Deep Blue Saves Matelot

Deep Blue anchors alongside. All is calm....









This friendly butterfly lands on board for a rest in the breeze....






The anchorage of Karaloz (Port Sant Stephano) with a long and lat of 36°11’.4 N, and 29°53’.4 E for those who want to look it up on Google Earth, reputedly offers good holding and all round shelter.

This is good because we leave Kekova Roads in a fresh westerly afternoon sea breeze. On arrival we make our way into the miniature fjord- like anchorage and pull in stern-to at the southern head of the bay putting out 30m of chain into mud and weed next to 2 gullets on our starboard side who have anchored at an angle into the shore. We drop and reverse in at the same angle. Soon DB joins us on our port side. With the exception of the light gusts, which come over the saddle from our port side, we have no wind and are in crystal clear calm water with fish swimming lazily under the boat.

We all sit out on deck until the light fades in this magical place. The wind dies out to nothing and it is a peaceful scene with the gullet crews preparing a barbecue on the rocky shore line and the laughter of their guests floating across the water. The forecast is for continuing light conditions.

At some time in the early hours of the morning, Pippy is aware of Richard up on deck. A slight breeze has filled in from our starboard side and is coming around the corner into the bay. At 5 am, we are again disturbed by the gullets leaving. Their engines make quite a racket.

The morning is relatively peaceful as the sun comes up over the hill, but that breeze continues to puff around the corner and blow us towards Deep Blue and too close for us to drop our shore line without falling down on them. This narrows our options as we cannot leave now until they do. It is only around 5 knots, but our angle side on to this wind is not good with rocks on the shore behind us. We are restless and discuss our preference for getting out and swinging free from the anchor rather than being tied ashore. Suddenly the breeze freshens (later DB tells us it was only 13 knots) and we must make our move. Richard has the engine running and Deep Blue are making ready to move out when our anchor suddenly lets go as Pippy is on the bow attempting to pull us out with the chain. It all happens in milliseconds… We are instantly blown sideways and backwards. Richard tries to use the propeller to move us forward but the rudder is caught on a rock and we are going nowhere. We are blown sideways on to Deep Blue and desperately fending off. We consider getting our other anchor out and kedging ourselves off but it is at the bottom of the deepest locker and the wind is really pushing us on to the rocks now. If we had another pair of hands we might have managed to get it out. Minutes seem like hours as Deep Blue pulls out on their anchor, gets clear of Matelot but with a tow-rope attached. Once they have their anchor up (by now our keel is on the rocks) they thankfully pull us out on the tow-rope. We are free but not sure of the damage underneath. Whew! Matelot appears to be functioning okay. Thanks Deep Blue – You have saved our boat!

We head out of the bay as the breeze is now making anchoring undesirable so we head for the port of Andraki, 3 miles away. This is the harbour close to the ancient site of Myra and town of Demre. Once we arrive there Richard dives under the boat to survey the damage – a large chip out of the rudder on the leading edge and an even larger chip on the trailing edge, plus a bit of paint off the keel. We are shaken and grateful as the outcome could have been much worse. We will need to haul out very soon to undertake repairs.

We review our anchoring technique, the anchor itself (a Bruce) and consider what we could have done differently and will do. This is not the first time our anchor has let go or slipped when we have taken wind on the beam while tied ashore. Something has to change.