Don & Linda set off in June 2001 on their epic voyage from Jordan to Australia, on "Te Kore" their catamaran. Unfortunately, the weather defeated them in October and they had to give up. Read Don's web diary of the ill-fated trip. The following is copied from the messages they sent us en-route.
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Australia 3 JUNE 2001
The time has come the walrus said and we're off to collect the boat over
the next year or so.
Take care and keep in touch
Jordan 28 JUNE 2001
Well, after a lot of blood, sweat & beers the boat is in the water, the mast is up with even a sail hanked
on. New batteries fitted and it looks like we'll be
ready to head for Suez next Saturday morning. It's
been hard work with the temperatures in the 40's
midday so have been trying to do things early morning,
siesta at midday and continue with the jobs in the
evening eating late evening about 8pm. Have been
taking in about 3 litres of water each daily just to
keep moving scrounging ice off the local yacht club
restaurant. The engine started first kick which
surprised us although had to clean out the salt water
pump and heat exchanger to get the water circulating.
The mast was a real sod as we had new shrouds made up
in Israel before we left the boat here and they had
not been tried out for size. As it turned out the
stern shrouds were short and we just managed to get
them to fit at the end of the turn-buckle range and
overtightning of the inner stays. They were also one
size larger diameter with a different wire layup to
the originals so the expensive insulators that I
bought to make one of the stays an aerial for the HF
radio can not be used. Something to have a scratch
about when we get to Cyprus. Linda spent most of a
week lying on here stomach cleaning out the fresh
water tanks and refitting the lids. Unfortunately my
alternative fixing screw system using panel insert
nuts fitted to washers to replace the original self
tapping screws that had lost their grip did not work
very well and we still have leaking covers. The
adhesives would not grip the shiny surfaces of both
the nut insert or the water tank interior so one or
two nuts just spun off when finally tightening. Of
course it was always the last one to be tightened so
the whole twelve had to be undone and tried again. She
was not a happy chap at the end of it all when the
water came out when we filled the tanks.
We plan to sail overnight down the Gulf of Aquaba to
arrive at the tricky Straits of Tiran (which was what
the 67 Egypt / Israel war was all about when Egypt
closed them blocking access to the Israel port of
Elat) early morning and the creep around the corner to
anchor up overnight behind a coral reef. Apart from
being narrow and rough there will probably be a bunch
of ships with the same idea who we would like to keep
away from. The cruise vessel Queen Elizabeth II
brushed against the coral there a few years back
springing a few plates causing a bad leak requiring
emergency repairs. I think the Egyptians fined them 5
million $US. Early next day battle against the
prevailing 20 - 30 knot Northerly winds right on the
nose through the Suez oil fields to find another
overnight shelter. From there onto Suez where we plan
to stay 3-4 days seeing old friends and stocking up
before tackling the Suez Canal the following Saturday
/ Sunday. We will continue directly out of the Canal
at Port Said for Larnaca Cyprus where we will have
another 2-3 week stay to fit out the balance of the
yacht kit. Mainly the safety equipment being
overhauled or replaced which can't be done until then.
Besides that Dave who joined us a week ago from the UK
will be able to meet up with his wife again and see a
bit of Cyprus. Dave presently joins the local
fishermen each morning with his fancy rod and
equipment to now avail while they bring in 3 or 4
small whiting size fish. Keeps the natives amused and
they come by to scrounge through all the junk that we
are tossing out.
Anyway must get back to the chores. Will get back in
touch when we get to Suez. Hope all's well.
Cyprus 17 JULY 2001
Just to confirm thar we arrived in Cyprus 1am Monday
16th July. Will send more later when recovered and
bored with beach patrols.
TE KORE - Cyprus 19 JULY 2001
Presently in Larnaca, Cyprus, after a 16 day trip from
Aquaba, Jordan, to complete bringing the boat up to
scratch. After experiencing brisk Northerlies while
putting the boat back together and refloating in
Aquaba ended up becalmed coming down the Gulf of
Aquaba only to have them stronger than ever dead on
the nose when we headed up the Gulf of Suez. Sheltered
at Shab Ali reef overnight and next day managed only
30 miles in 10 hours to El Tor. The log showed 125
miles so presume that there is a strong Southerly
drift down the East side of the Gulf of Suez pushed by
the strong Northerlies. The Egyptians there proved to
be very inhospitable ignoring requests to go ashore
for water, food & diesel although they took us ashore
under escort to the hospital for a bad cut on Linda's
foot to be looked at. Despite all our information
advising that El Tur was an Egyptian port of entry the
local officials insisted that it never had been. After
3 days gave up and punched our way North motor sailing
with the engine regularly cutting out with what proved
to be a blocked fuel filter, the last one of 3 in the
fuel line! Had completely drained the tank and
refilled before launching but the sloshing about in
the tank must have loosened the crud. Two days later
motored into Suez in dead calm. Our trepidation of the
unplanned sailing through the oil fields at night
right up against the shipping lanes proved to be a
little more relaxing as it seemed that the shipping
North timed itself to avoid these close quarters at
night. The expectation of a red & green bearing down
dead astern didn't happen although we all had kinks in
our necks looking over our shoulder to make sure. Met
at Suez by the infamous 'Prince of the Red Sea' who's
standard prices surprised us now being $US250 but
actually closer to $300 when we left. Our experience
in Egypt was bitter sweet having both
lived/worked/met/married there over 10+ year period.
It was great meeting old friends however the hassles
and messing around, especially in Suez, left a sour
taste. Anyone passing through should consider
security. Our boat was boarded while we were overnight
in Cairo with mooring changed and a bracket broken
which the Tawfik Yacht Club knew nothing about.
Another night while ashore making phone calls our
inflatable tied to their jetty was let down. Again
blank faces all around. Our Prince got a bit more than
he bargained for when he tried to charge $US40 for
four shopping bags of washing. As a final gesture we
all got a good dose of Pharoeh's revenge from the
water we took on board. The trip through the Suez
Canal was uneventful except for the baksheesh demands
from the pilots which was expected having brought
Australian hats & pens but the $10 got short shrift
after our experiences. We were surprised at the
polution in Lake Timsah. The anchor came up as if we'd
anchored in a septic tank while the log impellor and
sea water galley pump were clogged with 1000's of sea
lice after just 10 hours at anchor.
Now that we have been in Larnaca for four days boating
is living up to it's reputation of being a hole in the
water surrounded by plastic into which you throw
money. Have just got back from a rural bus trip to
Limmasol where we watch our life raft being checked
out. Managed to get a couple of extra fishing lines,
water and ration packs being put in but we're going to
have to be really desperate to climb in. The surveyor
who checked it was surprised at the good condition
after last being looked at 11 years ago when we
departed Cyprus for Egypt that many years ago. Now
trying to get the battery rebuilt for the EPIRB which
expired 5 years ago which is showing definite signs of
internal haemorrhage. Cyprus is experiencing a
heatwave at present and the daytime 38 DegC / 75%
humidity deteriorates into a fog overnight which
leaves everything dripping wet. It's not too bad
during the day but atnight it's like trying to sleep
in a sauna.
Anyway must get on with the list. Got to try and
tighten up the slack in the rudder system. The banging
and knocking is keeping half the marina awake.
Cyprus 6 AUGUST 2001
We're setting off to Fethiye, Turkey (N36deg 36min,
E29deg,o6min for those sticking pins in wall)
tomorrow.
theoretically should take 3-4 days but prevailing
winds are on the nose so could take a day or two
longer.
Will be in touch when we arrive and can find internet
access
Arryval yn Turkey 13 AUGUST 2001
Just to let you know that have managed ıt to Fethıye.
Turkey last Saturday and wıll start movıng on down the
coast tomorrow towards Bodrum. Very temptıng to bury
the anchor here.
Bıt trıckey sendıng thıs usıng a Turkısh keyboard so
wıll try and type up somethıng on the laptop whıle on
the move to forward at next port
Marmaris, Turkey 18 AUGUST 2001
Sitting in the bay of Marmaris under the windchute
trying to keep cool. We hadn't planned to come here
but I decided to check out the Autohelm self steering
unit which seemed to be to busy when operating
reacting to every rock of the boat and when finished I
had killed it for good. Marmaris is the biggest boat
center this part of Turkey and had and agent who fixed
it in 20 minutes for a price of $300 by replacing the
circuit board. Lesson learnt that if it ain't broke
don't fix it.
Turkey is a great place and it would be nice to bury
the anchor here but we have to keep moving. The trip
form Cyprus was a bit of a slog with either mill pond
or 20 knots of wind dead on the nose. It took us 5
days to do the 220 odd miles and sometimes we sailed
60 miles to get 20 miles in the right direction. The
motor worked overtime and we arrived in Fethiye with
just 20 liters of diesel. We got a mooring off a hotel
jetty with use of the swimming pool, showers etc after
the municipal marina wanted to charge $US20 a day.
Spent 3 nights there and it was a clean pleasant place
to recharge and clean up after the trip. Dave left us
there to return to the UK and we continued on day
sailing overnighting at various coves on the way
basically following a trip I read about in a sailing
magazine I picked up at Sydney airport. The first
night was at Tomb Bay (Because of the rock tombs
carved into the hillside) and we had our first attempt
at mooring Turkish style where you drop your anchor
and then take a line ashore tied to a tree. We dropped
the anchor too far out in deep 35m of water and had
nearly the full 100m of chain and rope out. Getting it
back in the morning took all our efforts on the winch
with 20m of heavy chain plus the anchor as a dead
weight. Glad we changed out the anchor chain and
manual winch chain wheel so that they matched and
didn't jump off as before otherwise it would be
impossible. Linda looks with envy at boats coming in
with proper feeding and electric winches with a young
lady simply pushing buttons. I just look at the young
lady
We get up early to be away by 6.30am to get as much of
the light early morning winds as possible as they are
generally against us and the meltimi blows up to 20
knots by midday. From Tomb Bay we headed to Ekincik
Limani which is near to the ancient ruins of Cannus.
We negotiated an expensive price for a local boat to
collect us the next day and take us around the
headlands, over the river bar (where we nearly had to
get out and push) and up the river negotiating river
channels through the tall marsh reeds. You would never
be able to do it on your own. Cannus was quite
impressive although I got lost as usual with the dates
and who had been there before being taken over by
someone else. It seems that this area was the local
battle field for the Romans and Persians as well as
the locals. We were glad that we started early in the
morning as we finished mid morning when it was getting
too hot and the hoards of tourists started arriving.
We continued up the river to a small town of Dalyan.
We had thought from the price that the trip included
ancient mud pools further up the river which is
recommended but not so so again ripped off. They must
see us coming.
Next morning more successful with getting the anchor
up and arrived in Marmaris midday to anchor off the
hotels in the SE corner of the bay. There is a very
good marina here however it is the most expensive in
Turkey plus a high surcharge for catamarans. Hence we
decided to economise by just anchorıng off and took
the dinghy ashore catching the local bus around to the
marina where the Autohelm agent for the expensive
repair. It's OK anchored off but the local tour boats
and speed boats cut around us making us rock around in
their wash. At night, even a few hundred meters off
shore, there is a real noise until the early hours
from the bars & discos which kept Linda awake. (I
sleep through anything). We had intended to move on
early this morning but at 5.30am there was already 15
knots of wind and I suspect that it will really blow
up this afternoon so taking the opportunity to do a
little bit of work in the boat, catch up on
correspondence and find an internet cafe to send it.
Our plans are to continue day sailing to Bozuk Buku,
Knidos near the end of the Dorian Promontory and then
Bodrum. Will stay at Bodrum for a day or so stocking
up and also to check out the Prout (same manufacturer
as this one) catamaran charter boats especially to
look at the modern design anchor hauling arrangements
as there has to be a better way.
After Bodrum it is a short hop to Kos in Greek waters
to check in and by which time we will have figured out
our route through the Greek islands and towards Spain
etc.
Personally we are doing fine although I have an
infected ear from swimming and a burnt hand when I
lost my balance as the boat lurched at anchor and I
left the palm of my hand on a hot Tilley lamp. Linda's
toe recovered OK only for her to get a wrenched ankle
when she stepped into an open locker. ie situation
normal although the infected ear is a nuisance as it
happened in the other ear while in Cyprus and then I
ended up having to hunt down a doctor who wasn't on
summer vacation. The leftover drops from that episode
seem to be working.
Must get away to send this, find a weather forecast
and find a bar who will let me plug in the PC to
recharge while we have a beer or two. Still figuring
out how to recharge the PC form the boat batteries
without buggering up the PC which I probably will.
Hope all's well.
CONTINUING SAGA 5 SEPT '01 - Te Kore Goes Walk About
3 September 2001, Pilos Greece N35deg 48.25sec,
E21deg 38.86sec.
Well we've made it to here crossing the Aegean leaving
Greece tomorrow heading accross the Ionian Sea to
Reggio Calabria, Italy before tackling the Messina
Straits with its whirlpools and overfalls which should
be interesting.
The drama's continue. After sending the last email
returned to find the boat had gone walkabout. After
persuading the local skiboat operator that the boat
couldn't have left without us he gave me a high speed
chase downwind accross Marmaris Bay where we found it
anchored on the otherside. Although we had been in
that spot for two days without moving just after we
left to go into town there was some very high wind
gusts which must have dragged the anchor which would
have lifted as it moved into deeper water to hook
itself up again 5 miles away. Nearly the end of the
trip. Went to head off the next day but couldn't get
the Autohelm with it's new PCB to set up properly so
headed into the Marmaris marina to get the agent.
Being Sunday he wasn't there so we had to check in and
the 22 Sterling charge nearly stopped us in our tracks
again. Tracked down the agent when he turned up mid
morning and found that there were some subtle changes
to the setup proceedures so we set off again and they
worked. A very expensive fiddle and the new card still
shows the same problem.
Daysailed along the coast anchoring overnight at Buzuk
Buto and Knidos where apparently the first naked women
statue was sculptured but I couldn't find it. The Poms
probably stole it last century. All very nice although
pain trying to actually sail with the winds continuing
to change to be against you in whatever direction you
needed. I reckon the tradewinds will change direction
when we get to the Atlantic at this rate. It's all
been sail assisted motoring todate with the Lister
engine thumping away in it's box. You get used to
shouting your conversations so that when it
occassionally gets switched off you keep on shouting.
Few days later rattled into Bodrum marina to check out
of Turkey only to be stung for $US77 for two nights
stay. If you can keep out of the marinas Turkey is a
reasonable place to stay with friendly helpful people.
The engine was off alignment and really threatening to
tear itself off it's mountings so spent a day tracking
down a mechanic who said that he needed to take out
the engine completely and it would take at least two
days I said forget it. Linda helped me slog the
mounting bolts up with a hammer and I found a loose
nut lying beside the engine which tracked down to one
of the coupling bolts. Fitted that up tight and the
engine hammering disappeared although Linda reckons
lying on the cockpit bench is the next best thing to a
vibromassage bed.
So we vibro massaged our way accross to Kos. If we
thought we were stung in Turkey the Greeks have it
down to fine art with transit logs, yacht taxes and
harbour fees for basically nothing. At least in turkey
you got a bathroom, showers, water and electricity for
your money. It was nearly a 100 quid by the time they
finished. Linda wanted see the tree Hypocrote's taught
under, it's supposed to be the oldest tree known, over
2,500 years old. Hired a scooter to go and see
Askelapion, remains of a similar aged hospital and
then we fell off the scooter on a tight oily corner.
Big bruises, scrapes and wrenched back as a result.
Apart from the scooter incident not to impressed with
Kos with surly people and officious authorities. Next
anchorage was Astipolia which was a sheltered lagoon
connected by a narrow gorge to the sea. The wind blew
up to 5/6 even there so we stayed for an extra night
in bleak desolate landscape with sheep bells clinking
in the evening as they returned to there shelters.
Apart from the sheep and couple of fishing boats made
you wonder what people did to exist in these places.
From there continued on to Thira which is basically a
big ruptured volcano crater a bit like Akaroa
peninsular in Canterbury NZ tying up in a local
fishing harbour on the South side. Set off for an
overnight sail to Elafonsis at the SE corner of the
Peloponnisos. Thought we might get some real sailing
in as we churned along at 5-6 knots in the right
direction with the engine killed but that lasted about
one hour when it completely died and the sea was like
a mill pond. So it was back to thumping along again.
Suppose it was better than the normal alternative
which would have been the prevailing Westerly Force
5/6 winds directly against us. Sheltered overnight in
a fairly exposed bay and another overnight sail to
where we are now in Pilos. It is full moon at present
but we found out that this is a major shipping lane
with large ships passing every 30 minutes or so. It's
a bit of a heart stopper to have huge freighters at
which you have been flashing your million candlepower
spotlight at pass directly a couple of hundred meters
behind you. Seeing red and green lights coming
directly at you is something I don't like at all. This
place was supposed to be a marina but it's only an
unfinished shell of a place with zero facilities.
Again harbour fees and we have to make arrangements to
go into the commercial harbour for diesel and water
tomorrow before we leave although it is a nice day and
will try and get time to check out the museum and old
massive fort on the harbour entrance.
Hope all's well. Next stop Italy and have to keep on
moving to Spain via Sardinia, Ibitha to meet up with
Jude in Malaga end September.
PS 5 Sept '01
We're still here. Lousy weather forecasts with Force
8's predicted but we're sitting in the sunshine
wondering if it is going to happen
20 September 2001
A damp cloudy day parked up in the harbour at
Cagliari, Sardinia, waiting for the harbour man to
come and see if they can supply any water.
It has been the most frustrating and disappointing 3
weeks in our lives as we struggled against the
prevailing weather accross the Ionian and Tyrrenian
Seas wilth weather ranging from 30knot Westerlies dead
against us to complete calms. It's been worse for
Linda who couldn't get her sea-legs and could not eat
and sick for days at a time. We left Pilos at evening
on a favourable weather forecast and spent the night
dodging ships that were coming through like motorway
traffic. There is nothing like a set of red & green
navigation lights bearing down on you to get the heart
pumping and the motor valve bouncing as you tried to
figure out if they had seen us and what direction to
head for. Consequently we ended up South of our
required track. From there the weather deteriorated
and we were down to minimal sails and running the
engine to try and point as well as we could against
the NW wind to head vaguely into the direction we
needed. Four days later we managed it to point towards
the Messins straits having found out that the intended
Port we were going to try for was silted up at the
entrance but in 3 hours we had only made 2 miles
against the wind and currents. We were at our wits end
so decided to head back to see if we could anchor
outside the harbour wall to shelter from the wind and
sea. 30 minutes later we had got back to where we were
and noticed small fishing boats going into the harbour
so decided to give it a go. There was a narrow channel
through the gravel banks that had built up accross the
entrance so with Linda shouting instructions managed
to negotiate seeing the bottom. Inside was a big
commercial port associated with a large ore processing
plant with railway sidings and all the facilities that
was completely dead and not working. Several places we
tried to tie up alonside we were shouted away from by
the local fishermen which was our introduction to
Italy but found a place against the harbour wall which
was 3 meters above us. Another British yacht crew came
over and helped us tie up as we couldn't get up the
wall and the locals weren't being helpful. They
invited us over but we collapsed for some sleep. Next
day was clear and warm so decided to make a run for
the last 15 miles to Reggio di Calabria. Managed to
get out the harbour only scraping the bottom once and
we accidently timed it with the Northerly tide
current. Although the log was only showing 4 knots the
GPS was indicating 5.5 to 6 and we wondered if the
last four days had been a bad dream with the warm
sunny skies. Found our way into the yacht basin in
the port and being early in the day we managed to get
the only available berth. However it was right at the
end near to the entrance so the wash from the ferries
in the main harbour had us with about 5 boats at the
end rolling and pitching bouncing off each other. They
promptly started charging us $A50/night and told us
that the water was off. Being at the end and with the
yacht basin being at the far end of the harbour it
meant a real 'U' trudge right around the port and it
took 30 minutes walking to get into town. That
reminded us of Egypt with the racetrack driving
tacking your life in your hands whenever you tried to
cross the road. It was also then when we realises we
were going to have fun with communications due to our
ignorant monolinguistic English language and very few
local Italians able to speak English. It proved to one
of the lighter humourous parts as we tried to
pantomine, make sketches etc and the Italians went out
of their way to try to help dragging us around until
they could find someone to help.
Anyway, after a few minor repairs, reprovisioning and
filling every spare container we had with diesel we
set off midday 14 September to catch the 4 knot
Northerly tide flow through the Messina Straits. For
once in a long time things seem to be working out as
we raced along like a cork out of a bottle dodging the
ferries crossing to Sicily and joining in with the
big shipping to get through the narrow channel. The
eddies and overfalls were amazing as the boat was
tugged one way then the other with the thought that it
would be a nightmare with any wind or against the
tide. Around the corner with favourable wind and
current with us we actually got sailing and began to
be a bit optimistic for the first time in weeks.
Stupid people. Middle of the night passed avoided an
unlit lump of rock out from Palermo that we couldn't
find on the chart which was marginally better than
ship dodging as at least the rock wasn't moving and
then the weather turned against us. Driven North of
our track we made some progress until aForce 6/7 hit
us directly from the West were we needed to go. For
over 24 hours we sailed North/South trying to make
headway with this plastic box that has the sailing
windward performance of a 40ft container slaming into
the waves evry few minutes stopping us in our tracks.
The sail power could only just match the windage on
the boat and were continually being knocked backwards
by the waves. In 30 hours we sailed 60 miles making
about 10 in the correct direction. By this stage we
were completely frustrated with the whole game and
ready to abandon the boat at the next port. Eventually
the wind eases and moved SW so we could make some
progress although we were so far North of our intended
track we decided to head for Cagliari rather than the
planned port at the Southern end of Sardinia although
this is inside a 20 mile bay adding 40 miles to the
original route. We finally made the 320 miles to
Cagliari in 5 days which is very slow progress and now
tied up in the corner of the commercial harbour being
gawked at by people and cars cruising the docks. Now
that we have had a bit of rest and Linda has had her
first solid food for 6 days we can figure out what we
will do next. It's my 52nd birthday tomorrow which
makes me wonder about the places I end up in and how /
why I get there. Linda has started to make cake, the
drizzle has stopped which wasn't enough to wash the
salt off the boat so had better get on with drying out
the insides of the boat from the water that got in
during the trip and getting it ready for the next
battle around Sardinia to Menorca we hope. PC
batteries nearly flat so hope this finds you all fit &
well.
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