How to navigate with google earth

MARCH 2016 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 47

CRUISING

problems. Once through the entrance,

follow the coast on the SE side where

the current is weaker. There may

occasionally be a weak counter-current.

The edge of the main current is readily

identifi ed by eddies welling up where

the sea bottom shelves from the deep channel

to the 20 and 10-metre depth contours. In

practice, a yacht can keep just inside the eddy

line and encounter the full force of the current

only where the channel narrows.

Even if you have a powerful engine it is

worth following the low-power route, which

although longer is quicker overall. It also has

the benefi t of being out of the main shipping

channel for the most part. On the return

journey a yacht can follow the European coast

to take full advantage of the current.

The approach from the Aegean is always

windy in summer and often in spring and

autumn, too. The prevailing NE winds fan

out over the Aegean from the entrance

to the Dardanelles. The Meltemi often

blows at Force 5-7, making it a diffi cult

trip. It is worth building in a time

allowance here so you can wait for the

NE winds to relent a bit. In spring and

autumn you do get southerlies and calms,

although you still have an appreciable

current fl owing out of the Dardanelles to

slow your progress.

Low-powered yachts need to plan

carefully for a passage up the Dardanelles.

The prevailing wind blows straight down

the channel and combined with the

strong current can cause considerable

Getting

through the

Dardanelles

The history of Byzantium

A city called

Byzantium

existed on

the site and

in 330AD it

was renamed

Constantinople,

capital of the

Eastern Roman

Empire. With

the fall of

Rome in 476,

Constantinople

became the

centre of the

Byzantine Empire. By the 6th Century

AD it extended from Spain to Greece,

plus much of Asia Minor and north

Africa. Gradually the empire contracted

as Muslim armies advanced. In 1204,

the Fourth Crusade from Europe

sacked Constantinople and it never

recovered. In 1453, Mehmed II took the

city and empire under Ottoman rule.

the city as proximity. Other marinas are
closer in distance to Sultanahmet, the old
quarter of Istanbul, but most have poor
transport links. Yalova has a ferry port

right next door and it’s an hour on the

ferry to Yeni Kapi, within walking distance

of Sultanahmet. The old days when you

could anchor off in Bebek or Haydarpasa

are long gone and as yet no marinas have

been built in these areas, although there

are plans to do so.

Byzantine ghosts are everywhere.

Haghia Sophia was the largest church ever

until St Peter’s was built a thousand years

later in Rome. The engineering that went

into constructing the vast central dome is

still impressive to this day. You usually get

to Haghia Sofi a, and the Blue Mosque for

that matter, by wandering along the

Hippodrome, which was the centre of

Busy shipping in the

Dardanelles means

yachts must motor

A memorial in the Dardanelles to the Turkish

soldiers killed fi ghting the British in 1915

Mehmed II, who

placed Istanbul and

the Byzantine empire

under Ottoman rule

PHOTO: ALAMY

Yalova Marina near Istanbul made a good base