Sailing Azure

June 14, 2023

Things are going well from KAS Turkey. We are staying in a nice Air B&B directly across from the marina where AZURA is currently docked. By all accounts the transaction is going as well as one could hope. We arrived late Saturday after a 28-hour journey. The following morning we met the owners and our two Turkish inspectors where we proceeded to have a 6-hour inspection of the boat and a 3-hour sea trial and sail. The boat performed beautifully and there were no surprises. Everything was just as represented by owners from afar.

The next morning we hauled the boat out of the water with the big lift (see above) for inspection of hulls, sail drives, propellers, etc. again no surprises. The morning started with AZURE’s anchor caught on an abandoned anchor in the harbor and it took some doing to get released. A diver was called but by the time he showed up he was not needed. Next was fitting the boat into the dock. The boat is 7.4 meters wide and the slip only 8. It was very very very tight and there was a lot of hand ringing as the edges of the dock is all concrete. In the end all was fine.

At this point surveyor had no big issues with boat and that evening we began wiring the the remaining funds (this normally takes 48 hours so we wanted to get the process started). Tuesday included a few follow ups from inspectors and the sellers and our attorneys piling up billable hours finalizing paperwork.

With all the documents in hand we walked into town (see picture below) to meet with the only Notary in KAS. Janet and I had found it earlier in the day so we knew where to go. It is a very busy place but luckily next door to the notary is the translator’s office and he spoke very good English. Thankfully he was also a very nice man.

We left behind the original signed bill of sale for both boats and left our contact information. Later in the day he called and I returned alone while Janet was working to retrieve documents. The fun began as an argument (in Turkish) erupted as there is no literal translation of “right of survivorship” which is in the bill of sale. That is if either of us were to die the boat’s ownership reverts to the survivor. This concept is not a thing in Turkey and took 20 minutes of explaining loudly in Turkish. Once we got past this (the notary was a women and once she understood that if I died Janet would get the boat, the concept brought a little smile to her face). Then on to the stamps (lots of stamps) and of course payment. This is when the government computer crashed and by all accounts the entire country came to a screeching halt. I was just happy the AC was still working! 20 minutes later the system was back up and running and all was good again.

It was amazing how busy the place was. Apparently in Turkey everything gets notarized. As the final review of our paperwork for pricing a new argument ensued. TAX!!!! They wanted us to pay tax. I of course said NO TAX and lots of yelling in Turkish ensued. All hands on deck and all the employees in the small office joined into a lively debate(or at least I think that what was happening). I called Tim the translator from next door and he joined in. Apparently if the bill of sale only has the sellers signature the event is not taxed. Several in the office disagreed but the boss from up stairs was brought into the conversation and gave the final ruling. NO TAX. I was happy to pay the 1,000 Lira and get out with my life intact.

Then came the question (from Tim our friendly translator) are you planning on sailing into Greece waters? Even accidentally? I said no but who knows? Tim said since you do not have USCG documentation yet the Greek navy will not accept just a Turkish Notary. (Apparently the Greeks and Turks do not get along so good) so Tim suggested we get the documents Apostiled. I said we are going to do this in a week when the owner returned to Australia and as far as we knew we would need to go to a US Embassy which was many hours away. Tim told me of a little known secret that we could go to the Turkish police/military office a short walk away and they will do it and it is free. Apparently the Greek Navy will accept an Apostile from the Turkish military. Janet and I had seen the HQ earlier that day so I knew where to go and Time described which door to open (absolutely no English in this compound). I only walked into two wrong doors and was reprimanded slightly. Once in the right office a 30 minute back and forth with me smiling a lot and trying act like there was nothing to see here and I Just needed a few stamps. All good. I think in this instance the American passport was a good thing. But hard to tell. So after 3 plus hours walked back with lots of stamps. 

Next it was meeting with an Agent. This is basically a person that helps freeze the wheels of government to keep the process moving. So our BIG dilemma is we will not have our US Coast Guard Documentation for 6+ weeks  and will be sailing around in foreign waters with just a bill of sale. A little worrisome to say the least but staying in the marina for 6 weeks is very expensive and not really how we want to spend our time. So we met with an agent and luckily we had all of our paperwork in order and he was in shock that we had boat insurance. The first words out of his mouth were you owe BIG TAX. Argh, here we go again. He confirmed that with just sellers signature NO TAX. We ended up leaving behind all our paperwork and he is creating a document that allows up to keep the current owners “transit log” in the short term until we get our documents from USCG. 

As of an hour or so ago received notification that the wire transfer is complete. We are now the official owners of AZURE. More to follow.

Cheers