donderdag, 30 december 1999 08.56

Turkish delight.

Two weeks further, X-mas 99 has passed (leaving me in a broken elevator of
my appartment on X-mas night from 2 til 5.30 AM) and the Milennium night is
approaching. The next year will be started with constructing!! As the
painters have finished their job. Sylphe is completely stripped down to her
naked hull. Revealing every piece of wood, every curve, every nail, etc.
The workshop has turned into a dust-collector, everything is covered with at
least 5 cm's of thick dust (the remainders of all the paint layers.) Almost
like a white X-mas. It turned out, there was an epoxy-layer under the paint,
albeit only on the above-the-waterline part of the boat. This made the
removal a little bit more difficult, but two guys and 10 days later the job
is finished. Now every plank can be inspected, and again it looks better
than expected. An initial inspection shows that only some planks will have
to be replaced. Mostly on the port-side of the boat. And all in the
under-water section. The wood above the waterline is in perfect condition.
Thanks to epoxy. The discussion, that was ongoing, whether to put epoxy on
her hull, is won, I guess.
Tomorrow Bulent, the carpenter, will come to have another closer look and
discussions will start on how, where and how much to replace. Which planks
to be removed, what do we do with the solid keelpart, are we gonna check
(and if so how) the keelbolts holding the 13 ton of lead in its place.
Structurally seen, this is the most vulnerable part, between wooden keel and
lead-ballast.
The engine is still in place, it will go as well next week. I have spend
some hours reinstalling some batteries and operating a pump to get the last
remaining water (..and diesel and oil) from underneath he engine out of the
bilge. On deck, I decided to replace all hatches with old-style wooden ones.
So the plastimo, modern ones were taken off as well. Now leaving huge holes
in the deck. You have to watch where you go.

While the painters were making work on Sylphe virtually impossible, with all
their dust, I went over to the other workshop to make a dummy of the new
kitchen. To see if the drawings I had made, would leave enough space for
cupboards, stove, etc. I even built a dummy refridgerator, to see if I could
fit enough beer and other stuff in there. It seems that the sketches,
drawings and initial calcualtions were not bad at all.
And Marit found in Brussel beautifull old tabs for the kitchen and shower,
which she bought.

My appartment is completely filled with Sylphe stuff. Every day when I take
a shower, I also use the opportunity to clean something. So, one day you can
find me take a shower with the fenders, the next with ropes, suntents,
lifevests, blocks, etc. Nicely cleaned and dried, it fills up one of the
bedrooms and part of my living room. But still, there are piles of stuff
that need to be de-salted and cleaned. There seems no end.

The most important discovery of this week was the package, sent by Ratsey
and Lapthorn. It contained the original sailplan of 1951, drawn by Andre
Mauric. It states very clearly that Sylphe (than called ARIEL) was designed
as a racer according to R.O.R.C. regulations for the 12-meter class. A very
important discovery indeed, as the numbers of pre-war 12-meter boats is
limited. We already knew she is a beauty, but now she has a history and
pedigree as well. The drawing shows Sylphe with a different mast and
rigging. The bow-sprit was already there, however, so that question is
solved. No, I will not consider bringing the mast and rigging back to its
original state. (??!!!) I owe one to Ratsey and Lapthorn for their service.
To the contrary, Andre Mauric has not yet responded to my e-mails. I will
blame it on the stormy events in France of the last week. But it will be
fascinating to get their confirmation on some last remaining questions.
Exact year of construction, as to mention just one.

In the mean time, I am enjoying Turkey, friends and their hospitality. X-mas
was very nicely spent with Zeki and his family. A rather international bunch
together, Dutch, American, Turks, German, French, etc. Coming home at 2 AM
was not as nice, as I got stuck in the elevator. Instead of taking me to the
fifth floor, it decided to go down. But only half a floor and than stopped.
Sounding the alarm had no effect. Since the sound is similar to a car-alarm,
everybody in the block continued sleeping. The sound of a car-alarm is too
common here. Thanks to Ramadan, people wake up at 5 to eat, and that was the
moment I was discovered and freed by my downstair neighbours. I had a very
nice breakfast at their table, celebrating my release.

And what is turkish life like??? Well first of all, it treats me very well,
and it is very similar to Europe. But there are some striking diffrences,
of which I want to mention just a few. Some of them are real Turkish
delights, others....
Child-labour still exists, (or the kids look younger than they are, but I
doubt it.) On the other hand, all kinds of services are availble, and at the
strangest times of day (or night). The supermarket (a real big one) is open
till 11 in the evening. Other shops are open all night. Ramadan has
disturbed life slightly, but still there are restaurants that will serve
alcohol.
Since the people in the workshop stop at 4 PM, due to Ramadan, I run off to
my bakery, where you can get the best, most fresh, delightfull bread you
have ever tasted. Go home and only put some butter and marmalade on it,
hmmmmmmmm.
Oh yes, and real eggs still exist, not those eggs that you by at AH in
Holland; all same size, pale and ugly tasting. But real eggs, BIG, yellow,
different sizes and with a shell so hard, that it is often difficult to
break them on the rim of your frying pan. That is what we call an egg.

Driving in Turkey is a challenge, to say the least. First of all, traffic in
Istanbul is horrendous. Trafficjams are being re-invented here. The fun part
is, that although everybody has come to a halt, as there is no movement
possible, people will hunk their horns if the light turns green. The fact
that the whole junction is blocked (and they can see that as well) makes no
difference. So I started hunking as well, it makes you feel better, indeed.
The word pothole has also been re-invented in Turkey. Having worked in
Africa, I am quite used to encountering a pothole in the road. But here they
make them differently. First of all, the edges are sharp, as cut with a
razorblade, and they are deep, but mostly only 1 meter in diameter. The
result is that, if you do hit them (as in: not able to sharply steer around
them) you end up with a flat tyre. I had two within two days, and both in
the same place. BLOND, as usual.
Oh, and the fact that the opposite traffic is seperated by a solid
lane-seperation, does not mean that in your lane there can be no traffic,
heading the other way (your way!!). So be on alert for these ghost-drivers
at all times. Especially on the Tuzla roundabouts, they make it a habbit of
taking them clockwise. It makes a difference.
And.. do not be surprised, while on the highway, the car in front of you
will simply stop in the middle of the road, regardless which lane it is in..
No hazard lights, no warning. Nothing, it simply stops It certainly keeps
you awake, while driving. One day I will also pull over and ask one of them
the reason for this particular behaviour. It can't be as simple as looking
for their ringing, but dislocated, GSM, which they can not find, is it??
Police cars have, as a standard, their flash lights on. They drive along
with 50 kilometers an hour, no hurry, no emergency, but the flashlights are

ON. So do not be afraid that a police car will catch up with you if you are
speeding (or worse; you overtaking one, while speeding). Its red- and
blue-flashlights are clearly visible. So you can reduce your speed in time,
that is what I call a service.

The violent storm that swept over Europe has reached Turkey. Last week a
huge crane, on the shipyard next to Sylphe, fell over. This is a monstreous
thing, some 40 meters high and with a base of 50 meters. The road was
blocked, electricity cables cut and it took them 3 days to clear the mess. A
few days later it is an oiltanker in the Bosphorus that runs aground. And
again we are regularly without power, due to strong winds at night. A large
part of the roof of the other Bulent-workshop was blown off, just the
other day.

For those of you wandering, whether I had lost my mind, when I paid so much
money for Sylphe?. Here is the proof, that you were (are) right. All that
remains is 13 tons of lead in the keel and bare-wood, some of it even
rotten. But still, I am having a great time and fun. Living a dream, making
it come true, I can recommend it to all of you, even if it brings you on the
edge (or beyond) of bankrupcy. It is worhwile, take my word for it.
Indeed, 2000 will bring a new start, to a new century, to me , to
Sylphe ?.(and to my mama, who is coming over for New Year, together with my
brother)

We wish you all a fantastic, splendid, joyfull and fullfilling 2000.

Love roland (and Marit)