Toronto, Canada July 3rd, 2003 Hi Folks, Yes, we are back in Toronto, and this happens to be the fifth anniversary of our departure from Toronto in 1998. However, we are back, to be with Judy's parents at this stressful time. We just got word on June 26th when we were in Sinop (42 01.4N, 035 08.9E) in the middle of the Black Sea coast of Turkey, that Judy's mother's ovarian cancer had flared up, and the prognosis was uncertain, but not good. In addition, a couple of weeks earlier her dad fell and broke his thigh, and is walking around the (three story) house on one of those four legged walkers. Judy of course was quite distressed and wanted to get home as soon as possible. However we were at the farthest we have ever been from a marina (Istanbul 325 miles to the west) where we could leave Veleda, since crossing the Atlantic. In addition we had a friend who was already en route to join us at our next port in Samsun on July 3rd (today) as well as friends who were going to join us in August and September. This was crucial! No question; we were going back home! So after some frantic phone calls and an e-mail message we had informed out "would be" guests of our change in plans. Where to leave Veleda? The fishing ports on the Black Sea were not acceptable (no facilities and no security) as we knew we would be away for a considerable period of time (from a few months to a few years). Atakoy Marina in Istanbul was fantastically expensive at over $6000.00 (US) a year on the hard. Fenerbahce, a southern suburb of Istanbul, was a bit better at $3500.00 (US) a year, but the best rate would have been in Marmaris at about $1500.00 a year. However, Marmaris would have meant an extra week's sailing time beyond Istanbul, and frankly, we didn't know if we had that much time! So, Fenerbahce it was. We departed Sinop at 1700 June 27 for the 320 miles to Istanbul. However, enroute, we discovered Veleda was developing serious engine problems. The engine was leaking fuel oil from the engine filter. We identified one of the vent screws as somehow having sheared and leaking badly. We did not want to take time to try to find a mechanic to try to fix it. There was of course no Yanmar dealer in Sinop. We possibly could have ordered a new filter from Istanbul and it might have arrived in a day or two, or might have to have been ordered from Japan or Europe. We tried to epoxy the screw in place, then tried the old usually reliable duct tape, and even electrical tape, to no avail. So we disconnected the filter, and because the fuel pump was linked to it, we had to disconnect that too and bypass both systems, going direct from the fuel line into the engine. Fortunately our fuel tank is higher than the engine, and gravity feed was OK. We have two Racor fuel filters and we filter all our fuel through a Baja filter from jerry cans as we put it into our tank, and so we were not concerned with the cleanliness of the fuel by passing the final filter on the engine. It worked! On top of the fuel line situation, we had developed another problem which became worse as we travelled; air was getting into our fuel line! The engine conked out and we had to bleed the Racor filter. We did not want to take time to return to Sinop to sort these two problems out and so we continued knowing we would have to periodically bleed the Racor from air accumulation. Murphy's Law was acting accordingly. When we were coming from Istanbul eastward, we had no winds or light easterly winds against us. While we were in Sinop, the winds changed to westerly! The first evening, we anchored by a park bay at Aklimani 13 miles from Sinop to sort these engine problems out. After deciding to continue on, we left next morning at 0405 hoping the westerly would not get up too high. So we motorsailed continuously for the next two days, stopping only twice for fuel. The first 20 hours we motored into a light westerly wind, then it changed a bit to light southwesterly. We started off having to bleed the Racor filter every six hours, then every three and by the time we approached the Bosphorus, every hour. Going down the Bosphorus we had to bleed it twice. Each time involves putting the engine into neutral if it hasn't conked out, for about three to five minutes while we take away the companionway steps to get access to the filter, remove the top of the Racor, and press the squeeze bulb to force fuel through, dislodging the air, then seal the filter again. Lots of fun! I will give more detail about this race for Istanbul in the appropriate log, but we made the final 310 miles in less than 60 hours including two short stops for fuel. Fortunately for the last 24 hours the wind switched back to easterly, and we had over 18 hours of wing on wing exhilarating motorsailing to arrive at Fenerbahce by 1730 on the 30th. We kept the engine on continuously for the extra speed. The manager at Fenerbahce was extremely helpful, arranging: our flight next day (at a very economical fare), haul out and bottom cleaning (the day of our departure, but after we left), a six month renewable contract for storage on the hard, an agent to do the paperwork to leave the boat in Turkey beyond our three month visa, a laundry service (we didn't want to leave dirty clothes and sheets on board for several months or years as the case may be), distribution of our leftover perishable food from the boat, and a taxi to take us to the airport at 1100 next day! Needless to say, Judy and I had to work hard to pack, and get Veleda ready to be hauled out to leave her for an extended period of time. It worked out and we left for Toronto, 18 hours after arriving in Fenerbahce. We arrived in Toronto at 1930 on July 1st, Dominion Day, or Canada Day, Canada's birthday (Confederation in 1867). Judy's parents were extremely happy to see us. Her mom is going in for chemo and we hope we have both of them around for a long time. We can't plan anything from here, but will just enjoy them for the time we have. Maybe I can get caught up on my logs and get my pictures organized. I will send out logs taking us across the Black Sea to Sinop and back to Istanbul, and I have several logs never completed from earlier parts of our voyage that I will also periodically send out. For now, we are back on land. All the best, Aubrey
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