How to navigate with google earth

CRUISING

46 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MARCH 2016

From Ayvalik we decided we could get
up to Canakkale in the Dardanelles in one
go. It’s a bit of a hike at seventy-plus miles,
but if the weather turned we could always
hole up in old favourites like Babakale or
Bozcaada. As it was, a favourable southerly
breeze took us right up to the entrance and
into the Dardanelles. We motorsailed up to
Canakkale and tied up in the mini-marina.
We had arrived, or so it seemed, at a
milestone on the way to Byzantium.
Much of the wealth of the Byzantine
Empire was built on seaborne trade. It’s
all very well for us with a diesel auxiliary
to chug up the narrow strait against the
prevailing wind, but I can’t understand
how the tubby trading vessels of that era
got up the Dardanelles. These sailing boats
didn’t go well to windward and didn’t carry
enough crew to row. Maybe they had oared
galleys here to tow them up. They certainly
had customs posts because a record of the
Byzantine state’s tolls on trading vessels
survives on a marble plaque in the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum.
We left Canakkale in another fine
southerly and unrolled the genoa for what
we fondly thought would be a pleasant idyll
up the rest of the narrow strait. We were
soon overhauled by a fast Sahil Guvenlik
(coastguard) RIB who, in no uncertain

terms, told us to roll it up and motor: ‘No

sailing in the Dardanelles’. The rule had

been introduced a year or so ago and while

I had been told about it, I thought it would

be one of those things you could fondly

ignore in a small boat. Still, the batteries

were well charged when we got to the Sea

of Marmara and could unroll the genny to

sail along the Asian coast to Karabiga.

In previous editions of the Turkish

Waters Pilot I had described Karabiga

as ‘a sleepy little village sustained by

the surrounding farmland fed by the

Biga River’, so Lu was looking forward

to bucolic scenery. That was before they

decided to open a huge open-cast mine

next to the village and the infrastructure

for a coal-fired power station. We

anchored off with this monstrosity

dominating the landscape and set off early

next morning for Erdek, 20 miles across

the gulf. It was blowing some by the time

we got there, so again we anchored in the

bay next to the harbour. Fortunately Erdek

was still a comfortable little town with

most things you need.

We pottered around for a bit before

setting off for Yalova marina, some 25

miles SSE of Istanbul. While the romance

of sailing into a city like Istanbul with its

unmistakable skyline appeals to the soul,

the reality is that you need somewhere

affordable and easy to moor. Choosing a

berth has as much to do with getting into

The Hippodrome in Sultanahmet has been the
social centre of Istanbul since Byzantine times

Chugging through

the channel into the

‘lake’ at Ayvalik

In the marina at Canakkale, a lively university town near the ruins of the ancient city of Troy