Telltale 111

Motorboats....and even from Plastic

I am posting this page, almost 1,5 year too late. Below you will find the reason

I arrived in Croatia in June 2008, together with Maynard, and had no further plans for that summer. To be very honest, I wanted to change the direction of my life. I had been sailing Sylphe through the Med for the last 9 years. It had been my house, companion, possibility to meet people, visit places in a different way.
It is THE dream that every one wants to live. And it was my dream and I lived it....for 9 years.
But guess what, even that looses it glamour after such a period. I basically needed something different.



Over the last years I have spent more and more time in Turkey, plus I did the complete restoration of Sylphe in Turkey, back in 1999. Basically Turkey feels more home than any other place. The house in Symi (a greek island) was great and fantastic, but offered too limited possibilities, and certainly none for work or making money. My passion for boats is the thriving force behind my life and I need to do something with that. But not necessarily the sailing it self.
So, out of the blue, a friend of mine sends me an add of a dutch company that needs a manager for their yard in Turkey. Building high quality motoryachts, in Tuzla (next to Istanbul). A challenge for which I was ready and felt up for it. A few phonecalls with the headhunter and I was more or less in business. The weirdest interview I have ever done, was made by phone, from a deserted island in Croatia, sitting in swimming trunks, after a copious lunch. But it worked. They wanted me in Holland soonest to see further. I was excited, this is what I wanted.

Thus after I dropped Maynad and friends in Trogir, I immediately left and headed with Sylphe solo back to Greece, to find a safe marina to leave her. At that stage I had no idea how long I would be away, it could just be for the interview, or a short trip to Turkey to check out the yard. I could be gone for a few days or maybe even months, before I would find time to figure out what to do with Sylphe. I arrived at 3 in the morning at Corfu, made some phonecalls the next morning to try to find a berth in a marina. Impossible, it is high season, after all. Through my old friend Vagelis Kavas, I managed to get a berth in the marina of Lefkas, so I sailed onward. Had airline tickets booked at the same time. Again I arrived at Lefkas channel (where we had put Sylphe on the rocks only 4 weeks earlier), but this time I passed safely, despite the fact that it was night. At 6 in the morning the marina gave me a berth, I tried to empty Sylphe a bit, took all the laundry, emptied the fridge and went off to the airport.

The interview in Holland went well and 2 days later I was on my way to Turkey. I arrived at 10 in the evening at Ataturk airport ant the company had arranged one of their motorboats to pick me up and take me to the Bosphorus and one of the most poshest nightclubs there. What a welcome. A little weird, but hey..... The introduction at the shipyard was great: a fantastic working place in a ultra-modern yard. Clean, well organised, 70 employees and three boats under construction. A serial built motor boat, 44 foot long and with some very sexy lines and features (www.zeelanderyachts.com). I felt at home, not at last because of the fact that some people on the work floor recognised me (or even worked with me) from the Sylphe days, some ten years earlier. I settled in quickly. Forgot about Sylphe and was far too occupied. The complete mangement of the yard, shipping boats to Europe, a small international company. It suited me well in the Turkish surrounding.

The financial crisis hits and of course luxury boats are the first to be taken off the list of items people buy. So, here I am, just settled int a house, work, friends, etc. The months october till January were spent to fight for the survival of the yard, cutting costs, re-structuring, making new deals and conditions with suppliers, negotiating the future with the mother company in Holland, etc. Looking back, it was a madhouse. I am known to hate mobile phones, but I was on my Blackberry phone most of the time (hahahaha) The shipyard came into quieter waters in February and we slowly started looking towards the future with a solid order for a new boat. This kept us afloat.




With me being fully occupied in Istanbul, I still had a house in Symi and a boat on the other side of Greece. Had to take decisions about those.
In November I went to Symi to empty the house there and get the furniture to Turkey, after all I was living in a normal house for the first time in 9 years again. The trip was eventfull, as I had to leave the inventory of the house behind on Rhodos, due to bad weather. 3 weeks later I flew back and collected the stuff and shipped it onward to Istanbul.
So, what about Sylphe, she was still in the marina in Lefkas, had been burning in the hot greek sun for 5 months, without even a hatch open. I was starting to get worried and definately felt guilty about it. But I could not find the time to arranage anything for her. I finally asked my friend Jean to sail Sylphe from Lefkas to Istanbul. He took his father and his brother along for the trip. I shortly flew to Lefkas to arrange a short briefing with jean, collected the laundry and was appauled by the state of Sylphe. The summer-heat and moisture inside the boat had made some serious damage, resulting in everything covered in mould. I felt sorry for jean and his crew, but I left the next morning back for Istanbul. It is January and they would sail Sylphe, through Corinth, the Cyclades, Dardanelles and into the Sea of Marmara. COLD, wet, windy.....not my cup of tea. But take a couple of french guys and they are up to it. In three weeks they brought Sylphe to Istanbul and I welcomed her in the brand new marina of pendik (only 5 kilometers from my house) on a february morning with snow falling on the decks. It was damn cold and they had just spent three weeks in these conditions. They were happy though, with Sylphe and with themselves. And definately with the diesel heater, that served me soo well over all these years.
It was the first time that Sylphe went sailing without me being present. Quite a leap for me. And Jean managed to handle her just brilliantly. Sylphe is not the easiest boat to handle and certainly not in port. But they did it without a hitch. The biggest compliment was given by Jean, when he told me that whenever he needed something at full sea, he found it immediately. They broke a part of the rudder mechanism, but found the sparepart, they broke a fanbelt of the engine and found the replacement one exactly where they reckoned I would have put it. Plus the compliment on the lay-out and equipment of Sylphe from another captain was heart-warming. Thanks Jean, for having done this for me.

So, now I had a house with all my furniture, and Sylphe only 5 km further down the road. I felt quite complete. The marina was still under construction and Sylphe spent the next months there without electricity on a dock. So, I still had to go once a week to charge batteries and check her. Slowly I emtpied her and brought all the stuff to the house. Stuff that had been on Sylphe for 9 years was taken off, books, picture archives, clothes, spareparts, etc.

The enclosed map shows where Sylphe is at present, and of course she is the one boat, all alone on the jetty in the middle. Mind you this picture is a few months old, as the marina is now fully occupied. And by clicking on VIEW LARGER MAP, you can zoom in and out and get the whole picture and orientation on where this is in Istanbul.


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