36:11.73N 29:50.9E

Friday 14^th May

Alarm went off at 5.00am so that we could get away at first light on the 68 mile trip to Kekova Roads. Over half of the fleet had already left around 4.00am so as we pulled away from Gocek at 5.30am in the half light of dawn, there were only a few boats still behind us. No wind at all so we streamed the fishing lines behind us and set off under engine on the long trip south and east.

Long quiet day with virtually no wind until early afternoon, by which time we had opted with just one other boat to take something of a short cut through a group of islands as it looked to be a more interesting route. As the wind filled in we started sailing through these islands and then had a go at flying Hyacinth (our new gennnaker) which was a little ambitious as we were on a very broad reach, but Sarah and Trevor did  a good job until we had to bear away onto a dead run for the final leg of the journey. We dropped Hyacinth and rigged our twin headsails (the girls!) and reefed the main and had a steady fast run down to the small gap in some more islands including Kekova that brought us into a landlocked bay and the small town of Ucagiz which provides a very secure anchorage and a brand new pontoon (financed by the Turkish Government in 2009). I should also mention the relay of Turkish coastguard patrol boats that accompany the rally throughout its entire trip along the Turkish coast from Istanbul until Syria. We opted after a hurried debate to go on the quay and with only a slight cross wind blowing I managed to make rather hard work of mooring in a gap between two yachts. Might have been easier if I had thought about how much easier this can be with a crew to help rather than go about in our usual way where there is only the two of us! Dressed Serafina overall as is the rule on the rally and set about helping other yachts moor up to the quay. This gave me quite a few opportunities to practise my very limited French as it does seem that quite a few of the French boats do not have much English which is making things difficult for the organisers as they have always stipulated that all briefings, radio nets etc, would be in English and the French therefore have very little understanding of what they were being asked to do.

Invited on board Arwen to join Jackie and Robert for some drinks and then retired to Serafina for supper, and session of Mexican Train (I always come last or thereabouts) and an early night.