New season

Tucanon
Dick and Irene Craig
Tue 15 Apr 2008 11:56

We have been on the boat one week and are nearly ship-shape. The boat went back in the water on the morning of Tuesday, 8th April, the day following our arrival in Marmaris.

During the winter, we had quite a lot of work done on the boat, inside both hulls, so it was necessary to stow everything away. If for no other reason than to keep it free from all the excess dust that the workmen generated. That’s why we are not yet back together. Hopefully next winter, Dick will not need to add to his collection of toys.

We are very pleased with the work done. The addition of a large unit consisting of drawers and cupboards has helped reduce the overflow into the guest cabins. The extra batteries should do the job and the passerelle is a joy. At the press of a button, it can be extended, lowered and lifted. Friends and family who have memories of walking the plank, to get on and off the boat, need no longer feel that they are risking their life. One, who will remain nameless, returning to the boat after a jolly night out, ended up in the water, after having first had a fight with the gang-plank. It wasn’t the plank that sported a black eye at breakfast!

The weather has been mixed. Mostly warm, sometimes hot, occasionally cloudy. One night it rained and the next morning the boat was orange. The Sahara had relocated. There was no point in washing the boat that day as there was no water pressure because everyone else was attempting to wash their boats.

Early one morning, I heard the German, from the catamaran moored on our starboard side, threatening the woman on the catamaran, moored on our port side. He stated that, should her cat dare to walk on his boat again, he would throw it in the water. Nay, he would strangle it! A little excessive perhaps, particularly as he is refitting his boat and the decks are in considerable need of attention. Washing them won’t do the trick. He tells me, between offering advice on how I should wash my boat, that he is having his catamaran repainted, including the decks. It’s a fiberglass boat and looks as if it has a bad case of acne.

Dick still spends a lot of time on his laptop although this does incur walking to the marina office or library, to use the WiFi. The system installed here doesn’t appear to be powerful enough for us to log-on from our berth, although boats that are berthed on pontoons closer the marina office, can do so. The exercise is a bonus.

I phoned my mother from the Skype phone. Amazing, it costs only €0.0175 per minute from Turkey!! When we are sailing, I have to call from the satellite phone which is a tad more costly, by a factor of 50.

The meals have been cooked and frozen, in readiness for the nine overnight passages we will undertake, while taking part in the EMYR (East Mediterranean Yacht Rally). They won’t be needed if the weather is kind to us but should the passage be rough, I would prefer to reheat a prepared meal, rather than try to cook a meal from scratch.

Still need to find more suitable food stuffs for Lucy, who is a vegan, and doesn’t eat any animal product at all, not even honey. We are going to do a recce today, en-route to the restaurant to celebrate Dick’s 60th birthday. No cards or pressies please but many thanks for all the birthday wishes received by email.

We have had several meetings, drinks on board, with a number of other participants of the EMYR. Apparently there are currently 25 boats berthed locally, which are taking part. They are all very busy, with lots of coming and going, so we may not have the opportunity to meet with them all before we join the rally 2nd May, at Bodrum.

We are always delighted to hear from friends and family, wherever you may be. Best way to contact us is by email but please do not send attachments or photos. When sailing, we have to use the satellite phone to send/receive and it can´t handle anything with attachments and photos and costs a fortune trying to do so.

 
Dick and Irene Craig
Tucanon
 
Mobile Turkey: 0090 545 268 36 71