After a 2 days rest in Bodrum Hotel (The Marmara) where a huge party from Vinkara was held, where we enjoyed the facilities to relax, swim, talk, eat, drink and sleep. we are ready to hit the road, heading to Yasasin (1 hour away).
A brieffing on deck is necessary as the 3 danish crew have not been sailing that trimaran except Henrik, but that was many years ago, when when left Denmark for a “long” journey around Europe. Henrik assisted us from Vordingborg to Benalmadena (Spain, near Malaga). His daughter, Freja and her boybriend Anton, basically never sailed that kind of boat, but at 20years of age, they learn fast, very fast.
As expected, the wind is from North, 15knots, and for now with flat sea for a while, so we are motoring to get used to the boat’s movements. Anton finds a way to fix the autopilot (smart guy indeed), so life at the helm will be much more enjoyable. The mainsail is hoisted with 1 reef, expecting the wind to increase through out the day, as we heading north and slightly away from land.
In the middle of the day, we are heading NNE on port tack, seeing Didim right ahead. The goal is to not hit the choppy sea whenever possible. We will get enough of rough weather later, for sure.
A real pleasure to share this trip with those danes, very skilled on a boat, having a great spirit, always ready to help, trim, fix food/coffee/drink.
The wind picks up as we are approaching the straight between Samos and Icaria. We were in doubt whether to get through or sail West of Icaria, but the conditions seemed fair, specially the sea up to the straight. However, we took the 2nd reef to be reasonable hoping it would be ok with the J3 (staysail). Great decision as the wind picked up to 40knots ++, but lucky us, the sea was not matching that gusty area. Scary? Well, a little impressive indeed for the danes discovering how such a light boat reacts in those conditions. For safety reasons, we were at the helm, harnais on, unable to film or take pictures.
The rest of the delivery went quite and slightly boring: light wind straight in the nose, meaning, motoring a lot, even being helped a little by the mainsail.
In the Dardanelles, the decision was taken to follow the southern shore-line as close as possible to get the contre-current. A great help indeed. But still motoring the whole straight (80miles) until after the Marmara Island, where we finally got wind enough to power a little with full sails.
At about 30 miles to our destination, the wind conditions were perfect to play a little, for the greatest pleasure of Freja and Anton, hilarius, happy to feel a boatspeed above 20knots.
The trip was a little slow, but rather easy. Lots of motoring, but a great atmosphere on board, thanks to you guys: Freja, Anton and Henrik.
I really hope to have a chance to sailing with you again.