

Comment on: [Kensblog] Sometimes, I win

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:59:27 GMT

John & Roberta, I search your blog for what I can learn about your experiences with the boat and not with the places you go to, but thats just my bent. Firstly I'm interested why you lose sleep on anchor watch and not rely on your Furuno anchor guard. I have a child crying intercom alongside my pillow turned up loud from the wheelhouse and one foot always on the floor. Secondly don't take any notice of the detractors of your big Rocna as it is the best in my view. The biggest problem I have is weighing it as it buries itself so deep some of the mud, sand, surely comes from China. Rule 1: if anchor drags, go straight to a mirror and have a good gaze in it for the answer to the dilemma. When my 110 kg Rocna is on the bottom and only in the correct bottom for holding, I reverse the boat and try and break it out going up to 1500 rpm. If I cant, I can sleep, but need to plan for how I'm going to get that sucker back to the boat. Even though I have a 4000 Maxwell windlass, my Rocna beats it completely sometimes, so on goes my enormous chain lock, and I then have to drive over it to get it unstuck. The other day it came up with so much mud the windlass was punching way above its weight. Rule 2: If it still won't set, get the hell out of there. When I see boats bailing, I immediately have respect for the skipper. Enjoy, and keep the boat stuff coming. Peter Sheppard N55 SKIE (30,000 nm in 5 years all around the Pacific)

[Kensblog] Coasting Along in Turkey

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta and I are now working our way northwest along the southern coast of Turkey, moving from anchorage to anchorage.

A few photos...

Approaching a narrow passage.

This was at about 6:30am. Generally, when we move the boat, we like to get underway as early as possible and be anchored by noon. The wind comes up every afternoon about noon and lasts until around 6pm.

I'm not 100% certain I have this one figured out. A Turkish delicacy? Nah... my current thinking is that this barrel is for dumping used oil.

Our friends, John and Gloria Buchan, visiting us here in Turkey. For John's birthday we decided to take them to a fancy restaurant (allegedly frequented by the ‘rich and famous’) on the hill above a marina, simply named "My Marina” in the Bay of Ekincik.

Everything is so casual on a boat, that the ladies were excited about the opportunity to wear dresses for dinner.

The birthday dinner, and view of the bay from the restaurant. Sans Souci can be seen WAY off in the distance!

We took the tender into dinner, but then had an interesting ride getting back to Sans Souci. This picture was taken inside the marina – before we had exited it -- and shows how dark it was. I had my chart plotter, with a track on it, showing the path I had navigated to get to the restaurant, but the darn screen was so bright it blinded me. I tried to dim it, but couldn't figure it out. So -- I had to pick between blindness or driving in the dark. The biggest problem is the sailboats, who often are unlit.

This boat showed up offering tours up the nearby Dalyan river to ancient ruins (Caunos). John and Gloria took the opportunity and visited the river town of Dalyan and explored the ruins of Caunos and saw the Lykian tombs in the Cliffside. The following are a few of their photos. ($150 for the day)

After John and Gloria returned from siteseeing, John and I spent the afternoon scuba diving. It was just a practice dive, so we didn't go very deep. You'll note that we aren't wearing wetsuits. I checked the water temperature, and at 25 feet of depth it was still 80 degrees fahrenheit.

On a completely unrelated topic, I'm including these pictures that were just sent to me by another cruiser. They are from Horta, in the Azores, a popular stop for boats crossing the Atlantic. It's a tradition that each boat arriving in Horta paints a little sign card as a souvenir of their voyage. The original Sans Souci (our Nordhavn 62) had crossed the Atlantic in 2004, and here you see that our name is still somewhat there.... (top right corner in the left picture). Too bad they didn’t find the spot where Roberta’s mom, Nova, had painted the old Sans Souci logo. We wonder if it’s still there.

A couple of 3-D photos...

I'll close out the photo section with a couple of 3-D photos from at anchor, tied to shore. One showing the view from the fly bridge (hot tub deck), and one showing our favorite place to dine, on the upper aft deck. [Note: If you haven't already figured it out, if you put your mouse on the picture and drag around, you get the 3-D view. You can also zoom in and out with your mouse wheel.

http://photosynth.net/embed.aspx?cid=c66e5d1c-8d88-4d28-9be2-1904f0a86a98

http://photosynth.net/embed.aspx?cid=13ed6698-b4a7-4e3d-98c9-d71dd945d17c

My last blog entry had a 3-D picture of the boat which triggered several emails from readers. Apparently in one of the pictures it looks like the boat's railings have a big gap in them. This was an artifact caused by the stiching together of several photos to create the 3-D view. The photos don't always line up, and I am not very good at standing still while shooting. This week’s photos have even more grievous flaws. If you look close at the second photo you'll notice that my sloppy photography accidentally amputated the head of one of your guests. Our friend Gloria would like you know that she does, in fact, have a head!

A few other notes on the second photo: 1) At the back of the boat, you can see a green mat on the floor. This is the dog's yard, which can be quite dangerous to step on barefooted. And, 2) Stretching along behind the bench seating you see a spring-shaped hose. That is the hose used for washing off the dogs’ "yard." Lastly, 3) You may have noticed the yellow wading pool. That was an experiment to see if the dogs would play in it on hot days. Despite what I thought was a good idea to put treats into a bowl, floating in the center of the pool, the dogs didn't "get it" and refused to go in. We finally gave up on it.

Reader Mail

Here are a few excerpts from my mail-bag. If you'd like to write me, I can be found at: ken@kensblog.com. If you'd like your email kept confidential, say so -- or, it might wind up here!

My last blog entry mentioned that Roberta and I had looked at other boats, besides Nordhavn, prior to purchasing our current boat. This triggered LOTS of email asking what else we considered.

Our preference from the beginning was to buy a new Nordhavn. We wanted something slightly bigger than our Nordhavn 62 (N62), and decided to trade up to a Nordhavn 64. However, within hours of our sale closing on our N62, we started missing it. The N62 has a very cool look (aft pilothouse and long bow), and the N64 has a more conventional style (forward pilothouse with shorter bow). Nordhavn sells a larger boat, the N76, which has the look we like, but when we visited one, we decided it was too big for us. Thus we canceled our order for the N64, and started looking elsewhere.

Nordhavns N62 and N64. Very effective ocean-crossing machines.

We got serious about two other boats:

1) Northern Marine. They are great boats, but literally while we were in the contract phase, I received a call from a friend encouraging me to tread carefully, because something bad was happening. They had a huge layoff days later, and then slid into bankruptcy. I narrowly dodged a bullet. My belief is that they are back in business, but I haven't tracked them. [Note: Here's something fun, and never before seen: This is a picture of the Northern Marine 68, that was never built, complete with Roberta's handwritten commentary - CLICK HERE]

2) After Northern Marine, we decided to go the custom, aluminum trawler route. We were talking to a company out of Florida that manufactures super yachts about doing a boat for us -- a 68-footer -- and once again we reached the level of contract negotiations. They were waiting to start a huge project and had some extra people who could do our boat as filler between projects. It was going to be expensive, but would have been an exceptional boat. This is when Nordhavn's president (Dan Streech) called and asked what it would take for us to buy another Nordhavn. We explained our dilemma. Dan agreed to build the N68, and that was the birth of the model… which has gone on to be a big success for Nordhavn!

Here's an excerpt from an email, from Bob A, about my "anchor swivel" issues: "...As for the anchor swivel--I doubt if it had any effect. The weight of the anchor, and boat will allow some twist in the chain, and it will still properly set. We tried a swivel for a few months, but found under heavy loads it did not swivel, plus no difference in setting. There was a slight difference when pulling the anchor up to its "locked" position, but letting the anchor dangle down a few feet below the pulpit allowed the chain to straighten. We started off carrying a large CQR and Danforth. In Turkey, we had the same problem setting that you described. I began diving on the anchor and each time I found that the grass roots were so thick that even the large CQR was not crushing them. I would take an axe and cut the roots, then roll the CQR into the place where it could start penetration of the sea bed. I have not used the Rocna, but have purchased a Manson Supreme which is close enough. I suspect that the same problem we had with the CQR is affecting the Rocna. We had a fisherman-type of anchor hand forged in Bodrum. That was the end of the problem. It was not galvanized, the end of the arm, past the flukes (called the "bill")--actually was formed of the same steel bar as the arms, and were about 6" long beyond the palm. We kept the flukes and long points of the "bill" sharp, so it would penetrate and cut the roots. Having a sailboat with a bow sprite made securing 3 anchors properly easier than on your vessel. We had the Danforth on one side of the Bow Sprit, and the CQR on the other side--near the bow. The fisherman went thru a 3rd roller which we had fabricated toward the outer end of the bow sprite. We were able to leave the stock in place for every day use, and then folded it along side the shank when underway for any long period of time. ..."

Here's an excerpt from an email, from Alvi M, about anchoring in Turkey: "...I used to have a plough-type anchor and had a lot of problems with setting and dragging. Then I read about the Ultra anchor (which I later discovered that it is a Turkish company manufacturing them) at Nordhavn site and after visiting them at an exhibition and understanding how it works I changed my anchor to Ultra. The result is unbelievable as the anchor sets almost immediately and I never had an anchor drag problem even at very difficult or tight locations. I would certainly recommend it. Med mooring is the "way" to anchor at Turkish coasts and Turkish cruisers are not used to boats floating at anchor. So even if you arrive before a boat to an anchorage, the newcomer, if he would med moor would easily disregard your "circle" not because of poor yachtmanship or rudeness but we are not used to this. There are lots of cruisers who would like to anchor without med mooring but they simply anchor well away from those who med moor. I read your concern about the side wind when med mooring and it is a very sound concern as my boat also has a lot of windage, but the winds in the bays are usually quite consistent as the strong winds are westerlies. When we pick a mooring location we observe how the wind blows in the bay and pick a mooring location where the wind blows right behind the boat when the boat is med moored. And hence the ropes take the load and I have never experienced the wind shifting to the side of the boat. The worst that happens is that in the early morning the winds might reverse (from coast to the sea) and then the wind would blow directly from the front and your anchor will take the load. There is also the additional benefit of the wind breeze coming from aft of the boat as it is quite hot there. As a side note, I remember that you will go to Symi and if you decide to moor at the main harbor I would caution you that it is the worst mooring place that I have ever been as all the boats med moor using their anchor on boths sides of the bay. You end up with lots of cross anchors and when boats start to leave the next morning it becomes a total chaos. Therefore if you are still planning to go there either stay at anchor outside the main harbor (but you might have strong winds) or go into the bay before 10am and make sure that you get a spot deep down the harbour (the shallow part) where only small boats reside and hence you will not have other boats setting anchors on yours. ..."

And, lastly, something serious!

I mentioned that I was going to try to filter more culture into my blog this year. My intent at the time was to write about the history of Turkey, and I might still do that. However, I must admit that my personal interest is more in modern Turkey, and particularly the economy. I always think that there are lessons to be learned by studying what has worked, or not worked, in other countries. Thus, I've been interviewing locals about Turkey and trying to get their perspective on it. As a tourist, the Turkey we see it not necessarily representative of "real Turkey.”

Theoretically, I could look Turkey up on the internet, and learn more than I could ever want to know. But, I always believe that individual opinions are far more interesting than just looking things up in the encyclopedia. So, anyway, here is an interview I conducted with one well-informed, Turkish gentleman, who prefers anonymity, which I hope you'll find as compelling and informative as I did.

Q. I'd like to understand how healthcare, welfare, education and other government programs work in Turkey. What can you tell me?

A. I would like to underline that Turkey is a developing country and therefore on almost all grounds the service rendered by the government is of poorer quality compared to the US or Europe but the trend is certainly upwards and in a quite significant rate. The GDP is around 10,000 USD and just a decade ago this number was around 5,000 USD, and last year Turkey grew 8.5% annually, just short of China. Also, there is a significant difference, in terms of GDP allocation, government services, culture, between western part of Turkey and the Eastern part of Turkey. Obviously the western part is much more developed compared to the Eastern part. Just to quantify the difference the GDP in Istanbul, Izmir is around 13,000 USD (country average 10,000 USD) and the GDP in many eastern cities is around 5-6,000 USD and farther East this number goes down to 3,000 USD !

Healthcare used to be terribly bad, until 4-5 years ago but today healthcare is considered to be the current government's best achievement and where they get most of their votes. When a person is employed by a private company or the government that person, in Turkey, receives a NET SALARY (Unlike US or Europe) and the employer pays the government, monthly, the tax for that employee and an amount for contribution to the healthcare and retirement system. And the employee is entitled to get free healthcare from all government institutions (hospitals etc) and also from private hospitals with some minor additional charges. The biggest change the current government did was to include the private healthcare providers to the system and hence improve access of a low-income employee to a good healthcare. Also, private hospitals had the right to refuse to treat an emergency if that person could not show funds for the treatment and government hospitals could refuse an unemployed person (hence no healthcare contribution) in an emergency situation. Now, all and any hospital has to treat an emergency situation regardless of that persons financial or employment situation. Costwise, the contribution to healthcare and retirement system is around 8% of the salary. Those who have average or above average income also go for private insurance to get a full service from Private hospitals. For example my insurance costs 2500 USD annual for the whole family but it only includes cases if any of us is hospitalised.

Education is also improving. A decade ago only five years of education was mandatory but today it is 12 years. And all Turkish citizens are entitled to free education for those 12 years. The average quality of public schools is still very low compared to US or European standards. Also, if any students chooses to, he can go to public univercities which are also free. But, we do not have enough univercities to accomodate for all the high school graduates who wish to continue. The sector for private univercities is growing very fast but this trend has started barely ten years ago. And of course they cost money, though much less than the US.

Q. What about immigration? I haven't sensed much of a foreign immigration problem, yet Turkey is near countries with poverty issues.

You are right that Turkey does not have a big immigration problem (though Turkey is used as a passage for illegal immigration to Europe from poorer neighbouring countries) and I believe (and this is my opinion) the reason is that Turkey still has a lot of cheap labour force who are willing to do low income work and a growing population to feed this labour force.

Q. How do taxes work? Are there corporate taxes, personal income taxes and asset taxes?

A. Corporate tax is 20%, and income tax is between 20-35% based on your income. Property tax is also between 20-35% but if you own the property more than 5 years then there is no tax. Also, if you own the shares of a company more than two years and sell the company there is no tax on the sales value. But, as I noted earlier we have a different taxing system, where the employee gets a NET SALARY and the tax is payed by the employer to the government. And therefore, we do not have a culture of receiving a salary and then paying an income tax the next year. Also, 30% of the workforce is undeclared (the employee is not declared to the government and hence no tax) and many small businesses or private endeavours (doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers etc) avoid paying taxes. And hence there is a huge amount of uncollected tax on the income level. In order to hit its budget objectives and cover this shortfall, the government taxes heavily on the consumption part. The main revenue items for the government as taxes is fuel (around 10 USD per gallon !), cars (average tax is more than 100%, and on the higher end a jeep cherokee costs 100,000 USD to purchase), tobacco etc and VAT is 18% on most items. I believe 70% of the taxes are collected from consumption and less than 10% is collected from corporate and income tax.

Q. Does everyone serve in the military?

A. Every Turkish man has to serve military.

Q. My perception, from the small bit of traveling I've done in Turkey, is of a very large middle class; not much poverty, and not too many super-wealthy. Is that a fair statement?

A. As I stated earlier there is a huge difference between the parts of Turkey you have been to and the places you have visited as a tourist and the eastern part of Turkey. Compared to the developed countries, we have a much lower middle class (which is improving a lot during the last decade) and the difference between the poor and the rich is quite big. We do have a lot of super-wealthy and too many poor people living below or at poverty level. Again to quantify this, 24.6% of the population is living below "hunger line" meaning they earn less than 950 Turkish Lira/month [Note: approx. $420 USD] as a FAMILY and 18% of the population is living below poverty line which is 3000 TL/month [Note: $1,500 USD]. Therefore, though you have not seen this there is a huge part of the population living a poor life. One of the reasons for this is considered to be, the fact that women in Turkey are not in labor force. Turkey has the least number of women working in the developing countries (OECD countries) and this is due to its conservative way of living where the women stay at home and take care of the children etc.

Q. What are the key drivers of the economy in Turkey?

A. The main drivers of the economy is tourism, textiles, manufacturing (more assembling) of cars, local construction (due to conversion from brick and mud houses to concrete houses and population growth this is huge !), construction projects at neighbouring countries (This huge business for Turkish construction companies) and other various industrial productions. But, Turkey still runs a huge current account deficit (number three in the world, US being number one) and this is percieved as the weakest part of the Turkish economy. The main problem is that though we have a significant production/manufacturing industry for export, most of those productions are very low value added like just assembling of cars or manufacturing textiles for known brands in Europe etc. Again just to quantify Turkey's export is around 150 Billion USD per year and it is estimated that we need to import more than 70% of this export value. Also, though we are very close to all those commodity rich arab countries and Russia, for some reason, Turkey has to import all the oil and natural gas which is a huge burden on the economy.

Q. What do you think about Turkey's future? Where is Turkey headed? Turkey has been planning to join the EU next year. Do you think it will happen?

A. I, personally, am very optimistic about Turkey's future. The current government is doing a very good job economically and consequently in many other services (healthcare, education etc). Turkey has become a very good attraction point for funds neighbouring Turkey due to its political and economical stability. Also, Turkey's net debt is at 38% of GDP which is extremely low compared to many developed countries and we almost have a balanced budget ! As far as accession to EU is concerned, I used to believe that we should do everything to be part of EU, but now, we are certainly better out of EU and many people around me share this opinion. Also, the political will to join EU is not there anymore though they would say otherwise. In the long run, I have my doubts if Turkey will ever be part of EU. Many EU countries do not want Turkey to join EU, as it is mostly a conservative muslim country and have a very different culture and way of living compared to Europe. And on the otherside, as far as Turks are concerned, we are better out of a sick Europe than in.

Q. Is there anything visitors to Turkey can do to be "better tourists?"

A. Well, the expection of Turkish people from tourists is simply spend more ! I believe you are doing a very good job there but statistically speaking Turkey is a very cheap tourist destination and the average income from a tourist is much lower compared to many European countries. But, this is just economically speaking. I would not be able to say anything about you or anyone else should do to be "better tourists" and I believe Turkish people should be better "hosts" rather than tourist being "better tourists.” At the end of the day you are the guests here and the Turkish culture is very welcoming to guests. We even have saying that "guests are sent by God" and therefore treated as such.

Q. Any last thoughts?

A. As a closing statement, I can add that, based on my experience (maybe I am wrong), many tourists who have not been in Turkey has the impression that Turkey is an arabic country. But, as you have experienced personally, this is not the case and actually Turkey is a very accommodating country which has great respects to different cultures, races and religions (And I can say this as a jewish family living in a country where 99%+ of the population is muslim). I believe one of the greatest disadvantage of Turkey (not having oil, gas or other commodities) turns out to be the greatest advantage for us living in this country. Turkey has to stay integrated to the democratic and developed world to sustain economically and this is the main driver for the country to be part of the civilized world.

Thank you!
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

Comment on: [Kensblog] Coasting Along in Turkey

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 03:22:36 GMT

I checked out the Ultra Anchor that was mentioned. On their webpage I discovered the Quickline, which may ease your mooring to shore: http://www.ultraanchors.com/quickline.html Nice you guys are back on the boat!

Comment on: [Kensblog] Coasting Along in Turkey

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:30:08 GMT

Hi Ken & Roberta! Great post. I enjoyed reading the interview from the very informed anonymous gentleman about Turkey. To eliminate PhothoSynth croping, I suggest using a tripod and making sure to overlap the pictures (about 10-12 shots for a 360 view). Also, make sure to take all pictures at the same time, otherwise they will have different light exposures. Thank you for sharing and happy cruising.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Coasting Along in Turkey

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:36:47 GMT

Great post, Ken! I love all the photos and would love to see more. I especially love when you tell us about the economy, healthcare, taxes, etc for each country you and Roberta stay in, from a local's viewpoint.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Coasting Along in Turkey

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:14:47 GMT

Ken and Roberta, THANK YOU so much for sharing your adventures, your lives, doggies, and lovely yacht with me! Whenever I see an email from "KensBlog," I always get "butterflies of anticipation" at what I'll find. This entry was so much fun and insightful, too. Sprinkled with events, photos (LOVE the 3-D as it makes me feel like I'm right there with you!), questions, and interviews, it is a "keeper" which I will return to again and again. (Question: Do you have an underwater camera? We have the Canon "PowerShot D10" which works well.) Turkey has always appealed to me and reading about your time and experience there makes me want to go even more. The people, the country, the culture seems to be calling me. I appreciate you including your sweet dogs and THEIR life on the boat as we plan to make Annie, our Jack Russell, a part of our dream to be on the water, exploring the world, on our Nordhavn. Know that you have elevated and inspired me! Warm regards... Patti

[Kensblog] Good times!

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta and I have just completed a wonderful week sitting at anchor. Actually, we weren't just ‘sitting.’ We swam, barbecued, took rides on the tender, partially emptied the wine cooler, hung out in the hot tub, and spent hours goofing off at our computers. Does life get much better?

We did get off to a bad start...

Our only goal for our first trip of the season had been to test the boat, and see if everything was working. Next week, we will cruise to Greece, and want to make sure everything is working before we head offshore. Our plan was to find a quiet cove, drop the anchor, and then try out as many things on the boat as possible. After a few days, then, we would return to port, and get any surprises fixed. Once we leave Gocek, we don't want to return to port for a couple of months. If something is broken, we'd rather know it now.

Map of the area about 10 miles from Gocek where we wanted to anchor. Some of you may notice that this screen is from the newer version of Nobeltec (called Odyssey). Thus far, I don't love it, or hate it. It is fast, I'll give it that. Scrolling around the map is fun. But, I've been using the old Nobeltec for over a decade, and knew where everything is. It's like getting new shoes. The new ones are never quite as comfortable -- for a while.

We didn't want to go very far, so I focused on the area close to Gocek, and chose a point about 10 miles away.

As I mentioned last year, anchoring in southern Turkey is different than what I am accustomed to. Instead of just dropping the anchor in the middle of the bay, you drop the anchor about 300 feet off of shore, and then back the boat to shore, tie a line (or two) to a tree, and wind up perpendicular to shore. In some bays, there are a series of little orange posts (bollards) that you can tie to.

This type of anchoring is mandated for two reasons:

The water is very deep here; usually several hundred feet in most bays, and it stays deep almost to shore
In the summer, the good anchorages are packed with boats. It is unbelievable how many boats are cruising in southern Turkey in July and August.

There are so many boats here, that the shorelines in some bays remind me of the parking lot at Costco, back in Seattle, with all the boats lined up side by side.

Although that is the norm, Roberta and I don't like it, and wanted to find a location where we could anchor the standard (at least to us) way. Looking at the chart, and doing some measuring, I found one spot where I thought we could put the anchor, and have room to swing in a circle around it. We have a few reasons for our preference, including that I think it is safer. Sans Souci has a lot of "windage." When tied to shore the boat cannot rotate to face into the wind. We always have to take the full force of the wind on our side. If a line to shore were to come loose, or the anchor drag, there would be no time to correct the problem. Also, Roberta hurt her shoulder, and is having trouble working the lines. The process of tying to shore, on a boat our size, is usually done by several people.

Anyway... we did find our spot, and dropped the anchor. I gave it a tug, and there was no resistance (it didn’t set). For an anchor to hold the boat properly, it must dig itself into the sand. Weight counts, but is overrated. The real holding for the boat comes from the anchor burying itself in the sand, and the boat trying to drag the anchor through the sand. If the anchor doesn't dig in, it will slide along the bottom.

I upgraded a few years ago to a 150kg (about 350 pounds) Rocna anchor. It has always set on the first try, so this was a bit of a surprise. Roberta and I tried again, then even one more time, with the same non-result. Thus, we decided to give up, and just tie to shore, like everyone else.

The fun begins...

When I retrieved the anchor, I noticed that it came out of the water backwards. It refused to raise up onto the bow like it was supposed to. I used a boat hook, and tried to turn it, but…no luck. My aluminum boat hook was no match for 350 pounds of steel.

My anchor is attached by an anchor swivel, which is supposed to help the anchor rotate into a proper position for retrieval. Instead, mine had frozen into a position that may have interfered with anchoring, and certainly was interfering with anchor retrieval.

Here's an interesting email I received regarding my "swivel" problem:

You might want to consider upgrading to an Ultra Anchor from Rocna. Many cruisers visiting the Med start with Rocna’s and end up upgrading to an Ultra when they run into trouble with weeds and unstable soils that keep a Rocna from penetrating deeply into the bottom. Have them talk to David Bock, another Nordhavn owner that has his N55 in Turkey and has an Ultra Anchor.

Randy Boelsems, Quickline - Home of the Ultra Anchor

Is he right? Ask me again a month from now. I have had great success with my Rocna, and am not interested in changing it. That said, I've been wrong too many times to say that I know everything, so…we'll see.

Now, I had two reasons to drop a tender. If I was going to run a line to shore, I'd need a way to get there. Also, perhaps from in the water I could spin the anchor, and get it back onto the bow pulpit.

Sans Souci has two tenders. Whereas some cruisers give their tenders cute names, we're not particularly original. Ours are called, "The Big One" (15 feet long) and "The Little One" (11 feet long). We have the little tender, as a backup to the big tender, but have never used it. I had both tenders serviced this winter, and have been feeling sorry for the small one, so we decided to give it a try. We stopped in the middle of the bay and dropped the little tender.

I'm rushing this part of the story a bit, because this was far more miserable than I can make it sound, and I don't really want it to be obvious that my keyboard is weak on adjectives. Let's just say it was very hot and sweaty, and dropping the tender meant getting sweaty, and sunburned.

And, as one would expect at this part of the story, the little tender wouldn't start. Not only would it not start, it wouldn't start on the second try, the third try, or the twentieth try. Our big tender has a button to start the motor. But, not the little tender. It's an old-style, lawn-motor-type, pull-cord, and pulling the cord over and over again wasn't getting me anywhere.

A local bread-merchant in a panga happened to pass by as I was struggling with this, and took pity on me. He offered to pull the cord for a while. We opened up the cover to the outboard engine, I used my best foul language in English, and he assisted (I think) with some choice words in Turkish. But, nothing worked, including various choke settings, no throttle, full throttle, and most settings in-between. I tipped him 10 lira (about five bucks) which totally confused him. He refused to take the tip, although relented when I pushed, but I could tell he thought I was crazy to be giving him money for no reason.

This meant putting the little tender back on deck, and dropping the big tender (which I should have done in the first place). The tender gods were in a better mood, and it started right up. In minutes, I had turned the anchor around and raised it into proper position on the bow, lashed the tender to the side of the boat, and we were back underway to find a suitable place to anchor.

Turning into the next bay, we saw a floating mooring ball. Given that my anchor was now in the "dubious" category, I had asked the bread merchant what he knew about the mooring balls dotting the bay. My question was, "Would my boat be too big or heavy to tie to a mooring ball?" Without knowing what the mooring ball was tied to, and how strong the chain holding it was, how could I possibly tie to it? My boat weighs 120 tons. If a big wind came, would the mooring ball hold the boat? The bread merchant said my boat would be fine, and that I shouldn't worry about it.

My options appeared to be, "trust the bread merchant in the panga." Or, "go back to port." Be it right or wrong, we decided to go for the mooring ball. Generally the mooring balls are the domain of sailboats. I did see one fairly large power boat tied to one, but I'd guess its weight at under half that of ours.

Tying to the mooring ball was fairly easy with the tender down. While Roberta held Sans Souci steady, I went around to the front and put the line through the loop at the top of the ball.

The next question was, "Did we need to tie to shore?" I noticed that the sailboats around me had not tied to shore; they were just floating freely around their mooring balls. There were bollards (little orange posts) on shore, but none of the boats near me were using them. As I mentioned earlier, if there were a way NOT to tie to shore, that's what we wanted. My thinking was that the wind could come up at any point, and that I wanted to be as safe as possible.

Next to us was a young French couple on a sailboat. I asked the man whether or not he was planning to tie to shore. He asked, "Why?" I pointed at the bollards and said, "Do we need to tie up?" To no great surprise, the Frenchman had a strong opinion. He gave me a look intended to remind me that I was an idiot, and said, "Why would we do that? These are mooring buoys! We do not tie to shore."

So, based on the word of a Turkish bread-seller, and a French sailor, I relaxed, and started to have fun.

The real reason to own a boat

Sans Souci. Happy on the mooring ball. The orange mooring posts are barely visible on shore in the background at Sans Souci's stern.

Within minutes of tying up, the tension started to dissipate. For the next four days, life was as perfect as it can be.

It's sad that my blog has dozens of paragraphs about the things that break, and that there isn't much to say about the good times. But, if those four days were a computer program, it would look like this:

Step 1 - Wake up after a wonderful night’s sleep
Step 2 - Make coffee
Step 3 - Look outside at the other boats, and the view
Step 4 - Play with computer til Roberta wakes up
Step 5 - Roberta makes coffee and checks email
Step 6 - Swim
Step 7 - Hang out in hot tub
Step 8 - Play with computer, occasionally looking out the window to see if the other boats are doing anything interesting
Step 9 - Open wine
Step 10 - Barbecue
Step 11 - Watch tv
Step 12 - Hang out in hot tub, finish wine. Observe fish that collect at the lights at the back of the boat
Step 13 - Sleep
Step 14 - Go to Step 1

Does this sound monotonous? Not to me it isn't.. that's a perfect Ken-day.

Check out this picture, from the hot tub, looking out at the world:

Click on the picture above to see my first attempt at taking a "3-D" picture. I was just experimenting, and with 20/20 hindsight should have taken the project more seriously, and taken more time with the picture.

[Note, if you don't see the picture above, try this link:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=4695273e-ede9-4941-b9dd-173d3dc6080b

On day five, things did get a bit more interesting...

There seem to be three things that tourists do in Turkey.

Visit all of the historic sites
Charter sailboats
Charter gulets

Sitting at anchor you see LOTS of charter sailboats and catamarans. These are often fun to watch, because the skippers are not very skilled. I watched one sailing catamaran try to drop anchor for an hour, with no wind, and then tie his stern to the bollards on shore. He couldn't seem to get the anchor to set, and somehow, even with no wind, the catamaran kept floating its way to the beach. I'm not picking on him, because I've "been there, done that" a time or two myself!

Separate from the sailboats are the gulets, big wooden, cool-looking sail/power boats, that bring passengers out for a day of swimming, or even weeks of cruising.

As we were floating on the mooring ball, we'd watch the gulets constantly coming and going around us. We were next to a good swimming beach, so the gulets were constantly dropping anchor near us, tying to rocks or bollards on shore, and dropping their passengers in the water for a swim. Most of the time they'd be gone in a few hours, but occasionally they would stay overnight.

The fourth afternoon, as I was sitting in the pilot house working on my computer, I suddenly heard loud shouting from just outside. I jumped up to see a gulet next to me practically touching Sans Souci, and the gulet's crew standing on deck shouting and pointing at the water. I had been so engrossed in my work that I had not noticed them pulling up right next to us.

This picture was taken after I had used my engines to create some distance from the gulet.

When I looked down at the water I realized that Sans Souci was slowly rotating into the gulet. We were about to collide! It would be a slow-motion collision, but we were definitely about to bounce off each other. I immediately grabbed some huge fenders and put them in the water, as did the crew of the gulet. The fenders did their job, but we were pinned together.

I went back to the pilot house, and started the engines to rotate away from the gulet.

It wasn't helping that the gulet had a dozen passengers now diving into the water and swimming around the two boats, finding great entertainment in all the action.

I was angry, and asked the gulet captain to move his boat. He had anchored well INSIDE of my swing circle. I had been there for four days, and all of a sudden he had anchored too close to me. The rest of the beach was wide open. Had he anchored 50 feet farther away, all would have been fine. The gulet captain refused to move. He demanded that we tie our stern to shore, so that he wouldn't have to move. I pointed out that he had a full crew, and we were only two.

He offered to resolve the standoff by sending over some crew to help me tie to shore. I did appreciate the overture, but this wouldn't solve my issue of wanting to rotate on the mooring ball in the event of any strong winds. I pointed out that the whole beach was empty and that it made no sense that he had anchored so close to me. He pointed out that I was big to be on a mooring ball in the first place, and I should go anchor somewhere else. After 30 minutes of spirited debate, I conceded. I'm a guest in his country, and we were on track for someone to get hurt. His passengers were swimming all around both boats, and I didn't like swimmers that close with my engines running.

As a sign of compromise the captain personally helped me with the lines, we shook hands, and the day brightened. Of course, I wasn't happy about being tied to shore, given the potential for wind, but .. it was the only move to do given the unfortunate circumstance.

Dinners ashore

I'm an "early guy." Usually, I'm at my computer by 6:15am, and by eleven at night, I'm conked out. We normally try to have dinner by 6pm. So... deciding we wanted to have dinner ashore one night we took the tender to a nearby waterfront restaurant.

The restaurant looked great, but was empty. We asked if they were open, and were told, "Come back at 8. Too many bees now." We didn't see any bees, and wanted to get back to the boat before dark, so we said, "We're ok. Let's eat."

Here's a short video showing the fun we had wrestling with bees at dinner. The restaurant was right. The food was great, and I recommend the restaurant, but ... eat after dusk!

Note: If you don't see a video above, you aren't really missing that much -- but, you can see it by clicking this link:
http://vimeo.com/44931949

Keeley and Toundra have been dining with us at most restaurants. They haven't been refused yet!

A happy Roberta! Keeley, less so. That's our "big tender" at the end of the dock in the background.

Roberta. She's wearing the jacket, not because it is cold, but because sunburn can sneak up on you. She likes to keep covered when the sun is around. It was over 100 degrees yesterday!

We also tendered to another restaurant. I took this picture on the dock: (my second attempt at a 3-d picture, better than the first, but still some learning to do)

[Note, if you don't see the picture above, try this link:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=791ff836-dcaa-415a-aa48-29ee5c6dfd32

Around the docks, the water was about 20 feet deep, and so transparent that when I first walked past this lady, I did a double-take. It appeared she was walking in air! (the picture doesn't do the clarity of the water justice). She noticed my reaction and said, "It is so amazing here. I don't need a mask to go snorkling!"

I noticed these tombs sitting next to the docks. You don't have to hunt too hard to find history.

This restaurant photo is from when we were in Dalyan, but struck me as funny, so I threw it in here. It advertises itself as a Chinese/Indian restaurant, but as you can see from the sign is also pushing English breakfast, complete with pork sausage (something one wouldn't necessarily expect in Turkey.) In general I'd rate most of the restaurants as a 10 on service, and a 10 on selection, but a 5 or 6 on food quality. There is a lot of competition and the restaurants bend over backwards to attract customers. The menus tend to have astonishing assortments of food of all nationalities. My guess is that anytime a restaurant sees someone walk away because something wasn't on the menu, it is there by the next day, and the chef is told "Deal with it." Thus, you get Indian restaurants that have no idea what chutney is, Greek restaurants, where they had no idea what pita bread is, and Mexican restaurants that are puzzled by the concept of tortillas.

The return to port

Our last three days at anchor were a repeat of the first four. Awesome! We're back at port now and have been doing some fixes, but overall, there isn't much to fix.

Gocek has a West Marine! We were so happy to see it, we helped them achieve their revenue goal for the year. We bought so much, it required a wheelbarrow to get it back to the boat. And, of course, West Marine was happy to sell us one!

We have friends arriving next week and will be heading to Greece. Our plan is to not come back to our home port (Gocek) for a couple months. We're not sure where we'll go, but ... that's how we like it!

And, lastly, a few selections from my mailbag...

My favorite email of the week comes from a friend, currently cruising in Spain. I love his depiction of Med Mooring, and his colorful usage of the english language.

... Part 1 ...

It's around 7:30pm here and we are out on the aft deck enjoying the cool breeze with a cocktail. A girly boat, a Sunseeker 60-65 footer backs in next to us almost sideways. An older lady on board had a boat hook out and was going to use it to fend us off when I told her not to touch our boat with the damn thing. She laid it down and went inside while we used fenders to hold them off.

Shortly afterwards, another girly boat, a Fariline 65 backs in 2 slots down, between the girly boat next to us and a big, beautiful 130' sailboat. The Captain has 2 ball fenders on his swim platform that also carries the dingy. Never a good sign when you see fenders on the stern. He pulls the boat right up to the wall, fenders touching. There is still a 1-2' surge where we are docked. Why get it so close? They get the two stern lines on the cleats, wench them good and tight when suddenly, the boat quickly surges away from the wall under power and the 2 stern lines go beyond their stretch limit before he finally gets it back in neutral. The dock attendant runs in the other direction, people on board are screaming and the guests on the girly boat next to me run inside. By this time it is 4m away from the wall, the stern lines recoil and the boat slams into the wall, bounces back and slams 2 more times before stopping. The sound of crunching fiberglass was heart wrenching. Of course, the people on board as well as everyone on the dock were shocked. It appears the Captain was maneuvering the boat with a remote control and it malfunctioned. Nothing like a 65' boat out of control while connected to the dock. This confirms why I don't use my remote!

You can only imagine the reaction of the crew and guests aboard the sailboat. They seemed much more relaxed when he shut down the engines!

Ya never know who's going to pull in next to you!

... Part 2 ...

Well, I thought yesterday was exciting.

Today, everyone left except us and crazy guy that hit the wall 2 berths down. There was a small sail boat down at the end, maybe 5 berths down.

The wind was on our bow, pushing us into the quay. He does everything right. Removes both the bow and stern leeward lines. Then is when the fun starts. He tells a guy on the stern to release the windward stern line, it's still looking pretty good. He then tells the person on the bow to release the bow line. The wind is now pushing the boat to port, away from us and toward the sailboat. The boat continues to go to port, it's almost parallel with the quay by now. Everyone on the aft deck is screaming, "he has no controls". The Captain realizes he has no controls on the fly bridge and scrambles down into the pilot house but the sunscreen is on the windshield. At the last minute, he turns and misses the sailboat. He then returns to the fly bridge to try to get control of the boat as he drifts down on boats anchored in the bay. Finally, he leaves................

I tell the dock attendant, please, no more neighbors!

Here's a question from Doug K, in Illinois:

Hey Ken,

Do your dogs get any sort of “jet lag” or its canine equivalent when you travel? Do you change when and what you feed them when you’re on the boat?

Doug, my perception is that dogs get jet lag, just like us humans. When we first arrived in Europe, all of us were half-asleep for days. We were out of sync. As to food, Roberta is picky about dog food. She likes the brands she likes, and travels with a huge bag of food. We thought about shipping over the dog food, but decided it would never make it through customs. In Istanbul we hired a car for the day to help us find a high-end vet that might have the right dog food, and drove an hour each way to a vet that had what Roberta wanted. We stocked up!

And, lastly... I'm happy to report that...

Our traveling companions from the GSSR, Braun and Tina Jones, whose boat, the Grey Pearl, burnt in a fire in Phuket Thailand, have just acquired a new boat! They now have a Nordhavn 64, which is very similar to our own Nordhavn 68.

A fun bit of trivia is that this particular boat was originally ordered by Roberta and I. However, we briefly toyed with the idea of ordering a non-Nordhavn, and gave up our place in the production line. We later came back into the Nordhavn fold ordering our current boat.

Congratulations to Braun and Tina, on the purchase of their new boat, The Ocean Pearl!

That's it for now. Next stop, Greece!

Thank you,
Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
ken@kensblog.com

PS As an aid to future cruisers, who read my blog, here is a google map showing the locations from this blog entry:

http://tinyurl.com/d38pz3o

Comment on: [Kensblog] Good times!

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 17:31:29 GMT

Hello Ken, I was suprised to read at teh end of the Blog that you were considering a Non-Nordhavn? Out of curiosity which brand was it? ----------------------Response by Ken ----- 2012-07-01 Roger, We came very close to buying two different boats, prior to signing up for our Nordhavn 68. As mentioned in my blog entry, we placed an order for a Nordhavn 64, but then decided we really liked the aft pilothouse look. Whether or not a boat is "forward pilothouse" or "aft pilothouse" doesn't matter (much) as far as the running of the boat, but it mattered to us as to the look of the boat. We always liked our Nordhavn 62, and wanted something that looked the same, but was slightly bigger. Nordhavn, at that time had only the Nordhavn 76 as an alternative, and we thought it would be too large for us to run as a couple. So... we looked at alternatives. We reached the contract stage with two companies: 1) Northern Marine. They hit financial problems while we were in the contract negotiation process. I discovered their problems while doing my due diligence on the company, and bailed. They later went bankrupt (although, I think they are back in business now) 2) A custom aluminum boat. We spoke with a superyacht manufacturer who specialized in high-end custom aluminum aft-pilothouse expedition-style boats. They were awaiting a huge super-yacht build, and were willing to build us exactly the boat we wanted, in the size we wanted. It would have been very expensive, but would have been a very cool boat. As we were working out contract details on the custom aluminum boat, Nordhavn's president called and asked how he could "keep us in the family." We said that we wanted an aft-pilothouse boat, and that Nordhavn only offered them as "too small" or "too big" -- and, that was the birth of the Nordhavn 68! We discussed Nordhavn adding a new model that was the size we were seeking, and when they agreed to build it, we happily agreed to buy it. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Good times!

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:26:54 GMT

Ken, just a thought. I don't use an anchor swivel, one more thing to go wrong and I don't trust their strength given that they have to swivel. I use two shackles instead. When my Lewmar Delta plough style anchor gets tangled up and doesn't want to come up into the pulpit properly, I take the chain off the gypsy and turn the chain 1/4 or 1/2 turns, put it back on the gypsy and then pull it up. Granted your Rocna is heavier than my 44 pound Delta but if you can find some way to support it while you turn the chain, you might solve your problem. Good luck. -------------------------------Response by Ken -- 2012-07-01 Fred, Yes. I should probably toss this swivel in the water and forget it. I was running fine before I made the decision to install it. The manufacturer replaced my swivel with a new one, that allegedly is more reliable. We shall see ... if it fails again, I will not be replacing it. -Ken W

[Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT

[Kensblog] Getting there is half the “fun.”

Greetings all! I’m happy to report that Roberta and I are now on the boat, in Gocek, Turkey. We’ve been spending the last couple of days shopping, and recovering from jet lag.

Tomorrow is a big day. Roberta and I will finally throw off the lines, and the season's cruising will begin.

Getting here was a challenge.

Seattle -> Chicago -> Paris -> Istanbul -> Gocek

Our flight was complicated by traveling with the dogs. We needed to stop in Paris to obtain a Pet Passport for one of our dogs. It isn't required for getting into Turkey, but re-entering the EU, at the end of our trip, will be much easier with the Pet Passport.

Seattle has direct flights to Paris. However, in checking with the airline, the particular aircraft on that route wouldn't accept dogs in the cabin. This meant we had to fly to chicago, and board a different plane (Air France) to get to Paris. This wasn't bad, in that it allowed us to stretch our legs, and the dogs to make a quick pitstop.

Waiting, between flights, with the puppies in their carriers

The Eiffel Tower, from our hotel room

Roberta has a severe Starbucks addiction. Amazingly, there were Starbucks everywhere in Paris. I remember when you couldn't find a Starbucks in Paris, and thinking the French would never pay $5 bucks (4 euros) for a cup of coffee. I was wrong.

The flight to Paris was easy, and the dogs were great. The flight attendants wouldn't let us take them out of their little carriers, but the dogs slept most the way, so it wasn't a big deal.

In Paris, not much noteworthy happened, except...

Roberta and I decided to leave the dogs in the hotel room, and head out for a romantic dinner. We went to a romantic restaurant (called La Romantica).

A standard part of fancy french dinners is to bring you an "amuse bouche," a snack, to give you a little taste of something while waiting on your real meal. It's a chance for the chef to do something fun and interesting each night. I never like these, because you can't pick what you order, and sometimes it is something I like, and sometimes it isn't. For instance, at one restaurant in the south of france, the amuse bouche was "terrine of lambs tongue" (tongue diced, and molded into jello). I hate to sound amateurish, but that's not my favorite. On this occasion, the amuse bouche wasn't too exotic, it was just an interesting preparation of diced raw tuna mixed with diced plums. Unfortunately, neither Roberta nor I eat raw seafood. Roberta was a better sport than me. She ate half of hers, whereas I left mine. At Roberta's encouragement, I swished mine around, so it looked like I'd at least tried. I had to flag the waiter down to indicate that we were finished. He looked at our two plates, and immediately took them to the restaurant manager, who called out the chef. I tried to pretend I didn't notice, while they had an unpleasant discussion. Finally, things calmed down, and our appetizer came. However, I noticed that the amuse bouche changed, for the entire restaurant, for the rest of the evening. Ouch!

The restaurant was actually quite good and, was as romantic as its name. The couples around us also seemed to enjoy the ambiance, including one couple who was very amorous at the next table. Later in the evening, I was checking my email, between courses, as I've been known to do, when Roberta asked me to "stop doing that." I looked around and realized that someone was doing something on their cell phone at just about every table! At the amorous table, both he and her were surfing the web. I felt vindicated, but Roberta made me stop anyway. (She does not think that it’s ‘polite’ to do this in a restaurant, especially when having dinner with someone else, namely…her!)

Uber!

At the end of the meal, we needed a taxi back to our hotel. I was joking with Roberta and said I'd "call Uber." In Seattle, Roberta and I live in a condo downtown. We travel much of the time, so a condo makes more sense than having a house. Because we are downtown, we enjoy the urban lifestyle, and walk most places. However, from time to time, we want a taxi. Being a computer geek, I can never do anything the ordinary way. Instead, I use an app on my iphone which shows all the Uber-Cars (usually black lincolns, dozens of which are running around Seattle at any given moment). In Seattle, the Uber app shows me the nearest cars, and how far away the nearest one is. Normally it says something like, "The nearest car is 5 minutes away." I click a button and the car arrives. Being silly, I decided to try my Uber app. I really wanted to see it say, "The nearest car is 7,000 miles away, and will arrive in seven weeks." Instead, it said a car would be there in minutes. I clicked the button, and an Uber BMW beat us to the curb. Very cool!

The next day, it was time for serious business, and off to the vet we went.

I speak "ok" French, but far from perfect, so Roberta and I were thrilled when the vet spoke good English. I had faxed her all of the dog’s paperwork in advance, and she already had the EU Pet Passport ready to go. While there, she recommended we put dog collars on the dogs, that are chemically treated against Leishmaniasis (a tick-based dog disease.) She said we should be careful about ticks in both France, and Turkey.

Within hours of putting the collars on the dogs, both were ill. We starting googling the collars, and discovered that they could have horrible side effects, even death, in some dogs. We immediately got rid of the collars and shampooed the dogs, especially around their necks where the collars had rested. It took them a couple of days to recover. They are tiny little things, and the chemicals were too strong.

Welcome to Istanbul

Despite weeks of effort into getting the dog papers "exactly right" and their passports, customs never gave us a glance in Paris or in Turkey; neither ever asked for any paperwork at all! We almost felt cheated, but we're not complaining. Had we not had the paperwork, I'm sure there would have been a mess.

The Blue Mosque

A modern tram in an old city. The tram station had ads for "Guns and Roses", and Madonna had infamously just been in town the night before

Dinner in Istanbul

Istanbul is over 500 miles north of Gocek, the small town where the boat is in southern Turkey. We arrived in Istanbul with no real idea how we were going to get from northern Turkey to southern Turkey – with all of our stuff and the two dogs. I tried a few times to book a flight, but couldn't find anyone at a Turkish airline who could help me figure out the dog issues. A regular reader of my blog, who is Turkish, assured me that he makes the trip with his dogs, and that I wouldn't have a problem. We figured we'd try to figure it out when we got to Istanbul, and that in the worst case, it wouldn't be that long a drive.

However, when we thought about going to the airport with all of our baggage (a lot!), we started thinking more seriously about driving. In addition to having enough bags for three months on the boat, we were carrying spare boat parts, a case of wine we purchased in Istanbul and enough dog food for three months.

Hopefully, I'm not stepping on any political correctness toes, by admitting this, but I was a little nervous about driving across Turkey. I was 99% certain that there would be no issues, but the other 1% concerned me.

Here's why I say that. A few years back, Roberta and I visited Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. We were in Dubai before the financial collapse, and I'd compare it to Singapore or Hong Kong. It's a very modern, very "happening" place. While there, it was very easy to forget where we were. The beach was loaded with bikini-clad tourists, and we wore shorts/t-shirts everywhere.

One day, we decided to explore and drove about 100 miles out of Dubai to another town. In this town, we noticed that there were no women on the streets, only men. We also noticed that we were getting some ‘disapproving’ looks when we would stop at traffic lights. It was obvious that we were someplace we weren't meant to be. As we made the decision to turn back, we saw an ice cream stand. We decided to stop and get something cool for the drive back. Roberta and her mom were in shorts and tank tops. We thought nothing of it, until we realized that we were causing a scandal when they exited the car. After a few dirty looks, it was obvious that they needed to get back in the car – now! -- and that we needed to get moving. We should have been smart enough to realize that Dubai is not representative of the rest of the Middle East.

Anyway, I was remembering that incident as I thought about the 13-hour drive from Istanbul to Gocek. However, we decided to rent a car and go for it!

It started with driving the car onto a ferry for a two-hour ride, from Istanbul to a town called Bandirma, across the Sea of Marmara. I'm accustomed to the Seattle ferries, which aren't bad, but this ferry was really first class. It wasn't large but had two good snack bars, a gift shop, comfortable seating, and made for a very nice ride. Unloading in Bandirma, we then headed south on good roads.

After a couple of hours of driving, Roberta decided to rival my Uber-stunt, and grabbed my cell phone to use Google Maps to hunt down the nearest Starbucks – not really thinking that there would be any way out there in the Turkish hinterlands. To her shock, it showed FOUR Starbucks coming up at four gas stops! We were in the boondocks, so I knew that it couldn't possibly be.

Am I seeing things? We had traveled a long ways, and were back in Seattle!

My cell phone had been correct. There really were four Starbucks within a few miles of my location. Roberta was very happy.

Our drive did take thirteen hours, and we were very tired of traveling. But, Turkey itself was a very pleasant surprise. Our knowledge of Turkey is very limited, so I can't say whether I've seen enough of the country to comment at this point, but overall, I'd say that I was very impressed. We drove for hours around Istanbul, then across 600 miles of Turkey, and I never saw one indication of poverty. In fact, I saw plenty of signs of the opposite. In Istanbul, we went to one of the largest, and definitely the nicest shopping malls I've ever been to. We stopped several times to buy snacks and drinks, and I never felt anything except "welcomed." My dominant notion of the Turks is one of being impressed. I like their "work ethic." The people I've encountered are well educated, polite, aggressive, and hard-working. There is the call to prayers (I think 5 times a day), but my perception is that most people on the street continue on about their business. Maybe I've just been in the right places, but so far, I've felt much safer walking at night here, than at home in downtown Seattle!

One great thing about traveling in Turkey, as opposed to a country like Greece, is that you can somewhat decypher the street signs. I also find it amusing that the taxis all say "Taksi"

Welcome to Gocek!!!!!!!

Our first view of Sans Souci, after a VERY long trip

Gocek had its own way of welcoming us to town. On our first evening we decided that it was time for another romantic dinner. This time at the fancy restaurant in the marina.

Believe it or not, this is only about an hour before the "you know what" hit the fan

As Roberta and I were having dinner, I noticed lightning a few miles away. I was just mentioning to Roberta that I hoped the dogs wouldn't be frightened by the lightning (we had left them on the boat), when things started turning gloomy, and the wind started rising. Within 15 minutes the wind had gone from zero to so strong that glasses were being swept off tables.

We, like all the other diners in the restaurant, immediately abandoned dinner to return to our boats. As we walked we saw signs of damage. a large tent, at the entrance to the marina was in shreds. Aboard Sans Souci, I could see the wind was bouncing between 35 and 40 knots, which is particularly amazing, in that we are in the best protected part of the marina. It had to be well over 50 knots of wind out on the water! On Sans Souci, all was fine. I checked, and double-checked, the lines, but we were fine. Roberta and I watched TV and went to sleep, very happy we hadn't been sitting at anchor.

The Gocek boat show had been scheduled to go for a couple more days, but the booths were destroyed

The next morning, I realized that the wind had been a bigger deal than we first thought. When we awoke, we discovered that our own bimini top had torn apart and was flopping down in one corner.

There had been a boat show along the waterfront in Gocek. All of the booths were destroyed, and the show was shut down. The local company that watches over our boat in Gocek mentioned that another client of theirs had their boat blown from the marina, and the boat had to be found at sea, and towed back by the coast guard. The wind suprised the locals, and was not common for this area.

The strangest thing of all, was that the wind, which lasted about two hours, was HOT. I'd guess the temperature when we started dinner at 85. When the wind started, the temperature rose a good to to 10 degrees. We did get a brief blast of rain, some some lightning, but it was mostly just extremely hot air.

Hopefully, whatever it was, it was a one-off event!

Tomorrow starts our first day of cruising on the boat. I'll send another blog entry in a few days.

That's it for now. As always, the blog wouldn't be what it is without you. If you have questions, email them to me at: ken@kensblog.com. Unless you ask me not to, I'll respond to them as part of my next blog entry.

Thank you!

Comment on: [Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:18:33 GMT

Wow! Didn't know you were the creator of Half-Life. Hella game. Worked for awhile but Steam somehow killed it for everyone after a while. Guess after you sold the rights. Never was able to install it again on another machine I built for gaming. At any rate, I enjoy the blog, pictures and any other cruising info you choose to share with us. Have a GREAT!! Cruising season this year.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:24:05 GMT

Leave it up to most vets to unleash any kind of chemical known to man on dogs. The best natural defense that I've come across is Wondercide.com which offers an array of pet-friendly natural pest products using cedar oil. I use "Evolv" which I spray on my dog, Milo, and it kills the fleas in five seconds. Fleas, ticks, mites, etc. Glad to hear your dogs (and yourselves!) are safe and having fun! ------------------Response by Ken June 20 2012 Julie, Thanks for the tips. I've forwarded these to Roberta. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:55:48 GMT

Ken: great to read your blog and to see your photos. I hope that you both have a fabulous cruising season. Turkey has a good reputation for this. When (if) you get to the South of France, would like to meet you. Looking forward to your next blog. Regards, Paul Nelson, St Jean-Cap Ferrat, France --------------Response from Ken - June 20 2012 ----- Paul, We consider Cap Ferrat our second home! We normally rent a month a year at Cap Ferrat, Eze Sur Mer or Cap D'Ail. A wonderful location. My guess is that we'll have the boat there within a couple years. We had a boat slip for three years at the Beaulieu marina. Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 03:39:35 GMT

Great to read that you are back on your boat. I was a little bit scared that you don't get there after looking at the sketch showing the stops on your flight to Europe. Paris is not on the Iberian Peninsula but more NE in the middle of France. ;-) Have a good time in the Med. ----------Response by Ken --- June 20 2012 -------------- Wolf-Thomas, Oops! I'm not great with Photoshop, and was being lazy. I also blew it with respect to where chicago is.. (everyone knows us American's don't know our geography!) -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Getting there is half the fun

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:46:09 GMT

Greetings from Monterey! Thanks for the update! I am happy that you arrived safely. I have been anticipating out continuing cyber-travels together. Best Wishes, Farley Shane

[KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In this update

Sans Souci's 2012 Cruising Plans
Traveling to Turkey with dogs
2012 - A big maintenance year
How to sign up, unsubscribe, change your email address, refer a friend

Greetings all!

I hope that everyone has had a great winter.

This is the first of my cruising blogs for 2012, and the adventure is about to begin. Roberta and I will be leaving Seattle, for Turkey, on June 6th.

2012 Cruising Plan

I'll start my discussion on our cruising by talking about what we're NOT doing. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a few years will remember that we departed Seattle, in 2009, accompanied by two other boats; Seabird and Grey Pearl. After traveling together to Hong Kong, our boat, Sans Souci, decided to split from the pack. Sans Souci was transported by freighter from Hong Kong directly to Turkey.

We did this for a variety of reasons:

1) I was in a hurry to get to the Med
2) We were getting close to where there could be pirates, and I am distinctly anti-pirate
3) Asia is less dog-friendly than the Med. We were having difficulty figuring out how to get the dogs to/from the boat

Our hope, and expectation, was that the other two boats would continue without us for one season, going to Thailand, and then transport their boats to Turkey. However, two major events occured.

Grey Pearl caught on fire while sitting at the dock. It burnt to the waterline. We crossed the Pacific, and the Atlantic, side by side with Grey Pearl. Very sad!
Steven and Carol, on Seabird, seem to have fallen in love with Thailand, and with good cause. It has the attributes that boaters love: A long cruising season, calm seas, no wind, shallow depths for anchoring, great diving, plenty of bays, good restaurants, and LOW prices. Steven has been taking advantage of those prices to almost completely overhaul Seabird. New paint, new decks, new interior, etc. If I ever see Seabird again, I don't know that I will recognize her!

Braun and Tina (Grey Pearl) are likely to buy a boat this year, but with me in Turkey telling Braun: "Come to the Med! We have high prices, a short cruising season, high taxes, visa problems (in the EU) and lots of wind!," and meanwhile, there is Steven, still in Thailand, saying the exact opposite, I won't be shocked if Braun and Tina head to Thailand.

So ... I'm very sorry to see the GSSR breakup, and have thought seriously about shippig the boat back to Thailand, to rejoin our friends, but, the dog issues are real, and we're enjoying life in the Med. I have no complaint. We will have plenty of fun cruising Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Italy, France, Spain, etc!

Sans Souci will be five to ten years in the Med, working our way west, a year at a time.

Even though we're only a couple of weeks from departure, Roberta and I really don't know where we'll be cruising this year, other than to say, "West of where we are." The map above was taken from one of the many sailboat charter companies in Turkey, and it has some very good news in it.

Last year, as we headed east along the southern Turkey coast, we were disappointed by the small number of places to drop the anchor. Heading west, at least if the map above is correct, we'll have plenty of places to explore.

As may not be apparent above, we are actually quite close to Greece, and this summer's cruising plans are likely to take us there.

There are a few problems associated with cruising in Greece though...

Greece is part of the EU, at least for the moment, whereas Turkey isn't. This means I have to do the various paperwork to clear out of Turkey, and then clear into Greece. Clearing into Greece, may be easy, or it may be hard. I've never done it before, so I'm not sure what challenges lie ahead. My guess is that I'll find a limited number of places where I can clear in, and a random set of "fees" associated with the clearing. Rumor has it that Greece is being aggressive in seeking revenue oportunities and yachts are on their radar screen. There could also be issues associated with Greece's financial problems. For instance, when we were in Athens last year, the taxis were on strike for a week, and our hotel was surrounded by protesters.

The other, more serious, concern is the "Meltemi Wind." This is a very common wind in the region we'll be cruising, that Wikipedia describes this way:

"...During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. They are at their strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes meltemi winds last for days without a break. [...] Meltemi winds are dangerous to sailors because they come up in clear weather without warning and can blow at 7-8 Beaufort. Some yachts and most inter island ferries cannot sail under such conditions."

Personally, I would like to invite the person who wrote the words "...most preferred weather type..." aboard Sans Souci on a day with Beaufort 7 or 8 conditions, and ask them if they still think the wind is a "blessing."

As I've been looking at the charts for Greece I keep remembering a conversation I had with another well-traveled boater friend, Braun Jones, a few years ago. I asked Braun for his favorite, and least favorite, cruising grounds. I've forgotten what his favorte was, but I remember that his least favorite was Greece. It seemed wrong, because Greece has always been near the top of my bucket list. The problem is the wind. On shore, high winds are a mild annoyance, whereas at sea, they are miserable and can be dangerous. I don't like the idea of being in a new place, where I don't know the good anchorages, where anchoring is difficult (unprotected deep bays), and winds rise rapidly.

Getting to Turkey is always an adventure in itself...

Doggie Passports?

Of course, before I can even think about cruising, I need to get from Seattle to the boat (which is in Gocek, Turkey).

As long-time readers of my blog know, we have two little puppies. I should emphasize the word little, because they both weigh under seven pounds. Roberta and I travel often, and our lifestyle mandates small dogs, who are permitted to fly in-cabin with us on some flights, whereas larger dogs would need to be flown with the cargo. In summer, many airlines refuse to fly dogs, because they sometimes get left sitting in the heat for extended periods, on the tarmack, with fatal results.

Booking flights usually means hours of dialing airlines, to check their policies on pets. On more than one occasion we've had airlines agree to fly the dogs, only to refuse later. Also, flights have to be kept as short as possible, to give the dogs a chance to rest (and use the restroom) between flights.

To reach Turkey this year, we'll fly Seattle to Chicago, then to Paris, stay a couple of days, then fly to Istanbul, and, then ??? We're not sure. It's only a 90 minute flight to Southern Turkey, but we're not sure the Turkish airline will take the dogs. Our guess is that we'll wind up driving the last five hundred miles ourselves.

There is a second reason why we are stopping in Paris. The younger of our two dogs needs an EU pet passport, in order to be able to return to the EU after having been in Turkey. It's a long boring story, but studying the pet regulations of a multitude of countries is a big part of our lives. In this particular case, there is a test, called a "titer test" which is required by the EU if the dog is coming into the EU from a country which is defined as a "rabies country." Going to the EU from the US is fine, but returning there after being in Turkey is trickier. We need to prove that our dog has been certified to be rabies free, with a proper titer test performed, and have it written into a pet passport, prior to entering Turkey. Traveling with dogs is never boring!

Zen and the art of vessel maintenance

Even though we haven’t been on the boat, I've been having daily (or more frequent) conversations with both my Seattle and Turkey mechanics.

Different boat owners deal with boat maintenance in different ways. What follows is a description of how Roberta and I handle maintenance.

Each year, at the end of the season, as we leave the boat, Roberta and I prepare a long list of things to be fixed or maintained.

While cruising, if something major breaks, I fix it, or have it fixed, immediately, but if there is a way to put something on the list, to be done by the mechanics during the off-season, that is my preference. It isn't that I am lazy, although, I wouldn't deny that laziness is a factor.

However, there are three other very important considerations:

I believe in hiring experts and letting them do their jobs. I know how to do virtually all repairs on the boat, and this knowledge does come in handy when I need to do things myself (remember, at sea, it's all about self-sufficiency). It also comes in handy when discussing repairs with mechanics, or checking their work. But, am I the best person to make the repairs? No.
There is wisdom at times in delegation. If I am doing the work myself, and I look at a hose that is a few years old, I may or may not replace it. If the hose looks good to me, I will decide to replace it 'later.' I confess to being guilty of 'human nature.' In reality, hoses are cheap, and they are mission critical. If a cooling hose to your engine blows, the engine will quit, and the boat will take on seawater. Mr. Murphy's law clearly indicates that this will occur at the worst possible time, in 30 knot winds, and 20 foot seas, with a 130 degree engine room. I've been there, done that, and it isn't fun. By outsourcing maintenance, I can just say, every couple of years, "Replace all hoses, thermostats and belts." I'll be a few hundred bucks poorer, but the odds that a hose will break at the wrong time will decline enormously.
More importantly, a boat can become a full-time job if you let it. Roberta and I are only on the boat four or five months a year. I really don't want to spend the majority of that time in the engine room. When Roberta and I were discussing what size boat we could handle as a couple, I spoke with couples running boats as large as 110' without crew. Their message was consistent: The problem with a couple running a large boat isn't the "running" part, it is all the cleaning and maintenance! Roberta and I are capable of cleaning, maintaining and repairing Sans Souci ourselves, but ... is that what I retired to do??? Many owners get around this by having crew. Perhaps this works for them, but Roberta and I value our privacy too much to have crew onboard, except for long passages.

In short: Our preference is to minimize maintenance, while we are on the boat, and maximize fun.

2012 pre-season preparations

This is the team I sent to turkey to work on the boat
Jeff Sanson (Pacific Yacht Management), Sam Stokes, Doug Janes

Anyway, I mention this because this was a very unusual year for the "pre-arrival maintenance/fix-up" for Sans Souci.

When Sans Souci left Seattle, with a vague intention to circumnavigate, I had the entire boat tweaked out to be in perfect condition. In 2011 and 2012, we attempted the usual pre-season maintenance, but this was compromised by the location of the boat.

For instance, in 2010, the boat wintered in Osaka Japan. I did send a mechanic to the boat, but even tasks that would ordinarily involve a quick trip to a West Marine were painful. I remember trying to get a simple patch kit into Japan to fix a leak in my inflatable raft. Buying something locally seemed impossible, and shipping in glue was impossible. We did find that most things could eventually make it to Japan, even glue, but it would take weeks or longer.

Last year, as Roberta and I were cruising, I saw signs that my batteries needed replaced. Sans Souci has a large battery bank; 2,000 amp hours, at 24 volts. This should be plenty to last 12 hours, while sitting at anchor. However, I tried a few times last year and noticed that the batteries wouldn't last more than three or four hours. The batteries were purchased new in 2009, so I didn't know what was going on.

This past winter, there were dozens of occasions where the electricity went out at the dock in Turkey. When this occurs I receive a phone call, and an email from the boat, no matter where I am. I have a system, from the company Skymate which uses satellite communications to call and email me, whenever there is something interesting happening on the boat. I receive a message when the power goes off, and another when it comes back on. For instance, here is a message telling me the shorepower has been restored:

Received Friday April 20 2012 at 11:06 AM GMT.
Assistance Button is NORMAL.
Battery voltage = 23.209 volts.
Shore power is connected.
Bilge level is OK.

I noticed that if a power shortage lasted even a couple of hours, the battery voltage would drop dangerously low. In March, I had a mechanic in Turkey cut power to the boat, and send me the voltage readings every hour. Before Jeff and his team even left Seattle I knew what they would find. My batteries were dead.

This is the battery that caused all the problems. As you can see, the top popped off of it, and the battery cracked! When one battery fails, it destroys the rest of the battery bank.

The battery tester we used to test the batteries. As you can see, this battery is ready for the junk pile.

Whereas I knew the batteries were probably dead, I didn't expect what we found when the batteries were inspected. One of the batteries had the top blown off, and a crack down the side. My guess is that this was the original cause of the problem, and that the failure of this one battery dragged down the entire battery bank.

With 20/20 hindsight, I should have more closely inspected the batteries last year, when I first suspected problems. I did look at the batteries, but from the top, with the battery in the bank, the problem wasn't obvious. I periodically run a heat gun across the tops of the batteries, and terminals, to look for any excess heat. At the time, all seemed good.

My best guess is that this battery failed last winter, when the boat was hit by lightning.

Out with the old. In with the new.

I thought seriously about replacing my batteries with the new technology Litium batteries from Mastervolt.

Mastervolt makes some impressive claims about them on their website:

http://www.mastervolt.com/marine/products/li-ion/mli-24-160/

The claims that caught my eye were: "Uses 70% less space" and "Lasts three times as long." This will be San Souci's third set of batteries, in only four years. It is a headache to replace the batteries, and expensive.

My efforts to get the Mastervolt batteries failed. I knew they were expensive, but the cost was still shocking. Here's an email I received when I decided to place an order:

Hi Jeff and Ken-

I did some checking on these batteries. It sounds like there are only Qty 3 in stock with Mastervolt Netherlands and any quantity over 3 is a 2-3 month lead time, no matter what country we order them in. Also, the cost about $6000.00 a piece.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Thanks,
-Adrienne

At $6,000 each, I'd be spending $60,000 on ten of them. Instead, I ordered the same AGM lifeline batteries as I already had, and paid only $12,000 total. Hopefully, the next time I need batteries the Lithium batteries will have fallen in price, and will be more readily available.

My "strange project of the year" award goes to this one: CLICK HERE [NOTE: Ignore the spelling and grammer. The notes are from the team in Turkey. Their english is much better than my Turkish!]

It appears that my boat somehow contracted termites! I have no idea where they came from. This meant teak repair. Luckily we caught it before it spread.

Runner-up, for strangest project was that I had my hydraulic alternators removed from the boat. These alternators generate 8kw of DC current which is intended to provide battery charging, without running a generator, while the boat is underway. I did some testing, and it seemed to me that the extra fuel consumption by the the main engines, to power the hydraulics, was actually higher than just running a generator. In any event, I haven't used the hydraulic alternators in several years, and I wanted to reclaim the space they were taking, for more storage for spare parts.

Overall, this was an expensive year, but not as bad as it looks. The "conventional wisdom" is that one should set aside 10% of the cost of a boat for annual operating cost. I may have gotten there this year, but overall, my guess is that I average well under half this amount.

And, here's a few other random pictures from the work done on the boat...

Zincs, like this one, are my first line of defense against electrolysis. For those not familiar with zincs, marinas tend to have 100s of boats, some of which have perfect electrical systems, and some of which don't. When a boat leaks electricity into the water, surrounding boats will find anything metal, beneath the water, eaten away. The softest metals tend to be eaten first, so the goal of the zincs is to the absorb the electrical action, and be eaten, rather than my props, thru-hulls and shafts. Whenever the boat is hauled out, I have all the zincs replaced. I also pay a diver to go under the boat, at least once a month during the off-season to verify that the zincs aren't eroding.

The "68" you see here represents the temperature of the chilled water loop circulating throughout the boat. I've had these installed in several places, and they have been enormously helpful in identifying, and diagnosing, air conditioning problems.

The largest project this year was an overhaul of my davit. We've taken a lot of seaspray over the bow, and the davit has been looking tired. Last year it failed several times (electrical and hydraulic problems). The time had come to pull it off and make it new again.

They say, "Necessity is the mother of invention." This is the makeshift spraybooth put together to paint my davit.

The spray booth may not win any beauty prizes, but it worked just fine.

As long as the boat was out of the water, I decided to upgrade my underwater lights. One of the lights had failed, and all of them had crud obscuring the glass. I now have color LED lights. I can set the color based on my mood, and because they lights are LED, they run cool, and last a very long time. I realize that these are somewhat useless, but they do attract fish, and make for fun viewing while having dinner on the upper aft deck. Not everything on a boat has to make sense!

I had the team make some "pig tails" for me. This year I'll probably enter a few different marinas, in both Turkey and Greece. Sometimes, I am lucky and everyone has the same style shorepower connections, but often I need to rewire my connectors as I enter new marinas. By having a series of short adapter cables I can avoid my shorepower cables constantly being hacked into, and increase the odds that I have a cable ready to go as I enter new marinas.

Jeff and team replaced the starboard side anchor roller. Over time it had become oblong and would no longer spin correctly.

Sans Souci has a twin anchor setup, but I use only the starboard anchor.The port-side anchor could be setup for use fairly quickly, but I prefer using the port anchor locker, which is enormous, to hold scuba gear, spare line, and fenders.

The bottom of the boat, with everything freshly painted, and the new zincs in place.

Putting Sans Souci back into the water.

And, in closing

I've set a goal to send blog updates more frequently this year, and to make them shorter. That said, I make no promises. I tend to alternate between writer's block, and sudden bursts of writing. My other goal is to blend more history, and a sense of the local culture into my blog entries. Realistically, I don't know if this is possible. I ran a creative company for twenty years, and always tried to focus my writers on subject matter they were passionate about. My strategy was to reassign them, if I didn't like their writing, rather than to try to change them. Great writing happens when the author cares about what they are writing. History was never my best subject in school, and I'm not likely to change now. So.. expect me to try, but forgive me if my efforts are lame.

Also, before I go, I should mention that this is a good time to verify that you are registered to receive email updates to the blog, and that they are going to the right email address. It's also a good time to register any friends, neighbors or anyone you think should be reading the blog. The best way to do this is simply to go to the website: www.kensblog.com, and click on the register button in the upper left corner. On the other hand, if you find these updates annoying, and would rather not receive them via email, look at the bottom of the email. There should always be a link for unsubscribing. And, if you change your email address, just register the new email address, and don't worry about the old one. After a few attempts to deliver to a dead email address we'll remove it from the system.

Thank you! Expect my next blog update around the second week of June, when we arrive in Turkey!

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 22:23:51 GMT

Ken, I noticed that San Souci is for sale and not listed with Nordhavn. You didn't mention it in your blog. Care to expound? ------------Response by Ken - June 18 2012 Michael, Sans Souci is NOT for sale. I was as suprised as anyone when I saw that. It is another N68 owner, whose broker needed a picture of an N68, and grabbed a photo of my boat from Nordhavn's site. I'm working on a blog entry now. I'll put something in it letting people know that it isn't my boat. No worries. We're here in Turkey and having fun! -Ken W

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:44:20 GMT

What an amazing adventure! I sure enjoyed reading your blog and looking at the photos of Sans Souci. Gorgeous! Please say hello to Roberta for me.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Tue, 29 May 2012 10:31:31 GMT

Ah, Ken, it's so pleasant for me to read your blogs and know that you're going through all the delights and challenges of serious cruising! That's because, like me, I sense that, on balance, it all is fun for you as you not only see the world from this perspective, but you overcame the problems in some satisfactory way. Have a wonderful time traveling. We'll look forward to seeing Sans Souci again in Roche Harbor just as we did a few days before the "Sushi Run" began! And as for the bureaucrats, just "kill 'em with kindness!"

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:13:05 GMT

Great post Ken! I've been anticipating an update on Sans Souci. Maybe it's the level of detail, your(Roberta's) choice of destinations, or your writing style, but I enjoy reading your blog more than any other boat blog out there. Looking forward to more from The Med!

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Tue, 29 May 2012 07:27:58 GMT

Great to hear from you Ken, my best to you and Roberta and the hounds :)

Comment on: [KensBlog] Preparing for the 2012 cruising season

Mon, 28 May 2012 21:21:53 GMT

Will you come and tell my editor what you said there at the end?

[Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I'm saddened to report that the Grey Pearl, our friend's Tina and Braun Jones' boat, was in lost in a fire this past week. The Pearl is no more.

Below is the most recent blog entry from Grey Pearl's website, as written by Tina Jones:

It is with such a heavy heart that I write this last and final blog of the good ship Grey Pearl.

Early in December, while we were spending the winter at our home in Virginia away from our boat, we received one of life’s dreaded phone calls. Our beloved ‘Grey Pearl’ N6208 was on fire in her slip at Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket, Thailand. The fire started in the early evening of Dec. 6th, 2011, and was detected shortly thereafter. The fire quickly became uncontrollable and threatened the marina and other boats. The marina staff and some brave yachtsmen scrambled to remove her from the slip, tow her up a nearby river and run her aground where she continued to burn for almost another day. Needless to say we are devastated by this horrible tragedy.

In order to tend to this matter and our responsibilities, Braun & I immediately flew from our home in Virginia to Thailand.

Of course, the hardest and saddest moment was to see her…it is impossible to describe the heartbreak. To see the pilothouse wheel resting on the charred Lugger main engine…we were overcome. The raging fire had consumed her down to the water line. To put her to rest, we had a “viewing” on a Thursday…and her “burial” with flowers and a final good by on Friday.

Although heartbroken, we do understand how lucky we are…no one was injured! And the damage would have been more catastrophic if not for the brave souls that worked quickly to get the boat out of the slip and thereby save the surrounding yachts and dock.

We’ve had 11 ½ years of absolutely wonderful experiences on the Pearl…and happily, we’ve been able to share that on board passion with so many friends & family. Often we’d sit on our aft “Lido” deck and reminisce about where she’s taken us…Gibraltar, Jounieh, Lebanon, Jementos, Bahamas, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Elba, Italy, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Aleutian Islands, Panama Canal, Haifa, Israel, Rome, Petropavlovsk, Russia, Bar Harbor, Me., Singapore, Athens…to name just a few.

I personally have never been more challenged, fulfilled and happier doing anything in my life than the time I’ve spent on my ‘Grey Pearl’. And…more importantly, she was a passion Braun & I enjoyed together. She will live on fondly in our hearts & memories…forever ~

We are still “processing” this calamity so it’s way too soon to say what our future plans will be…but there will be an Act II. The fun is not going to stop.

We’re OK…and, we have the love of family & friends we can count on to get through this painful time…

A special thanks to our dear friends, Carol & Steven Argosy on our buddy boat N62 ‘Seabird’. They remain in Phuket and we deeply regret having to temporarily leave the “Bird and Pearl” cruising team.

Sadly…Grey Pearl…Out –

Tina & Braun

Ken Williams
N6805, Sans Souci

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:36:18 GMT

No more adventures? No more stories?

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:53:31 GMT

Hi ken, Bill Merola Manchester, NH USA previously lobstering in Cape cod growing up, unfortunate , yet no one hurt !!! Time heals all wounds, Cheers to the next Sea-mate !!! Will try and upload items to http://blog.supplieslocator.info , http://blog.travelbidder.info, http://cshadvance.info , http://blog.cshsdvance.info & others Best of Luck !!!

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:53:01 GMT

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:32:48 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/15/business/somalia-piracy-twitter/index.html Map of pirates.

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:06:06 GMT

Answered by Ken, 03/03/2012 Rad, in the couple of these incidences I'm aware of, the owners were paid within weeks. I don't know if this is typical or not. My belief is that fires on boats are fairly rare, and that the relatively low cost of boat insurance reflects this. As to mitigating the problems associated with collecting insurance: I think it's really just a matter of having a quality insurance company, and reading your policy, to make sure you understand all the exceptions. Overall, I can't say that I worry much about a fire, from an insurance perspective. My great fear is that there could be a fire while my family or I are on the boat. Fire safety is a huge issue, and a serious risk. Although the likelihood of a fire is extremely low, it's something I'm highly sensitive to. I'm very careful about anything having to do with electricity on the boat, and have tried to buy the best safety equipment I can buy, and keep everything well maintained. I also made the decision NOT to have a gas stove in the galley, even though we wanted one, because I didn't want propane in the boat. --- Just curious, is this every owner's insurance nightmare? Fire destroying their boat in an International location. Sounds like it will be a testy and contentious claims process. Any thoughts on how to mitigate this? Thanks...

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:13:09 GMT

Just getting around to checking for any more updates on Ken's Blog here. That would indeed be devastating. Determining how it started may be good information to other fellow sea captains as well. The fact that no one was injured is good to know and best of luck to an even better ACT II! Make it happen!

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:30:57 GMT

I am so sorry mister ken, as an avid fan of you and your wife, company and games, it greatly depresses me to see you going through hardships. You will be in my prayers :(

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:39:43 GMT

I am very sorry to hear about this tragedy. I can't even think about losing my boat in a fire. I hope that you will recover soon and make plans for the future.

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:22:10 GMT

I too am saddened by this. As a fellow mariner, I enjoy following the treks of San Souci and friends (including Gray Pearl). It is fortunate no one was hurt, but that doesn't stop the knot in the throat when thinking about the loss of a beautiful vessel. All the best from CA

Comment on: [Kensblog] - A very sad event to report

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:57:34 GMT

very sad to hear that. thankfully no one was hurt. hopefully they return with a new boat and continue on with their travels. jon

[Kensblog] End of the season

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

I'm typing this as we are doing our final packing. Tomorrow at this time, we'll be on a plane to Seattle!

First off, I want to thank everyone who wrote to see if we were ok after the recent Turkey earthquake. Turkey is a large country, and the epicenter was nearly a thousand miles from where we are, so we never knew it occurred until I opened my email to see the flood of inquiries.

Epicenter of the recent eathquake in Turkey. A long way from Sans Souci!

The earthquake did cause Roberta and I to ask each other, "What if it had been closer?" Sadly, we know the answer to that question. A marina we were in during 2009, in Japan, was near where the tsunami hit last year. I've seen aerial photos of boats washed onto land, and the town destroyed.

Speaking of which, I've always said that bad things tend to come in threes (they don't really, but I do confess to believing in some superstitions).

So, here's the other two:

Engine room fire?

While waiting to enter the marina, anchored in front of the town of Gocek, Roberta asked me why smoke was pouring from a boat near to us. Looking over, it appeared to be an engine room fire. I phoned it in to the Coast Guard. Luckily, the fire suppression system in the engine room must have activated and put the fire out. After thirty minutes, the smoke stopped.

80' boat, with a very brave marina staffer

The third incident in the series arrived right on time, as I suspected it might. We had entered the marina and were tied to the dock. I was sitting at my computer, doing email, when I felt the boat rock strongly to the right. Had something hit us? Or, was it a large wake? How could there be a wake inside the marina? I ran to the pilothouse door, and saw the 80' boat in the picture above being pushed away from our boat by the tender you see in this photo.

Roberta came running up the stairs. "Did you see that?" she asked. "We were almost struck by that boat!" Apparently, the boat had been moving rapidly through the marina, and was turning to enter a fairway when the captain either lost control, or the engines lost power. I'm not clear which. Roberta said that she was downstairs on our boat when she saw the other boat's stern rapidly coming at us on a collision course. Amazingly, a marina employee saw the incident occurring and interjected his tender between the other boat and Sans Souci, instants before the collision. He was joined almost instantaneously by another tender, which appeared out of nowhere. What I had felt was their tenders bouncing off of our boat as they were pushed into our side.

I didn't know whether to thank the marina employees for risking their life on our behalf, or shout, "What were you thinking?????" Putting yourself, and a plastic raft, between two large heavy boats, just to save a few thousand dollars in fiberglass repairs, is not the wisest of moves. I do thank them, and their fast action did save me money, but I hope they never try a stunt like that again.

And, speaking of the amazing marina staff, here at D-Marin, in Gocek Turkey....

Sans Souci is now in a new marina. We decided to move, in hopes of finding better protection from the winter storms. This also puts us closer to the office of the company that is watching over our boat. And, best of all, we were able to find a side-tie!

One of the "joys" of entering a new marina is figuring out the shore power.

The ends of my shore power cables

[WARNING -- these next few paragraphs get a bit techie. Non boaters may wish to nap for the next five paragraphs]

I have had bad luck in Europe with each new marina having different shorepower, and different physical connectors for attaching to the shorepower. On the dock where Sans Souci is now sitting there are two kinds of shorepower, 220v single phase, 50hz, and 380v three phase, 50hz. The pedestal closest to me was of the 220v, single phase, variety.

Ordinarily I do not mess with the connectors that are attached to my shorepower cables. I keep pigtails on the boat (short pieces of shore power cable with bare wire at one end, and a female connector at the other). This allows me to put different connectors on my shore power cables, as I move from marina to marina, without physically touching my actual shorepower cables.

At some marinas I've had the office lend me the shorepower adapters that work in the marina. At others, I've had the marina sell me expensive adapters, or just shrug, and leave it as my problem. In all situations, prior to Turkey, it has been up to me to wire and test my own shorepower cables.

This is only my second marina in Turkey, but, at both marinas, the marina has sent an electrician to my boat. Here at D-Marin, the electrician was great to work with. He struggled for a couple of hours, in the heat, to get the shorepower working with my boat. Finally, I discovered the problem. There is a rotary switch inside Sans Souci which identifies which shorepower connector to use. The boat was turned to Cord B, and he was attaching Cord A. This was very embarrassing. By the time I discovered the problem he had shifted to trying the 3-phase power on the other side of the dock. I discovered the problem with the rotary dial at the same time he discovered that the 3-phase power worked for my boat. (Sans Souci has an international shorepower converter that makes it very friendly to different shorepower voltages.) I tried to explain to him that we could go back to single phase, but communications between languages are not always easy. He had convinced himself that I needed 3-phase power, and that's what I was going to have.

I only half-hearted tried to explain the confusion to him, because the truth be known, I greatly prefer the higher voltage power. With 3-phase, 380v power, and twin 50 amp cables, I can get something like 40kw of electricity into the boat. This means NO POWER MANAGEMENT! Unlimited electricity!

Hooking up my shorepower

To get my cables to the other side of the dock, without anyone tripping over them, the cable was run under the dock

A very professional job! However, if the boat ever needs to leave the dock rapidly, it will be impossible

The water in the marina is amazingly clear!

The clarity of the water in Turkey is amazing. This is the prop on the boat ahead of me on the dock. That prop is about eight feet under the water. Incredible, and even clearer when you leave the marina

So, Roberta and I decided to go to Oludeniz...

Roberta and I came to Turkey with grand plans of seeing historical sights. And we have seen a few, but really, it's just the tip of an iceberg. There is MUCH here to see. We know we are coming back next May, and wanted to save most of the sightseeing for when our friends arrive.

In any event, we decided we'd go see Oludeniz, a waterfront city about a 45 minute drive from the marina in Gocek. It looked pretty incredible in the pictures.

Oludeniz - A beautiful lagoon

At one time it was possible to anchor inside the lagoon, but now, to keep it nice, you have to anchor at the entrance. We thought about anchoring out when we passed by here with the boat, but the seas were rough, and the anchorage isn't well protected. I can see though, that on a hot summer day, this would be my kind of anchoring.

Paddle boats can be rented to explore the lake

Even though we were at Oludeniz after the season, at the end of October, we saw LOTS of tourists lining the beach. The vast majority were British.

Roberta and Coco on the beach

We have found Turkey to be amongst the best countries we've ever traveled with our dogs. Usually when taking the dogs to a restaurant we call ahead to verify that the dogs can join us for dinner. In Turkey, thus far, no restaurant has said no. Lately, we don't even think about it, or call to ask permission. Dogs are fine everywhere! More importantly, our dogs are really liked by the people we encounter. They have had their pictures taken dozens of times. American tourists are rare, and tourists with dogs are even rarer. Coco and Toundra are going to have to readjust to life outside Turkey. They have become very spoiled.

Want a genuine fake Rolex?

Both the good, and the bad, of Oludeniz, and many parts of southern Turkey, are that they are tourist towns. Oludeniz was the most touristy tourist-town we visited. Roberta and I live in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, five months a year, which is also a tourist town. T-shirt shops, lots of forgettable restaurants, and stores selling stuff no one really needs. But also, incredible beauty, beautiful beaches, and wonderfully friendly people. We felt right at home!

These are real Turkey-Turkeys. How could I not take their picture?

Sans Souci, at the D-Marin marina, Gocek Turkey

And, here's a topic that didn't seem to fit anywhere, but I thought was worth mentioning...

Last week, Roberta and I found ourselves anchored in a situation where we didn't completely trust the anchor. We were anchored deeper than we liked (122 feet), and on a gentle incline.

After dropping the anchor we always back up a bit, to verify that the anchor is set.

Looking at the anchor chain

Roberta drives the boat, as we back up gently, and I watch the chain. I stop her when the chain reaches a direct line between the boat and the anchor, and the boat stops backing. The goal is to verify that the anchor is well set, and dig it a bit deeper into the bottom, not to jerk at it until it comes free.

Recently, another cruiser commented to me that I should start paying attention to the wind, and the angle of the anchor chain. He said, "If the chain isn't taut, and at the angle you tested when you dropped it, it isn't going to drag." After a while, you get to know how much wind it takes to make the chain go taut. I've never really thought about it this way, so I can't honestly say what the magic number (where the chain is completely taut) is on Sans Souci, but the other night, when I was standing anchor watch, I took out a flashlight and watched the chain at different wind speeds. At 22 knots, the anchor chain was still hanging vertically in the water, which tells me we were no where near dragging. I'll experiment more next year...

Lastly, I would like to close out the season by mentioning that although it is usually just Roberta and I on the boat, there is really a team behind Sans Souci. I confess to being somewhat lazy when it comes to PERSONALLY doing boat maintenance. I suppose it is possible to take great pleasure from fixing the toilets, washing the boat or changing the oil, and I have done those things, and many more, at various times. However, I prefer to cherry pick the bits of boating that are the most fun, and to outsource as many maintenance and cleaning tasks as I can. Each year before arrival at the boat, and each offseason while we are gone, I have a team of people who keeps Sans Souci clean and well maintained. Much of what Roberta and I have been doing the past few days is making lists: lists of spare parts to be ordered, lists of things to be cleaned, lists of things to be fixed. [Note: Roberta said I should mention that just because I'm lazy doesn't mean she is! Over the past few days, she has been cleaning the interior virtually non-stop] We've been taking pictures of anything that looks worn or in need of repair, and as soon as we leave the boat, Sans Souci will be made new again. I'd like to thank these people who are the hidden heros behind our cruising adventures.

In Seattle -- Jeff Sanson, at Pacific Yacht Management

And, in Turkey -- Riza Cagdas Cakir, at Emek Marin

And, of course, I'd like to thank all of you, without whom the blog wouldn't be possible.

See you next season!

Ken Williams

PS As this is likely to be my last blog for several months, I thought I'd close on a personal note. I've been reading Steve Job's biography. I dealt with him a few times over the years, and as you can imagine, he has always been one of my heroes. The first few chapters of the book speak about his relationship with his father, and how his father influenced his career. Of course, that got my thinking about my own dad, our relationship, and his influence on my own career. Some of you may remember that this blog started as a way to keep my dad informed while we were away. He lost a battle with cancer, in 2008, just after accompanying me on Sans Souci for the Fubar rally (San Diego to La Paz Mexico).

I miss him, and would like to share this video that my son sent me, a few years ago when he was in Japan for college. I hope it reminds you of your own parents, and how they affected your lives...

David Williams

Note: if you don't see a video above, click THIS LINK to see the video.

(http://youtu.be/k3WhQB7Hq0Q)

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:10:37 GMT

You and your wife took me to worlds that I couldn't imagine as a kid with Sierra On-Line. I love the fact that you are living what would be my dream, on a boat, around the world. Cheers! Travis

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:26:21 GMT

Wow, what a turn of events you've been having, both good and bad. Our family has been going through similar struggles and I would just like to wish you my deepest condolances and let you know you and your family are in our prayers. -Jared

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:14:48 GMT

Oh...and Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:10:27 GMT

I can't tell you how much it means to me personally that you all share your life with us through your blog. I'm 45 now and grew up playing all the Sierra games and to know you guys are still around and having a good time and living out your dreams (and well deserved) and then sharing them with all of us really is amazing! We don't have to ask..."I wonder what Ken and Roberta are up to these days?" because it's all mostly right here. I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your dad in 2008, Ken. I lost my dad in 2004 and your son Chris' video really meant a lot. Thank you and keep sailing and keep blogging. So many people would miss you guys if you vanished. Rob Cleburne, TX

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:04:27 GMT

You're welcome Ken! Well... 4 years isn't so bad. Hope that in 4 years we have a better economy to show. Although I find my country to be an example for many, we have been ruled the wrong way for the past 20 years, and now we are paying the price. My people, although of easy traditions and extremely peaceful, will for sure come out on top at the end. To help you pass those 4 years, I leave you another video: http://youtu.be/13JzhYcS0mw Best wishes! Nuno Nunes

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:04:10 GMT

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:02:07 GMT

Just to share a video of the region where I am so fortunate to have been born, raised and living :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbG4M--OlsU Best wishes, Nuno Nunes ----------------Answer by Ken Williams - 2011/11/11 ---- Nuno, Thank you for the link. I'm running out the door, to catch a plane, but will look at it today. Portugal is absolutely on our list, and the Algarve will be a definite stop. However, we're taking our time working our way west, and moving at roughly one country a year. We might speed up at some point, but currently, I'm guessing we won't arrive in Portugal for at least another four or five years. We were "a little bit" in Portugal in 2004, when Sans Souci visited Horta, and another island (which I've forgotten the name of). Thank you! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:24:18 GMT

Hello Roberta and Ken, First of all I must say that I only discovered your blog last week and I have been reading all you posts for the past five days, without missing a paragraph. I’m hooked on your adventures. Sans Souci is a wonderful boat and clearly demonstrates your good taste and attention to detail. I’m proud that almost all Nordhavns show their Portuguese bridge to the world, since I’m Portuguese and live in the beautiful and sunny Algarve. I come from a modest Portuguese middle class family, and my dad was a fisherman in North and South America, before returning to Portugal and meeting my mom. He fled the country when the Portuguese government started drafting for the Colonial war in Africa. In those days you had 3 choices: Go to war, go serve in famous Portuguese Cod Fishing boats that operated in Canadian waters… or “jump” the border and run as fast as you could without looking back. My dad was politically against the Dictatorial Regime, so he chose to leave the country just has his brother was drafted (and 1 year later was MIA). To me… my dad was a hero. I lost him to cancer 14 years ago when I was only 20. On another note: I’m feeling a little bit sad that up until now you have mentioned allot of European countries in the Med but didn’t refer a visit to Portugal. Without detracting other countries, we are the nicest, most welcoming people. Great wine (from the best in the world) great food, great weather (avoid July though… 40 Celsius is a bit hard) and good boating infrastructures. I think that we are worth the visit, and that would also give me an opportunity to see a Nordhavn (boating eden to me) moored in one of our marinas. I dream of doing what you are accomplishing now. I still have allot of hard work (a a good portion of luck) in front of me if I ever wish to accomplishing anything remotely close to what you have. But we do have a saying here: Dreaming does not pay tax! I also would like to present my feelings for the loss of Shelby. I also share my life with a loyal Labrador and a Groenendael Belgian Shepherd, and the lines that you wrote about the loss of Shelby made me drop a few tears. Best wishes in the world for all of you, and hope that Sans Souci, Gray Pearl and Seabird can pay a visit to my country and specially my region (Algarve- just make a slight right turn after Gibraltar and wait to pass the delta of the Guadiana River) Nuno Nunes

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:04:17 GMT

Hello Roberta and Ken I have been following your blog for a few months now and have been reading "backissues" of you postings. Thank you very much!Y our experiences and willingness to share knowledge and findings has been instrumental in our considerations and finally decision to get us a Nordhavn as the next boat. So we are in the process of visiting Nordhavns around Europe when possible. At the moment we have seen N43, N47, N55 and N76. We are quite sure the N76 will be too big for the 2 of us to handle and do not feel sure the 55 is big enough - so with the help of Nordhavn Europe we are now locating possibilities to see a couple of boats in the 60 series. I have a tonne of questions I'd like to ask you right now though the most pressing one is about captains licensing. What is your experience with that. Which do you have, how often and where has it been requested by various authorities around the world? Al the best -----------------Response by Ken Williams Nov 5 2011 ---------------- Greetings, and best wishes on a tough decision! I wouldn't rule out the N76. It's a big boat, but whether or not it is too big for two people really depends more on the depth of your pockets than the size of your crew. Roberta and I have no problem running our N68 and I'm confident we could run an N76, but, we'd cheat the same way as we do with our current boat -- almost all maintenance and cleaning is outsourced. The big boats have big thrusters and twin engines. Driving them is fairly easy. As to licensing: I do have a USCG captain's license, as well as a Yachtmaster's license (for Europe). The US has no license requirement, and as a US-flagged vessel I "should" be able to go anywhere in the world without a license. That said, outside the US I have hit several countries where they (marinas, and customs) automatically demand a copy of my captain's license. I get the sense that without it I would still be admitted, but there'd be lots of confusion as they figure what to do with me. The US is rare amongst modern countries in that there is no requirement for a license on powerboats. Getting a license can be easy. I was able to complete my 100 ton license in a week, and did the same for my Yachtmaster's license (one week). Normally, the courses spread over months, but I have little time, and couldn't sit still for a multi-week course. I contacted schools and lobbied them for a fast course, and made it happen. You can do the same if you push hard and do some digging. The tougher part is having the "sea time" required. Both Yachtmasters and USCG have mimimum seatime requirements. Luckily, I have enough hours. I know others who have had to volunteer on long deliveries to rack up enough hours. It's a big number (although I forget what it is). Good luck! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:20:10 GMT

Great report as usual.... By the way, when you click on current location, it shows SS in South China Sea.... Second, by the way, my daughter is in Turkey now on a State Department Scholarship...Looking forward to more reports... Have a great holiday season and a safe new year...

Comment on: [Kensblog] End of the season

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:32:21 GMT

Thanks, Ken. If you want to drop us a post or two over the winter, I'm sure we wouldn't mind. I'm gonna go call my dad now.

[Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Most of the smaller towns we have visited do not have marinas. Instead, they each have a U-shaped central port. Boats drop anchor in the center, and Med Moor (back to the quay). Generally, the boats are a combination of gulets (for taking tourists sightseeing) and local fishing boats. I’m not sure what would happen if we tried to enter one of the these ports with Sans Souci, or who we would ask for moorage. My sense is that we would be welcomed, and it is just a matter of finding the right person to talk to, but I haven’t tried.

We generally like to anchor out, and visit town using the tender. This is partially because we prefer it, and partially because it is easier. Bringing Sans Souci into a strange port, with just Roberta and I, can be difficult. Med mooring is easiest with three people: one to work the bow lines, one to work the stern lines, and one to drive the boat. We can do it with two people, but when given the choice of anchoring out versus figuring out how to Med moor with two people in small, busy harbors, it becomes an easy decision. And, besides, anchoring out is easy and free. No paperwork, no hassle, no money, just drop the hook.

These guys provided tender service to us several times while we were at anchor at Kas

Our last few anchorages have been a fairly long tender ride into town; over a mile. During the day, this isn’t a problem, but going into town for dinner at night, or over choppy water, can be a challenge. We are cruising late in the season, and the weather is a bit unpredictable. The seas can turn nasty quickly, even in relatively sheltered bays. In Kekova Roads we got caught away from Sans Souci when, while lunching in Kalekoy -- the tender safely tied at a nearby dock -- strong winds suddenly appeared. There was no way to get back to Sans Souci safely with the huge chop that quickly built up. We called 'our guy' Turgay, who came riding to the rescue in his gulet and towed us back. So, lately, we’ve taken to venturing into town on the tender during the day, when the weather is calm, and working out a deal with a local gulet driver to provide transport if such would be needed. This has worked out amazingly well, and allows us to safely have dinner and wine and then return to the boat in the dark. However, getting on or off the transport gulet, via our tender tied to the swimstep of Sans Souci, has been a bit ‘wild and crazy.’ We’ve worked out a system where I, Roberta and the dogs get into our tender (which is tied behind Sans Souci), the 45’ gulet then backs to our tender, and then we climb onto the gulet. Once we figured out this procedure, it wasn't so bad!

Walking to dinner in Kas

We've seen these blue 'eyes' embedded in the sidewalks everywhere, as well as hanging as good-luck charms in shops, boats and trees. This symbol is used to ward off the 'evil eye.'

Wandering the streets of Kas

There is one interesting thing in Kas, of which perhaps one of the readers of my blog can enlighten me. At dinner one night, an adjacent table of three couples was clearly deaf. The couples were signing to communicate with each other, and they wanted to ask what we were having for dinner, so that they could order it. I don’t know sign language, so pointing at the menu was the best I could do. When the waiter came to their table, and realized they were deaf, he got the bartender, who was not deaf, but knew sign language, and took their order. We didn’t think anything of it, until the next morning, when at a completely different restaurant, I tried to ask the waiter for the internet password, and realized he was deaf. I showed him the password page on my iphone, and he signed to a waitress, who brought me the password. She was also deaf and they began signing to each other. Maybe there is a school for the deaf in Kas? Or just a coincidence? It doesn’t matter, though -- we were just wondering.

One more thing to mention about Kas. It’s a dive-centric town. The port wasn’t very large, yet I counted over 20 LARGE diving boats. While we were at anchor there were always dive boats around us. I’m not sure what there was to see, but it must have been good. (Roberta thinks that she heard about some old shipwreck under the water...)

One funny story about anchoring at Kas....

One of the reasons we upgraded to a larger Nordhavn, in 2007, was that we wanted space for a hot tub. Most people thought we were crazy, and it would never get used. They couldn't have been more wrong. I'm not sure which has more hours, Sans Souci's main engines, or the hot tub. We've taken to using the hot tub just about every night we're at anchor. However, on our last night in Kas, we noticed a coast guard vessel drop anchor beside us. Were we in trouble? Would we be boarded? We wanted to go out to the hot tub, but figured someone would be knocking on the door any minute. After 30 minutes of nothing happening, and us sitting in the dark, waiting to be asked for our papers, we saw the lights go out on the coast guard vessel. I said, "Let's go to bed," and Roberta said, "No way. It's hot tub time!" How many people can say they've been hot tubbing alongside a coast guard vessel at anchor in Turkey?

We would liked to have stayed longer at Kas, but could see another storm coming, and wanted to move to a location better protected from the northwest and north. So, we moved the boat to Kalkan, about a two-hour run northwest of Kas.

Our anchorage at Kalkan was amongst the prettiest I’ve seen, but with mediocre holding. Roberta and I have done a lot of anchoring, and are accustomed to dropping the anchor one time and having it hold. However, the anchorage at Kalkan is mostly mud and seaweed with occasional sand. We dropped the anchor, and when we tested, the anchor was not set. When I retrieved the anchor, it was packed in a huge ball of mud and seaweed. I couldn’t even see the anchor! We dropped again, in deeper water, and had better luck on the second try.

The correct thing to do apparently, here in Turkey, is to run a stern line to shore. With professional crew it's easy (or with a couple in a small sailboat) but with just Roberta and I, on Sans Souci, it's a little trickier. Plus, with a storm coming, we felt safer out in the middle, able to swing with the wind. Roberta and I debated whether we would be safer in the middle, or against shore.

These gulets appeared out of nowhere

This gulet dropped his anchor right at my stern

The bay at Kalkan (Yesilkoy Koyu) was small; perhaps a couple hundred yards across. When we dropped our anchor, around noon, the entire bay consisted of ourselves and one other sailboat. Suddenly, at 2:30pm, we saw what appeared to be a flotilla of gulets coming our way. Within about 20 minutes at least 20 other boats, loaded with swim-suited tourists, dropped anchor all around us. The tourists jumped in the water for a swim, and our idyllic anchorage turned into the hub of a massive beach party. As suddenly as they had arrived, two hours later, everyone disappeared, and we were alone again for the night, except for two other sailboats and one small gulet that stayed.

Taking the tender into Kalkan, Turkey. Coco doesn't have her seatbelt fastened, but Roberta is sitting on her leash.

The U-shaped port of Kalkan

A mosque on the hill overlooking Kalkan. There is a "call to prayers" five times a day, but at least in the tourist areas of town, I've never seen anyone pay attention to it.

At first, I thought this was a hang-glider, but it's a parachute. It flew overhead, and is apparently something brave tourists can sign up for. I will not be signing up.

Street scene in Kalkan

Lots to do do in Kalkan!

Wandering the streets in Kalkan

Restaurants as far as the eye can see

Street in Kalkan

Kalkan is unbelievably dog friendly. This restaurant set up a special seat for our puppies

This is just one page of many on the menu. Prices are good by European standards. To convert to US dollars, you approximately divide the price by two

Captain Ken driving the tender back to Sans Souci. We had an early dinner, so we could tender back before dark

Kalkan is a large town compared to the others we have visited, and one resident told me that the inhabitants are about 95% British expats.

Kalkan prides itself on its great restaurants. When Roberta and I asked some locals which were the good restaurants, we were told, “All of them are excellent.” We only had time to eat at a couple, but so far, we agree. It’s a 'foodie' town.

I had an interesting chat with a restaurant owner in Kalkan about taxes. He mentioned that gas was over $12 a gallon! I asked if this meant there was no income tax, and he shook his head, "No, there is also an income tax." Turkey has a 30% income tax and can be aggressive at collecting it. For instance, he said, the tax collectors would randomly visit his restaurant, and even if he had every table filled, they would immediately ask to see the tickets for every each and every table. They would check to verify that all revenues were being recorded correctly, and that the books were right. If there are any errors, he can immediately be subject to a large fine.

This boating season is short for us, and we’re just trying to get the 'lay of the land' here in Turkey; we don't have a lot of time to spare before heading home to Seattle. So after a couple of days in Kalkan, we could see that another storm was coming and decided to move the boat back toward Gocek (our home port) while we had a good weather window for travel.

Yesterday, Roberta and I moved the boat about 50 miles northwest to a pretty little bay near Gocek, called 'Tomb Bay.'

After anchoring we looked up and noticed Lycian tombs embedded in the hillside. Hence, the name 'Tomb Bay.'

We weren’t sure why it was called Tomb Bay, and were genuinely caught by surprise after we dropped anchor, and looked at the hillside, to see the tombs above us. Cool!

We selected an anchorage where the boat could swing. The chart says 65 feet, but it was wrong; I had to drop in 120 feet of water

We've hit restaurants in anchorages everywhere, but this was the first one that also offered a "Leg Shave"

How many places can you drop anchor and have tombs, swimming, hiking, a restaurant, and your legs shaved?

Unfortunately, on our second night at Tomb Bay we received some wind. Standard practice on Sans Souci is that if the wind will be above 10 knots, and we aren't 100% certain that we are set correctly, we stand anchor watch. At 4:30am this morning, the wind climbed to 15 knots, and it meant I had to get up and stand watch in the cockpit.

If you do not see a video above this comment, CLICK HERE to see it. It's not a very exciting video, and too dark to really see, but I thought people might enjoy seeing how I set things up for my anchor watch. The highest wind we saw was 23 knots, and Sans Souci's chain never dragged an inch (as far as I know).

And, on a completely different topic...

Normally, when approaching a marina or port, there is a nautical standard that says 'red-right-returning,' which means, as you approach (or 'return to') port, the entrance will usually be marked by a red and green light, and that the red light should be kept on your starboard (or, right) side.

Imagine arriving at this marina at night, and seeing these lights. If you tried to go between them, you'd have a bad day

I took the picture above as I approached the Kalkan port. Here, because it is daylight, you can see that the lights could easily mislead you if you were accustomed to 'red-right-returning.'

In turkey it's 'green-right-returning.'

Here you can see that the red light is on the left. This is backwards, but how they do it here in Turkey. In May, when Sans Souci first arrived here by freighter from Hong Kong, my first approach to Gocek was at night, and the lights to the marina are reversed, as these are. It made arrival at Gocek, 'interesting.' When first approaching, I couldn't believe the lights were really reversed, and insisted that a tender come out to guide me in.

Many restaurants in bays have docks for moorage.

Just about every anchorage we visited had one or more waterfront restaurants, and many have temporary moorage. The docks are often rickety, and I haven't seen one yet that I'd tie Sans Souci to, but for smaller boats, and sailboats, they are perfect.

And speaking of which, I'd encourage anyone interested in cruising Turkey to consider chartering a sailboat and cruising here. Most of the sailboats we see are chartered by the week. Double-check me on this, but most sailboat charter companies do not require any form of license, whereas it is virtually impossible to charter a powerboat in Europe without a license. I spoke to one charter company who said that most renters never put the sails up, and just treat the sailboat like a powerboat. For instance, a few years ago I chartered a sailboat in Mexico and know nothing about sailing, yet had a great time.

And, a technical tidbit...

One of my projects the past week has been to get my SKYMATE working. Skymate is a low-cost, low-bandwidth, satellite communications system, that is always available virtually everywhere in the world. I use it to automatically send a daily email to myself, when not on the boat, with information about what is happening on the boat.

For instance, here is the report from yesterday.

Received Tuesday October 18 2011 at 12:17 PM GMT.
Battery voltage = 26.302 volts.
Shore power is connected.
Bilge level is OK.

I have several forms of internet on the boat, but internet is not reliable for this purpose, for a variety of reasons. For instance, the 3G card seems to randomly ask for someone to insert a PIN code. With no one around to enter the code, the internet stops working. I also have VSAT satellite internet. This has shown to be reliable, although it would mean leaving the positioning unit active for the next six months. The antenna positioning unit has a lot of moving parts (motors and belts) that can wear out. I really don't want to leave it active for the next six months if I don't have to. The nice thing about Skymate is that it seems to chug along, no matter what happens.

Far more interesting than the daily stats update is its ability to immediately alert me when the power goes out. Interestingly, I'm not as concerned about when the power goes out, as when it comes back on. No shore power is ever perfect. There will always be power failures. But, if the power goes out, and doesn't come back within a few hours, then it can be a problem. If I receive notification that the power is out, and I don't get another notification that it is back on within 12 hours, I will know to call the marina and have them get the power going. Over the next six months, while we're away from the boat, it will be winter, and the air conditioning won't be running, so losing electricity really isn't a big issue. The boat won't be using much power. We have a few items left in the refrigerator/freezer, and that's about it. If the electricity goes away though, and doesn't come back, the batteries will ultimately die, which would be expensive.

Many of you may have already seen THIS as it was linked on Nordhavn Dreamers but it is an accident report about a sailing ship that sank in Brazil. It's fascinating reading, and has a great discussion on stability.

My last blog entry generated a lot of email, particularly the article about the octopus...

Everyone agrees that the octopus was being tenderized, but I like this idea for octopus hunting (you didn't hear it here):

From Pete, in Florida...
"...Having born and spent the first 18 years of my life in Greece, near the water, I found your blog memos very interesting. However, I couldn't stop laughing about the guy who was slamming the octopus. I'm sure you know by now all about the "Greek" tenderizing method for octopus, but I still had to explain to my friends - who read your blog - that the fisherman on your picture was not exposed to the hot Greek sun for too long, but instead he was working fast and hard.

Actually, I've done this myself hundreds of times as a young boy. You see, my favored fishing activity in the 60's was snorkeling and hunting for octopus using a very unique method. In about 10-15 ft of water, I would spot an octopus residence which had the uncollected garbage (sea shells, crab leftovers etc.) in the front porch. I would dive and place a small piece of acetylene rock in front of the opening and then wait on the surface for the octopus to come out. They must come out because acetylene takes the oxygen out of the water. My spear would finish the hunting and the octopus "slamming" on the near by rock would finish the job.

I wish you, Roberta and the 2 "little" ones a safe return home...."

Here's an email that succinctly summarizes why Turkey is a great place to cruise:

Donald H wrote to say...
"...Hi Ken --

My wife and I spent a month in Turkey recently (including Gocek, Kekova and Kas). We also found the Turkish people extraordinarily warm and helpful. We have since learned that there is a Turkish saying that "Guests are a gift from God." Guess that explains it! ...."

And lastly…

Roberta and I are at our last anchorage before returning to port at Gocek and ending this cruising season. I’ll probably do at least one more blog entry, but essentially, it’s over for this year. Most of the next week will be spent cleaning the boat, interior and exterior, and making lists of things to repair and items to bring back with us for next season's cruising.

If it seems like it was a short cruising season this year -- only 5 weeks -- that’s because it was. We had some personal/family issues that kept us off the boat this year, but we hope to be back next year with a full three or four month cruising season as normal!

Also, as some of you may recall, Roberta and I split off from the other two boats in our GSSR fleet. Seabird and Grey Pearl are currently en route to Thailand.

We have been nervous that our friends would ‘fall in love’ with Thailand, and not join us here in Turkey. And, although that is still possible, we have had several communications lately which are sounding more and more like the team will reunite for next season’s cruising.

For the first time, Roberta and I have allowed ourselves to think seriously about where we’ll cruise next year. It will be a group decision, and we have many options. Roberta just sent to the group a five-year plan with ideas for where we might go. Working with them to work out a plan will be fun! Although, as they say, cruising plans are best written in the sand, at low tide. It's best to keep these things loose. We do know that over the next few years we will want to visit Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Corsica, Sicily, Italy, France, Spain, and more – but, there’s no hurry. We’ll get there.

That’s it for today!

Ken Williams

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:05:52 GMT

Hello, We are having a HELL of a time with Yacht Path - five weeks of lying re pick up dates, and on, and on , and on.......... Are you able to say which lawyer you used to resolve your problems, or give us any ideas what happened? ----------Response by Ken Williams --- Nov 22 2011 Yvonne, My case just settled with Yachtpath paying me a ton of money. Unforunately, my legal bills added up to a ton and a half, but I would have thought that Yachtpath learned an expensive lesson. Their legal bills had to be at least as much as mine. Everyone loses in litigation. There were five different law firms involved, although you could probably go straight to the law firm in england that did the vast majority of the work, and be way ahead of the money I spent. If you do decide to have a lawyer get involved, write me offline (ken at kensblog.com) and I'll give you the referral. I've very sorry to hear you are having problems with them. My problem with them wasn't that they didn't ship my boat when they said they would -- my primary objection was that they told me things that weren't true, and I couldn't get a straight answer to questions. They needed someone to 'keep them honest' and I thought I had done so. Best wishes! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:54:55 GMT

Just heard about the earthquake. Looking at a map, it doesn't look like you guys were directly effected. Hopefully you guys are safe and still enjoying your trip.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:07:51 GMT

Ken; Did the earthquake affect you, Roberta, the dogs, or the boat? Is there danger of a tsunami? I hope you're all safe. Enjoy your adventures.

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:20:17 GMT

enjoy your blog very much! as for the 'red-right-returning' this might be interesting for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_mark

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:18:30 GMT

Wanted to make sure that all is well after the quake. Prayers are going out to the country. - - - Jeff 02114 RESPONSE BY KEN 2011-10-23 ------- Jeff, thank you for thinking of the people of Turkey, and of us. I'm just reading the reports, and it appears to have been a horrible earthquake, with many deaths, but it was nowhere near us. Turkey is a huge country, and this quake was centered many hundreds of miles east of us. Roberta asked an interesting question, "Would we have felt it here in the marina?" Personally, I don't know how these things work. My guess is that an earthquake could trigger a Tsunami of some sort, and wreck our day, but generally, I suspect we would fare better than most. Anyway, we're fine, and didn't feel it at all. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:24:31 GMT

I am working my way through your blog. Absolutely, love the adventure. Hope to follow one day...

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:40:51 GMT

Hi Ken, Roberta (and "fur children") In your Tombs Bay blog post you mention having to get up and sit on the bridge on anchor watch so you could keep an eye on whether or not your anchor was dragging. A friend of mine has the Deep Blue anchor alert system on his 58 Selene. You can check it out at www.deepbluemarineusa.com. He prefers this system over GPS based anchor monitoring because it's sonar based and is independent from other systems on the boat, ie; satellite systems which can go down and so forth. I think one can also adjust the sensitivity of the unit as well so you can allow for a little drag if you choose to. Who knows it might help you sleep better ;o) Thanks for sharing your travels with us. Best regards, Brian Denny

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:55:35 GMT

I did not know that you could set a little Russian dog to keep you awake on watch! So, the second dog is a backup alarm? I assume that you feed them in lieu of winding them up. Sans Souci continues to amaze! {;*)) Ron

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:15:06 GMT

Hi Ken and Roberta. Sounds like you're having too much fun again. Upon reading the N. Dreamers site's comments I had to laugh about the dog bites and various other secret personal stories. I'll take the 5th Amendment on a few. I see you have begun using Skymate. I have those systems on both fishing vessels and find they are quite slow at receiving and sending mail, sometimes a day or more behind. I think its a latitude problem. Do you have instantaneous service at your latitude? -------Response by Ken - 2011-10-21 ----- Greetings Bill! Always great to hear from you. My Skymate seems to be extra fast here in Turkey. It seems to consistently send messages within 30 mins, and usually within 10 to 15 mins. It's not instantaneous, but good enough for my purposes. No matter how far I cruise, we'll never top the trip we made with you on board across the Aleutians! I've seen to commercial fishing in this part of Turkey. I'm not sure why. As much as I love, and appreciate, the commercial fishing industry, it's kind of nice not having to dodge fishing gear. Hope to meet up with you again someday. -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] Tomb Bay

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:30:35 GMT

Your blog has become even more amazing to me as You entered the Med: first the smashing of the octopus (that's the old way to get it tender), now the red-right-returning which is green-right-returning. For the socond: just get used to it, for also here in the northern seas it is standard that green is the starboard side entering a port or a river from sea! I will try to remember the red-right-returning, when I'll cruise Your waters... Greeting from Germany.

[KensBlog] Kas, Turkey

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Sans Souci is now sitting at anchor near Kas, Turkey, only about 20 miles from Kekova.

Kas, Turkey

As we move towards the end of the cruising season, bad weather seems to be more frequent. I mentioned in my last blog entry that we had hit sudden winds.

We really didn’t feel that we had fully exhausted all the good cruising at Kekova, but I could see that a large storm was coming, and that we should seek better protection while beginning to work our way back to Gocek. Looking at the weather report, we wanted somewhere that was protected from the South, West and East, which is exactly what we found – in Bayindr Bay, at Kas, a short two hour cruise northwest from Kekova Roads.

Sans Souci, with the town of Kas in the background

The storm began within a few hours of our dropping anchor. It really wasn’t bad, but it rained, almost non-stop for three days, with winds mostly in the 10 to 25 knot range. Essentially, this meant that we were pinned down inside the boat for three days.

Our primary reason for choosing this particular bay was that it looked, on the charts, like there would be enough room to drop anchor and ‘swing freely.’ I don’t like the idea of med-mooring to shore in high winds. Your stern is too close to shore, and if something goes wrong, there isn’t much time to correct the situation before you hit the wall.

As you can see in the picture above, we dropped the anchor in about 75 feet of water, and put out over 350 feet of chain. We verified the anchor was set, and waited for the storm to arrive, which didn’t take long.

I thought the anchorage would be flooded with other boats, for the same reason as us, wanting a safe anchorage from the storm. But, for the most part, we only had two neighbors, and we had plenty of room.

The Italian sailboat with whom we rode out the storm. He looked a lot closer in the dark, rain and wind!

However, after the rain and wind arrived, a couple more boats came, including an Italian sailboat, that anchored within about 100 feet of Sans Souci. I knew that the winds would be shifting in the days that would follow, and that the sailboat was inside my swing circle. My worry was that the sailboat and I would swing at different rates, as the wind shifted, and that at some point our boats might want to share the same physical piece of water. My boat weighs over 120 tons, and the sailboat looked like it might weigh 5 tons. I would win any territorial dispute, but still felt it might be better to alert the sailboat.

With the high-winds, and the rain, I had trouble communicating with the sailboat. I pantomimed, as best I could, my 350 feet of chain, and the circle around my boat. The Italians didn’t understand, or didn’t care. In any event, they made it clear they were not re-anchoring.

Over the three days that followed, both our boats were pushed around quite a bit, but neither of our anchors ever dragged. We came within 50 feet a few times, but never closer.

The Swing Circle

Whenever I drop anchor, I put a circle onto the chart, using Nobeltec, which is the size of my anticipated swing circle. I use Nobeltec’s tracking feature to see where the boat has been, and as a way of detecting whether or not my anchor is dragging. As long as I am in the circle, all is good.

I precompute the circle size to match the length of my chain, and put the circle on the chart where I'd like to drop anchor. I can then go onto the bow, to release the anchor, while Roberta drives to the mark. The tracings towards the outer edge of the circle show that we had the chain fully stretched at times, and the wiggly lines in the middle reflect the periods of lower winds.

Sans Souci, with the flopper stoppers out

The flopper stoppers open and close, like butterfly wings

Sans Souci is equipped with “flopper stoppers,” large aluminum plates which dangle from poles that extend about 10 feet out on each side of the boat. These plates are hinged in the middle, and open or close as the boat tilts from side to side in the water.

Normally, I can deploy the flopper stoppers in under 30 minutes. When we first arrived here, I had thought our anchorage would be protected enough that they wouldn’t be needed. This was a bad decision, and we were slammed by swell coming into the bay. Thus, Roberta and I had to deploy them; a) as it was getting dark, b) while raining heavily, c) with lightening to keep us company, and d) in high winds. This made the process longer. Adding to the challenge was that some of the shackles had welded themselves closed during the offseason. We got the job done, but it was a bit of an adventure.

The effort was worth while, though, and the other boats around us were VERY jealous, and impressed, with how calm we were while they were rolling around.

You’ll notice in the pictures above that the line seems twisted at the top of the flopper stoppers. That’s what happens would you work in the rain! I’m not completely sure what I did wrong in the rigging, but it’s on my list of projects for today to sort out.

With the weather clearing, we decided to jump a ferry for the 20 minute ride to Meis Island, Greece

Approaching Meis, Greece

I'm not sure what this octopus did to irritate this fisherman, but as we were walking along the quay, he was slamming it repeatedly onto the pavement. Someone call Peta!

We were a little worried about taking the dogs into Greece, wondering if we could get them back to Turkey, but no one ever asked for their paperwork

It is extremely unusual for Roberta and I to be out of sight of Sans Souci while it is sitting at anchor. Can you imagine how strange it felt to be in Greece while Sans Souci was sitting at anchor in Turkey? In addition to the concern about a sudden wind dragging the anchor, I was also worried about the tender, which was left tied to the stern. It's like leaving a $20,000 bill on the table, and hoping no one picks it up. I wasn't worried about Sans Souci, because we had just ridden through high winds, and I knew the anchor was solidly in place, and it was a nice calm day. And, I wasn't worried about the tender, because I believed it would be safe. Thus far, I have been amazed at how polite and honest everyone has been. On a couple of occasions I have given large tips to people who took good care of me, only to have them refused, as "Too much."

Kas is a very cool, funky town, with nightlife. We had a wonderful french dinner at Chez Evy. I'll put more pictures of Kas in my next update

Roberta and the pups back on Sans Souci

And lastly, as you may recall, in my last blog entry, I spoke about some electrical problems I’ve been fighting on Sans Souci.

I am very appreciative to those who have flooded my email with ideas.

All is fine now.

Unless you are interested in techie things, I’d recommend not reading further. The rest of this blog entry is for those who would like the geeky details…

I now believe the basis of my problems was a convergence of unstable dock power, and high start-up electrical loads on Sans Souci.

The boat was left at the dock, from May to September, with the air conditioning running, in the high summer heat of Turkey. Shore power is provided to my boat through an Atlas international shore power conversion device. This device cleans the shore power, and ‘reconstructs’ the power from the three-phase 50 cycle power that is here in Turkey, to the single-phase 60 cycle power, that my US-standard boat expects.

I’m not sure what happened on the dock during my absence, but during the time I was at the dock in September, I observed many power outages, of random durations. On some days the power went out as much as three times.

The air conditioning on Sans Souci can consume as much as 50 amps, which at 240 volts, is approximately 12 kw. When I am on the boat, I shut down the air conditioning, and any other high amperage appliances while engaging shore power, swapping generators, or plugging in shore power. I make a conscious effort to introduce loads gradually. When I’m not on the boat, if the power fails, and comes back later, there is no smoothing. All loads are instantaneous.

I’m not 100% certain, but my working theory is that during my absence there were plenty of power failures, and the sudden, and frequent on again, off again, power cycling, with major loads switched on, caused my electrical problems.

The periods without electricity alone, may have been sufficient to cause damage. August in Turkey, inside a boat, without air conditioning, can be hot and sticky. I noticed that when I was on the dock, if the power went out, a large percentage of the time, even if it came on a few minutes later, the breaker would trip at the power pedestal. In other words, what might have been a 2 minute power outage at the dock could easily have been a 24 power outage on Sans Souci, or longer. During this time, humidity would reign inside the boat.

When I was at the dock on Sans Souci, I would automatically flip to the generator when dock power failed, and if I suspected that dock power was going to be flaky for a while, such as during a storm, I stayed on the generator until the weather stabilized. Human intervention can shield the boat from potential problems, in ways that are not possible on an unattended boat.

Anyway, to make a long story short – my theory is that electrical issues at the dock combined with high loads inside the boat, caused some key electrical items inside Sans Souci to fail. As these failed, other surrounding devices were affected.

The two major items that failed were: the Atlas, and the APC Power Conditioner for the pilot house. The Atlas failure was immediately obvious. However, the power conditioner failure was difficult to spot. It passed its internal self-test, and the batteries tested fine. Also, some of the symptoms were confusing and misleading. Only when it failed completely did I bypass it, and once bypassed, the boat immediately became stable.

Here’s a summary of specifics:

Atlas – Failed completely. Replaced circuit board, and works fine now.

Power conditioner – Failed completely. New unit on its way to Turkey. Bypassed for now, and all problems have disappeared.

Hydraulic problem – I am still fighting a blown fuse in the hydraulic system. At one time, I was concerned that this was related to the other problems, but I now believe it is nothing more than a sticking actuator valve. I’m surviving fine with half my hydraulics, and will worry about it when I get back to the dock.

Loud noise – There was a random loud noise, which wasn’t of sufficient duration to hunt down, but it seemed to be coming from the electrical panel. Suspicious noises from the electrical panel are NOT to be ignored, but I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t right. Finally, the noise occurred while Roberta was in the right place, at the right time, and was able to determine that the noise was coming from the nearby expresso machine. This is indeed an indication of required maintenance to the expresso machine, and because of our Seattle roots, this is absolutely a critical part of the boat, but we shall limp along with it until repairs are made.

Davit – the connector on the remote control, that attaches to the davit, has a corroded connector. This has been identified, and power cut to the davit. This will be fairly easy to fix, but requires a new connector be sent. It has nothing to do with the other problems, and is nothing more than the result of taking lots of salt water over the bow, some of which weaseled its way into the connector.

Other problems – The failure of the Atlas and the power conditioner ‘fried’ several other devices, and tripped lots of breakers. All items have been repaired, or repairs are underway.

As to the most important: “Lessons Learned.” The lesson here is simple. If you leave large loads engaged, and are on a dock with unstable shore power, and the power cycles enough times, there will be problems. I left the boat with only a fraction of the air conditioning engaged, and with most electrical items powered off. However, many mechanics were on and off the boat, and switches on the electrical panel were shifted around. I’m not sure what was on or off, on the boat, during my absence. I noticed that some devices that are normally powered by the boat’s inverters were switched to run off shore power directly. There are two lessons here for me: 1) Minimize loads when not on the boat. And, 2) If people will be on the boat during my absence, make sure the electrical panel is somehow protected against switches being flipped. In my case, I’m planning to use tape and labels to keep switches in the proper positions.

In any event, this was a one-time event. Normally, Roberta and I are on the boat during summers. This was an unusual year for us, and we have no future plans to leave the boat unattended during the summer. This year when we leave the boat, it will be winter, and the air conditioning will not be active.

The bottom line: Nordhavns are built to take a lot of abuse. This was an occasion when a lot of problems occurred, and yet, I didn’t miss a day of cruising. Life is good on Sans Souci!

-Ken Williams
Nordhavn 68, Sans Souci
http://www.kensblog.com

PS There are a couple of recent blog entries by GSSR participants that are well worth checking out. CLICK HERE for Don Stabbert, on Starr, talking about his efforts to replace a leaking stabilizer. And, CLICK HERE for Steven and Carol Argosy’s (Seabird) account of their, and Braun and Tina Jones’ (Grey Pearl), recent run from Malaysia to Singapore. It’s great reading, and quite an adventure!

Comment on: [KensBlog] Kas, Turkey

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:56:09 GMT

Nice one

Comment on: [KensBlog] Kas, Turkey

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:09:17 GMT

Ken, that was a fascinating read as always. I'm an electrical engineering tech and I've seen the electronics problems you've described in person, although not on a boat! And yes, they're definitely related to power quality and surges. Sorry I don't know enough about your systems and wiring to have any intelligent answers for you though! Maybe if I could spend a month on the boat... :) Love the pictures!

Comment on: [KensBlog] Kas, Turkey

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:37:23 GMT

ken, am enjoying your reports very much indeed. i am a 65 yo old guy with 50 years of boat experience going from sailing to trawlering with a krogen 42. the technical parts are the most interesting to me. if i left my boat unattended i would not think about leaving any heavy draw electrics going like air conditioning. your boat is verging on megayacht and needs a fulltime person with the boat. how about just turning everything off but simple fans with the ports cracked open for ventilation. i think you are pushing the the boundaries of electronic reliability. keep it up. regards

Comment on: [KensBlog] Kas, Turkey

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:27:20 GMT

Ken, to keep the retrieval line from wrapping around the lifting line on the flopper stopper, attach the retrieval line to one of the corner attachment points and take up any slack. Works for us on our 43! Thanks for the great blog. Kurt 4303

[KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all! 

[NOTE: the first portion of this blog entry is a bit technical. Those of you who don’t want to read a bunch of boat-geek stuff
may want to skip this section.] 

Last Saturday, I had a tough decision to make. We were preparing to leave the dock to go cruising, but I had some concerns about the boat. I had no major problems, but I had problems that I didn’t understand. 

Roberta asked why I seemed worried, and I said, “I’m thinking about packing it in and going home.” 

As mentioned in my last blog, some electrical power surge must have occurred on Sans Souci prior to our arrival. Most of the problems were minor,
but there were a lot of them,  and some, like the problem with our shorepower converter, cost thousands of dollars in repairs. 

Since my last blog, a few new problems have appeared....

A big-picture electrical diagram for my boat can be reviewed, by CLICKING HERE

As we were coming back from our test cruise last week, all monitors in the pilot
house suddenly went dark. The ship’s computers had completely shut off, as had
most of the 120v AC equipment in the pilot house. I quickly rebooted the computers while Roberta drove, only to watch it happen again. Then, it happened a third time! 

Although all the electronic items in the pilothouse were shutting down, including my VSAT unit (satellite communications), we weren’t losing power. The power was staying on, but was obviously glitching in some way. My guess is that the power was shutting off for a brief instant, just long enough to cause my electronics to shut down. 

We attributed the temporary loss of power to over-loading of the electrical system, even though I hadn’t thought we were close to the load limit. 

A day later, when attempting to lift the tender, the davit failed. After cleaning the connectors on the remote,
we got it working, but noticed that power in the pilothouse had been lost again. I was confident I hadn’t overloaded the system. I checked that I wasn’t overloading the system,
and tried the test again. Starting the davit was reproducibly killing power in the pilothouse, despite plenty of power available. Why? 

Later that evening, shorepower went out, and along with it the pilothouse power. The pilothouse is running off of inverters,
which should cut in immediately if shorepower drops, plus there is a
power
conditioner/battery backup system, just for the pilot house. Pilothouse power should not be affected by a loss of shorepower. I tripled-checked all the breakers to verify that they were set correctly. 

With a bit of experimenting, I discovered something else, which was the most disconcerting. I was running on shorepower,
and started the 20kw generator. I had not transferred the load to it, but the
electronics in the pilothouse shut down anyhow! That should be impossible! 

I checked the pilothouse power conditioner / battery backup. It wasn’t reporting any fault, and passed the self-test. The battery in it tested fine. Despite this, it seemed to me that it must be the power conditioner.

The boat’s hydraulic system was also exhibiting a strange behavior. The hydraulic pump on the port engine was not working. After a bit of digging, I discovered a blown fuse. However, once replaced with a new fuse, and
even though I could not get it to fail during testing, the fuse blew again. Was it a symptom of the same problem? Or, a new problem? This time, we dug deeper and found a chafed wire going to one of the hydraulic valves. This was replaced, and a new fuse installed. After working fine for a few hours, it blew again. 

I have two hydraulic pumps (one on each engine), and only one pump wasn’t working. With the other pump I could still get the anchor up and down, and have some limited amount of stabilizers and thrusters. So, this wasn’t a show-stopper, but what if the other pump fails? 

Thickening the plot was a new noise, which woke Roberta and I up the night before our scheduled departure. It was very loud, and sounded like a loud buzzer. Neither of us could localize the sound, but both thought it came from the electric panel. The sound only lasted a couple of seconds, and neither of us had heard anything similar before. I rushed to the electric panel, which looked, and felt, normal. Perhaps it was just the nearby expresso machine we had heard? The air handler? The refrigerator?
Something strange in the speakers overhead? The noise reoccurred a few hours later, but once again, all seemed fine. We still hear it randomly, every day.
I don't think it is coming from the electric panel, but I can’t hunt it down. 

Anyway, this is getting overly long, but I suspect you can see why I was asking myself if we should ‘go cruising.’ We have been working with a local boat maintenance company, and I did have their electrician on board, but he didn’t know where to begin looking. Sans Souci is a complicated boat. With time he could solve our problems, but we really left ourselves only a few weeks for cruising this year. I didn’t really have time to spin a new electrician up to speed, and with him only speaking Turkish, it would take longer than usual. 

After a long discussion, Roberta and I decided, “Let’s go!” The winning argument was, “There are too many unknowns. If we want this fixed, we need to give guidance to the engineers. We won’t be so far from port that they can’t come bail us out if we need it, and if we want to cruise next year, we need to get these problems resolved this year.” Even the best of electricians struggles to resolve an intermittent problem. If they can’t see it, they can’t fix it. We knew that with us on the boat,
our odds of getting the problems resolved would rise exponentionally. 

So .. we left the dock. And, our plan worked. Within a couple of days all power to the pilothouse disappeared, and
this time it didn’t come back. A quick look at the power conditioner revealed that it was now showing a fault. I bypassed the power conditioner and have a new one on order. We seem to be running fine without it. 

I’m still running on one hydraulic pump, but know I can always replace the fuse for a couple hours of hydraulic pressure if I need it. 

Life on Sans Souci is never dull! 

Anyway… on to the fun parts! 

We decided on a short run for our first day, only a couple hours away from Gocek, to a small bay called “Yavansu Koyu.” (36 38.197 N, 028 52.479 E) It’s most recognizable feature was a 20’ wide rock depiction of a seagull some artist had created on the beach. 

Roberta and I decided to make our first attempt at a stern tie. The anchorage was
well over 100 feet deep, to within about 80 feet of shore. We had no choice. Much
of the anchoring in southern Turkey is the same way, and it’s a skill we needed to have in our bag of tricks. 

To our surprise, it was no big deal. We dropped the anchor about 300 feet from shore, in 150 feet of water. The wind was pushing us towards a nearby boat, and I had no thrusters, but otherwise we were able to take our time. I gave Roberta the throttles, from in the cockpit, and had her keep the boat straight. Meanwhile I jumped in the tender and headed for shore with a 200’ line in hand. 

Conveniently, in many anchorages around here, there are bollards (posts you can tie a line to) spread around the anchorages. However, when I approached the one we were
anchored in front of, it was about eight feet high off the water. I’m sure a young deckhand would
be able to scurry up the hillside to tie the line, but my days as a young buck are long gone. After a minute of trying to climb the wall, and not particularly wanting to fall in the water, I realized that this was really
easier than I thought. I simply threw one end of the line around the bright orange bollard, and then captured the bitter end, and tied a big loop. Easy. Meanwhile, I gave the sign to Roberta, back on Sans Souci, to start reeling in the other end of the line. In
seconds she had the line hand-tight, and a few minutes later I was back on the boat to help pull it tight with a windlass. We then repeated the process for the other side of the boat, and that was it. Anyone watching would have thought we knew what we were doing. 

Most of the boats in the bay around us were flagged German, British or French. A few had American flags, but we could see the crews were Turkish. 

When a 30’ sailboat, named Antares, tied up next to us, we saw the American flag, but assumed they weren’t Americans. There was a couple on board who looked American, and as he was tying to shore, we thought we heard English. I tendered over and asked, “Do you speak English?” Back came a clear American accent, “Of course!” 

Joe and Jackie from Pennsylvania. You can see their boat, Antares,  in the background

This began a fun evening aboard Sans Souci. The couple had crossed the Atlantic in 2008, and were
making their way around the Med, cruising six months at a time. They had worked their way through the Med through the countries we will be exploring over the next few years, so Roberta and I eagerly asked all the questions about the highlights and low-lights of places they’d been. 

Typically, the best part of cruising isn’t necessarily the boats, it’s the cruising
people you meet. There aren’t a lot of boring cruisers, especially amongst those who have crossed oceans. 

The area where we are now cruising is the “Lycian coast” of Turkey, referring to the ancient Lycian people who lived here (around 5bc). …

Did you know that America’s Constitution has some Lycian roots? The original drafters of the US
Constitution studied Lycia, and borrowed some ideas. The Lycian region was unique in that it represented one of the earliest examples of a series of strong independent city-states banding together to form a union, with individual member influence proportional to their size. Twenty-three independent Lycian cities banded together to form the Lycian Federation, with distinct definition of regional and national powers. 

One of many signs enticing visitors to take a tour. Mud Baths? Ancient Tombs? Scuba? There is plenty for a tourist to do and see

The Lycian coast, from Marmaris east, about 150 miles to Kemer, is very tourist-focused, and cruiser-friendly. I asked a local where I could find an anchorage with a restaurant in front of it, and he said, “All of them.” 

Lycian King's Tombs in the city of Dalyan 

Roberta at a restaurant, with great view of the tombs, right on the river that runs through Dalyan 

Because our time here this year is short, we decided we would run 80 miles southeast, to Kekova
Roads. Our plan is to spend a few days at Kekova, over a three-week period, and work our way back to Gocek, hitting the various anchorages,
and interesting stopping points, along the way. 

This meant a long day, running to Kekova. 

On our way to Kekova, Roberta pointed out an island, along-side of us, called
Meis (or, Kastellorizo in Greek.) “That’s Greece,” she said. I didn’t understand. Greece should be
west or north of us. But, as usual, Roberta was correct. There are several small
Greek islands, which lie only a couple of miles off the coast of Turkey. 

The proximity surprised me. I’ve sensed at times that Turkey and Greece are not particularly friendly with each other, perhaps the lingering effects of four major wars over the past century. 

Roberta mentioned that there is a regular 20 minute ferry ride, from Kas, Turkey (which we were passing) and that in addition to enjoying Greece, some foreigners use the ferry to fulfill their every-90-day visa-inspired exit from Turkey. One quick ferry ride, and you are in the EU, and can return to Turkey a few hours later. It was tempting to take Sans Souci into the harbor at Meis, as I could see that it looked VERY fun. However, going to Meis via a passenger ferry is easy,
but going there with Sans Souci would mean clearing out of Turkey and into Greece. It was more hassle than I wanted. 

Kekova Roads is the site of an ancient city that was submerged by a massive earthquake in 240 AD. Many of the buildings are still visible both above and below the water.
Much of the land collapsed during this earthquake, causing many buildings and
the ancient harbor to go under the sea. Much of what is now the bay, here at
Kekova, used to be populated land.

Within the bay of Kekova Roads, the village of Kalekoy (ancient name - Simena)

Remains of Lycian town

Ruins of Lycian town at Kekova

More Lycian ruins. There are more just beneath the water!

The Lycians built many sarcophogi for their dead. This particular one was on land in ancient days

There are two towns at Kekova Roads, Ucagiz Liman and Kalekoy. This is the larger one, Ucagiz. It is a small fishing village, and very touristy.

Many restaurants use their tender docks as a way of attracting business. Whenever we would approach town, looking for a place to dock our tender, restaurant owners would run out, guiding us towards their dock to park our tender. They knew that if we were at their dock, the momentum would be towards having lunch or dinner at their restaurant. It worked. 

We did have one interesting incident. Roberta and I wanted to climb to the top of the hill,
at Kalekoy, to visit the castle. We tendered from the boat to town, about half a mile away, in rough, but manageable seas. While we were having lunch, the wind climbed, despite a good weather report to 25 knots! 

We saw one tender almost flip over trying to navigate the passage we had just run
20 minutes before. It was clear we weren’t going back to our boat anytime soon. I knew we were well-anchored, but that didn’t stop me worrying about a dragging anchor. I wanted back on the boat as quickly as I could get there, but we were stuck. 

We had no choice but to go with the original plan, of visiting the town and the
castle, and hope the wind would drop. 

View of Kekova Roads from the castle at the top of the hill

Old roman bath, below the castle

Turgay and friend helping to tow our tender back to Sans Souci

After climbing to the castle, and even eating a dish of homemade hazelnut ice cream to kill more time
(a great way to kill time!), the wind just wasn’t dropping. Luckily I had the phone number of a Turkish
water taxi driver, named Turgay, who could rescue us. We tied the tender behind his
boat, and he towed us back to Sans Souci. 

Turgay turned out to be a handy guy to know. In addition to his water taxi duties, he ran tourist gullets, and was even our dinner waiter in town
at his Uncle's restaurant a couple of nights. When I asked if he spoke English, he said “Yes. And, Turkish, French, German, and Italian!” His boat, and most of the gullets, have no stabilizers or thrusters, and are single engine. It was amazing watching the local captains maneuver. The frequent high-winds (15-25 knots) we have been seeing are typical for the region, and Turgay described them as “nothing compared to the winds in March.” The captains regularly drop their bow anchor, and can drop anchor in
seconds. They use the anchor, almost like planting a foot, to facilitate maneuvers. Want to move the stern over? Just drop the anchor and use it as a pivot. I had never seen the anchor used quite this way before, and it was fun watching how they managed the wind. 

I have been in regular communications with the other two boats in our GSSR group… 

Seabird and Grey Pearl departed Malaysia last week, for Singapore, and have arrived there safely. They plan to do some cruising in Thailand then ship their boats to Turkey. I have no idea where we’ll cruise next year, but am delighted that our group will be back together. My best guess is that we’ll cruise from May through September and head north to Istanbul, and possibly the Black Sea, but, we shall see. 

Steven Argosy (Seabird) mentioned that he had an interesting time with Malaysian customs, when they opened his suitcase and found a heat exchanger (a part for repairing the boat). It raised some eyebrows at the x-ray machine! 

And, here’s something for the computer geeks who read my blog…

There is no satellite television here, or at least none in English. We’re cruising too far from civilization for me to use a 3g internet card to stream television from at home,
using our SlingPlayer. We have a DVD juke-box player, called Kaleidescape, but, as I mentioned in my last blog entry, it fried during the offseason. 

No problem, I have a backup plan. I brought with me a small hard drive loaded with music, movies, and TV series. I also brought a media player (Western Digital Live Plus). Sans Souci has a fancy video distribution system throughout the boat, that works well, when doing what it was made to do, but when you want to add a new device, it’s a tricky system to tap into. The TVs on Sans Souci are built-in, so it’s hard to get at the backs of them to attach anything. Instead, I attached the media player to the video output from the useless satellite tv receiver, and then used a device called RedEye (www.thinkflood.com) to control the media player from anywhere on the boat, with my iphone or ipad. In minutes I had video throughout the boat, and full remote control from any room. The Redeye device works far better than expected! 

And, lastly… My last blog entry received a few comments from readers, with some great information, that I thought I’d pass along.

Milt Baker shares this tip for stern mooring: 

“…I think you'll find there are easier ways to tension Med mooring bow lines. Here's the best I've found, a procedure we've used since Chris Samuelson taught it to us at Sotogrande in 2007. Works great aboard N47s and N57s and, assuming you have a fair lead from the hawse to the capstan, ought to works aboard your N68 as well. 

1. Disengage the windlass chain wheel (gypsy) so the capstan can turn independently. 

2. Lead the line loosely through the forward hawse, directly to the capstan. 

3. Then hook the line around the after horn on the hawse, and tension the line with the capstan, all the while keeping tension of the bitter end, 

4. Once the line is properly tensioned and is being held in place by a hand on the line on the down side of the capstan, have one person (preferably the strongest one available) take tension on the line between the capstan and the hawse while another person removes the turns from the capstan. 

5. As soon as the last turn comes off the capstan, the person holding the line between the capstan and the hawse quickly secures the line to the hawse. This usually doesn't involve giving up any of the line. 

The secret to it all is that the turn around the horn of the hawse makes it easy to maintain the tension, even when the line is released from the capstan. With a little practice we've found that one person can do it all. Quick, safe, easy! 

The picture above shows the lead with the turn around the hawse horn. It's an easy move to go from what this picture shows to securing the line to the hawse. …
"

And, Dean Heathcote sent this note: 

“…In reading about your recent anchoring options, I wanted to share some experience on stern tying in Desolation Sound with deep water say, over 80 ft and 200ft from shore - usually means a "steep rise" in the bottom. As long as you have a "good uphill bite" and limited slack in the stern line, the anchor should stay set on a very short scope. I have done this several times in over 150' of water with less than a 2 to 1 ratio. Once the anchor and stern line are set, adjusting for the boat's best position is easy. Only caution is "wind". If it comes up, the weak link is the stern line. If it were to break, the anchor will loose bite as the boat swings - not a pretty thought. Unless you carry 300 – 400ft of super heavy–duty line, such as tow line, you probably will want to restrict stern tying to "well protected waters only". Other than that, stern tying can be a great way to go. …”

And, I received this response, from Wolf-Thomas, to my comments on the Schengen rules: 

“…What is the problem with the "Schengen Rules"? If you want to stay longer than 90 days in the EU you only have to ask for a visa. I thing the cost are not as high as in the US - 140 US$. 

And even the visa-free entrance is much easier than the proceedure at the US-Border. Do you thing we need a special "Lex Americanus"? 

If you are interested about US immigration rules:
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/...”
 
I had not intended for my comments to sound like I was complaining, and I do agree that a long-term stay visa is probably the solution. The tricky part of this, as I understand it, is that each country has their own process, and rules, for applying for a long-term stay visa. And, it is not clear, at least to me, that an extended-stay visa obtained in one country is valid in another.
It would not be uncommon for a cruiser to visit many EU countries while in the
Med. When I asked my Monaco-based lawyer about obtaining a visa in France, he said that it was something that would need to be applied for at a French Embassy in the US,
prior to the trip. Whether or not this is correct, I do not know. At the present time I am just trying to understand the rules, and most people I speak with are saying, “Why bother, the rules don’t really apply to you, and aren’t enforced.” So, perhaps it is a non-issue. I can’t tell you. 

That’s it for now! Roberta and I just dropped anchor in Kas, Turkey. A storm is supposed to be coming, so I have 350’ of chain out, and we’re prepared for whatever the weather gods want to throw our way. 

Thank you, 

Ken Williams 

N6805, Sans Souci 

www.kensblog.com

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:17:34 GMT

I have a theory. An inverter has a relay that disconnects shorepower when the inverter is running. If that relay (or the circuit that controls it it) fails, the inverter could backfeed power into the shorepower circuit. It would only energize one leg of the 220v circuits (effectively running those circuits at half voltage), and wouldn't have enough power to drive heavy loads for more than a few seconds. If shorepower was connected when this happened, the 60Hz inverter would be out of phase with the 60Hz shorepower causing other weird voltage fluctuations and confusing/stressing the power conditioner. When disconnected from shorepower, the relay failure wouldn't cause a problem unless one of the shorepower circuits (such as air conditioning) was still turned on. Since this is Turkey, perhaps air conditioning is turned on so that it starts up immediately when you plug in at shore. At this point, that weird connection may have triggered other failures beyond blown fuses and circuit breakers, so sorting everything out could be tricky.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:38:09 GMT

tom, not sure there is such a thing as a bulletproof system, but look into the redundancy on some of these yachts, quite impressive. some owners take years thinking through the systems on their yachts. the most detailed that i have come across are the dashews, and their new fpb yachts. it wouldn't surprise me if he took apart every piece of machinery on his yacht to know exactly what nuts, bolts and size wrenches he needed and they bought from two different manufacturers just in case the first one wasn't correct. jon

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:23:21 GMT

ken, this maybe a silly question but what would happen if you were off the yacht and it dragged anchor and did damage say to another yacht or ended up causing harm to someone, are you liable? could you be dragged into court for negligence? or are there laws at sea that prevent this. i would assume liability insurance would pay out whether there was negligence or not. jon

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:05:33 GMT

So you now have a multi- million dollar boat that you can't lift the tender back on deck for fear of fire? And thrusters are also not working??? So much for Nordhavn's "Bulletproof" systems! Maybe a little less technology? -- Response by Ken W 10/10/2011 --- Tom, Nordhavn owners have gone over 4 million miles on their Nordhavns, and there are MANY Nordhavn owners who are their second, third and fourth Nordhavns. I have personally taken my Nordhavn over 40,000 nautical miles, and can't remember ever missing a passage due to mechanical problems. As I type this, I am at anchor enjoying life, off the coast of Turkey. Are Nordhavn's perfect? No. But, I can't imagine another brand of boat I'd be safer on, or that is more reliable for the kinds of open ocean travel that I regularly do. I'd encourage you to do a bit more reading about the brand. You might want to try joining Nordhavn Dreamers (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nordhavndreamers). The more you learn, the more impressed you'll be. -Ken W -----

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:24:06 GMT

Hallo Ken, it is me again. The rules to get a vias for the "Schengen Area" are the same in all countries. You go to the conslate of that "Schengen Member State" where you like to stay most of the time and ask there for a visa. In Antalya f.e. is a German Cosulate General where you can get that paper it cost about 8 US$. You don't have to make an identifcation photo and give your fingerprints to the immigration-officer at the border. If it sounds that I'm bored about hearing bureaucracy from US-Citizens it is true: I am. To show you why: A friend of us in the mid 70th., whealthy enough not to look for the US-Wellfare-System wanted to see his granddaughter who is studying near somewher near Boston. He wanted to stay in st US for more ´than 90 Days therefore he paied 140 $ in advance and went to the US-Consulate in Munich. After waiting a couple of hours he was asked to enter the immigration-office. As he is an old man he asked the lady for a chair because he is quite old the lady told him that either he will stand there for the nessacary time about 1/2 to 3/4 hours or he can forget to get a visa. I'm apologize for typing-errors.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:54:10 GMT

Ken, I just recently discovered your blog, but I enjoy it greatly. Turkey is beautiful. I have a question completely unrelated to the current entry: in light of the recent passing of Steve Jobs, do you have any thoughts or memories of him to share? I noticed that you mentioned over on the message board having a lengthy phone call with him in the early Pixar days. Thanks for your time.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:56:19 GMT

Hi Ken, I'm a great fan of yours. I think you are a great writer, an excellent adventurer, very intelligent guy and a lousy electrician. Based on some specific symptoms that you have written about (don't need to know which ones) I am scared for you, and I do not scare easily when around electricity. You are at risk for fire and/or electrocution. You need to get one or more US-based ABYC certified electricians on the boat ASAP for your and Roberta's safety (and I'm not shilling for some Seattle guy who would like some sun.) You need to be working with US engineers because your boat is vastly different than what a European engineer will understand -- like getting a Cobol programmer to work on a project written in C++. I have some ideas about what is wrong but you need to work with a pro and definitely, absolutely, %100 do not try to fix this yourself. You are smart, but not experienced with this stuff. I'm somewhat experienced and I wouldn't even plug your boat in. There is no ^Z for touching a "hot" A/C wire. Do not experiment as you have been doing (you will set the boat on fire) and do not replace that fuse on the hydraulic pump (what does it take power for?) again. Your boat has warned you. Please trust me on this. You are too interesting, intelligent, and wealthy to die for some stupid wiring fault. AC faults routinely kill people who don't know what they are doing, as my wife likes to remind me. Usually I don't get this hyperbolic but I do know what I am talking about. The fix may be pretty easy but diagnosing it without killing yourself or setting something on fire could be a challenge even for a pro. They may get it in a minute but that would be one very valuable minute. You can't just replace the "black boxes", something is intrinscally wrong and it wasn't wrong when you got to Turkey. Once the fault is found I think I would have the electrician wire in a European-spec battery charger (Mastervolt USA is a pleasure to work with) and use it to charge the batteries while running my AC loads from the inverter. No foreign AC on the boat. If something goes wrong with the power (and that seems to be common in Turkey from what little I have heard) then all you are losing is the battery charger. DC is DC, you aren't worrying about different HZ, phase, and voltages and all the weird gremlins on a power grid that is even more antiquated than the USA one. Good luck, be safe, and I'm hoping for better news on the next blog. ---Response by Ken - 2011/10/10 --- George, you'll get a kick out of this: I am an ABYC-certified electrician! I completed and received certification from their advanced electrician course. That said, I'm mostly book-learning, and very little experience, so I'd be the first to admit that I'm in over my head. And, you are right. An electrical fire on a plastic boat is one of my worst fears. It's the reason I seriously considered going home until I can fly an electrician to Turkey. I have stopped using the hydraulics, and am not replacing the fuse. I'm positive it is a sticking actuator valve, and an independent problem from all the others. At anchor, and for local cruising, I'm surviving fine. Going back into port, and Med Mooring, without thrusters, will be a challenge. I'll relax and go in when there's no wind, and it will be fine. The corroded connector on the davit is no longer an issue. I've shut off all power going to the davit, and am towing the tender. The scariest of all the symptoms was the 20kw generator shutting off the power in the pilot house, even though the 20kw was not selected as a power source. That's an indication of some grounding problem. That was the one that had me ready to go home. The strange noise was the straw that broke the camel's back. At first it sounded to me like some contactor chattering. Now, we still hear it randomly, but think it is coming from the expresso machine. I am very much on the fence as to whether or not we should be on the boat, and I am monitoring things closely. Thus far, the situation has been improving each day, and the electrical system has stabilized enormously since I bypassed the power conditioner. Trust me. If I see anything more that seems wrong, I'll be on a plane home soon thereafter. Thank you! - Ken W -------

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:10:00 GMT

SUBJECT: you need a haircut! Hey there Ken! Thank you once again for the awesome blogging! I enjoy every word and picture! Your trip is amazing and I only hope to someday see half as much as you've experienced. You need a hair cut! Are you and Roberta coming back for the holiday's? If you are and it is a short visit home let me know and I will make what ever arrangements to get you in! Thanks again for the blog entries! Annie ----- Greetings Annie! I'm liking my new 60s/hippy look, but Roberta is less in love with it. We get back to Seattle November 2nd, and I'm betting Roberta has me in for a haircut within 48 hours of our arrival. Turkey is great, but right now, I miss Seattle! Real Internet, Asian food, etc. See you soon!

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:26:21 GMT

Wonderful photographs as usual. It seems like a certain irony in your post--first describing mysterious electrical problems, then finishing with a description of elaborate video capability. Do you think your electrical system has an organic plan for your many systems, or is it a compilation of every cool idea you've had without perhaps a master scheme? I suspect those clever Turkish captains you mention have few electrical problems, if any electricity as all. I recall your Bering Sea captain describing your helm as a "video game." I love the techie stuff as well, but wonder at times about over adoption, especially if the resultant frustrations have you thinking about going home. --- response by Ken 2011/10/10 --- Greetings Alan, Great question. I might use this on my next blog. My current best-guess is that the Atlas caused the problems. During the off-season I left the air conditioning running. The dock I've been at has had flaky power. While we were in port I watched the power go on and off two and three times a day. The Atlas restarting itself, in the 120 degree heat of a Turkish summer, with air conditioing blasting, several times a day .. created havoc. It was unusual for me not to be on the boat during the summer. I will not be leaving the air conditioning on this winter, and am seriously considering putting the boat on the hard. As to Sans Souci's complexity... tis true! I'm a retired computer software engineer / entrepreneuer. I like electronic toys and complex systems, and FAST internet. Plus, whereas for some people a boat is a vacation, we think of it as a portable waterfront home. We want all the comforts of home wherever we are, because Sans Souci IS our home, usually five months a year. Thank you! -Ken W -------------------

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:45:32 GMT

I seem to recall that Scott Flanders gave the Schengen situation as being the main (or even only) reason he skidaddled out of the Med recently. Your two recent Posts were a real good read, thank you. Tim

Comment on: [KensBlog] Turkey's Lycian Coast

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:50:02 GMT

SUBJECT: New E-mail Address Hi Ken, As always it is great to hear of yours and Roberta travels, which we could join you. I wanted to let you know that I sold Alaskan Soil business and will no longer be using this e-mail after next week, so if you could forward you great journey to me at timfelegy@hotmail.vom I would greatly appreciate. Happy sailing, Tim Felegy

[KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

Roberta and I are currently in Gocek Turkey, on the boat!

Note: Click on the pictures to make them bigger

After cruising many thousands of miles the past few years, we decided to relax this summer, and spend less time on the boat. That said, we really had no option. We had some family issues to deal with, and have two new puppies who needed to do some growing, and get through their various shots, before we could take them on the boat.

Getting to the boat was an adventure in itself...

For flying, the dogs each have a little carrier bag. We've also found that restaurants in Europe almost always let us in, with the dogs, when they are in their little suitcases

Some airlines allow dogs to travel inside the plane with you. We were able to get a Delta flight which permits dogs, from New York to Nice, France.

We spent the month of August in a rented house in France, just outside Monaco. I summarized our time in France by telling people that I believe it is physically impossible to be any lazier. It was perfection.

From France we drove through Italy, with stops in Venice, Tuscany, Sienna, Rome and Bari, and took a ferry to Greece....

Our ferry from Bari, Italy to Greece, was actually quite luxurious. Although it seemed to primarily be oriented towards moving large trucks, there were a limited number of cabins for passengers. The trip took 18 hours, and we had a sleeper cabin that allowed the dogs to stay with us. It was a very nice trip, and even had wifi!

*One of the best things about Europe is their relaxed attitude about dogs. Here we are in Italy, across form the Parthenon, with the dogs enjoying dinner.

I was curious to see Greece, partially to see the effect of their economic crisis. A cab driver told us that the official estimate of unemployment was at 16-20%, but that he believed it was much higher. We saw graffiti everywhere, and I noted on the menu that the VAT tax (their national sales tax) was rising at such a rapid space that the percentage was changing faster than menus could be printed. 23%! Ouch.

Our departure from Athens was made particularly interesting by the daily appearance of thousands of protestors, and riot police. The streets were blocked each day, and our hotel surrounded. We weren’t sure we would be able to leave to catch our ferry. The protest finished, peacefully, as we were starting to plan a departure on foot, sneaking our way through the crowd to wherever a taxi might be found.

Hopefully Greece will resolve its problems. At a minimum, hopefully ALL other countries will learn from their experience.

After coming all the way from the US, on a combination of planes, ferries, and cars, we finally hit our first issue with the dogs...

The ferry to Turkey didn’t want the dogs inside the boat. They almost refused us, which would have been a disaster. After a flurry of discussion amongst themselves, they agreed to allow Roberta to sit OUTSIDE the ferry, with the dogs, and me to sit inside. They relented after a few minutes, allowing me to accompany Roberta outside the ferry, on the tiny port stern deck. It wasn’t a big deal, and only a short 1 hour trip. Overall, the trip to Turkey was tremendous. The ferry crew was very nice and brought water for the dogs, and Snicker bars for each of us.

Our arrival to the boat was perfect. The boat was spotless clean. Roberta pointed out that it had been over a year since she had last seen the boat. I was here in Turkey, in May, to offload the boat from the freighter that delivered it here from Hong Kong, but Roberta did not accompany me.

One of the popular definitions of world cruising is, “Working on boats in exotic places,” and Sans Souci met this goal.

Although the boat was very well taken care of in the off season, boats don’t like to sit. Boats are happiest when they are being used.

In the days prior to our trip I was alerted that our shore power system (called Atlas) had stopped working. I hired a local Gocek-based boat maintenance company to watch over my boat during the off season (Emek Marin) The Atlas is critical in that without it, shorepower cannot reach the boat. It is a complicated, and expensive device. Within minutes of looking at these PDFs (Sans Souci Atlas (Part 1) , Sans Souci Atlas (Part 2)) I knew that something major was wrong, and it was time to bring in the experts. I arranged to have an Atlas expert flown in from London.

This circuit board needed replaced, and was buried deep within the Atlas

I will never know how or why, but some sort of electrical event must have occurred during our absence. My best guess is that the shore power went out, and when it came back on, a circuit board on the Atlas fried. Something sent a surge of electricity throughout the boat, killing many other electronics as it went. Perhaps it was the Atlas dying, or perhaps there was a nearby lightning strike. Something electrical happened on Sans Souci.

The list of electrical problems on Sans Souci is very long. Every GFI electrical outlet on the boat was tripped. We have a Kaleidescape media system (essentially an online video jukebox). Three of the $2,500 players are dead. Two pumps on the hot tub are fried. An uninterruptible power supply is dead. The davit remote control failed.

I doubt it was lightning, although, perhaps it was. There was a boat a few slips away that was hit by lightning...

I’ve been thinking about lightning because THREE Nordhavns were struck by lightning this year. Click here to read a report that one Nordhavn owner posted on his blog, about one of the lightning strikes.

As bad as this sounds, overall, things are in very good shape aboard Sans Souci. I asked Jeff Sanson, from Pacific Yacht Management, to fly to Turkey, in anticipation of our arrival, to make sure everything on the boat was perfect prior to our arrival. Jeff had a couple of busy days, working with Riza Cagdas, the local boat caretaker, but most repairs were already complete when we arrived.

One of the projects I gave Jeff, to have complete before we arrived, was to fuel the boat...

I had let the boat run almost dry, when in Hong Kong, at the request of the freight company, who wanted the boat as light as possible for transport. I had been advised that I could save a couple of dollars per gallon, by clearing the boat out of Turkey, and then fueling the boat, with the boat still in Turkey, but with its status changed to an international boat transiting Turkey. The boat would then need to go to Greece, and clear in, stay a few hours, and return to Turkey. Sans Souci takes a lot of fuel, so this was tempting, but I decided it was too complicated. I did this in Japan, and it created more complexity than was justified by the money it saved.

As it turned out, I’m very happy that Jeff had the pleasure of fueling the boat, not me. I was in Greece at the time, but speaking to him hourly by cell phone. After several hours of fueling had passed I said to Jeff, “If you don’t hustle you will have to return to port after dark.” In extreme frustration Jeff responded, “Ken, I can p** faster than this station can pump diesel!”

To test the systems we decided to do a small, overnight, shakedown cruise, and take Jeff along.

Leaving the dock was much simpler than expected....

In Europe boats generally Med Moor. Roberta and I have some experience with Med Mooring, from when our prior boat was based in France. However, the last time we Med Moored was over five years ago, and the technique varies from country to country, and even marina to marina.

The concept is very simple. If you’ll forgive my lack of art talent, the diagram above gives the overview. “C” and “D” on this diagram represent lines, which hold the bow of the boat, and extend to the basin of the marina. Here in Gocek, the bottom of the marina is over 80 feet down! Lines “A” and “B” extend aft to the dock. To leave the marina I backed up the boat, while someone on the dock threw us lines “A” and “B”. I was worried that I’d immediately be sling-shotted forward, but it wasn’t that bad. I crept forward, while Roberta untied the bow lines, and tossed them overboard, into the water. We were free!

We selected an anchorage only about seven miles away...

I haven’t seen enough of Turkey to make generalizations, but the American definition of an anchorage, and the Turkish definition, are quite different.

As I idled my way into different bays, I noticed that all of the boats were Med Moored (backed up to shore, rather than anchored in the middle of the bay.) The bays were deep! The first bay I entered averaged over 500 feet deep. On my chart the depth was supposed to get to 60 feet, close to shore, but as I practically touched shore, I was still in over 100 feet of water, and couldn’t find anything shallow enough to anchor. There were plenty of boats in the bay, all with their anchor dropped in over 100 feet of water, and backed to shore, and then tied. Most had a single anchor down in the front, and a single line holding them to shore at the back. The larger boats had run two or more lines to shore, and tightened the lines so tight that they were solidly locked in place.

I noticed another bay with depths of 80 to 120 feet. I knew that I should try “med mooring to shore” like everyone else, but wanted to watch others do it before trying myself.

My first reaction was, “They must know something I don’t.” But, what? I studied the charts (paper, Nobeltec and Navnet 3d). Nothing was indicated anywhere. The depth in the bay was just over 100 feet, which was deep for anchoring, but the weather forecast was clear, so I dropped the anchor.

I've seen a lot of American flags on boats in Turkey, but not a lot of Americans. For tax purposes, some Turkish flag their boats American (or, so I've been told)

No one seemed to care, and I heard no alarms, so I relaxed. It was now a waiting game. I wanted to watch other boats come and go.

We had noted that some of the boats were held in place, at the bow, by orange mooring buoys.

There are a couple of problems with Sans Souci and mooring balls; 1) Sans Souci’s bow is about 12 feet off the water. Capturing a mooring ball isn’t easy. If I use one I’ll need to put Roberta on the aft swim platform, and back up to the mooring ball, have her attach a line, then walk the ball to the front of the boat. And, 2) I’m not sure how well the mooring balls are attached to the bottom. Sans Souci weighs 120 tons, and Turkey can have strong winds. Until I see some other large boats using the mooring balls, I prefer to trust my anchor.

I had assumed that the boats were tying to shore via lines to trees. However, when I looked through binoculars, there were cleats, and mooring posts scattered around the bay! Very handy.

[Note: James and Jennifer Hamilton wrote a good article on stern tying in the Pacific NW, which can be read by CLICKING HERE.]

I watched a couple of large boats moor, and was surprised at how far out they dropped their anchor. It’s impossible (at least for me) to accurately measure distances from on a boat, but it looked like this boat, in the picture above, went at least 300 feet from shore to drop his anchor, then backed toward shore. In the picture above you see the tender being sent to shore to place the stern lines. Once placed, and windlass-tightened, this boat pulled forward so that the stern lines were tight.

I asked a local Turkish boater about why the boats don’t just anchor in the middle of the bay. His response wasn’t as interesting as his confusion about why I was even asking. He clearly felt the preferred, and ‘normal’ approach to anchoring was to attach to shore. He felt that dropping anchor without attaching to shore would mean spinning in circles, and lead to passenger seasickness, and discomfort. I asked about wind, and he responded that a boat should not be left unattended, attached to shore, for long periods, as winds can come up, and create a problem.

Once at anchor, we dropped the tender for some exploring.

I try not to form opinions on cruising grounds too quickly. It always bugs me when tourists visit a country for a few days, and think they have seen the country. Part of our cruising goal is to spend enough time in various countries to see them from the ‘inside’. So, with that caveat, I’ll say that there are already some things about cruising Turkey that are quite appealing.

Here are a few criteria for determining if a place is good to cruise (at least, this is my list):

- Access to repair facilities
- Interesting coves and bays to explore
- Warm water!
- Pretty beaches
- Clean, clear, water
- Towns with good services/facilities & grocery stores.
- Civilization nearby, if you want it, but a world away if you don’t
- Beachfront restaurants
- Long cruising season
- Minimal bureaucratic hassle (getting the boat in/out of the country, getting us in/out of the country, dog quarantine issues, visa issues, getting parts into the country)
- Safety
- Calm cruising conditions
- Friendly people
- Easy to communicate

Thus far, Turkey is scoring well on all fronts, but with one night at anchor, I am far from an expert, so, we shall see. I did like that we cruised three bays, and saw three beachfront restaurants, and felt that we were in the boondocks, while really only a tender ride from a ‘big’ city.

Several vendors dropped by the boat; someone selling fish, someone with ice cream, and this lady with breads. She didn't speak much english so we just pointed. We got some amazing freshly baked bread, and some orange-flavored cake that completely disappeared in minutes.

And, speaking of tender rides…

During our first night at anchor, after dark, as we were sitting on the aft deck having dinner, tenders kept whizzing past at maximum speed. We were passed by at least ten tenders doing over 20 knots, including one that looked to be doing 40 knots. We were in the bay at St Tropez, France, one night several years ago,when a tender smacked into the side of a boat at anchor (fatally). Given that the local boats aren’t accustomed to seeing boats anchored away from shore, and I was sitting in the center of the bay, I lit Sans Souci like a Christmas tree for the entire night. Jeff speculated that we were seeing the crews from the various boats heading into town to ‘hit the bars.’ He may have been right. I have no idea…

Sans Souci's crew, in their uniforms, ready for action

And, speaking of crew…

As is common in Europe, essentially every powerboat around us has professional crew. I’m sure there are a few other owner/operators here, somewhere, but I haven’t seen them yet.

And, speaking of warm water…

Pictures do not do justice to the water. It is absolutely perfect. Blue, and clear.

The water temperature is 83.5 degrees! Think “bath water” only cleaner.

However, Roberta’s and my first swimming experience was not perfect. Jeff said, “Let’s swim!” and dived in the water. Roberta and I went to throw on our swim suits, and by the time we reached the swim step Jeff was drying off. He said the water was great, and we should dive in. When I looked down, it was wall to wall jellyfish! They were small, only about 6 inches each. My first thought was, “I’m not going in there.” And, my second thought was, “Oh cr^p. I’ll be cleaning those out of the sea strainers later today.” Was this a problem everywhere in Turkey? I doubted it, because we had seen many swimmers. A couple of hours later, I checked the water again, and didn’t see one jellyfish. It was apparently just a school of them, who had dropped by. We were busy working on the boat, so the opportunity for a swim had passed. But, next week, when we are cruising for real, I plan to spend plenty of time in the water.

And something else nice about the warm water…

Sans Souci’s upper aft deck lockers are full of survival suits. The big bright red gumby outfits, that will save our lives if we ever have to jump overboard while at sea. In 83 degree water, a life jacket will keep us floating, so the survival suits can be stowed. They are now in the chain locker, where they can be forgotten for a few years, and valuable storage space can be reclaimed.

And speaking of bureaucracy…

Turkey is not an EU country. The currency here is the Turkish Lira, not the Euro. Turkey is in the process of becoming part of the EU, but it’s a long, complicated process, and may or may not ever complete. The EU itself is a bit of a mess, and whether it is likely to add members, or lose members, depends on who you ask.

I mention this because one topic that has been on my mind is something called “The Schengen Treaty.” It is a treaty signed by many of the countries that are part of the EU, including those countries we plan to be cruising over the next few years. I don’t want to bore you with the details, but succinctly put, Schengen limits non-EU citizens to only being within the EU to 90 days out of each 180 day period. For us, as cruisers, who want to be on our boat four to six months a year, this is a major problem. I know of several cruisers who have altered cruising plans and gone elsewhere, rather than fight Schengen. I’ve also heard of cruisers being fined because of Schengen.

We’re still a year or two from entering our first EU country (Greece), so this is not currently a problem for us. However, next year, or the year after, it will be a factor. I’ve spoken with lawyers, and other cruisers, and there is no consensus as to what a solution might be.

Amusingly, the one thing most everyone agrees on is that, “It won’t be a problem.” There is agreement as to what Schengen says, but disagreement over whether or not it is enforced. It seems to vary with the country and the official.

I’m compulsive on trying to follow the rules, and can’t imagine being in a country illegally. My current plan is to apply for a long-stay visa, and see if that works. I spoke with an attorney who was firm that this would not trigger residency for purposes of VAT tax (basically a sales tax on importing the boat). Whether or not this strategy works. I do not know. Things are changing rapidly, so hopefully this will be a non-issue, or someone else will have found the solution, by the time our boat reaches the EU.

This email excerpt from another cruiser summarizes the situation well:

“…about the dreaded Schengen. [] and I have been lucky as we both have NZ and EU passports
so have been travelling on our EU ones.

However we know heaps of 'foreign' passport holders and no one has had trouble at all. The main problem in Europe is finding someone to actually check you in if you arrive by boat,
so 99% give up after the first couple of attempts., and just float around.

I have asked boats here with us in Rabat (Australian and American) their experiences and all said no problem on the boat, the problems
occur if you leave the boat and want to fly out as you do not have an entry stamp and the airport officials do not know what to do with
you!!!

It sure is a real grey area and all countries seem to have a different interpretation of it but none really seem bothered enough to even
think about enforcing it. Still - that is now, and things change so quickly. You do need to check in to Greece, we never checked out of
there, but otherwise the only others that require checkin are non-EU anyway; Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia.

Good luck, and hope you can fly under the radar!!!..."

And, as Roberta and I were pulling anchor to return to port…

I noticed that the anchor windlass felt wimpy. I tested the thrusters and they were very weak. To pull the anchor I had to increase the throttle on the engines. Something didn’t feel right.

As we were running back to port, I experimented with the two different engines, independently, to see if one engine or the other was producing less hydraulic power. I noted that the stabilizers were complaining of low hydraulic pressure, and soon discovered that the hydraulic pump on the starboard engine wasn’t working at all.

An engine room check showed that there was no fluid in the bilge, and the hydraulic oil tank showed as full. I’m taking this as good news, and am certain it is nothing more than something messed up electrically. I’m pressing the button, but the hydraulic pump is not engaging on the starboard engine. No problem. I’ll figure it out. I just hope it doesn't create a delay for us.

This would mean my first return to port, and Med Mooring experience would be without thrusters. With twin engines, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem, but it certainly adds complexity.

Med Mooring was simpler than expected. A tender from the marina passed us a single bow line (which the tender had retrieved from the bottom of the marina basin.) This was attached at the bow, and kept the bow steady. We then backed to the dock and attached a couple of stern lines. The marina tender then handed up the other bow line, and we started the process of putting ourselves into position.

Sans Souci’s stern needs to be approximately six feet from the dock. Any closer, and the boat runs the risk of bumping the dock in high-winds. Any further, and the gang plank (passarelle) won’t reach the dock. The bow and the stern lines need to be taut. Because nothing is holding the boat on the sides, the boat can move in high wind. Thus, the lines need to be as tight as you make them.

To tension the lines, I used the windlasses. However, once the lines are taut, the lines should not be left on the windlass, as it can be tough on the windlass.

I’m not sure of the proper technique for removing a line from a windlass, so I’ll describe the technique I use…

The trick is to move a line, which is under heavy pressure, from a windlass, to a cleat, without allowing the line to go slack. For this, I have a special knot I use, which usually works to keep a line secure long enough to move it from one place to another. The picture above shows what I do. It only takes a minute, and a smaller piece of line, with which to wrap the larger dock line. The small line is then secured to some cleat while the larger line is untied.

Roberta and I will use the next few days to get the boat provisioned and ready for cruising. We currently have no idea where we are going, but only have three weeks, so we aren’t going far. Also, our GSSR friends (Grey Pearl and Seabird) will be joining us next year, so we want to save much of the exploration for when they arrive. [Note: Grey Pearl, and Seabird, are also getting underway this week. Watch http://www.seabirdlrc.com, and http://greypearl.talkspot.com for updates on their progress]

Lastly, please accept my apologies for the length of this blog entry. It has been a while since we've been on the boat, and I've gotten lazy about blogging. There was a lot to get caught up on. Expect more, but shorter, blog entries, in the future.

Ken Williams
Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68
http://www.kensblog.com

PS The anniversary of 9/11 was a couple of weeks ago, and I was sent a video which I had never seen, and found interesting. It shows how the New York boating community came together on 9/11 to spontaneously evacuate nearly 500,000 people (reported) in around 9 hours. In the video (narrated by Tom Hanks) they point out that the evacuation was larger than the WWII evacuation at Dunkirk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:45:05 GMT

Tom sounds like a socialist in it pure form and Thank God the Great Country of the USA is not Socialist yet? I would hate to think we would end up like Europe/France/Greece but we are heading down that road with People/Politicians that think like Tom here. Absolutely crazy thinking, here Roberta and Ken work their tails off to build an incredible business so they can live the "American Dream" but you suggest to give it all away? Typical socialists point of view from someone that can't make it in the real world. WHY would any entrepreneurial person be motivated to do what they did in business if it was to give it all the "the government" and redistribute the wealth? EVERYONE is responsible for themselves (NOT the GOVERNMENT) We as a people are responsible for those less fortunate (NOT the GOVERNMENT). They are there to Govern, NOT lead, it is people's Best Thinking like tom's that got the US into this mess we are in. KEN AND ROBERTA you are to be Saluted and admired and a Inspiration to all of us Entrepreneurs trying to make our mark our there.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:22:12 GMT

tom, ken and roberta are self made american entrepreneurs, you know, the ones that contribute to the wealth of america not ex bank CEO's. show a little respect. jon

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:37:57 GMT

Been following your journey for awhile..very interesting. However, I'm not sure why you wealthy Americans are spending your cash in Europe? With the economic climate in the U.S.A., I would think you would be boating in the states, you know, helping out American business? Better yey, perhaps you should consider selling your yacht, and giving the cash directly to President Obama so he could "re-distribute" the wealth?.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 01:29:28 GMT

A co-worker was in SW Turkey the week before your arrival and he reported about a huge thunderstorm that he "hasn't seen before". The hotel lost power and they had to start a huge generator to repower it. I saw it live on the internet. The whole SW was covered with dots that represent lightning strikes. Live lightning in EU and the whole Med: http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en I guess you got a surge from shorepower.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:48:49 GMT

Thrilled to see you on-line again Ken. I have read your blog for some time but never commented. I do so enjoy living vicariously through your words since my inland lake 18 footer is quite a different experience! I look forward to more posts.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:23:13 GMT

Ken and Roberta- Glad to hear you've reunited with Sans Souci and will continue cruising. I'm excited to read about your travels in Europe. Missing Shelby but excited to see how the new dogs will fare on the boat. Safe travels. Write often. We'll be reading.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:57:38 GMT

Ken and Robertta: A special thank you for the link to the "boatlift" video. A true testament to the camaraderie and value of the boating community. All the best. George and Pam M/V Ocean Lady

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:34:45 GMT

Hello Ken, And speaking of bureaucracy… What is the problem with the "Schengen Rules"? If you want to stay longer than 90 days in the EU you only have to ask for a visa. I thing the cost are not as high as in the US - 140 US$. And even the visa-free entrance is much easier than the proceedure at the US-Border. Do you thing we need a special "Lex Americanus"? If you are interested about US immigration rules: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:09:58 GMT

Great to have you back! Regarding the low hydraulic power, if this was an automobile system my suspects would include air in the system: and a breakdown of the fluid. Can it/should it be bled? By the way, I'd call your windlass-line-moving knot a prusik.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:56:36 GMT

I've been following your blog since I discovered it more than a year ago. I am happy to see that you are back at it again and the dogs look wonderful. Patiently waiting for more, Thank you.

Comment on: [KensBlog] Our first cruising in Turkey!

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:13:31 GMT

Well, I read (and enjoyed) the entry despite the warning at the top. The stern tying that you wrote of sounds just like what we do a lot of in the PNW. I've used stern ties in a couple of different circumstances. First, in some very small anchorages, there simply isn't room to swing. Sometimes there are too many other boats around and sometimes there are natural obstacles like rocks. Second, in some anchorages that are steep and deep, a stern tie maintains pressure on the anchor and keeps it from dragging into water that is too deep. James and Jennifer Hamilton have a good article on their site about stern tying. http://www.mvdirona.com/TechnicalArticles/PY_JUL04_72-75_SEAMAN.pdf Safe travels! Sam --- Sam, Thank you! You may notice that I stole your link for the final version of my blog entry.... I'm just waiting for Roberta to proof-read so I can send it out. I've spent the morning studying hydraulic diagrams. It's the system on the boat that I'm the least comfortable with, so this is being a valuable learning experience (whether I like it or not). -Ken W

[Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings all!

I’ve received several emails asking when Roberta and I will start this year’s cruising, and the blog will resume.

The bad news is, “Not soon.” It’s a long boring story, but for a wide variety of reasons, this is an unusual year, and we won’t be doing much cruising.

One huge issue is that we have new dogs (Toundra and Lilly). The puppies are wonderful, but because of our travel schedule, and the small size of the dogs, getting them their shots, for travel to Europe, has been difficult. Some of the shots require 90 day waiting periods, and one of our dogs, Lilly, is so tiny (2 lbs), that we've been waiting for her to get larger before we felt she could safely get her shots. It's says something about how boating-centric we are that we sought out such small dogs. We want dogs that are small enough that we can keep them in the cabin with us on international flights. Putting the dogs in cargo on long flights can be dangerous during summer months. Many airlines refuse to fly dogs in July and August.

Our current plans are to drive through Europe, spending the summer exploring France and Italy, from on land, then arrive at the boat, in Turkey, in mid-September, and then cruise for a couple of months.

Expect my blog to resume in September, with perhaps a couple of short updates between now and then.

We're not missing much by not being in Turkey now. It has been raining.

Meanwhile, I’ve been in constant contact with the other two boats in our GSSR group...

They’ve been working their way from Hong Kong to Malaysia. If you haven’t been following their blog updates, check out:

Seabird:

http://www.seabirdlrc.com/aspx/m/485656

Grey Pearl:

http://greypearl.talkspot.com/aspx/m/416338

It has been tough sitting at home reading their blog reports, and constantly wishing we were with them.

Even when Roberta and I return to the boat in September, I’m not expecting that my we’ll do anything too interesting. Our hope is that Grey Pearl and Seabird will catch up to us in Turkey in time for next season’s cruising, and we like the idea of saving anything ‘ambitious’ for after our group reunites.

Meanwhile, Sans Souci is happily sitting in Gocek Turkey...

As you might imagine, it's difficult to have the boat over ten thousands miles away. It's an expensive asset to have sitting at a dock where I can't check on it from time to time.

To help ensure that all goes well, I have put a maintenance firm in Gocek on retainer to keep an eye on the boat for me. And, because it can get warm in July and August, I have asked that they check the boat daily, to verify that the power is on, and the air conditioning running. They also need to dive under the boat periodically, to verify that all is well.

Prior to the boat's arrival in Gocek, I had extensive work done in Hong Kong, so the boat is in very good shape.

That said, there are a few projects going on...

One of many electrical panels on Sans Souci

Within days of leaving Turkey I received an email from Riza, my maintenance guy in Turkey, saying that the lights on the electrical panel were out. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that this meant the shorepower wasn't working. The boat will continue to run on batteries for twelve hours after pulling shorepower, so I assumed this was all that had happened.

This triggered a series of phone calls and emails where Riza tried to convince me that he knew the difference between a dead light bulb, or a blown fuse, and lost shorepower. After a bit of debugging, it turned out Riza was right. The issue was nothing more than a failed digital meter And, the best news of all is that he is a good "communicator." To see his report regarding the failed electrical read-out, CLICK HERE

Another project for Riza was to work with Furuno in Turkey to see if they could figure out why I couldn't seem to install the Turkey charts on my Navnet 3d plotting system. Prior to my trip to Turkey, I had purchased a memory stick with the Navnet 3d charts. It came along with another USB memory stick that was a 'firmware upgrade' I'd need to apply before I could upgrade the charts. I'm fairly good with computers, so I tried to do the firmware upgrade myself. I was particularly proud of myself when I saw the message appear that said "Firmware Upgrade Now Complete. Navnet 3d will now restart." However, ten minutes later, when I was still staring at the Navnet3d logo, I realized something had gone wrong. It was impossible to get past the logo. Ouch.

Riza sent an email saying he had pulled the brain box for my Navnet unit, and was taking it to Furuno. This worried me. Riza seems great, but having someone I just met doing surgery on my boat, while I'm 10,000 miles away, is an uncomfortable feeling. Once again, my nervousness was unfounded. Within a few days, I received an email saying everything was put back together, and the charts installed. Yay!

So, I asked Riza to take a look at my tender. Long time readers of my blog will recall that it was popped while fishing for Halibut at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. It was repaired in Japan, but has never been quite right. It has some sort of slow air leak, and is showing its age. Riza happily took on the challenge, and to see his report on the tender repairs, CLICK HERE [NOTE: Ignore the spelling and grammatical errors in Riza's reports. I assure you, his english is far better than my Turkish!]

And, lastly, on the topic of repairs...

I noticed, while I was on the boat, that some of the cushions were in horrible shape, particularly on the fly bridge. Although Sans Souci is still a new boat, it hasn't been sitting still! It has already seen the extreme cold of the Bering Sea, and the extreme heat and humidity of Costa Rica and Asia. The cushions inside the boat have held up, but the ones outside the boat are a disaster. If you have watched the Friday the 13th series of films, you are properly prepared to see THESE PICTURES, otherwise, prepare to be shocked. We asked Scott Cole, the boat's original decorator to get involved, and he suggested new material, CLICK HERE.

The bottom line on all of this is that I am feeling very good about the boat. I wish I were there in Turkey, but I have no doubt that it is being taken care of very well.

And, a litigation update....

Regular readers of my blog might recall that I have been in what seems like never-ending litigation with Yachtpath, a boat delivery firm.

Way back in 2007, I contracted with Yachtpath for the delivery of my boat from Costa Rica to Seattle. Unfortunately, my boat was never transported, and we wound up in litigation. This was my first experience with litigation, and despite winning at every turn, in both the US and British courts, it wasn't much fun. Nor was it profitable. My 'winnings' will not cover my damages and legal fees.

There are two sides to every story, and it wouldn't be fair to Yachtpath to just give my side of the story. Suffice it to say that I won, and Yachtpath has lost, and neither of us is happy with the outcome (although I'm sure I'm happier than they are.) It was an unfortunate event for both of us, and involved circumstances that were unique to my boat. I wouldn't say that I recommend Yachtpath, but neither would I strongly advise against them. The truth is that I have recommended them to other boaters, even during the middle of litigation, who had positive experiences. Would I use them again? Probably not, but I doubt they are in a hurry to have me at their front door either.

Which is a long preamble to saying that I am mentioning this because...

I recently I received an email from someone who gave a large sum of money to a yacht transport company, and had a terrible experience similar to my own. I don't want to mention the company because I don't know the details, and it wouldn't be appropriate to comment without hearing both sides of the story.

What I can say is that shipping boats on a freighter can be a tremendous experience, such I just had with Seven Stars, shipping my boat to Turkey, but there are lots of horror stories out there. I recommend Dockwise Yacht Transport and Seven Stars Yacht Transport, both of whom have been terrific for me, but I've also heard of shipments that went wrong with each of these venders.

In this most recent event, the person involved will probably lose all of their money, and has swapped to shipping their boat with Yachtpath. I very seriously hope that Yachtpath does a good job for this person. As to what they can do about the money lost with the first transport company, I had little advice to give them. My experience shows that there is nothing down the litigation road except pain and suffering, for everyone, except the lawyers. After discussions with other boaters, the best we could offer was "take it to small claims court," and our condolences.

Should they have known they were dealing with a disaster of a company? I looked at the transport company's website, and it looked perfect, like they were a wonderful company. I'm good at these things, and yet, it looked like a solid company to me. I also may have been fooled.

That said, I do think these kinds of problems can be avoided in the future...

As a true computer geek, I always tend to think that computers are the solution to all problems. And, sometimes, they are! There are now websites that track customer-vender relationships, and offer the best possible protection to the buying public. The right time to find out who the good boat delivery companies, delivery skippers, boat maintenance facilities, marinas, etc. are, is BEFORE you buy from them, not after they have your money.

Before I buy from anyone on eBay I look at their rating history. I won't buy from a seller who does not have many transactions, or who has anything less that a 99% score. I also take the time to read the comments from past transactions and look to see what was sold. On eBay, sellers have discovered that a perfect track record translates to increased revenue, and suddenly leaving a trail of happy customers is everything. I may only be spending $50 with a seller, but if the seller doesn't treat me right, I will leave a negative review, and they might lose a hundred grand of future-purchase revenue. In other words, I have disproportionate power over the seller. I may be a small-time customer, but I'm an important one.

Similarly, I own an apartment building. I have a management team that watches over the building, but I rarely go there. Instead, what I do is monitor www.ApartmentRatings.com, to see what my residents are saying about the building. My management knows that if a negative comment appears, I'll immediately make their life miserable. It's a win-win relationship between myself and my residents, with a critical feedback mechanism, both for me, the business owner, and my residents, the customers. And, of course, if there are renters who are trying to save money, by renting in someone else's building, that has low ratings, that's their right. At least they'll know what they are getting into.

Some consumer discussion, of who the good and bad suppliers are, does happen in the boat business, but not enough. I participate in a number of online message boards. Discussions about the quality of various suppliers do take place, but the information isn't well organized. It isn't clear how I, as someone shopping for a service, finds information about the vender I'm considering. I don't know, as someone who spends a lot of money with boat repair people, and other marine suppliers, where I can go to get up-to-date information and ratings. I've spoken with a few other well-connected boaters, and none have a great idea for me.

One service I use from time to time, that reviews local businesses, is http://www.yelp.com. I wrote to their business development group to ask what they were doing in this area. They responded, "...Some of what you have in mind is covered by Yelp - things like marinas and boat-repair shops are on the site, though admittedly not our biggest area. Yacht manufacturers fall a little outside our typical domain. Not sure exactly what you have in mind, but happy to explore ways we might be able to help. ..."

I also am lobbying http://www.activecaptain.com that they should become the focal point of user reviews of marinas, repair facilities, boat manufacturers, etc. They already have some of this information on their website.

Anyway, I can't tell you, today, that there is one place that all of us should be looking for information, but I'm comfortable that problems, such as the one I started this section talking about, are going away. Within a few years, none of us will make a purchase without having a darn good idea who we're buying from, and what their track record is.

The days of bad venders are numbered.

So, in closing....

Roberta and I can't let the summer go without being on a boat, so we have chartered a little 41' go-fast boat (Meridian), which we'll use in the San Juan Islands for July 4th weekend. I might write a blog, if anything interesting happens (which I hope it doesn't!), but the odds are that this is my last blog entry until September.

Thank you everyone for reading the blog, and have a great summer!

-Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
Nordhavn 68, Sans Souci

PS Although I won't be blogging, I do actively participate on the Nordhavn Dreamers message board. Much of the discussion is technical, but it's also a lot of fun.

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:02:25 GMT

Hi Ken, It's good finally to run into you in Gocek. You may remember that I wrote to you a few months back when I met Neil Russell in Southampton to look at a 76 there. Neil suggested that I take a look at Sans Souci to get an idea about the 68. I will be in the Gocek area until the 2nd of October and would very much like to visit you and see your boat close up. Let me know when it's convenient for you. Enjoy the Turkish Riviera, I'm sure you'll find lots of nice little bays around. Just make sure you perfect you med-mooring technique! (A good idea is to get floating mooring lines if you don't have them already) Happy Sailing! Ahmet

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:07:28 GMT

kmz file sent. Shows Google Earth image of the location you have here on the site and matches with the airport in the lower corner. Hope this eases the worry a little lol. Enjoy the blog and look forward to many many more entries. : )

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:39:34 GMT

Can you email me a kmz file? ken at kensblog.com I just brought up google earth and tried to find my boat, and couldn't. We were at the marina for over a year, so it is possible that google earth would show the boat there. That would be cool!

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:27:53 GMT

was looking at google earth and looks like your bat is in Hong Kong instead of Turkey? Hong Kong Yacht and Country Club marina....

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:10:01 GMT

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Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:37:12 GMT

Finally a post! Looking forward to reading more. By the way If you visit Maijorca island, Spain. I have a sister that does massage and pedicure at the Serrano Palace Hotel in Cala Ratjada just a 10 min walk down the coast. Go give her some business :) Her name is Kristy and she is visiting there until late October. Hope you enjoy the summer!

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:27:42 GMT

I'm passing along this message I received about tenders... Hi Ken, sorry to see the condition of your A B inflatable dinghy, thats inflatables for you! I have read in Dreamers that you may look at the Bullfrog, not a bad idea. Composite construction, polythylene sides, alluminium bottom. May I offer a sugestion, Rotomoulded Polythylene, inbuilt floatation, CE certification with some manufacturers. Personaly I have seen these craft suffer some BAD treatment and survive remarkably well. They can be repaired with a heat gun and an old plastic bucket !!! so I'm told. While you are in Europe have a look at Fun-Yak - France & Pioner - Norway. Personaly I'm getting quotes & information for importing a Fun-Yak Mako Shark here to Australia and then adding a pair of retracable wheels to the stern. 11.5' Bullfrog weighs 425 lbs. 12.3' Mako Shark weighs 187 lbs. www.fun-yak.com www.samsboats.com I am tired of repairing and/or replacing dinghy's/tenders hopefully Rotomoulded Polythylene can save the day. Phill Politz

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:25:13 GMT

Vic, If you look back a couple of blog entries I discuss all of the work that was done in Hong Kong. 99% was just normal maintenance: Swapping filters, cleaning, bottom painting, swapping hoses, swapping thermostats, swapping impellers, etc. I wanted the boat as close to perfect as we can get it for cruising in the Med. My cruising strategy is to let the mechanics have the boat during the off-season, get everything as good as it can be, and then I take it out during the summer and just focus on having fun! -Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 10:26:34 GMT

Jason A, I had Riza check all of the cushions, and all others are fine. I'll know more when I'm in Turkey and can check them myself, but they should be fine. The fly bridge ones are the only cushions we tended to leave out in the elements. We rarely use the fly bridge, and the bench seating is under a cover, so it fools us into thinking all is fine. The rule going forward will be to remove the fly bridge cushions when not on the boat. Thank you! - Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 10:10:01 GMT

SUBJECT: RE: Blog Comment Submitted Mike S, Yes! We were at the game, and having a great time. Those are my ‘normal’ seats. Unfortunately, we travel so much that we rarely get to attend games, and I wind up selling 90% of the games. Ken W

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 06:36:33 GMT

Ken, Was watching the Seattle Mariners on the television a few days ago and I am nearly certain I saw you sitting in the stands behing home base. Looked like you were enjoying the game!

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 05:15:12 GMT

It looks like you might have some black mold on and in those cushions. You might want to have the interior cushions tested for mold even if they look OK on the outside. I don't know what mold control is like in a boat -- I'm sure it can't be easy -- but mold can cause serious health problems that you definitely would want to avoid. Glad to read that the new pups are healthy!

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:06:02 GMT

What Cedric said! 'Tis indeed always a pleasure reading your blogs. Want to see pics of dogs, at your leisure. Would be interested to know details of the work you had done in Hong Kong. Did things break, wear out, or simply need maintenance? Have a great summer.

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:03:36 GMT

Markku again, I forgot to mention, that my boat was delivered by Seven Stars. Holland people are close mentally to Finnish people, and the whole contract was easily done. Everything went like in old movies, and my boat came one day early. Markku

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:48:21 GMT

Hi Ken and your Crew. It has been a pleaser for me to read about your journey. What a yacht, and what a lovely texture! I found you by just googling Yacht Path. My bad journey with Yacht Path finally ended last month. I live in Finland, and my boat, Grand Banks 46, was supposed to be delivered from Palma to Germany, or to Finland. Last August. I paid, stupid me, the whole money advanced. It took one year, and about 13000+18700 dollars to hear Kevins, and Dennis explanations, how to proceed from now on. Empty lies from word to word. I spent one winter at Mallorca because of this company. It was not cheap. My holidays were ruined. Nothing, NOTHING happened did they promised! Well, as Finland won ice hockey WC 2011 :))), I have couple of ice hockey players living in Miami, big boys speaking only Finnish. They visited Yacht Path office with a check in their hands on their way out of the YP office. I would never had this money back from these "businessmen" without my friends. Probably, if you let this out, they will read this some day. Fine. If you contact Dennis, or Kevin, tell regards from me. If you want to hear more details from my ice hockey friends, let me know to following address: markku.aittokoski@elisanet.fi Best Regards and beautiful journey, Markku Aittokoski Airline Captain markku.aittokoski@elisanet.fi

Comment on: [Kensblog] A look ahead at our 2011 cruising plans

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:58:14 GMT

Always a pleasure reading your stuff, Ken, both here and on Dreamers. Thanks for sharing and we'll await your next update. Cedric