VdeG Cyprus to Egypt, day one.

Suleika beneath the sun.

Some time ago, I driveled 'last of the long hauls'. I didn't know at the time that we would be sailing from Cyprus to Egypt and would have to take another two day sail south, some 215 miles to Port Said, Egypt. The port fixer 'Tony', who charged for the water, was given the job of organizing a fuel delivery for those that needed a top up. It was arranged for 9am. At 12 he had not been seen. Come 6pm people were getting concerned. He finally arrived after dark and said there was no fuel delivery arranged. This obviously upset those waiting for the fuel and some exchange of opinion as to his parentage ensued. Thankfully I took five fuel cans up to the garage earlier and bought 100 liters at €1.38. A problem was sorted when another local got his friend to come at 6am on the day of departure, (before the port was awake) and supplied the required diesel.

Sunrise on thundercloud.

As it was decided that as no two boats sail at the same speed, a free start was given from Paphos, the skipper deciding how long his yacht would need to get to Port Said. The problem was, those on the inside could not leave till those on the outside had untied themselves and free the inner boats from the raft.

Port Said, Suez Canal

We had decided, with a few others that a PM start would be OK for an arrival in the morning, two days later. This gave us time to watch the F1 car 'parade' and get a cooked breakfast in the local bar. No wind was forecast for about 12 hours so drifting with the Cruising chute was the only option, very dull. Several boats motored past as we bobbed along at 3knots. Night fell and the wind came in as promised. The wind was driven by thunderstorms that decided to chase Jigsaw and Christina. We  both motored as fast as possible and kept a safe distance from them using the radar to locate the rain. Both boats got a shower but thankfully nothing more. I was reminded of our crossing from Italy to Corfu, big strikes were regularly hitting the water within two miles. The wind rose to a regular 18kn so we reefed down the genoa to play safe. We still made 5kn on average but the boats with bigger rigs were doing 7knots. Suleika is a 20 ton ketch that needs similar wind to us to maintain reasonable speed. I called John to let him know it was us 3 miles east of his position and we agreed to keep in touch. Jigsaw was also close and Kerching was catching us from behind. We were soon dropped as both Moody yachts sail better than Colvic's. In the morning we were on our own again. The sea state had picked up to make sailing beam on to the swell rather uncomfortable. Gay took some Stugeron and went to lay down.
The day passed without any major interest. We had a few birds visit us, Pied Wagtails, Swallows and Sparrows but saw no Dolpins or sea birds. Didn't see any ships either which was strange? Day became night again and we sailed on, the distance to go getting ever shorter.