29. Repairs, near deaths and tender racing

29. 6th April – 20th April 2009
We have been having fun and games on Deep Blue – some required outside help and we have had to get used to the way things are done in Turkey. The Turks are very hard working but do seem to have a slightly different way of thinking things through. A Turk business owner / manager is very hands on – he (always he) will watch like a hawk and point rather than discuss the problem, find a solution and then leave the person to it. This means that when unsupervised, a minion can do things that have unexpected results.

We have had problems with our Furlex (a Furlex rolls up the front sail on Deep Blue to stow or reef it) ever since we bought her. In the UK we have had two different riggers supposedly sort it out. But after one of my trips up the mast (I am an old hand now at getting up and down) I was very unhappy about what I saw and so we called in Tarken the Furlex expert in Marmaris. We watched him watching his guy up the mast and questioned him very closely on what he was going to do. It took some time to reach a solution that we were all happy with but now we understand our boat so much better we feel able to reject ideas and solutions that are wrong (Day 1). Of course it was the most expensive of possible solutions and involved a new front stay (the stay holds up the mast) as well as some new Furlex parts. Also we wanted the halyard guide near the top of the mast moved. This involved some drilling and riveting.

Once they were convinced we were not going to be happy with the short cut solution (day 2) had got the correct new stay (that took two goes) (day3 and day 4) and all the correct new parts, a two day job turned into a five day job culminating in Tarkens man arriving with a mate (Tarkens wife had to go to hospital) on day 4 to drill the holes for the new halyard guide. We had noted that when going up the mast without Tarken to supervise they were very cavalier about safety but the guys English was non-existent and he did not seem to understand me when we tried to ask about safety lines etc. He went up the mast with an ELECTRIC drill, a power cable (!) and, as the sea got up, attempted to drill his holes as he was swung about at the top of the mast. He eventually came down without completing the job saying he needed to return the next day. After he was gone Andy went to tidy up and realised that the guy had drilled through the halyard he had been hanging on and it was within a hairs breath of breaking. We would have had him splattered on our deck .. or worse .. through our deck!

We are in Fethiye now sorting out a few other things (a yachties work is never over!!), staying a day or two in a small and basic marina. We do have company. Every day a stiff man in his 50’s comes and sits on the pontoon fishing with a handline, hook and bread. He catches 3-5 small fish in the morning before going home for (one assumes) a fish lunch and then returns for his afternoon session where he catches another 3 – 5 small fish. He is clean but wears the same clothes every day and we are not sure if he fishes out of necessity or enjoyment.

This marina is more a restaurant with a pontoon and a shower room but there is a large gang of builders here “renovating” the place. It seems that the owner expects the marina to reopen properly today but despite the many hours of continuous hard labour I would predict that he will not be able to open for another week or so. It is amazing what they are expecting to do in such a short space of time – a complete rebuild of the restaurant and facilities and recreation of a garden. They have been trucking in lorry loads of building materials and beautiful tropical plants including large palm trees – the gardens will look lovely.

19th April 2009

We bought a new tender in Marmaris. Correction, I bought a new tender and gave away our old one. Andy distances himself from my decision. Andy had bought a four to six person tender five seasons ago and a 5 HP engine to go with it. Inflatable floor, V- bottom, the works. Unfortunately we made the mistake of leaving it too much in the Cornish sun and the UV had affected it. I would not let Andy buy a new tender before we left saying we had not had our moneys’ worth out of it and had it patched and painted in an attempt to stop it deflating slowly over a day. By the time we reached Marmaris it was in a very sorry state and because it deflated over 1 hour now we had also lost its seat at sea. I decided we would buy a new tender (as Andy wanted) but a SMALL one that fitted the small size of Deep Blue and could be easily stowed while we were under way. A compromise – Andy gets a new tender and I get a small one. I chose a 1.2 metre tender with a slatted bottom – no air deck and no V-bottom, just two chambers to pump up. We would deflate and bag it when we were not using it. So far so good.

As soon as Andy got into the tender on its maiden voyage I began to see my mistake. Where was I going to sit??!! Too late though, Andy had already made it ours by writing in indelible ink tender to DB (t/t DB). Next job was to see how it would perform with the out-board. We had not used the outboard for a few months and it took some starting but as it did start Andy knocked it into gear by accident, the nose of t/t DB flew into the air - Andy and outboard were swimming. Luckily the outboard spluttered to a rapid halt as Richard jumped into t/t Matelot to rush to the rescue and I looked on in horror. The happy conclusion to this story is that Andy was unhurt, the outboard is running again after being dried out and fixed by Andy. To ensure that all was working properly Andy and Richard had a 5hp derby – only 1.2m boats were allowed to enter. The two tenders performed equally despite t/t Matelot having a V bottom. Ours was just less controllable, but so much more fun!

Andy’s reasoning for a large tender was that we may want to motor to places we couldn’t take DB. Until yesterday the only big trip in the tender was our mad motor up the Grand Canal in Venice, in my eyes not a big justification for a big one. We were anchored in another bit of heaven – a little cove tucked just North East of a very interesting island called Gemiler and 2nm North West of one of the tourist highlights of Turkey, Olu Deniz (Dead Sea). Olu Deniz is a land-locked bay / lagoon – the spit of land which almost cuts it off from the sea being a golden beach and the water being clear, turquoise and full of wildlife. The name is due to the bay being dead to bad weather. It is one of the most photographed beaches of Turkey and as it is prohibited to sail there we (Pippa and Richard plus ourselves) decided to motor there in our tenders. Now we have the outboard working correctly we have plenty of space for the two of is to sit on the side decks of t/t DB with our picnic under the seat. So with lifejackets on (plus Pippa had EPERB, torch, radio and flares for good measure!) we were off. We had a brilliant day out, surfing the waves in our tenders, ice-creams in the very over developed National Park of Olu Deniz and a wonderful explore of the many Byzantine ruins on the tiny (1km x 400m) island of Gemiler. These ruins are very interesting as they are of a huge seventh century tourist resort for Christian pilgrims on their way to the holy land. The island is dedicated to St Nicholas (Santa Claus), with four churches linked by an amazing stone covered walkway (still partially intact). There are many water cisterns – domed buildings with great wells inside to keep the collected water for dry times and two enormous plaster lined stone tanks. Many houses are at the waters edge for their wonderful sea views. Now the ruins are overgrown by wild herbs and the whole island is a riot of colour from their flowers.

The day ended with a swim off DB in the very cold and clear sea of the pretty cove in which we are anchored before the sun disappeared behind the snow peaked mountains just 20 kms away.