Jounieh Lebanon to Larnaca Cyprus
Yachtforeverfreedom
Mon 2 Nov 2009 18:00
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We should have known this trip was not going to go
as planned! The previous day, at the meeting of all the boats' Captains,
three differently sourced weather forecasts had all predicted good sailing
weather for the 115 nautical miles trip from Jounieh to Larnaca. The trip
was predicted to take about 20 hours. We were due to leave the quay at
1000 hrs to go to the fuel dock and then check out with the Harbourmaster and
Immigration/Customs. The first problem is that the anchor is caught, very
firmly, on some immovable object on the bottom of the marina. A member of
the marina staff comes to our assistance and after a series of dives with scuba
equipment manages to walk the anchor across the bottom, clearing it over piles
of steel and rope debris as we haul it in. This means that we are delayed
2 hours and are the last boat to leave Jounieh. We follow Lebanese Navy
instructions to motor due West until we clear the 12 mile limit when we are free
to set a course for Larnaca. The weather follows the predicted forecast
and we hoist full sail for a good run on a course of 295 degrees. At about
2200 hours, Peter is on watch in the cockpit and is feeling very pleased with
himself at how well he is coping with night sailing without his usual
sea-sickness when, to his surprise, the boat of the Rally Leader (Mistral) which
was astern of our Port Quarter, suddenly makes a violent alteration of course to
Starboard, diving across our stern and heading away to our right almost at
right-angles to his previous course. This arouses Peter's suspicions and,
on checking around, he notices that the sky in front of us no longer twinkled
with stars, but is an ominous black which reaches right down to sea level ;
Mistral must have picked up the squall on his radar and is trying to steer
around it. Peter has no sooner made the decision to follow than the wind
speed jumps to 31 knots and the boat becomes completely uncontrollable with full
sail up. After a struggle we manage to drop the foresail on the deck and
put 2 reefs in the main. For the next 3 hours, under reefed main
and engine, progress is made slowly through the squalls, with full sound and
light display accompaniment from the "Thunder, Lightening and Rain Storm" trio -
without time to put on oilies, Peter gets soaked - and at one point went so far
as to say "This is not fun any more!". Subsequently we are told by one of
the other boats that the wind reached 45 knots. After 4 hours, as the
storm eases a little, we are able to bring the boat round off the course of 200
degrees that we have been forced onto and get the boat facing the right way once
more - we also manage to drop the main fully and proceed under engine alone -
which is much easier. Slowly the wind eases and the sea returns to a more
pleasant level, but Peter is worried about the engine which has made some
strange screeching noises (which we cure by reducing engine speed), and the
steering which seems to have become a bit imprecise - more about those
later.
We arrive at Larnaca at about 1145 and are welcomed
by the marina staff who remember both the boat and us from 2003. With some
difficulty, we moor stern-first to the jetty - we have done it only a few times
and the wind is not helping, and we are very tired.
Friday and Saturday are spent sorting the sails and
the engine problem and a barbeque on board one of the larger yachts, we being
the smallest. On Sunday Peter examines the rudder and steering cables in
the aft locker, which means emptying all the contents of the aft-double cabin
into the saloon to get at the panel at the back which has to be unscrewed before
he can get to the rudder and its steering cables etc. His initial fears
are confirmed and we discover that the quadrant wheel on top of the rudder is
fractured where the autopilot is connected.
  With the expert help of Tony (Full Flight), an
engineer in stainless steel in a previous life, the quadrant is removed and made
ready to take to a repairer on Monday morning. We contact Dino, our marine
engineer friend who installed the air conditioning, generator and water-maker,
and did a lot of other work for us on Forever and Freelance and, on his advice,
agree to take the quadrant to him in Limassol as soon as we hire a car in
Larnaca on Monday morning. Dino takes us to see Themos, a guy who is one
of the most saught-after metal workers in the area. Themos agrees to take
on the problem and we leave the quadrant with him to be fixed. After lunch
with Dino, in our old haunt of the take-away shop in Paraklissia, we visit the
Orphanides Express supermarket which we used-to use when at the St Raphael
Marina, and stock up with things we will need for the next part of the trip.
Nothwithstanding our steering problem, we are all waiting for the weather to
improve. Today the wind reached Force 9 in Paphos so no one is putting to
sea just yet. It looks like it will be Thursday at the earliest before
anyone leaves. __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4486 (20091007) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4486 (20091007) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4486 (20091007) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4486 (20091007) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com |