The EMYR Rally and 2013 Summary
10 February 2013 | Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Tunisia
SG
After returning to Lefkas from 2 months skydiving and safari's in Africa we set off on our journey to Cesme, A journey begins with one step and ours was southwards towards the mid-day sun. We departed Lefkas Marina on 19 April having been delayed by foul weather and the odd drink or two. We needed to be in Cesme, Turkey on 27 April to join the East Mediterranean Yacht Rally for our adventure to Israel and the weather delay meant we would be cutting it fine. It was a blowy trip and not without its challenges, having broken the bonds of the Lefkas/Nidri Kefalonia magnetic field we anchored for the evening in 30kts of wind at a protected bay of Limin Petalas just north of the Gulf of Patras, in the morning the wind had not abated and we beat southwards until we were able to turn east into the gulf, with the wind now behind us we steamed along pulled by our red white and blue cruising chute under the majestic Patras Bridge and pushed on to an anchorage at Orm Steno just south of Galaxhidi. It turned into a goodnight sail into a difficult night time anchorage with thunderstorms all around us, we slept well and rose the next day for a lovely if somewhat blowy downwind sail to the Corinth Canal. We planned our arrival to perfection but were thwarted by a large coater vessel which we then had to wait for, we surfed into the canal entrance and all became calm, what an experience the smile on Janes face was wider than the canal itself. The canal is 3km long and it cost us the extortionate sum of 225 Euro for our 44ft yacht……..It was worth it and was an experience we had waited for a few years to enjoy. From here we anchored at a lovely restaurant at the town of Corfos, plugged into the restaurants powere and literally stepped off the bow to our table; it doesn’t get any better than that, form there we headed eastewards to Laurion on the east side of the Athens mainland and carried out a few maintainence jobs for the next 2 days, we stripped off the lacquer than had been applied to the teak work, gave it a good clean and thus a butterfly was born. From here we set off on 24 April on an overnight passage to Chios where we anchored for the next 3 days to clean and fettle Happy Hour. It was a lovely bay to swim in and clean the hull as she hasn’t been lifted for 3 years and there was a small amount of growth on the CopperCoat antifoul. The topsides and stainless was polished and thus on 27 April we set off the short distance to Cesme, arriving in the late afternoon and it was here that we met our first of many new friends. No sooner had we tied up in the marina we were joined by ‘Maxi Cosi’ another EMYR rally boat which moored behind u on the wall. Pug Peterson, John Rhatz and Jim Laithwaite were to turn out to be long term friends. A few drinks later we ate onboard and awoke the next day to meet the rest of the ‘rallyers’ at the evening meet and greet. The EMYR was created 23 years ago to introduce yachtsmen to the delights of what was then a fledgeling yachting environment in the Eastern Med, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt were the destinations but unfortunately the Arab Spring Revolutions were to affect us. We soon settled into the swing of get up at 0400, sail for a day, arrive in the late afternoon, meet up at a cocktail party ofr attend prefunction drinks onboard another yacht, the next day go on a tour of a local historical sight and then attend another function and get up the next morning at 0400 to sail on to the next party, cocktail party etc. There were some 35 yachts of 14 different nationalities on the rally and we like to think that we made some lifelong friendships. Jane was to join a group of them in 2013 on a newly termed Friendship Rally to Venice from Turkey. I have to say that the fun we had could not be beaten, a great bunch of people who naturally gravitated into little Coteries; an eclectic bunch of borderline alcoholics with a sailing problem. We travelled from marina and cove to cove all the way round Turkey calling in at all the ancient sites and archaeological wonders until I had to call it a day ‘too many piles Roma or Byzntine rocks’. At every marina was a cocktail party with the inevitable ‘come round to ours before the party’ drinks onboard various yachts. After about the 5th week I woke up at 0400 with Jane to get the boat ready and said – I cant do this anymore I am trashed! We persevered though and manned up in true Brit style but seriously it was like being on deployment againt! We had an absolute ball, saw some fantastic touristy sights, flew in hot air balloons over Cappadocia and then set off south for Cyprus and on down to Israel. We got shelled whilst in Ashkelon (about 10km north of Gaza). The air raid sirens went off and everyone was shepherded to the air raid shelter that wasn’t big enough for the restaurants clientele, one guy in our rally pushed his girlfriend out of the way to get there in front of her and we just sat at the table guarding the alcohol……….if its launched 10km away and the air raid siren goes off and it hasn’t hit you then it isn’t coming your way or it would have already arrived!! Well that is my theory anyway. We went to Jerusalem and got all religious, I wasn’t hit by lightning this time so I guess I cant have been that bad, we wailed at the wall and saw a guy get arrested Israeli style. We had not been able to get into Syria and Lebanon and at the last moment Egypt erupted into chaos and that was the end of the rally. We lft it at Ashkelon and went with John and Pug (Maxi Cosi) to Jordan and ventured into Wadi Rum. Jane got to drive a proper 28 car ore train when we stopped to look at the steam train from the Lawrence of Arabia film that was in a siding at Wadi Rum Stn, the guy who drives it took Jane to this hoofing great thing and said in Arabic pull this, do that and choo choo we were moving…she loved it and I got a coffee Arabic style and a cigarette. From Israel we said goodbye and ‘A bientot’ to our new friends and headed back to Cyprus in flat calm water heading Nth for Cypr, Turk, Greece, Tunisia and eventually Gib to meet with our friends to cross the atlantic. It was a long journey to Tunisia with a lot of stops on the way for bad winds and storms and when we got here in mid-July we called a halt to all the rushing about and stayed here for the rest of the summer and winter. We had covered 3500nm in the 4 months to August at an average of 5nm/hr so you can see how hectic it was, lots of long passages and early mornings. On some legs we spent 5 days with 4hrs on and 4hrs off which was quite tiring! After the 36 hrs beating into a F8 and nearly being blown over not to mention pushed towards Libya we decided to call it a day at Tunisia; I didn’t fancy entering Benghazi at night. That was the worst it has been for us and it really is 95% relaxing fun and if you get it wrong 5% shit. It was so rough that Jane couldn’t go down below to rest or even go to the toilet and when I went down to make a brew it was like being in a box and thrown down the stairs! But hey it was fun on reflection.
Tunisia is a very touristy country, a mix of the best of the arabs with the best of the African influence and a lot of French influence thrown in ……very relaxed but not a lot gets done quickly – The Tunisian Motto is SLOW IN THE MORNING………..NOT SO FAST IN THE AFTERNOON. Suits us just fine. In Sept we went home for my parents 60th wedding anniversary and I went out to California to oversee a helicopter detachment, Jane joined me once I was established and we had a good 8 weeks living the Californian dream. From here we returned to the UK, met up with family, did the Christmas thing and then rejoined the EMYR Rally crowd for a great weekend at Andrew and Shirley from Cat ‘Amazing’ who hosted the inaugural Friendship Yacht Rally (FYR) meeting at their house in Stratford Upon Avon, a great house, a fantastic occasion and great people.
The Yacht
01 January 2013
Having waited for an IP 420 to become available on the secondhand market we found one in 2008 lying in Lefkas, Greece. 'Happy Hour' a well-cared for 2002 Island Packet 420 was purchased by us and became our holiday focus for the next 3 years as she was fitted out at a leisurely pace whilst enjoying the Ionian sailing area. We chose an IP 420 as our intentions were to live onboard throughout the year and because of its build quality, kindly sea keeping, its roomy living space and spacious cockpit for entertaining at anchor. It is ideal for socialising and long term hosting of 2 to 4 guests with 2 en-suite heads, large galley with a freezer big enough to accommodate a whole sheep and a folding table that stows against the main bulkhead and opens up the whole cabin for entertaining. The sail plan of over 1000 sq ft with a long keel ensures that with winds of over 10kts that she tracks effortlessly through the short Mediterranean chop.
She was already fitted with a 5 KVA generator and air conditioning which we have to admit has been a godsend in some of the hotter marinas of the Eastern and Southern Med. We have fitted an Eberspacher D5W Water Central Heating System that is also linked in to the engine cooling system. It has the dual purpose of allowing us to use the engine hot water to heat the inside of the boat via the matrix heaters and also to help cool the engine or warm the block up on a cold day to ease starting when the heating has been on. We also fitted a stainless steel gantry fabricated by Dimitris Soldados of Inox in Nidri which accommodates 2 x 85W solar panels, a Rutland 913 WindGen together with various aerials, MOB Eqpt and boathooks etc. We also had fitted a Dessalator Duo 60 WaterMaker from Advance Yacht Systems which has changed the way we sail and kept us out of the mainstream harbours clamouring for water with the charter yachts.
Throughout all of the refit we have to thank, Kevan Whittle (YBDSA) Yacht Surveyor in Lefkas whose advice was always gratefully received, Mark Wycherly who fitted the majority of our purchases who combined excellent engineering skills with his extensive cruising experience. We would also like to thank both of their wives Linda and Maureen for their friendship and also to Susie for all the covers fabrication. If you are ever in Lefkas and need an engineer then find Flash; a legend with his own toolbox. For everyone else in Lefkas Marina and Sail Ionian in Vliho thankyou for your advice and friendship not to mention some awesome parties.