Telltale 85
What was supposed to be a peacefull, quite and recovering
winterstop........
not to mention the gardening I was planning to
do....................
Monday 30th October
We arrive in a blissfull Symi, being welcomed HOME like no one else.
Driving around on the bike was done with one hand as the other was
needed to say hello to every one. Home, like we wanted. On a peacefull,
albeit cold, Symi. We installed ourselves in the house, wandered around
in the garden, Roland admired the huge -but great- BBQ, and we settled
in. Leaving Sylphe down in the port, amongst the few last remaining
visiting yachts.
The weather was lousy, raining and grey. The temperature still okay
and we have the doors of the house open, have a BBQ diner (although we
eat the food inside) and we enjoy being at home. Marit ventures out to
the post office, where we have a PO Box. However, this does NOT mean
that your mail is in there..... a PO-Box-SYMI-style means your mail is
not thrown away, just on the BIG pile. So, it takes about an hour or
so, to go through the whole pile and boxes, to find your own phone
bill, packages, etc. Marit comes home with the most essential, amongst
it a CD from Canada with more pictures from the races. I immediately
update the website (Telltale 79 and 80) and send a thank you mail to
Rick and Karin. Some mail, of which we know was sent is still missing,
but it will surface one day....we hope.
We spent three leisurely days, slowly emptying Sylphe of content we
hope not to use on the boat during the winter period and for which it
is better and safer in the house. The weather calms down and the rain
slowly stops.
Friday 3rd Nov.
Since we still have to figure out, where we are gonna leave Sylphe for
the winter, we decide to sail over to Turkey on friday, with a nice
follwing force 5 wind. The bay of Orhaniye is just opposite and only 17
miles away. We anchor and dock the boat at the private jetty of
restaurant "Ekin", with Halil as owner. It is all dark around and the
restaurant seems closed.
But "HELIODORA" -Marit's fishing boat- is there, happily bobbing
on the waves, nicely painted and all taken care off. Reliable turkish
friends have taken care of her, while we were away, thanks Ahmet,
Ibrahim and Halil.
It is still windy, the waves roll into the bay and we have the wind
beam on to the hull, not the most comfortable position to be in, but we
are okay. We have 100 meters of chain out and it is only 5 meter deep
and MUD, so excellent holding. We go out for an early dinner 100 meters
down the road and to bed early.
Saturday 4th Nov.
At 7 in the morning we wake up, because we are hopping like crazy on
the waves, not alarming, just uncomfortbale and not good for my sleep.
So, I get up and since we stil have the wind beam on, I simply untie
from the dock and float away from the dock and the bow turns
straight
into the wind. Comfortable and safe, I go back to bed with Sylphe some
20 meters away from the beach, but with no risk of being blown onto it.
(NOTE: I am NOT trying to make this into a habit, but I have done it
now twice in 2 weeks; just leave the lines on the dock and float to the
middle, later you just return and tie up again.)
BANG....CRASH....SCHLUNGGG, ...BANG.....CRASH..... No, I am not
dreaming; this is right outside. I sprint out of bed and into the
cockpit to find a FISHING TRAWLER
against our hull..............
Some screaming, full reverse from the fishing boat and it takes a few
seconds before I realise what the problem is. HE has passed SOOOO close
to us, that his boom (from which he normally trawls his nets, including
the metal plate to hold the net down) has caught our port rigging.
STAY WITH ME: He is not fishing, nor trawling. His metal plate is up
and against the boom. The boom and metal plate stick 1 meter out on his
port side. AND WITH THAT HE GETS ENTANGLED IN OUR STARBOARD RIGGING. He
must have thought to be able to pass at 1 inch distance. What was he
thinking, I will never found out.
The boom on the fishing trawler is made to hold the weight of the net
and tons of fish, so quite strong. So strong that they have ripped the
first chainplate (the stay connection to the hull) out of Sylphes
deck!!!! The second and third stay (there are 4 of them right next to
each other, all going to different support points on the mast) have
been cut at 1,5 meter height and have snapped like it was a piece of
straw. The fourth one is still there. By now the fishing boat is in
reverse and manages to get the boom and metal plate untangled. The
captain comes out on deck and yells to me (in underwear) that he will
pay for the damage. I am tooo flabbergasted to understand
anything....................... Glass all over the deck, from the
spreader light that has fallen down. I look up to find spreader number
two broken and hanging limp from the sky. THIS CAN NOT BE TRUE.
We were at anchor in a quiet little corner of a bay and get rammed by a
BIG fishing trawler in broad daylight..............................
(one year ago we were rammed by a small fishing boat in the middle of
the night, while we were at anchor, also in Turkey!!).
I spent the next two hours, trying to grasp the size of this disaster.
The mast is barely suppported anymore on port, so no more sailing and
even under engine we can not handle too many waves or rolling. Sylphe
will have to come out of the water. In order to replace the chainplate
we will have to open the hul. This means a new paintjob on the port
side, and that was only done THIS SPRING. We need to order new stays.
And I still have to go up the mast to check the fittings and see
if there is any damage there. I start realising that we should be happy
that the mast is still standing at all, it could have broken and come
down in total.
Only 1 (and a half one) of the 4 stays is still holding up the mast.
The captain of the fishing boat never comes by to inquire, although he
docked his boat on the next jetty only 50 meters away. We have put
Sylphe back on our jetty and friends help us.
The gendarmerie is called to make an accident report, but this may take
a while.
Roland goes into Marmaris to discuss with the Yacht Marina there, to
change our reservation for a winterberth in the water, into a
winterberth on land. He meets up with Ake and Kirsten, who have their
boat (s/y "Free Flight") there, already on land. The marina informs me
that it is not
possible to put Sylphe on the hard....fully booked. Ah, GREAT, just add
the problems. Symi does not have a safe harbour. Opposite in Turkey
there are three marinas, of which two of them are full and the third
one outrageously expensive. GREAT, just add, it, I can handle it. But i
dont feel well in the process.
Upon return on Sylphe Roland hears that the Coast Guard actually came
by and they were able to contact the owner of the fishing boat. He will
come tomorrow.............we are not to worry (but of course
not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
TUESDAY NOV 7th
The owner of the fishing boat finally comes by on monday, and with
limited english spoken, it became quite clear that he has no insurance
and that he thought that with two new stays the problem would be
solved. Arrggghhhhh.
Okay, so now it is back to our own insurance, for which we happily paid
all these years. One telephone call to Germany and things are moving.
They contact their surveyor in Bodrum and he takes things in his hands.
The Coast Guard is informed and makes an official report, to prevent
that LATER they could claim it was all my fault. And all this has to be
done in accordance with Turkish law, meaning all english document have
to be translated and certified by a notary. Just a little bit of hassle
and normal bureaucracy.
Netsel Marina in Marmaris is contacted and a reservation is made. Now
we only have to wait for calm weather to sail over there and bring the
boat and mast into safety.
By the way, the weather is nice, the sun is out and the wind is gone
for the moment. Could have been beautiful.
Wednesday, Nov 8th
We sail out of Orhanyie bay at 8 in the morning, taking Heliodora and
Lady Sylphe behind us. We will stop in Symi, drop off Helidora, leave
Marit in the house and check out of Greece. I will proceed under engine
to Marmaris. There is no wind and no sea, better take advantage of it
and bring Sylphe to a safe marina and get her out of the water as soon
as possible. Yusuf, the insurer's agent is all help and I
already thank him for everything, although I am afraid there is more
work for him in the future, once he has seen the real damage.
Tomorrow, we will take care of Sylphe in Netsel Marina in Marmaris,
which is the expensive marina, but right in the center of town. The
mast will first have ot come off and than the boat can be lifted out.
Hope we are on dry land by the weekend.
It is 7 in the evening and I sail into the sheltered bay of marmaris,
my home for the next 4 months or so.
Thursday 16th November............A week later
I have been in Netsel marina Marmaris for a week now, and
what kind of week.
First the guys from Sikaflex Switzerland came on thursday last week, to
have another look at my deck. Kurt enjoyed the warmer climate in Turkey
allright and took samples out of Sylphes deck to examine in the
laboratory. lets hope there are no serious problems there.
On friday we hauled Sylphe out of the water, we were making serious
water and i was more happy on land. Especially as ONLY than, I could
check the complete scale of the damage. So, a seperate crane was
ordered to take the mast off and that was put safely flat in a corner
of the marina. The broken spreader will be replaced. We had a closer
look with an expert at the rigging and the fastenings on the mast. And
although they have had a major power-stress on them, the fittings are
still okay. At the bottom of the mast (just above deck at the level of
the gooseneck) there is a damage (basically a dent in the wood), caused
by the broken shroud that was catapulted against it. The rigging expert
reckons we can make an insert in the wood here. Done, and that will
take some time, but no major disasters there.
Than Sylphe was taken out of the water and put on the hard.
Yusuf is the insurance surveyor and he came over from Bodrum on that
friday as well. He seems a very likebale and knowledgeable guy. He owns
a classic boat as well and that helps. He spent 5 hours taking pictures
and grasping the size of the damage. Disappearing under floorboards,
behind bulkheads, etc. Still I would have to do some serious
dismantling of the boat and especially the guestcabin to get access to
the most seriously damaged parts.
Yusuf would come back for that later next week.
I spent the next days taking Sylphe apart. Floors open, door-thresholds
cut away, the huge piece of wood on which the mast rests removed,
unscrewing more parts than I have in my hand for the last 7 years. NOW
the guestcabin is no more. No bed, nu bunk, no lockers, everything
removed. Walking in the corridor is a hazardous task, as there are no
floorboards anymore. You carefully have to step on the beams in the
keel. I cut away, with a grinder, the grey water tank and will have to
replace that one later in plastic.
BUT the complete removal of all the interior and other obstacles
revealed that the impact of the fishing boat and the jerk on the
rigging and chainplates have dislodged two beams in the hull. Serious
stuff. A result of this is the moving of three hull planks causing the
leakage. Well, at least we now know what to do........and how to fix it.
The present chainplates will have to come out completely, in the
picture below you can see the chainplates running from top to bottom.
And these are only two, the last one is in the front cabin, more work
there.
They will have to be replaced, and of course now in stainless steel.
BUT to remove them, we have to ruin the topside paint on the outside of
the hull, as the chainplates are bolted through the hull. And the
paintjob was only done this spring. But hey, what the heck we are busy
now anyway..................
Now
that the complete interior was removed Yusuf came again to assess the
damage and approve of the works needed. I am getting quotations from
all suppliers; Mast repair, painter, carpenter, stainless steel works,
new riggingwires etc. This will all have to be approved by the
insurance before I start the serious work of opening the hull and
removing the chainplates. I will have to wait a few days for that
approval and I am going to Istanbul in the mean time.
Yusuf comments that IF Sylphe had not been built THIS STRONG the damage
would have been much more serious. Thanks Andre Mauric, you did a great
job in 1940...........
AHOY,
Roland
S/Y SYLPHE
www.sail-in-style.com