Flygirl and the world of Paragliding - Cruising the Med. Part One

Cruising the Med. Part One - Chartering in Turkey (1989 May-July)

Written by Gaynor Schoeman and published in Multihulls Magazine, Nov/Dec 1989.

Towards the end of May last year, I flew into Rhodes, Greece, to join American Enterprise, our family owned charter boat in the Aegean Sea. The charter season was about to begin and we were quite excited about our prospects. My sister Ange, the resident skipper of the 76ft catamaran and my parents, Eric and Kim, had just sailed from Palma to Turkey in a record seven days. My parents then flew to Athens, leaving us girls, or ‘Amazons’ as we had become known in Turkey and Greece, in charge of the charter boat: heaven help the Turks and Greeks!

Gaynor setting the sails on American Enterprise

Our first charter was a surprise late minute arrangement, as Osman Tours had booked a client with us, giving us only 24 hours notice. It’s just as well that we are always prepared. Our guests were Turkish and would be sailing with us for three days. That, at least, was how we were briefed and we were expecting four men and their wives. However, after welcoming drinks on-board, we suddenly realised that they had never intended to bring any of their many wives. Ange and I raised our eyebrows…Ilker, Turner, Mehmet and Hooshit were going to make for an interesting charter!

To our relief the Turks turned out to be good company and we had a lot of fun. That evening, American Enterprise slipped her lines, causing a buzz of excitement among the usual crowd at quayside that invariably showed up to watch two blondes skipper a massive catamaran. We felt quite at home with this – and secretly enjoyed it. The AE crew are predominantly female: Ange in command on the flying bridge; myself as First Mate; Sharon Williams also a South African and a novice on arrival, but who by now was very capable if laying and retrieving anchors and was an efficient housekeeper; Elana of Italy who assisted Sharon with housekeeping; and Nigel of Britain, an invaluable crew member, experienced in yacht maintenance and charter and also the only male member of the team.

Two hours later, after a gentle motor-sail, we dropped anchor in a little cove called Kumlubuck (Sandy Bay), still in the huge bay of Marmaris. Our guests considered themselves cordon-bleu chefs a-la-Turkish-delight style and together we cooked up a scrumptious dinner, talking long into the night about our different cultures and customs. We finally ended it with a raucous sing-a-long and I found it quite unusual to see men thoroughly enjoying themselves – singing and dancing with such gaiety.
Finally, in the early hours of the morning, the rest of the crew and I begged off, leaving our guests to continue partying by themselves.

Ange, my sister and skipper with our guests on deck prepping for lunch

Next morning, crew and passengers of the AE were still recovering up on deck. It was a glorious day, the sun up and the sea was like a mirror – not a breath of wind. Nigel was making coffee for the crew and we decided to let our guests continue sleeping.

At last, everyone surfaced and we weighed anchor. There was still no sign of any breeze so we motored to one of the many coves in Turkey, south of Marmaris. The anchorage our guests chose was very beautiful, secluded, with crystal-clear water and a shoreline of fir trees.

Hooshit and Mehmet could not swim, so we pulled out the lifejackets and with some gentle coaxing, got them into the water, bubbling like schoolchildren with wide grins at their own daring. The day passed quietly: swimming, snorkelling, exploring the cove, playing backgammon (a Turkish national pastime) and enjoying a leisurely lunch.

As the sun began to set, we pulled up anchor and motored farther down the coast to Ikenchick. I remember hoisting the main sail while Mehmet lounged in a foaming Jacuzzi on deck…..Such are the joys of charter life.

Gaynor in uniform - guest enjoying the half filled jacuzzi at sea

There is no marina in Ikenchick, so we dropped anchor(twice because of fouling in the weeds) and backed into the shore. I tied two warps around my waist, dove into the water and swam to the rocks where I tied the line around some huge boulders. (Actually, I was just showing off. It looked more impressive than taking the line via the dinghy and added a bit of excitement for our guests!) As we tied up, nestled between two Gulets, which are big pine Turkish yachts, we picked up a future charter off one of the Turkish boats…always good to mix a little business with pleasure. They had never seen such a huge catamaran and were quite impressed with the ease with which we handled it.

That evening, two of the Turks wanted to go ashore to the Taverna on the hill for dinner while the other tow stayed on board. No problem. We settled them on the Jacuzzi deck with a candlelight dinner and exotic aperitifs, while the crew went ashore with the other tow and were treated to a wonderful meal and plenty of cocktails.

Next morning, Ilker wanted to go fishing. We rowed him ashore and to our surpise, he returned an hour and a half later with a catch of fresh fish for breakfast. Fresh bread and ice were provided free-of-charge by the Taverna – a common practice in Turkey, for they hope that you will bring your charter guests there in exchange. After a late breakfast we sailed to another cove located just a few hours away and in the evening we had a hilarious time playing games, mainly wrestling and arm wrestling, another Turkish national pastime. Yours truly won three out of four.

The following day the wind finally came up and we had an exhilarating fast sail back to Marmaris, racing another yacht on the way. We came into the marina with the usual crowd of Turks watching us ‘Amazons’ and, after a round of farewell cocktails, out guests presented us with beautiful plants that Turkey is famous for in appreciation of a great time, before going our separate ways.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 April 2007 )

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