Bozburun

We left Kadirga Limanı at 1030 on 12 April and as soon as we were clear of the bay hoisted all sails. BV sped along west making good time with very easy sailing. However, as we sailed further along Rhodes Channel the wind increased but also became more variable as it was funnelled between the peaks of the peninsula to our right. We had anything from 3 knots of wind to 25 knot gusts, which made settling on a sail plan difficult.

We approached the end of the peninsula and started to beat north to clear the headland before we could aim towards Bozburun. As we put a reef in the main I spotted that the block on the clew through which the reefing line runs had come loose and that we were about to lose parts of it overboard. That held us up for a bit as we danced around half-way through the reefing process trying to prevent any sail flap so that we could rebuild the block. That didn’t work and so we took it apart, saving the bits from a watery fate, and then put in a second reef. A second reef was actually what we needed as the wind increased and we sailed hard on the wind to make progress north.

Once clear of the headland we bore away to make Bozburun and BV romped along at over 8 knots.

The wind stayed high right up to the entrance of the channel between the islands just to the south of Bozburun and then became variable due to funnelling. We rolled away more genoa and we wondered if the wind would cause us problems mooring in the harbour.

As it turned out we moored up before the gusty wind really got up. Not our straightest anchor laying but not bad for the first of the season. After such a boisterous sail we decided that a beer in the cockpit was in order which was very pleasant. More so, as we watched the wind gauge indicate up to 27 knots in the gusts we realised that the timing of our arrival had been excellent.

Bozburun itself is slowly getting ready for the season. Most of the more touristy shops are still closed down for the winter but the food shops are open and so we took the opportunity to buy some of those things that we had forgotten to get in Marmaris. Around the harbour lots of gulets are either still on the hard or being worked on at their moorings. We spoke to a Scottish lady who runs one of the restaurants with her Turkish husband and she explained that there was a lot of concern in the area about what impact there would be on tourism because of the recent terrorist attacks at Istanbul and Ankara.

Call to a Turkish housewarming party   

Whilst we were clearing up from lunch we heard some loud drumming and pipes being played. Looking out there was a collecting of people gathering on the bridge who then set off, led by the drummers and the pipe player. The Turkish chap from the next door yacht explained that some locals were moving house. The drumming and music, therefore, seemed to be the calling for the house warming party.

BV in her new colours    

We spent 2 nights in Bozburun using the intervening day to potter about and catch up on admin. The fridge still didn’t seem to be completely happy with a bit more backpressure than normal. We descaled the water cooling pipes and now all seems well. We have a very small (2 egg-cups worth) of a water leak from the engine pipework but I can’t see where that is coming from yet, so we will have to monitor that. Plus, we ended up with about half a litre of water in the bilge; another thing to monitor. With less than a litre of water where it shouldn’t be we’re hardly sinking but it would be nice to get everything solved so that any future problems stand out clearly.

It would have been ideal if we could have completed the paperwork to clear from Turkey in Bozburun but the immigration and police offices are not open here until May. The nearest port of entry and departure is Datça and so we’ll most likely make our way in that direction next.

Bozburun, Turkey