3rd May 2006 - Kusadasi to Turgutreis

Has another good sailing day following last nights BBQ organised at Kusadasi Marina.  I did take lots of pictures of tipsy people leaping around dancing - but they all appear to be pulling faces so ugly its wrong to post them here.  So heres the only two sober people on the night.

 

 

Here's another shot of Swagman at sunset, parked stern in to the end  of the main jetty.  There were no tailing lines for us in this position - we had to drop the anchor to hold our nose out.

 

 

They advised late yesterday that there was a gale force 7 forecasted for today, so several of the yachts chose to depart very early ( some went at midnight - others at 0300) to cover the 60 miles further south to Turgutreis - just to the west of Bodrum.

 

We chose to get away at daybreak - 0600 - and for the first 10 miles had light winds from behind.  We hoisted our spinnaker and held it up across the wide bay and into the Samos Straights.  We were getting radio reports back from those who left earlier, commenting on the strenght of the wind. 

 

So just in case we also found ourselves in stronger conditions once through the straight - we replaced the spinakker for our huge Code 0 headsail - and were soon moving out.

 

We personally never saw the wind rise above 26 knots on the remaining 50 miles down the coast.  But with a full main hiosted, plus the big Code 0 headsail - we were soon charging along at 8+ knots.

 

Surfed to 11 + knots several times, but it still took us until 01500 to arrive at the new marina in Turgutreis.  The facility is even bigger than I expected - and apparently well run.

 

We've elected not to do any tours tomorow - too many boat chores to compete.

 

Cheers

JOHN