Ashkelon
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Fri 25 Jun 2010 10:32
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31 40.3 N 34 33.3 E
18th - 21st June Ashkelon, Israel
We left Haifa with reports over the radio of strong
winds off the coast so had two reefs in the main ready for a good sail we
hoped!
We had to head out from the Israeli coast to keep
off the shore by a minimum of 8 miles for the passage to Ashkelon - we enjoyed
some good wind for
the first few miles but soon we had to turn the
engine on again and shake out the reef.
The sail south was uneventful the wind being not
much more than force 2 until closing the coast when it blew up to a force 5 and
we had a lovely romp in to the marina.
Mooring here is between metal pylons which have
rings near the top - it was fairly tricky backing into a gap that was
just six inches bigger than our widest point with
a cross wind and only Rob fending off while I
steered! (Thank heavens for the bow-thruster which helped to keep the boat
square to the slot). We did no damage but several
other boats had scratches and bent
stanchions!
The marina here has reasonable facilities including
a washing machine so we spent time catching up on loads of washing and other
mundane housekeeping tasks while most
of the rally participants went on a trip to Masada
and the Dead Sea. There were a few bars and restaurants around the marina so we
were able to check out the latest football
scores from the world cup as well as enjoy some
local beer with friends. In addition there was a 'free' concert along the
promenade so we walked to hear this but only stayed
for a bit as by the time we got there the pop music
session was on and wasn't quite to our liking. The staff in the office here were
very helpful and we were able to use the space
to sit in the air-conditioning and get onto
the internet. We felt rested after out three nights and ready for the expedition
to Egypt. At the last minute our friends on Halcyon Days
decided not to make the journey so we gave their
crew - Ross and Aileen a lift. This meant we had 4 onboard for the
138 mile passage so some moving of gear from the after -cabin
was required. There were quite a few boats that
stayed in Ashkelon so when we left we had only 35 boats for the next
passage.
The passage down to Port Said was the longest yet
so it was nice to have two people on each watch and we certainly needed the
extra eyes as when we arrived off Port Said we encountered
many obstructions and un recognizable light
configurations from umpteen boats. We had to motor for much of the journey but
did get a few hours with full sails and the genoa poled out
which gave us good speeds for a time. Our
instructions were to meet outside the port by 0530 and then the boats would
process into the start of the Suez Canal in a line with all the flags
hoisted
and proceed to the naval base for mooring.
Unfortunately this plan was 'scuppered' in part as the wind rose to 30 knots
some boats were struggling to arrive on time and others had been caught
with
too much sail up. We also had to wait for a
convoy of 5 or 6 large ships to enter the canal. In the end we made the
procession with out the flags and eventually all moored up on the wall on the
Arsenal Basin in Port Said - most boats being in
and tied up by 1000. We immediately had to report through immigration and then
we were able to get to bed.
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