Royal Thames Turkey Rally — 07 June '09

07 June –15 June

Turkey Rally Report

Turkish Rally 2009

7th - 15th June

Gocek is in the Bay of Fethiye on the Turquoise Coast of Turkey and the sailing here is as good as it gets in the Mediterranean!  Its beautiful, unspoiled coastline offers a designer selection of bays and coves, safe anchorages and a wonderful climate.  The Lycian Mountains tower over the whole area from Gocek to Antalya, rising to over 10000 ft and covered with snow until well into July.  A stunning panoramic coastline and happily not overcrowded in May and June.  

The RTYC Turkey rally took place here in June 2009 and was organized by Jonathan Beard, whose family have lived and worked in Turkey for over 150 years.  As a resident of Istanbul and a sailor, there is little he does not know about the wonderful sailing available along the Turkish coastline and he has a fascinating knowledge of the Turkish people, their history and culture.   He brought his Grand Soleil 57 to the party, inviting those well-known revellers, Andrew Collins and Hugh Kitchen for their good company. 

RTYC members arrived from all over the world for the rally.  Biggest prize to and Royston and Maureen Lloyd Baker who made the long passage from Hong Kong in their beautiful new Tayana 57,  ‘Astraea'.  We wondered how they survived the pirates in the Straits of Hormuz - answer - by going down the centre of the separation lanes without incident.   They covered over 9,000 nm but did a lot of motoring. 

Other sterling efforts to get there - R/C George Ehlers in the well-travelled ‘Sky Hunter' , motored most of the way from Malta to Gocek , a mere 800 nm.  Nigel and Maggie Kay did the same Malta trip two weeks earlier, but had excellent beam winds the whole way around Southern Greece and through the Dodecanese.  Lucky them!  Another mammoth trip from Palma was made by ‘Fluenta', with Ross Witherow and  Lene Viney. They took a more leisurely timescale through the Corinth Canal and down through the Cyclades.   Peter and Annabel Hall had bought their yacht, ‘Dreamcatcher', in the South of France and now base her in Gocek.  And we were also delighted to welcome John Marsh from the RCC who bases his yacht on this part of the Turkish coast. 

Big John McMonigal out-did us all and chartered a very big gullet for the rally, ‘Mare Nostrum', in fact the biggest gullet on the Turkish Coast!   He had invited 10 of his friends in his usual generous way.

So we started on Sunday 7^th June at Blues Restaurant on the waterfront in Gocek where 48 RTYC members assembled for the opening dinner.  R/C Bernard Kitchen welcomed everyone to the rally and Jonathon welcomed us all to Turkey.  Our first taste of Turkish Meze convinced us that the food in Turkey offers plenty of gastronomic delights - in a word, not like Greek food!  We all had a very jolly evening.

We then dispersed in small groups to enjoy the local sailing.   The Bay of Fetiye and its eastern neighbour offers many charming anchorages.    Many of the  coves have their own small taverna but the real excitement is to find a footpath behind the bay which could lead you to ancient temples or historic relics tucked away behind the shoreline.  It is an archaeologist' dream and a yachtsmn's delight.

Some of the local coves included:- Kizilkuyruk bay, a sharp uphill walk to 6^th  Century BC ruins of Lydian settlement,  Karacaoeren, tuck in behind a Byzantine fort on a very rocky island and dine in the restaurant where the owner plays the violin and sings tragic love songs!  Or Cold Water Bay,  walk over the mountain behind the shore to the ghost town of Kali Koyu.  This is the largest ghost town in Asia Minor and was abandoned in 1923.  The roofs are gone, vegetation has taken over, but several impressive building remain.  And there are no many others and never a tourist in sight!

And so we made our way, 35 nm down the coast to Ekincik, a totally isolated bay set under a high cliff and offering excellent marina facilities for some 40 yachts.  Our rally leader, Jonathan, welcomed us on a balmy Wednesday evening to a pontoon party when RTYC members proved their usual appreciation of Turkish punch and other liquid delights. We all then scrambled up the cliff to enjoy a really excellent meal followed by Turkish coffee, Turkish delight but alas no belly dancers!

Thursday was the day for a boat trip up the Dalyan River to view the ancient Roman citadel of Caunus and the superb Lycian Rock tombs dating from 4^th  century BC.  The beaches at the entrance to the river are where the huge Hawksbill turtles lay their eggs and, happy to relate, these beaches are now protected from tourists and intruders.  We motored up through impressive reed beds, which were open sea in Roman times and spent a hot hour or so viewing the Roman amphitheatre, acropolis and temples in the ancient port of Caunus.   

The following day was calm and those who did not fancy motoring a long way made their way back towards Fethiye.  When the wind got up a little, they enjoyed some friendly ‘competitive events' (we were not allowed to use the word ‘racing') and generally enjoyed the area!  However, the more adventurous sailors headed west to Ancient Lorimer, and then on to Rhodes, a mere 30 miles away.  In fact a near gale got up out of the blue, as it is wont to do in the Med, and they had some hairy sailing to get back to Fethiye for Sunday evening and the final dinner in the Ece Marina Hotel, on the waterfront. 

R/C Bernard Kinchin welcomed everyone and thanked Jonathan for organizing the event.  Several prizes were presented, one to the Lloyd Bakers for their epic journey to join the rally and another to R/C George Ehlers, but he never quite understood what he had done to deserve it!  Jonathan made an amusing speech saying that the RTYC have now sampled the Bodrum area and the Bay of Fethiye. He invited the club to have another rally in the area around Kas, then we would have done the best cruising in the Mediterranean!  Thank you Jonathan and we will look forward to that.