JULY 2004

Time to celebrate………….

It is July 10th and it is time to celebrate. It is exactly 5 years that we are the owners of Sylphe. Time to think back. Time to remember the adventures, the people we met, the things we saw, the awesome things we expereinced, the landfalls, the stormy sails and the peace we enjoyed, not to mention the hard work that went into the maintenance of the boat. 5 Glorious years, which all started in 1999 with Sylphe lying in France and Roland, Marjon, Ellis, Arno, Jeanine and Andre sailing her to Greece. That 1999 summer, spent in Greece, was one with more friends onboard, than we even could imagine, nor want to repeat!!. At one stage we were 11 people and the boat resembled more a floating caravan, than a gracious yacht. Not yet restored and on our way to Turkey. In November of 1999 Sylphe went on the hard and into the shipyard, only to emerge 9 months later in a splendid form. But lets not forget that before we were there, the engine had given up with a loud explosion in the Dardanelles and the last 180 miles were done under sail, with a clock ticking the time away. As without engine, we could not recharge batteries, and without batteries....no bilgepumps. And.....bilgepumps we needed, as Sylphe was taking in water like..........

Anyway, it is now all in the past. Sylphe has been our home for the last 5 years, taking us to places. Making friends along the way. It has been our lifestyle and one we did not want to have missed. And we plan to continue to watch those endless sunsets, those bright stars, those beautifull islands and to enjoy those great sails.

So, to summerize 5 years on Sylphe:

The best sails: (they are almost all in Greece!!!!!)

1. From Serifos to Aegina with Reinier and his girlfriend (Aug 1999)
2. South of Kefalonia, with Roland, Marit, Anton, Norma, Sjoukje, Jaap, Karen and Kira onboard (Aug 2003)
3. From Aegina to Kithnos, Roland and Marit (July 2003)
4. From Ayios Evstartios to Aegina, Roland and Marit (June 2000)
5. Beating Cambria during the 2002 Cannes Races, after we had challenged them the night before

The stormiest sails:

1. From Monastir to Malta, Roland and Marit, (March 2001) TWICE, gosh, what a night...on both occasions.....
2. From Zakinthos to Italy, Roland, Marjon, Kenan and Jeroen (August 2000) They ALL disappeared below deck for 12 hours, seasick........leaving Roland, without autopilot, going in the direction of Lybia.
3. From Cannes to ........Cannes, with Michel, Benjamin, Jean and Jean (Oct 2003)
4. From Dubrovnik to Greece, illegally ending up in Montenegro, Roland and Marit (Aug 2002)

The best landfalls:

1. Arriving in Calvi, Corsica, after the first 90 miles on Sylphe EVER (July 1999)
2. Arriving in Monastir, Tunisia, on 25th of December 2002, a perfect X-mas in a muslim country
3. Arriving in Brindisi, Italy, without propellor, escorted by the Coast Guard(Aug 2002)
4. Arriving in Lakka, Paxos, Greece, after Rolands first 350 miles solo on Sylphe

The best reataurants:

1. Hippocampus with Petros on Aegina, Greece
2. Ayios Evstratios, Greece (there is only 1 restaurant and it serves LOBSTER only)
3. Tauris with Miro on Sipan, Croatia
4. Bourbon in Polace (island of Mljet), Croatia
5. Chez Philippe, Manoel Island, Malta
6. Sylphe itself

The most failed equipment:

1. Toilets (electric, manual, does not matter), finally in 2004 replaced by an original Blake Toilet
2. Brooks and Gatehouse instrumentation.
3. Autopilots, after three attempts (and a hell of a lot of money) we got it right and now it works very nicely.

The most reliable equipment:

1. The dinghy (replaced this year after having been towed for 20.000 miles) Had lost it twice but recovered both times.
2. The binoculars, thanks to the Dutch Militairy
3. The anchorwinch and its chain, a real monster and it always works.

The fastest sails:

1. The downwind Andros passage in Greece. Marit and Roland in the midst of the night with 13.2 knots boatspeed and 45 knots of wind. Finally the sheet of the genua gave away and broke. That was all the damage we experienced, although we had expected more.
2. The sail around Cephalonia wit Roland finally on the bowsprit, watching Sylphe doing 9 knots close hauled and all sails up.......main, staysail and yankee.
3. Under Spinaker alone doing 9,3 knots with Maynard, Adrian and Michael, Croatia 2004.

Top places to visit again and again:

1. Leonidion, Peleponesos, Greece
2. Vela Luka, Sipan, Croatia
3. Otranto, in the very heel of Italy
4. Serifos, Cyclades,Greece
5. The secret anchorage (not in the Imray pilot) near Amorgos, Cyclades, Greece
6. Mykonos, Cyclades, Greece
7. Syracuse, Sicilly, Italy

Top 3 places to avoid:

1. Reggio di Calabria, Italy
2. Reggio di Calabria, Italy
3. Reggio di Calabria, Italy

Top 3 annoyances (stress is still to be avoided......):

1. Harbourfees, they become outrageous, if you consider that we are bringing our own hotel, but sometimes the fees are more than a room in a 5-star hotel.
2. A yacht anchoring right in front of you, and dropping "only" 3 times the waterdepth of anchorchain (the so called "golden rule" that simply does not work and gives us sleepless nights)
3. Italians in high season, anywhere.........

We have logged some 20.000 miles through the Med in these five years. Sometimes bringing us back to familiair places, like the races in the South of France. The fun of these events and the gathering of all these classic beauties is our reward and incentive to continue the hard work that goes into maintaining this yacht. The many compliments from boats passing by, wherever we go throughout the year, add to the charm of having a yacht like Sylphe.

We are writing this from Filip Jakov (look it up!!), a gorgeaous little unspoiled Croatian town. We are the only boat in the harbour. And this morning we counted more than 75 boats around us, when we left our anchorage. So, it still remains possible to get away from the crowds, even in high season and to find yourself in a perfect unspoilt place. Where they still gaze upon the one and only tourist that is walking around. Just love it and will keep looking for THESE places.

So, we have seen 11 countries around the Mediterenena Sea in 5 years, but there are 21 of them, thus we still have a long way to go. On top of this: Sylphe will celebrate her 65th birthday in the 2005 season. That just gives us another reason to do something special with her next year.

Wait, see and be surprised...............

Let there be more................as there IS always more.......

We would like to thank our clients for their continuing business, as this allows us to sail along for more years to come. We thank our family for accepting that we are on Sylphe all the time and thus not being home for the annual anniversary, X-mas or whatever other event. And most of all, we thank all those people that were with us on Sylphe or that we met along the way........ at some stage, at some time, in some place.

Roland and Marit

S/y SYLPHE

www.sail-in-style.com