36:47.4N 34:37.5E

Saturday 29^th May

(Sorry, but earlier in the week I got the days of the week wrong!)

Long slow night almost totally done under engine as we had nearly a knot of foul tide holding us back meaning that we were going to be late for our arrival slot in Mersin, however it quickly became clear that everyone was well behind schedule, but most significantly the committee boat (Mashona) had engine trouble and was limping further behind still and would not be able to get to our destination in time to bring the fleet in. It came as no real surprise to us then when our name was then called on the radio and as a result of our performance on the quayside in Girne, we were asked to act as the dockmaster for the day and also to act as group leader to control the actual docking of the group 5 boats.

We increased our speed and along with Twixter (an American catamaran) who were going to be overseeing the docking the cats and the boats of Group 6, the two of us swept through the big commercial harbour entrance and made our way into the fishing harbour that is to be our home for the next few days. We were met by boats carrying photographers and were amazed to find that the little harbour had had 150 fishing boats of all sized moved out and the pontoons were all set ready for our arrival along with a lots of sightseers and several coastguard boats and lots of police, positioned on the shore. The first and most immediate issue was that the pontoon that we were going to be using for our group and only had one side cleared, so we had to rethink the plan immediately. However all went swimmingly well with Sarah, Trevor and Lesley marshalling our group’s boats and bringing them one by one into the harbour and onto the pontoon and then rafting a second tier alongside the first. I brought all the other group leaders into the harbour and having docked each one, they then individually brought in their own group boats onto their designated quays. The departure of two huge container ships held things up slightly but overall this actually went very well with all the group leaders taking the situation on board and with surprisingly little fuss the entire fleet was docked by mid afternoon. There were of course incidents along the way, but apologies were usually issued afterwards and once everyone was in, attention was turned to the various mechanical problems that some boats are beginning to suffer and my mind was very focussed on the plight of the leader’s boat as we need them back in full health for the rest of the rally. Especially as I understand that we have some exciting times ahead docking in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, quite apart from the start of the Suez canal and Port Said in Egypt.

Such is the pace of events that just a few hours later at 6.30pm everyone was trouping aboard buses for the short trip to a wonderful civic reception hosted by the mayor of Mersin in the grounds of a very smart official building. We were treated to another excellent buffet meal and the wine, Rakki and soft drinks flowed freely all evening. There was a great performance by an official and smartly uniformed brass band, followed by a really good display of traditional Turkish folk dancing. Another more modern band played for while during which the folk dancers attempted to teach people some steps, before finally a disco got going, but by now most of us had taken the early coaches back to the harbour as we were all pretty tired by the exertions of the day and the lack of proper sleep through the night.