​ @Sailing Kawai

This week we leave Gocek, a special place in Turkey to us as it's where we purchased Kawai and met some wonderful friends. It's sad to leave but with great winds forecast we would sail to Marmaris then onto Datca where we would explore.

The Meltemi blows from the North throughout summer so we look for a window where we can get some good sailing in. The previous day had little wind so we expect small swell and strong winds which makes for great sailing. The winds over both days range from 8 to 28 knots which is perfect and we have fun testing our sailing skills.

We anchor off a little town called Aktur, which is 11nm East of Datca. This is a fantastic base for provisioning and has a protected anchorage for when the winds blow from the North. The town has markets that run on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday that are worth a visit.

Update

We haven't posted for a while as we have had some bad luck. Trace and I both caught Covid and this affected Traces voice which meant no voice-overs. Trace also broke her foot in the last 2 weeks, so we have been focussing on sorting it as it requires surgery.

About us:

Our names are Jason and Tracey and we traded our house, cars, business, job and security for freedom, adventure, travel and living simply amongst nature and the seas on our 45 foot Hanse 445 sailing boat, Kawai.

We don't know exactly where the winds will take us at this stage but over the last couple years we have sailed to Turkey, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia.

Jase loves making travel videos and we decided to upload to youtube to share our adventure. We really hope you enjoy and feel free to drop us a comment any time to chat or subscribe to follow along :)

Instagram
Jason: https://www.instagram.com/jase_stephe...
Tracey: https://www.instagram.com/trace_y02/?...

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/SailingKawai

Email
If you need to get in contact with us, please email jason_s06@hotmail.com

Music
1. Bring my friends, Tigerblood Jewel feat. Steven Ellis, www.epidemicsound.com

2. Earth (light it up), Xavy Rusan and Tilden Parc, www.epidemicsound.com

3. Washed Out, Daxten, www.epidemicsound.com

4. A Fork Fight, www,epidemicsound.com

5. Intimicy, Alex Kehm, www.epidemicsound.com

Transcript:
foreign
foreign
[Music]
we're leaving go check again it's a
little bit earlier than last time but it
seemed kind of direction we're heading
on a similar route as to the first
journey we took in Kauai when we border
maybe four years ago so yeah it's a
little bit of a weird feeling we're uh
not gonna probably come back here again
and
yeah I think we're a little bit more
experienced than last time
[Music]
I was just tacking uh today so we're
heading up towards marmaris uh this time
of year it's always a little bit tricky
choosing days to to sail
um the winds are blowing from the north
pretty well all summer so the meltini so
you've got a bigger day that it hasn't
been blowing 30 knots so again big
swirls now the swells are reasonable
today but um yeah they're not too bad
yeah
thank you
[Music]
I can't find the words
[Music]
[Music]
we're going on
[Music]
[Music]
hey you got some good sailing now we do
not around seven and a half knots
it's been good
um flying along we were hoping that we
were going to get around 18 19 knots
so yeah it's finally coming we're we're
burning we've got most of the sale out
but it feels really comfortable going up
into it so yeah
flying along will be in our destination
two and a half hours so that's great
attacking can sometimes feel like you're
never going to reach your destination
but it's a must if you want to limit
your engine use we have found turkey to
be a fantastic sailing destination
wind's not quite as strong as the
Cyclades with more protection creating
less swell which makes for great sailing
up into the wind and downwind
foreign
oh yeah
[Music]
I guess I'm meant to be on watch aren't
I
come on
somehow
you are the captain
it always falls back on you
as we headed for kumbaluku our Anchorage
for the night the winds peaked at 28
knots slightly higher than predicted and
a great opportunity to get some
experience in different conditions
although sailing in strong winds takes a
lot of concentration it's a real thrill
but it wouldn't be long before we were
in a calm Anchorage and we could relax
and consider our day
well it's early morning we're going to
South today from marmaris
to Dutcher or a bay near dacha yesterday
we had I'd say some of our best sailing
it was really strong winds
I think about 45 degrees sort of beating
up into it and we sustained between six
to eight yeah it was fun it was a fun
sale usually
well since we've been back over here
we've had mostly downwind sailing but
because we're going back towards the
north
um
this time of year so you're always going
to be beating back up into it so um yeah
it was good to challenge ourselves today
and oh yesterday sorry and um yeah we
had had a lot of fun so yeah looking
forward to today's Sally which will be
totally different power up early we're
just about to leave
um
the traces eager to leave she's hurrying
me up even on this video going oh yeah
already we usually take money out to
drink your coffee so we we don't have
that time
all right wrap it up
look at that glorious sunrise
pretty special yeah don't look don't
look closely at the boat it is
yeah we've been anchoring in a bit of
mud lately
and we don't have a freshwater pose up
here unfortunately on the to-do list
anyway uh great day
get around this corner and there should
be wind blowing on our beam oh excited
that's the plan
[Music]
thank you
looking up later
[Music]
well that tells you a thing my coffee's
the one there on the left almost full
traces is nearly empty I've been working
harder
it's been a beautiful morning how's the
sailing going oh it's a bit all over the
shop we've just rounded a corner and um
got some big mountains just over there
so I think they're playing with us a bit
and
um
yeah we're currently
going about four knots got uh about
eight knots I mean just forward of the
beam so it's not the best not as good as
yesterday but it is picking up
throughout the day so hopefully we get a
little bit more and we're apparently
cruising past you've like Anchorage and
we've got about 35 nautical miles to go
to get to an Anchorage near dutcha
yeah we got some strong winds coming in
the coming days yes
long until we would spot white caps on
the horizon and we knew the winds would
be picking up it's something you need to
be paying attention to with winds
changing from eight knots to 25 knots in
a matter of seconds and a sale change
necessary before reaching the casting
been up around 7.8 knots now
it's very common to see the Turkish
Coast Guard and with the migrant crisis
sweeping across Europe it's even more so
I always feel a little nervous even
though we've done nothing wrong does
anyone else feel like this
[Music]
as we turned into the straight past semi
the winds would drop and I would be put
in charge while Trace had a rest during
strong winds Trace almost all lasers at
the helm and I look after the Sails this
partnership works for us but it's also
great to mix it up and learn both skills
hold on
the edge of needing to read
the point in which we reduce the sail
area is dependent on a number of factors
mountains cause gusting which means the
winds are less predictable therefore we
would reap earlier open areas of winds
are generally more consistent so we
could keep more sail up for longer the
size of the swell is another Factor you
have to consider but not here as it was
minimal
actor is 10 nautical miles east of
Dutcher where we had heard of a
protected Anchorage to set out the
strong winds predicted for the coming
days we didn't know much about the
village and to our surprise it was a
cute little Place full of Holiday Homes
restaurants and people relaxing enjoying
the beach with bicycles the transport of
choice that's right so it's a good vibe
a holiday Vibe here in the town and then
the markets were on an added bonus yeah
we found out we were speaking to a local
one of the locals and he said Monday
Wednesday Friday so yeah well he said
the bazaar
you
is my ride
look at that water
so uh we're having a nice little chill
this morning we've had a couple of big
sailing days which were awesome really
good wins
we got in yesterday and tried to Anchor
in an Anchorage next door which has
really good reviews but it was pretty
full there were about 20 boats in there
so we came around the corner to very
similar Anchorage but um as well
actually
comes in here so where that's why
there's no one in here obviously it's
not too bad but um I'm gonna go see
today how the other Anchorage is wow
this Bay is a little bit better than the
last Bay next door no swell it's a
little bit of wind but yeah it's nice
we're gonna eat comfortably watch some
Netflix they have a beautiful view
that's good it is check out the moon
and view of the mountains
well the plan is we're going to go up to
the big flag and then hopefully we can
keep hiking up to the top of the
mountain should have a nice view over
both Bays
we don't have a drone anymore so we
can't really check it
our drone is broken so this will be a
good opportunity to see from the top
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
for two bays the one wearing it in just
there there's Kawaii and then the other
bay we originally anchored in on the
first day so
cheese over there
and yeah it's a typical of your today's
cool walks that have awesome bees at top
no signs just find it yeah with 30 plus
knots forecast we headed back to Kauai
we were anchored in weed and sand and
being a new Anchorage wanted to test the
conditions
Anchorage was fantastic gusting to a
maximum of 22 knots allowing for a
pleasant Stressless night well we've
just seen a heap of fire trucks go past
like probably 10 and we've seen another
seven or eight water helicopters fly
past and
so we did a bit of Googling and there's
a fire just
near dacher so we were planning to go
tomorrow and do a little bit more notice
we thought there's just a few clouds in
the sky but it's actually the smoke
um I don't think it's actually out Dutch
either is it I think it's between here
and marmos yeah
yeah
um
so yeah it's
last year that had some really bad fires
in Turkey so it's hopefully it's not a
continuing theme for the for the rest of
the summer because it has been really
hot and windy so it's not as windy
tomorrow so hopefully that will help you
set oh that's the moon coming up over
the mountain I was like is that a fire
over there yeah it's pretty cool firstly
you look really pretty this morning huh
thanks so made a bit more effort because
uh we're celebrating your
books a week since your actual birthday
and uh We've recovered a little bit more
now
so we're planning to head stature and
maybe head out for dinner
yeah it's very exciting maybe pizza
yes you've been you've been watching
Pizza found a good little cafe or
restaurant that sells good looking pizza
good looking pizza lots of good looking
pizza got on it well
and uh cheese
that's about all you require and a
finished base
what's a good looking pizza for you just
out of curiosity uh I would be probably
lots of veggies
so it's pretty good A bit of cheese
I reckon we can sort that out tonight
we got up early
to get some wins but
um but I can finally got well we've got
11 nautical miles
the thing is though in this Anchorage it
could be it could be blowing 40 knots
out there and we'd be still calm so
let's wait and see yeah true it looks
the water looks a little bit disturbed
on the Friday so uh fingers crossed
foreign
but
it's a great feeling just to get a
little bit of Salem
when we can we're uh going about four
knots we've got nine lots of true winds
eight knots of a parent so yeah so good
we don't want to get there too early
because we're planning to have a beer
when we get there for your birthday and
it's only 9 30 so wow that's way too
early
exactly so we're trying to drag it out
as we cruised into Dutcher we were able
to view a number of water scoopers in
action picking up six tons of water at a
time and dumping them on the fires near
datura it's a sad time with so many
fires burning through Europe and
devastating the environment
well it's hard not to get excited about
uh just checking the anchor because
water is so Crystal Clear beautiful blue
and so hot today so just gonna check the
anchor people have mentioned a bit of
rubbish in the water
um like old industrial rubbish so I
believe that's further north than where
we are but I'm just gonna go check it
anyway so yeah
yeah all should be good
[Music]
looks pretty clear next time we explore
one of our favorite Turkish towns dacha
which is full of life and a great place
to Anchor thanks for watching if you
enjoyed the video don't forget to give
us a like and let us know in the
comments see you next time thanks