Henry and I set off for our 2014 sailing adventure with lots of
mixed feelings in May. We were both tired, there seemed even more than usual to tie up
before setting off. We were anxious about sailing in Turkey – unchartered
waters for us and quite different to our much-loved Greece. We were worried
about whether the wintering work had been done on the boat. Mostly, we were
dreadfully sad that our friends Fran and George Alagiah would not be joining us
at the end of the week as planned as George had been diagnosed with cancer.
We were leaving on election day, so we flew via Johannesburg,
planning to vote and then fly – only to find that we had very consciously and
carefully left our ID’s in a safe place at home as we would not be needing them
for travelling. Home Affairs surprised us, and within 2 hours on the morning of
election day, we marched off to the polling station with temporary ID’s, put
our crosses where we thought they would be most useful – and set off with a
spring in our steps.
Oren, where our boat was being stored on the hard, is described in
travel books as a delightful surprise……“that rare Turkish sea side town,
untouched and undeveloped with few villas and even fewer tourists”
At first sight, it is dusty and a bit dismal – or maybe it was the
grey, cold weather that made it so. But we went exploring, and discovered a
fascinating old town, built against a mountain covered with the ruins of an
ancient Mycenaean city – thousands of years old. Roman and Byzantine ruins, often
using the stones from the ancient city lie in-between century-old Greek houses –
many abandoned during the infamous swap of Greek and Turkish populations in the
1920’s.
The work on the boat took a while to finish, but Wednesday was
launch day – something that had been filling us with trepidation. For
thousands of years, boats have been launched using the sledge system with
wooden tracks and a winch, and here in Oren they still do it – this was
going to be our first experience of it. I was terrified! As the winch slowly
let us down into the water and the hull started to submerge, the boat crashed
to one side and we felt a hard bump. It bumped a few more times as Henry tried
to reverse straight backwards – not an easy thing with the broad beam that
Pegasus boasts. We went skew and got stuck. We tried again, but still stuck.
One of the workmen dived to dislodge us, and we eventually managed to reverse
far enough out of the shallows to set sail. We sailed 3 hours across the gulf
to a pretty bay where we planned to spend a few nights getting our sea legs
back.
 |
| Pegasus being inched down to the sea on sledge and tracks |
 |
| Ready to launch |
Every hour during the night, the alarm went and we had to pump the
bilges dry. At 5h30, we left and motored for about 20 minutes – and disaster
struck again. Smoke started pouring out of the engine and the engine alarm was
screaming. Henry had forgotten to open the engine seacock and the engine
had overheated, and part of the exhaust had melted. No engine in mid sea………one
of my biggest fears (aside from Henry falling overboard). We raised the sails,
and I took the helm while Henry tried to fix the holes with Pratleys putty. But
there was no wind. For a while we managed to sail at 1 knot, but the wind
disappeared completely and we were drifting. With no wind, there was no control
of the boat. I imagined the rocky cliffs getting closer and closer – it was
beyond terrifying. An hour later when we tried the engine with the mended
exhaust pipe, the anxiety was terrible. Within seconds, water was pouring in to
the engine – there were more holes, impossible to fix. We called Adnan in the
boatyard for help.
 |
| Henry hanging his head in desperation |
But, as with all stories, there is a happy side. We had made friends
in the boatyard with Fabian and Jeff from Paris who had already been incredibly
kind to us. The relief I felt when, 3 hours later, we saw Jeff and Adnan
motoring up in Jeff’s inflatable dinghy was indescribable. They tied up to us
and pushed rather than towed us in, 9 hours after we had set out. But by now
the weather had changed, the wind we needed earlier had risen and it was too
windy and wavy to get onto the sledge, so we made for the small fishing
harbour. The next challenge – to manoeuvre Pegasus in with no engine and a
cross-wind. After many attempts and excessive fear building once again on
my side, with the dinghy nudging and Henry steering, we managed to tie up.
 |
| Adnan and Jeff to the rescue |
 |
| Oren fishing harbour |
 |
| Fabian and Jeff - dinner on Pegasus |
Fabian and Jeff were amazing – they showered us with warmth and generosity
and the next morning with a working engine, we motored to the boatyard, got
lifted out onto the dreaded sledge and fixed a thin crack between the keel and
the hull.
Joy and relief……….but not for long!
We launched, and there was still water pouring into the bilges. I
wanted to weep – correction, I did weep. To make matters worse, I was sick and
had lost my voice completely. We changed course and anchored in the tiny
village of Cokertme.
And this is where the story gets happy again. We did not find the
leak. But the help of everyone in the village was incredible. Captain Ibrahim,
whose restaurant pontoon we were tied to, helped Henry dive, procured dye to
try and detect the leak, brought a diver friend with tanks to plug all the seacock’s
to hopefully eliminate the problem…….nothing worked, but we were so bowled over
by the help and kindness, we were in a beautiful place, the pump was working
well (we had to pump every hour night and day), the restaurant food was
delicious – we did not want to leave.
 |
| Cokertme with Pegaus on the pontoon |
 |
| Captain Ibrahim |
 |
| With Fabian and Jeff at Cokertme |
But we had to sort the leak out, so we arranged (through our many
new contacts) to go to Bodrum Marina where Atilla was standing by to help. Six
days later, with 3 guys working on the boat, trying everything they could think
of to find the leak, we eventually had dry bilges and a plugged hole at the
engine valve – impossible to detect without cutting part of the inner
fiberglass skin away.
 |
| Atilla and his team - the "Inshallah guarantee" they gave worked |
We set sail last Thursday - nearly 3 weeks after arriving - and are now in Kos, Greece. Although there
is a wicked wind blowing, Pegasus is safely moored in the harbour and we have
taken refuge in the town square to drink Mythos and catch up with our lives.
All I know, this sailing thing is not for sissies!!!!!
