2017 Where is LeeZe? Pythagorio > Kusadasi A Major Repair Job!

Dear all,

On 7 August, we are underway to Pythagorio where this time,  we moored along the wall.





Pythagorio's daily rate for motor yachts is 36 € /day water and electricity included. We came in late so we paid for an extra day. Pythagorio is an active town with lots of people walking after the sun goes down. Took a day trip to Vathy where we had been last year to shop at Lee's favorite butcher on the island and Zehra's favorite fruit and veggie guy.

Our 90 day visa clock runs out on 12 August, so Zehra wants to check out the day before just in case there are problems. So, on 11 August, we trek over to the Passport Police who is so nice and full of useful info that we nearly fall over. He said that Greece allows us to stay as much as 24 hours after your passport is stamped and if one asks nicely to the Port Police, they can extend that one extra day. The we go to the Port Police and tell him we want to depart the next day and he says "then, come back tomorrow."

So, we are officially out of the country, but LeeZe is not. So, on 12 August, we go to the Port Police who have seem to have lost out arrival paperwork, so we sit they while they recreate it. Then out come the stamps, and with numerous chunks, our arrival paperwork is stamped and so it our transit log. Then after taking photos of the now completed transit log (just in case) and paying a €5 exit fee (this is new), we walk next store to the Customs Office and she takes the transit log, looks at it for all of 5 seconds, and says goodbye!!

So, we depart for an anchorage at the tip of Samos called Poseidonio. It is a 5 nm run and when we turn into the bay, there we se what we believe is MV Castalio, a 1968 95 gross ton wood yacht that was built in Scotland, and owned by a very good Turkish friend who last we heard was very very sick.

It is Castalio, and our friend, with part of his family, is on board. We try to anchor near to them, but there was not enough room if the weather turns bad, so we anchored just a little further away. Now, at this time, the anchor windlass was acting "funny" but it functioned and I did not give it another thought. Our friend came by and invited us over later when they return from their shore side trip. We catch up then, and learn that he is about 60% better after falling some 5-6 meters off of a scaffold onto the concrete while doing some repairs to Castalio. He suffered significant neck injuries that took weeks to diagnose. As he is not a spring chicken, the healing process is quite slow and he is still on the mend. But we are so happy that is better that we are both overjoyed.

He invited us ashore for dinner, but as we were officially out of Greece, we did not want to poke at the immigration Gods by going ashore. So we decline.

It is now 13 August and our PLAN was depart the anchorage and go to Teos, north of Kusadasi. Up at 0800 and notice that Castalio is gone. We kind of expected that as the owner is an early bird riser who likes to begin his trips just after dawn. So, we get ready to leave and I goes to retrieve the anchor. The motor spins but the wildcat does not. No amount of prodding can get it to work.

I begin retrieving the anchor by hand but realize that I do not enough in me to retrieve the 65 meters of chain out + the anchor. There is another lifting motor on board which is used to raise the tender. I rig it in such a way that the wire goes from the boom thru an omega shackle tied to a rail thru the bullseye of the anchor system to the chain. In this way, the motor can be used to bring in 2-3 meters of chain.

Surprisingly, a man in a tender shows up and asks if I need help! He is a godsend, and the next time we cross paths, I promised him the dinner of his choosing! With him in the tender, we can place the hook further down the chain and bring in more of it at one time. But this lifting motor is not big, and after 3-4 lifts, the thermal overloads trip. Between dousing it with water and waiting, we are able to get the anchor to the surface but no higher. The entire retrieval process took three hours!. So, again with this man's help, I use a mooring line to lift the anchor as far out of the water and tie it in place along side the starboard side of the bow.

He departs, and so do we.




The plan to go to Teos goes down the tube. We are off to the Kusadasi marina some 15-16 nm away for repairs. The sea is so calm that the anchor hardly ever bangs against the hull. There, we know a person who helped repair the anchoring system (but not the windlass) in 2014 so I call him on the phone (I have his cell #) explain to him the problem and he says he THINKS he can get someone to look at it on Monday, and for sure, Tuesday.

Since we had no anchor, we cannot drop anchor in the harbor and wait for him, so we arrive at the marina and get a space near to the machine shops. I am tired, filthy, and concerned because I have a problem that I cannot fix.

Our good Turkish friend is also in the same marina, comes over later on this Sunday, and between us and two beers, we deduce the problem is inside the windlass, bolted below the deck in the anchor locker.

Meanwhile, our neighbor to port calls up his repair person who tells him that he will be by Monday at about 3 PM to look at the problem.

So, the next morning is Monday. Knowing that the windlass will have to come out, I CAUTIOUSLY open the chain locker (34 bolts, as it is also a collision bulkhead) in the forward stateroom thinking that the chain COULD be laying against the metal plate and could tumble out onto me me and the floor if I am not careful.

But the chain is not resting against anything! It is piled up quite nicely in the middle of the locker. So, laying blankets everywhere, I slowing pull out 100+ meters of chain, leaving just enough so that the person taking the windlass out can stand on the chain, which is relatively flat.

Then I go to the bow and disassemble the upper part of the windlass just on the off chance that the problem is in that part. Nope, having taken this apart every year for the last 5, I see nothing broken.

If you would have seen me, you would have found dirt and grease over most of my body and clothes.

Then a miracle of sorts happens. My person that I called on Sunday shows up at 2PM with two people in tow. He hears my story, sees my windlass is not working, and tells his guys to pull it out. We go down below and his face lights up. I have done all the menial work so the two dive in and 15 minutes later, the windlass is out and on the aft table. Then, we all go off to the work bench in his shop, and slowly taken apart. We get the gears all out and none look damaged. That is a great sign because it points to a "key" on a shaft somewhere being broken. But as we take it all apart, every key is fine and undamaged. Then they start disassembling the motor and we find the broken key. It is tiny, maybe 3 x10 millimeters, and it sure is broken.

(Meanwhile, my neighbor's mechanic shows up at 3PM, realizes that there is no work, gets quite upset with me and throws me the finger. This is when I learned that my neighbor called him on my behalf.)

I got a somewhat generic diagram from the net of the windlass and studied it quite carefully. The mechanics found a 4.5 mm movement between the motor's drive gear and the windlass' main gear, which they thought was excessive. No one could find any evidence that a wear ring was grounded down into pieces. A magnet was used to scan the oil and the oil was clean, and clean also to touch. The diagram showed that there should have been a 4 mm aluminum wear ring there but the other 4 wear rings were steel, not aluminum.

Called the company in Italy and come to learn, for my size and larger windlasses, the wear rings are steel, and they could not believe that one got assembled without one. They also said that I should have been told that I need to pull this windlass apart every three years to inspect, replace the keys (as they wear) apply fresh grease and change the 140 weight oil. When I said that was NOT in the manual, they said that is a generic manual and my distributor should have told me this.

(So lesson learned is no electrical or hydraulic machine can go years on a boat without an open and inspect and repair, and even the most well made items have parts inside that wear and need replacing.)

So, the mechanics measured everything and remade two wear rings to take up the slack that existed. The company said that main gear should have no more than 0.5mm play and when done, the mechanics got this on within 0.2mm.

So, now it is Tuesday afternoon and they are back on board to reinstall, which goes without a hitch. They help me reload the locker with the chain and then we all go topside to reassemble the anchor mechanism topside. Here is where I learn that I was using way way way too much grease, and putting grease on mating surface that allow the anchor windlass to grip and do its job.

With it all reassembled, I go and attach the bitter end of the chain to the anchor and to make a long story short, dump the entire chain locker into the water to ensure that there are no kinks and chain runs thru without a problem. There is none and by late Tuesday, the anchor is in its proper position on the bow of LeeZe.

I go and pay, and the job was not cheap. They stopped two scheduled jobs to handle me so I paid a small premium for the work. The boss also promised me that if this should fail again within the next three years, call him and as long as I am in Turkey, he and his men will come to me and fix it for free.

So, I am just as dirty and filthy as on Sunday but this time, the marina's showers get a chance to clean me up. I am also bone tired and after dinner out, and a walk about after dinner, my energy levels are hovering just above zero.

Wednesday morning I get up to wash LeeZe because guests are coming. Make a quick run to the grocery store, pay my dockage fee (not cheap either!) and by the time our guests arrive, I am dragging my ass on the floor. When the time comes to depart, I call a timeout and decide to stay until the next morning because I think I would have made costly mistakes because I was so tired.

That is all for now folks!

If you have any questions, please ask.

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com

2017 Where is LeeZe? Mykonos > Ikaria

Dear all,

There does come a break in the wind and on 25 July, we are off to Ornos Bay on the southern side of Mykonos Island and anchor.



From this picture, Ornos Bay is not far from the main port and in fact, Zehra took a 20 minute bus to there. For the record, we both do not seem to understand how this island became the playground for the rich and famous. To us, we can take it or leave it.



However, I chose NOT to go with her because if there ever was a crowded anchorage, this one exceeded any that I had experienced before. First, on the outer edge were huge motor yachts anchored in 100+ meter water where LeeZe would be a tender for them. Then, the next row were extremely large sailing yachts. Then there was a break until the water got to be less than 30 meters. This area was dominated by 20+ meter power yachts moored to mooring buoys. Then, as one works your way in to the shallower water, more mooring buoys with smaller yachts tied to them. I eventually anchored in 13 meters of water, surrounded by power boats moored to their mooring buoy. For NEARLY the entire time we were there, the wind blew from the south, which is very unusual. My chief concern was that when the wind changes, LeeZe, at anchor, has a far larger swing radius than any of these boats on their mooring point, and therefore the risk of collision seemed to me to be quite high, almost inevitable.

But the night before our departure, the wind does swing around to come from the north, and when I wake up and look out, I realized that a collision was not inevitable.



On 28 July, with nice weather, we move on toward the east to the island of Ikaria. This is an 8+ hour trip to the main port of this island, so we decide to stop at a little village along the way called Magganitis.



The weather was fine for most of the crossing, with the seas getting quite choppy and confused as we approached the western tip of the island. The EagleRay guide did state that one could expect high winds coming off the steep mountain slopes and that one could avoid them by traveling 3+ miles off shore. What I experienced was that these high winds did abate that far off shore, replaced by steep and choppy waves. The guide also said that Magganitis was a protected anchorage from winds in very direction, but this was VERY misleading as the only place were this protection existed was in an inner harbor even our tender would find small and crowded.



So, we anchored off this little town, and went in for evening dinner. The cafe/bar/restaurant at the very base of the town was crowded, so we had dinner there. Zehra ordered calamari and she said it was the best she had had this year.

The next morning, we are underway for Kirikos, this island's main town and capital. It is only a two hour run, but for 95% of the run, LeeZe was heeled 8-9 degrees to starboard by the 30-45 knots winds coming off the island hitting abeam. It was a little unnerving to run like this.



We arrived in Kirikos and anchor in the eastern part of their commercial port. The guide tells of a marina being built in town, but not yet finished.



So, we get into the tender and go ashore, to the Port Police. To make a long story short, we are allowed to stay where we are anchored for no more than 1 day as a large ferry in arriving the next night at ~ 1800. We are also allowed to tie up at the marina, even though it is not opened. So, back into the tender we go and we take it to check out the new marina. The entrance is narrow and requires a course change to get in, but the water is deep up to the rocks. We note a spot side too next to the yet unopened marina office and we get back to LeeZe and make quick haste to get to that spot before someone else takes it. Up anchor, and we move. LeeZe is quite sluggish but we get into the spot will relative ease. Come to learn there is no electricity but there is water, which I do use to wash the salt off of LeeZe.

Astern of me is a Japanese sailor of limited English. We learn that he has been the Med for 3 years, and right now, "motor" is broken. He is waiting for a mechanic to come.

The next day, 30 July, a diver and a mechanic show up and work about an hour under the boat, taking off a foldable prop. When they get it on shore, it is painfully obvious that this single handle sailor has hit something because two of the 3 blades were badly mangled. Later he comes and tells me that they want 1000 € to fix it, and it will take about a week. He looks so depressed, but has no choice.

On a lark, I ask the diver if he could inspect my prop. He goes down and 15 minutes later, comes up with about 20 meters of rope that he cut from my proper. Now I know why LeeZe was sluggish. I give him 20 € for his trouble.

This island is known for many of its people living past 100 years old. It is obvious why. There are steep stairs one has to use to get to and from home, market, beach etc. Roads are quite steep and windy. The island's roads are so windy that there is only 2 buses that crosses the island each day, one starting here and going west, and the one on the west coast coming to here. The one way trip takes 5-6 hours if there are no accident or road closures.

We plan to stay in Kirikos until the next weather window allows us to move east. On Monday, that looks like Friday, but come Thursday, it now looks like Saturday. Come Saturday, it now looks like Sunday, and on Sunday morning, one last check of the weather now shows that Monday is the day to go.

We are both ABSOLUTELY FED UP with this MELTEMI Wind!

There was a short weather window during the middle of the week to go west and nearly all the boats in the marina took advantage of that window. A Greek flagged power boat owned by an Austrian couple came in during the later part of the week. Thy were trying to get to Athens, and they also had had it with the wind.

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, 6 August, the day we THOUGHT we would be moving on, things started to look up for our Japanese boater. The diver and mechanic came by, with boxes of parts, and within an hour, a new prop was installed and tested satisfactory. This was the first time I saw a smile come to the sailor's face. Later, he also says he is departing tomorrow for points south.

Meanwhile, I ask this diver if he would clean my mechanical speed wheel that measures boat speed. I ask if 10 € is enough and he nods. It takes him 2 minutes to clean the wheel and I give him the money. As he is getting out of his dive suit, I ask if he would like to rinse off at our shower on our aft deck. He jumps at the chance and the I offer him soap and hot water, he becomes quite grateful. While drying, I come to learn that he asks 100 € to clear line from props and 50 € to clean speed wheels. But, he also said no one has ever offered their shower so, he considers us even!

On 7 August, we are underway to Pythagorio where this time we moored along the wall. The Japanese sailor is already gone by the time we depart at 0900.

That is all for now folks!

If you have any questions, please ask.

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com

2017 Where is LeeZe? Katapola > Naxos > Paros

Dear all,

Our June 15th trip to Naxos,



was uneventful, about 17 nm long, and took about 3 hours. We anchored to the North of the ferry dock, and per the sailing guide, made sure the anchor was holding.



Per the GRIB forecast, we have strong winds building for the next few days so even though we dropped anchor in just 4 meters of water, I let out about 40 meters of chain and then some 10-12 more meters after attaching the snubber line.

Per radar, GPS, and the naked eye, my CPA to the South ferry dock was no less than 30 meters, and to the NW rock wall, no less than 80 meters. IF the wind, which is predicted to be from the North (or so) actually came in from the south, I would spin into the swim area to the east, but the size of the waves would probably make it hazardous to use. I also MIGHT go aground as the water was posted on the charts as being 1-2 meters in depth, but the PROBABILITY of the wind shift was quite low given the forecast and my experience.

Th first night at anchor we stayed on board, just in case I screwed something up.

The next day, we lowered the tender into the water and headed ashore in the evening. We walked around, found the Municipality Port building, and observed what looked like a marina south and east of the ferry dock. As it was late, we left the arrangements needed to come to the "city wall" until the next day.

Back on board, I noted a catamaran anchored ahead of me, toward the swim area, and as best as I could tell, he was anchored over my anchor. I thought that was foolish but hell. I am usually the most cautious boater around for stuff like this.

The weather the next day did NOT disappoint in so far as being faithful to the forecast, but we were riding very well, so in the afternoon, we went ashore again. We found the Municipality Port building closed and so on a lark, we thought to check out the "marina," making bets as to how much per day "they" wanted.

Much to our surprise it was the Municipality Port Marina, and the fee for LeeZe was €21/day, water and electricity included. Talking to the Harbor master we come to learn that if we can tell him the day before, he said just "come on in!" between 10-11 the next morning.

Seemed simple, and when things seem simple, Murphy is lurking just to make it not so.

So, on 21 June, in the afternoon, we talk to the Harbormaster and tell him that we would like to come in, and that we are the blue and white trawler at anchor. He gets so excited that I think he peed in his pants. He saw the boat, wondered about it, and now is excited to see it in person. Zehra and I both think that he will give us a good spot.

But before 21 Jun comes, 18 and 19 June have to come and go, and on 18 June, another catamaran had moored in front of us the previous night. (It was not there when I did my anchor check at 0030, and it was there at 0830.) He stays 18th and on the 19th, wants to depart. The wind is blowing probably over 20 knots and from the North, and I am to the south of him.

Most if not all production sailing catamarans in the 40-50' range appear to me to be underpowered because the size of the room for the engine is small. I have talked with many cat owners and nearly all have between 55-70 hp engines, spinning small props that usually collapse when not in use. In addition, to minimize overall weight, they usually have a small, toyish-like anchor with thin chain, and not much of thin chain either.

So on 19 Jun, this guy is getting underway and he is struggling against the wind to motor forward to retrieve his anchor. I have no clue he is leaving as we are eating breakfast on the aft deck. But after hearing some yelling and screaming, I investigate and determine he is yelling at me, waving his arms and flapping his jaw, and with the wind noise, I am clueless of what he wants.

So I go and get my handheld radio, and waive it at him, which as far as I could tell, only made him more anxious, more irritable and more demonstrative. I still could not make out what he needed so eventually, he went below and call me on channel 16 yelling at me to put out more chain as he is caught on my chain. I ask him to shift to another channel but he yells at me again and then comes topside.

Now, I am topside, at my anchor, and my bare foot is resting lightly on the snubber of the chain. If he his trying to raise his anchor, I would feel something, but I do not.

I am not the one to try to have a conversation against the wind, so I waive to my radio and act as if I am taking into it. To say the least, I can see his frustration grow.

He goes below, and then comes back topside. I hear a female voice on the radio "hello, my husband needs you to loosen you anchor chain." I answer her, asking of she could switch to channel 72, and she says "I do not know how to do that."

So, I tell her that I do not believe that your anchor is tangled with my anchor. She insists her husband believes it. So I ask her to have him raise as high as possible and see what is fouling his anchor.

She says "please hold on" comes topside and says something to her husband. He did NOT seem to take it well and goes below to yell at me again to drop more chain.

I try to tell him that I have a lot of chain out, and a long snubber, and if he is caught between my boat and the snubber, he should be able to pick up my chain. He says he cannot pick up his anchor at all.

I suggest to him that he just be caught on a rock or something else. I also suggest he get into the water and check. I also said that if after all that he needs my assistance, I will be monitoring channel 72.

I then go into the pilot house and behind the sunshades, observe. He comes up not happy, tries to retrieve his anchor, motors around trying to get it free, and probably does this a few more times as I go about my business.

About an hour later, I see that he is no longer in front of me, so I assume he was able to get the anchor free and motor away.

So, 19 June is my birthday, and we had planned to go ashore to celebrate, but the weather made it not conducive, so we stayed aboard.

21 Jun is a nice day so I done mask and fins and follow my chain to the anchor. I see that the anchor is dug in quite deep but that the trip line is intact. As I am swimming back, a glint catches my eye and turns out it is a spade anchor, trapped under a concrete block, with a short amount of chain and the rode cut.

It was not hard to retrieve this 10-12 kg spade anchor, and my guess is that the catamaran cut his rode and left. The spade anchor itself looked like a cheaply made Far East design and so I gave it to the Harbormaster to do with it whatever his wished.

So, now it is 22 June, underway at 0940 and come into the marina at 1005, dead slow speed. What our experience is we see a guy waving to us, yelling at us, flapping is arms or some other type of movement trying to get our attention. Using binoculars, Zehra sees no one. Since this is a very tight place, I slowly turn around and leave, anchor just outside, and call the harbormaster on the cell phone. He asked me why I did not come in? I said I did not see him and have no clue where I am to go! He says "come fully in and I have a place for you."

So, up anchor, leave it at the water's edge, and slowly come in, realizing I am going to the turning basin where the room for error is measured in meters. Meanwhile, he is telling Zehra on the phone for me to keep coming and after entering this basin, we see him.

Zehra hangs up and I am in disbelief. The place he wants me at is, well IMHO, just not doable. I do NOT believe I have the skill set to get LeeZe med-moored into such a spot without hitting another boat. Zehra is of the same opinion, but the harbor master is ABSOLUTELY insistent that I can make it.

Thank God there is no wind, so I collect my wits and tell Zehra that I have to drop my anchor opposite the spot, right on top of that ferry boat over there. Zehra bless her soul starts to freak out but I promise her I will not hit it. (I have no clue if I can keep this promise!) As we slowllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy approach this ferry boat a guy appears on it and motions me to get closer, Zehra says to drop anchor but this guy says come closer.

He tells me to drop anchor when his hands are on my bow pulpit, preventing me from hitting him.

I drop and slowly go astern, letting out chain as I slowing make my way back into a spot I am convinced that I will not get into without hitting something.

However, as I start going back, about 50 meters away from the dock, LeeZe responds like the queen that she is, and slowly slides to port as we approach, and then Zehra has a line over.

We are in, with 70 meters of chain out, and we got in without hitting anything! We look at each other in sheer disbelief, and then we crack smiles.



We stay in this marina until 29 June, when we depart for Paros. The departure was just a stressful because my bow was right atop the ferry boat to get my anchor up, and then I had to back just enough not to strike any of the other boats around me while turning in such a tight circle praying for no wind gust or personal fuck up. But we do get out of there in one piece.



Th trip is mostly uneventful as the waves were small and the wind was building. Little did we know that this was a very ominous sign.



We did not get out of Paros until 25 July. From the image above, the ferries come in to the west of the wall. LeeZe was moored to the outer part of the wall with 105 meters of chain out as that is where visiting yachts are normally put. Electricity and water are available via prepaid tokens. The shore power pods are on the inner side of the wall so your utility lines need protection because cars, scooters, fuel trucks, and grocery carts all run over them.

When the ferries come in, they create a swell that EASILY rolls LeeZe 9+ degrees, at times. If the ferry is a heavy single hull ship, and if the wind is blowing harder than normal, the ferry comes in at a higher than "normal" speed and this creates an even larger swell. On July 4, there were very high winds at the wall which lasted for 4+ days. This was repeated on July 18 for 3 days. LeeZe's motion during these high wind days was terrible to endure and quite violent at times. During the first wind storm, I did not leave LeeZe at all. I had taken in all lines less one and slacken that line somewhat so I was 5-6 meters off the wall, There were times when conditions were such that Zehra could get off safely, and she took full advantage of these times. As the wind died down, I put more and more lines on until at the end, I was tied like I was at the beginning.

This port has lots of charter boats come in on Fridays and Saturdays, and the Port Captain, Yanis, could not care less about your ship safety if it means that the charter boat cannot come in. This is a first for me and no amount of discussion with him or his boss could change their minds. This was evident when a charter cat came along side to starboard and I had extra lines out at the stern in an attempt to limit the amount of movement. The female Captain immediately started complaining that one of my lines were damaging the rub rail on her boat and eventually, we had to change data because she was going to submit an insurance claim. She took no action to protect her boat from my line. (Normally, and in all other cases, the boat arriving takes action to minimize the contact of lines from the boat already there.) In fact, her arrival day had weather that was 15-25 knots blowing and after mooring, the problem got worse throughout the afternoon and evening. Per her mate, their anchor was not holding well, causing the cat to get closer to the wall than what I use to seeing. The next morning, with winds even higher that the day before, she gets underway to reset her anchor (took her 45 minutes to do because the cat is under powered and the winds were above 20+ knots) and it turned out, the anchor did not set again. But by this time, she was within hours of departing with her new charter guests and took no additional action.

Knowing that we did not get along, somehow, the following week, she managed to find herself mooring next to me again. This time, as I was taking in some bow lines, she ordered my line cut in the presence of the Port Captain because she had no patience to wait for me to clear the line. That was the last straw. Taking pictures, and making a deck log entry, I went to the Port Police to file an official complaint. As usual, they did not seem to care, until I started to ask them for their names, and the spelling of their names. They wanted to know why I wanted this info, and I said when I make my formal written complaint to your government via the American Embassy in Athens, I will need to name the people I spoke with.

NOW that got their attention! Within 15 minutes, we had reached a financial settlement that will allow me to replace that line once I am back in Turkey.

Anyway, this Meltemi wind this season is worse than normal, both in speed and duration, than in past years.

But there does come a break and on 25 July, we are off to Ornos Bay on the southern side of Mykonos Island and anchor.

That is all for now folks!

If you have any questions, please ask.

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com