32.39N 30.30E
JENNY
Alan Franklin/ Lynne Gane
Fri 10 Apr 2009 17:19
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Hello everybody
Well our journey is nearly over and we are nearly
back in Europe after a journey of some 27,000nm.
Despite the fact that I returned home from nearly
every quarter of the world I did manage to cross all the Oceans and seas on our
voyage.There again Jenny and Alan did it all and experienced the wonders of all
of the countries and the communities and of course the ups and downs that go
with it.
Just to remind you we left the UK in July 2007 from
Southampton having taken delivery of a new boat in December.A standard boat is
not equipped for world cruising and we had to modify and strengthen several
parts,plus the sails and all the electronics,fuel tank,watermaker,generator
etc.all told £40,000 later we were ready to test. You normally need at least 1
year to get it all right we had 2 months.
It is in no small measure down to the people
working on the boat mainly Peter Whatley who fitted it out and embodied a number
of modifications that we had not thought of which made life a lot easier and
safer.But also to Alan Franklin,John Shead,Robin the engineer,the riggers and
sailmakers,and last but not least Westways the Jeanneau agents in the UK and
didn't they just come up trumps when our gearbox failed in Gibraltar,fitting it
the night before we left for the start of our Atlantic crossing.
The boat itself has performed brilliantly with
winds up to 40knts and down to motoring it has done everything asked of it with
only really minor maintenance and small repairs.Whilst everything needs a good
scrub and clean it still looks like a 2 year old Solent boat but it is far
better equipped than any Jeanneau I have ever seen.We had serious problems with
the generator due to salt water leakage into the electronics but that was
rectified in Australia by Jeanneau supplying a new one and we still have a
problem with our watermaker but we have welded up the pulley and its
working.(that was sorted by the naval workshops in Salalah (Oman)
).
We are now on our way to Crete our journeys end
with the rally only 257nm to go about 40 hours.After that I am flying home on
the 14th and Jenny on the 25th. She with Alan will see to the work that needs to
be done ,liftout ,antifoul,service engine and generator,clean sails and ropes
etc.Hopefully see the boat on its new berth and leave.
Our future plans are to come back to Crete in June
and sail the boat to Marmaris in Turkey where it will be stationed for a couple
of years so that we can do some "Med " day sailing with our friends and family.
We will take in the sights and sounds of the Turkish coast travelling from
bay to bay and Taverna to Taverna!
I finished the previous blog with our transit from
El Tur up the Red Sea. Well, fortunately we timed the weather about right and it
was lumpy and bumpy for the first 12 hrs or so and after that the seas flattened
out and we arrived in Port Tewfic without trouble and straight on to our
berth at the Suez Canal Yacht Club.
We were do to start our transit of the canal on the
8th but the passage of warships,who have precedence over all ships ,delayed
us 24hrs. I must say that none of us found Egypt a pleasant place to stay apart
from seeing the Pyramids and Temples.
Our transit up the canal was 80nm and uneventful we
departed our berths at 5am and exited into the Med at 8pm.
I speak for all of us when I say this has truly
been the trip of a life time.Crossing Oceans in a small boat has been fun,
exhilarating, dangerous and at times boring. but we have seen a good
part of the world from a completely different perspective to the normal holiday
maker.
We have joined in with the communities that depend
on the sea for their livelihood and very existence,it has been an experience
worth doing and most of all we have enjoyed the fellowship of our ralliers and
those people both world sailors and others that we met along the way. The
memories will stay with us all for a lifetime.
It is very unusual for the crew of a boat to stay
together for the complete voyage but Alan has done a marvellous job in keeping
the boat going and skippering when I wasn't there. We could not have done it
without him so he deserves special thanks. What can I say about Jenny my
wife. not the boat. It was aptly named -the two have been together the whole way
round through thick and thin,she has been brilliant. Putting up with all the
trials and tribulations of on board life and making the whole journey much more
pleasant for all of us.Now what about Ellie she joined us in Panama absolutely
hated the 1000nm trip to the Galapagos her first overnight passage (which took
10days) and stayed until Hurgharda over a year later. She certainly made her mark amongst the younger element on the rally in
fact some are still recovering from her influence in the nightime activities.
She needs to improve on her long jump as last time she missed the boat and ended
in the water.
A big thank you to all the other crew who joined
for legs namely Chris and Mark who helped us out considerably.
There is nothing more to say but to thank you all
for reading the blog on our world voyage you may however like to know that we
will keep it going on our travels through the Med but first I have to
work.
Regards to you all from everybody on
Jenny
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