Sailing Azure

July 11, 2023

For the non sailers “on the hook” refers to a sailboat being held in place by an anchor. The other option for boats is to dock at a slip in a marina which comes with all the luxuries of being able to walk on and off the boat, have power, showers, marine facilities, chandlery, water and be in a very secure location for the night. The difference in cost is the hook is free and a marina can be $250 a night or more.

Needless to say we are living on the hook. We bring the boat to dock to fill up on Diesel and pump out the black water. Turkey is very strict about not dumping waste into the Mediterranean. They have strict laws prohibiting it and they also have very good facilities where you can empty your “tanks”. They are self serve and we have found it is best to wear rubber gloves. 

Last night we were reminded of the potential downside of living on the hook. We had been in the same spot for about a week snuggled into a nice little cove in true Mediterranean style. That is you have your anchor out in front of the boat and you back your boat into the shore where you take two lines off the stern of the boat and attach them to shore. This keeps you basically “fixed” and prevents you from blowing around in the direction of the wind.

Again for non boaters when you are on the hook your boat will always tend to turn into the wind. Wind shifts a lot and you can be turning around your anchor all night long. When you are med moored this inconvenience and potential of “bumping’ into other boats is eliminated. 

Last evening we were woken by a lot of loud noises and we rushed to the deck around 2:00 in the morning. We were confronted with extremely strong winds hitting the boat on its beam (side) and since we were tied in a med mooring configuration, our boat was being pushed precariously close to the shore. We immediately started the engines, closed the hatches and cleaned the deck of all of our stuff to allow us to safely walk around as we tried to figure out what to do in the dark. The winds were strong with gusts over 35 MPH and our boat has a very large freeboard (area of the surface of the boat above the water line) which acts as a sail in this scenario.

Once we had everything properly secured (which we should have done before we went to bed, shame on us) we debated our options. We quickly determined we had only one option, we had to cut the lines that attached us to shore and recenter the boat in the Cove on the hook. Once stabilized, avoiding other boats and heading into the wind we would figure out what to do next.

Once released from the land we were too exposed to the wind and needed to find a better location that was more protected. We hauled up our anchor which was out on 90+/- meters of chain using our windless (electric motor used to hoist the thousands of pounds of anchor and chain) which Janet operated while I tried to keep the boat pointed into the wind and not drift into other boats. In the harbor we could see other boats with their lights on and maneuvering around the anchorage figuring out what to do. We were not alone being caught by surprise! Once the anchor was hauled we headed for the lee of the land by the Petrol Station and we spent an hour or two floating around while I tried to keep the boat in one place while we figured out what to do. 

At this point most other boats went into the marina (which operates 24 hours a day) and we decided to drop our hook in an open spot in the harbor. We watched another boat as they re-anchored to see what we could learn about the wind patterns. We picked a spot and looked for a lull in-between wind gusts and dropped our anchor around 4:00 a.m. The anchor held and we relaxed a bit. I stayed up and Janet tried to go back to sleep.

Later in the morning we went and retrieved the two lines we had to abandon earlier in the evening. These were nice 200 foot lines which we did not want to replace so soon in their life. Later in the afternoon we moved our anchor location to find a better place for the upcoming night which is predicted to have similar winds. Along the way when we were pulling up our anchor we snagged an abandoned anchor and chain. After some fiddling and cursing we were able to free our selves from the unwanted hitch-hiker. 

An exciting few hours on the hook but in the end we worked well as a team and all our boats equipment performed flawlessly. We learned a lot of lessons and hope to bring that new found knowledge to tomorrow.

here are some photos of the views we’ve been enjoying!