Distance Pennant Program

Quite a windy season in the Aegean this year. Cruised from Antalya bay to Bodrum & back to Cyprus via Finike, from May to August. Managed to get evicted from English harbour when Erdogan decided to pay a visit to his new summer palace. An interesting evening as about 30 boats all had to leave at 8 pm in 35-40 kn breeze. Added another nice tuna to the freezer on the way back to Karpaz Gate, where we spent a lazy few weeks before putting the boat to bed for the winter.

Shakedown crossings of the English Channel winter 2008. Brighton, across the Bay of Biscay, down Spanish and Portugese coasts to Gibraltar May 2009. Gibraltar, along the Spanish coast to Torreveija then to Formentara, Ibiza and Mallorca June 2009 en route to Sardinia and Rome. 2,600 miles by July. Continued cruising through the summer, around Corsica, Elba, Sardinia and the Tuscany islands and coast of Italy before arriving in Rome at the end of Sep for the winter. Total of 4,500 miles during the year, the majority in the last 6 months. Some superb cruising in some very varied weather. Mostly superb, calm & sunshine but a fair number of F7s & F8s with some interesting thunderstorms to liven things up. Departed Rome end March 2010 for this year's cruising. Traveled south down the Italian coast, past Anzio, to Ponza. Through the Bay of Naples, anchored under Vesuvious followed by a night in Capri-the most expensive marina yet! On down tha Amalfi coast past Salerno to Vibo Valentia. An enjoyable week there then across to the active volcanic islands of Stromboli and Vulcano. Drifted a couple of hundred yards off the shore at Vulcano and watched the magma being thrown into the air, tumbling down the mountain and bouncing into the sea. Clocked up our 5,000 miles leaving Vulcano then cruised down through the Straits of Messina and spent a night moored under Etna. Continued south Syracuse where we drowned ourselves in a sea of culture, walked miles and soaked up the atmosphere of Archimedes home town. We then moved down to anchor off the south eastern tip of Sicily before taking advantage of a short weather window to do a night crossing to Malta on 10th May. Had the boat slipped in Malta, anodes checked, bottom cleaned & a new Ultra anchor fitted to replace the original, which we hadn't had much success with. A fascinating week was spent on the Island, which we explored as much as possible, before setting off north back to Sicily. Explored Siracuse for the second time then moved on to Taomina Bay where we met Patrick and Chrissie on their Nordhavn 46, "Frog Kiss". Cruised NE across the Straits of Messina and along the sole of Italy, exploring towns and bays along the way, before heading off towards the Greek Ionian Islands. Slipped through the gap between Albania and Corfu and anchored off Lawrence Durrell's house. The rest of the summer was spent cruising around these beautiful islands and visiting numerous places, from the site of the original Olympic Games to many of the places featured in Homer's Odyssey. We were joined by several friends for a week or two at a time, as well as our son-in-law Simon and our grandchildren Joshua and Jessica. A superb summer cruising, exploring and making new friends, until we eventually left the boat in October, tied up in Corfu for the winter. Departed Corfu early May 2011 for this year's cruising. With the boat newly polished we had intended to head towards Crete but a last minute tip from Dave & Angela Whalley on Minkey, that duty free fuel is available in Montenegro, had us heading north. After 200 miles and a night trip through a line of pretty active thunderstorms we arrived in Porto Montenegro. A few days were spent visiting the local area, including the walled town of Kotor, before we topped up with 6,500 litres of fuel at half the average European price and headed for Croatia. Porto Montenegro has to be recommended for its exceptionally helpful staff. We checked into Croatia at Cavtat then traveled up to Dubrovnik, where we stayed in the marina for a few nights so we could explore the city. A fascinating place. We took in a couple of classical music concerts as well as dining at the self-professed world's 6th most romantic restaurant. We continued moving slowly north, visiting the numerous anchorages, islands, restaurants and sights along the way until we reached the Dugi Otok in the Karnati Islands, where we turned round and headed back south, refueling again in Montenegro on the way back to Greece. A few memorable events were:- 1. Being perched lightly on a shelf jutting out from the marina wall in Dubrovnik while several of the willing but baffled marina staff tried to pull the boat sideways. 2. Picking up an unmarked power cable when raising the anchor. A group of German girls in kayaks kindly tied our trip line to the anchor in exchange for a tour of the boat. 3. A guided tour of the old military sites on the island of Vis. 4. Being stopped by police in a RIB and spot fined 1000 kuna for speeding. We subsequently discovered there was no speed limit - just a little sideline being run. 5. Riding out some spectacular storms at anchor. 6. Numerous very friendly and helpful people. We collected our son-in-law and grandchildren at Split on the way south, eventually dropping them off in Corfu 3 weeks later to catch their flight home. Overall we cruised around 1,800 miles and towed the tender for around 1,300 of them. We spent about 4 nights in marinas during the 5 month cruise, the rest of the time at anchor and Tai-Pan stayed delightfully on song throughout. Our only problems were a shredded wing engine fan belt, a blown water maker fuse, a stuck main engine thermostat, a couple of loose electrical connections and a set of clogged injectors on our smaller generator. A great year, ending now as we have the lower hull polished prior to putting her to bed in Corfu again for the winter. Back on board in May 2012 in Corfu. Re-provisioned then to Preveza for lift out, anodes and wash down. Headed south to Levkas, Ithica, Zakinthos then to the Western Peloponese. Fascinating cruising area, we kept going south, eventually arriving in Crete. Cruised gently along the north coast, heading east, aiming for shelter at the western end ahead of forecast strong winds. Arrived at Spinalonga and motored gently into the lagoon, having checked first in the tender that we could clear the sand bar. We had min depths of 3.4 metres which gave us 1.4 under the keel,hence the gently! We spent a week at anchor here while the gales blew themselves out. The wind reached 45 knots, F9, one night but we were well sheltered, although we did see a yacht dragging its anchor and having to move out. We toured Spinalonga, a fascinating island with its Venetian fort and recent history as a leper colony as written about in Victoria Hislop's "The Island". We departed when the wind eased, intending to head north for Santorini, but with the Meltemi still kicking up a 2 metre sea we decided to retrace our steps and headed back west. We have visited some fascinating sites so far this year and some fabulous anchorages, eventually reaching our 10,000 mile point a week ago as we arrived at the island of Kathira. Currently posting this at a waterside tavern in Koroni. Have now moved up through the Peloponnese, into the Gulf of Patras and the Gulf of Corinth. 2013. Cruised the Ionian and Adriatic, including the coasts of Montenegro and Croatia. In 2014 we explored the ruins at Delphi before going through the Corinth Canal into the Aegean. Cruised around numerous Greek islands, including Santorini, Simi and many others. Eventually exited Greece at Kos and entered Turkey at Turgetreis. Left the boat for the winter in Didim. 2014 Cruised the Turkish coast & Greek Islands before leaving the boat for the winter in Kos. 2015 Cruised the Greek islands and Turkish coast before leaving the boat for the winter in Didim. 2016. Back on board mid May to have the boat polished. Took a road tour to Pamukkale. Started cruising again 1 June, down the Turkish coast via English Harbour, Datca, Bozburan, Bekir's Bay, Marmaris, Gocek. Guests came on board for a week. We continued to Kalkan, Kekova and Finike before heading to Limassol in Southern Cyprus. A few days there, touring the area by road for old times sake, before seeing our guests off back to U.K. We then motored around the Eastern coast of Cyprus, around the Panhandle, to Karpaz Gate Marina, catching some nice tuna on the way. Spent 2 weeks there then re-fueled and headed back to Turkey. Cruised north before turning back and heading back to Karpaz Gate, where, on 3 Oct, we put the boat to bed for the winter. 2017. Crossed to Turkey & explored the east & southern coasts. Returned to Cyprus mid summer to fly back to U.K. then drive to Croatia for a wedding. Back on board late summer before leaving the boat in Karpaz Gate. 2018. Back across to Turkey to again cruise the south and west coasts.

2019. Back on board in Cyprus. Unfortunately Val scraped her leg getting on board, requiring hospital treatment and several weeks of dressing changes, so departure was delayed. Eventually cruised to Turkey in time to collect family for 3 weeks of cruising along the southern Turkish coast. We completed our first 20,000 miles in Tai-Pan during this time. Further cruising along the coast followed, searching out some more so-far unexplored bays. Solar panels fitted during the winter are proving invaluable; halving our generator running time to keep the batteries charged. For the second year running we tried to enter English Harbour while the President of Turkey was in residence. We weren't invited to join the party, so departed by invitation of the coastguard! Must remember the dates for next year. Cruised in company with sailing friends from New Zealand for a while before heading back east and crossing from Finike to Cyprus at the end of August. Arranged for some general work to be done next spring before putting the boat to bed for the winter. Another great cruising year, adding another 1,078 nm to the log, for a total of 20,550.

2020. Coronovirus disrupted plans for this year. We had PAE engineers scheduled to come out from U.K. to replace our thruster & stabilisor seals but all trips cancelled. We appear to have an invertor failure so have had the marina switch the by-pass over to keep the fridge on line and are just glad that we installed solar panels, which seem to be keeping the batteries charged.