Yachting Monthly’s founder Herbert Reiach wrote in the first issue in 1906:‘We shall be glad to receive the best logs and cruising
stories offered to us from all parts of the world’
109 years later, nothing’s changed! We’re still publishing your cruising storiesPLEASE SEND
YOUR STORIES TO
[email protected]Readers’
Cruising
Stories
Yat Marin is also a popular wintering spot for many motor cruisers We were ashore, but the ground around us was certainly not dry land66 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MARCH 2016Cold Turkey – a windy,
wet winter wonderland
Torrential rain and even snow- the Turkish winter can be
harsh but it’s well worth
braving the weather, says
Michael Salano
We all know of the pleasures
and delights of sailing in the
eastern Mediterranean and
many people now keep their
boats permanently in Turkey.
This is a wonderful cruising
ground stretching over many
hundreds of miles, divided by
a wealth of sheltered coves
and small harbours, and the
Greek Dodecanese islands
form a tantalising necklace
on the eastern seaboard to
spread the sailing pleasures
even further.
But what, you may ask,
happens in the winter, so far south
and east of the UK? Well, the
simple answer is that it is just as
wonderful as in the other seasons- except, for a short stretch, the
weather. The holiday-makers are
gone and the opportunities to
visit the major archaeological
sites and central cities are less
frequent, but people do still live
aboard their boats. Yat Marin
near Marmaris has a permanent
community of approaching 150assorted yachts and dozens
of nationalities, linked by
a daily radio net and an
organised social life.
However, in deepest
mid-winter the winds
frequently blow at almost
hurricane strength, bringing
vast amounts of rain, cold
and poor visibility. Much like
the UK, to be near the boat
means donning full oilskins
and warm clothing.
For the last two winters I
have needed to be aboard
my Sun Odyssey 40 in
January to supervise assorted
maintenance and repair jobs.
The winter is the best time
to get this done, as work for
the boatyards is scarce and
labour costs are lower. In the days
leading up to my departure from
the UK, the forecast was for cold
and wet Turkish weather, but I
did not appreciate just how cold
it was going to be until one of
my contractors who was livingnear Marmaris told me that the
temperature had dipped to -6°C.
Such low temperatures are so
rare that when the thaw arrived,
the town suffered a huge bout of
burst water pipes, most of which
are not buried underground.
The mountains of southern
Turkey do get snow and some
people actually ski a little way
inland, where the peaks rise to
3,000 metres. Snowfall by the sea
is very unusual, however.
Instead, of course, it rains – in
a tropical way. Measurements
in millimetres grow rapidly to
centimetres and then it’s back
into ‘old money’. Inches can fall
in less than 24 hours and on the
Tuesday of my visit we saw fi ve
inches in one day, with nearly
ten inches across the week. Life
in the yard becomes untenable,
everything is wet and the ground
fl oods alarmingly. The 360 volt
electricity box next to the boat
looked ominously like an electric
shock waiting to happen. I wouldMichael and Julia Too in Bozburun Harbour in
2014 before we took her out for the winter