Vasco da Gama Yacht Rally

Christina pimped, Alanya.

Gay, Nemrut Dag 6am.

This winter we will be back in 'Africa', taking part in the VdG (as it will be called from this point), a yacht rally to the Red Sea, Egypt.. The rally was conceived by Dutch sailor Lo Brust. Lo has made a living from organizing rallies, usually from India to the Mediterranean over the last decade but due to the Somalia Pirate issue, this trip terminates in Eritrea. It has always been our plan to come down the Suez Canal and spend some time diving the worlds best sites in this much troubled region. The Arab Spring has followed us through the Med, though our time in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey has not been effected by any revolutionary activity despite what is reported on the TV. The last twelve months in Egypt have seen greater changes than in most of the Arab counties. The Muslim Brotherhood have taken the reigns of government and are trying to bring about change, restricted somewhat by the powerful military that have controlled things under Mubarak for many generations.

Tusucu port.

Sunrise Nemrut Dag

The discussion I had with Lo at a Sunday BBQ in Finike in 2011 convinced me to encourage others to join us in this next adventure. Wives can be more cautious of such endeavors so it was important to bring as many of our Finike friends with us who could be persuaded. Thankfully this was not as difficult as it first seemed. Given a few months summer sailing and time to consider another winter in the Med our friends Andy and Michelle on yacht Kerching and Ian and Melanie on Yacht Jigsaw (with cat 'Puzzle') signed up for the Rally. We all get on well and having spent a winter together in Finike the Wives had bonded with recipe exchanges and shopping trips.

Gipsy girl Mosaic, Gaziantep.

Due to a slight detour back to England to get married, our summer cruising was limited to going East. We spent five weeks in Alanya Marina getting 'Christina' ready for the winter. A long list of jobs were completed during the scorching heat of July, the last being new anti-foul before being gently lowered back into the water. The VdeG was due to start from Alanya Marina on September 22nd but we decided to sail East to Mersin so as to visit Nemrut Dag etc and then back to meet the rest of the participants at Tusucu port, the jump off point to Cyprus.

Arriving before the other twelve yachts meant we got our previous place back on the wall, in earshot of the Rocky punch ball machine. A more annoying machine could not be envisaged. It plays an irritating blend of Western pop and Turkish music on a loop tape from 8am till the owner decides to unplug it, usually about midnight. Just as I am about to fall asleep, some tough guy will feed one Lira into the machine and then punch the ball as hard as he can. The resounding Kaboom as the punch ball flies back into the bowels of the device is similar to the sound of a car crash without the tinkle of broken glass. I never want to hear 'eye of the Tiger' again!