Test 2: The Boat is Sinking

We left Bozuk Buku and thought we would head to Knidos.  There are supposed to be some great ruins right off of the anchorage of Knidos and the weather was going to be good.  I personally was ready to stop in one place for a day or two and really enjoy what it had to offer, but there was a storm showing for that Tuesday that we wanted to miss so it was a sort of forced march to Knidos.  We left at 7:00am and “got on the road”.

Once the main sail was up I was allowed to go down below and go back to sleep which I took full advantage of.  At around 10:00 though I was woken up when Dad turned the engine off.  I laid there listening for the sound of wind outside or at least the feel of the boat heeling ever so slightly to signify that we were sailing, but didn’t get any of that feedback.  What I got was Dad saying “Katie could you please wake up I need some help, the boat is sinking”.  Well as you can imagine this got my attention right away and I went out to see what was up.

The bilge had been turning on more than normal and it seemed fuller than it should have been.  Dad took note of this the day before, but it had turned on twice in about an hour so he knew something wasn’t right.  He thought it was the pump that sucks the water into the boat in order to cool the engine, because he had had it rebuilt in Rome.  When he went down to check it though it turned out to be a piece of pipe that directs the water from the radiator to the exhaust and out of the boat.  The pipe had burst and water wasn’t exiting the boat, but pooling under the engine instead.  We were fortunate enough that the bilge was able to keep up with pumping it out, but at the same time we were technically taking on water which is never a good thing on a boat.

This is the engine bay.  The red thing is the generator and the blue is the engine.  Now it always amazes me that Dad can just look at this and go “Oh see that pipe, that is what is wrong”.  But he knows everything that goes on in there and lucky for everyone on the Pipedream, can generally fix it or at least know what needs to be done to fix it. 

Even though the bilge was able to pump it out, the risk of the engine overheating was in the air which would stop this trip real fast.  The exhaust system is apparently constructed of plastic so that would melt too and the bottom line was running the engine was not an option. 

So our sailing skills were truly put to the test.  There was very little wind at the moment so we let the jib out and Dad turned into a super sailor.  My job was to get down below and find a port we could go to that would have a place Dad could get the pipe needed to fix the engine.  I combed the book looking at Turkish ports and even Greek Islands and came up with Datca which was on the other side of Simi (a 15 mile trip instead of the 35 to Bodrum).  The book said there were limited repairs, but that there was a bus to Marmaris which we knew would be a place Dad could at least order the necessary parts. 

As we were passing Simi we were able to get some wind and use it to our advantage.  What was a true test of our skills when we realized we were in a ferry route.  Rhodes was to the left, Simi to the right, and the Turkish coast beyond that.  Dad managed to “dodge” one ferry, but almost intentionally ran into a Greet charter boat that either wasn’t paying attention or wanted to crash on holiday and was heading right for us motor running not a sail in the air.

We were making surprisingly good time and the wind began to pick up allowing us to get up to 6 knots which was awesome.  Then we turned the corner trying to get to the Datca peninsula and the wind died.  We were clocking 3 knots of wind and going between 0-1 knots.  It was a slow patient trip towards the town.  Dad and I got a true workout tacking back and forth just trying to get close to our destination.

We eventually saw the town, but then couldn’t figure out where we were supposed to go in.  We weren’t moving any closer to it anyway, but we must’ve spent a good 2 hours just staring at the town trying to figure out where the breakwater was and where it was we wanted to go.  We were coming in under sail so planning was everything.  The book advised against docking, saying the harbor was a resting place for dead mooring lines and super long gullet anchor chains.  We knew we wouldn’t be able to dock anyway with an engine so we picked the anchorage and started to plan a way in.  There was no wind so sailing in wasn’t a real option and generally floating in doesn’t allow for much control over the boat so Dad came up with the genius idea of launching the dingy and using the outboard to give some steering power.  We wanted to get in before it got dark and we were nearing 5:00pm.

So we got the dingy in the water, attached the outboard to it and tied the dingy to the port side of the boat right next to the helm.  Dad went ahead and got the anchor ready to drop in the front and we dropped the main sail leaving a small portion of the head sail out for extra power and control.  Dad hopped into the dingy and started the outboard.  We were able to get up to 2 knots and had full steering power!  I was amazing that it worked.  We got into the anchorage and when we hit 20ft below us Dad put the motor in neutral, I pulled in the sail and he dropped the anchor.  It worked, like a gem.  The anchor went right in which was a good thing since we didn’t have the extra help of the engine to pull back on the anchor to really stick it and we cleaned up the deck. 

This was a true lesson of be careful what you wish for.  Dad had been saying how he wanted to get some real sailing in and I had been saying how I wanted to spend some time at one of these towns and just hang out.  Sure enough Dad got his fair share of sailing, and because he had repairs to do, I would get to spend time in town. 

Like I said this was a true test of our sailing abilities, and I would like to go on record saying we passed, with flying colors.