The Bosphorus
Jun 5, 2016 13:21:20 GMT
Post by chuckr on Jun 5, 2016 13:21:20 GMT
A few days ago we ran the Bosphorus - first we waited until the wind died down a bit as there is a 4k north to south current at the entrance and it is narrow at point with big hills on both sides and it winds so the winds come roaring down the hills or if you make a turn around a corner the winds die and the may come from another direction -- we are to old to deal with that nonsense - so we had 5k or so winds from the south and at times still had 12-15k in some places and no wind in others
Second we went up on a Sunday -- it was probably the best day as the ferries are few and far between which means you do not have to spend a lot of time dodging ferries and the seas are not chopped up but multiple ferries running all different directions. We did not plan on a Sunday it just happened.
Third we went early in the morning. We were out of the marina at 0545. We did however have to do a few turns just short of the entrance to let multiple big ships pass -
Fourth we met a retire Turkish Air Force general who is a sailor in the marina and told us to go for the light before the entrance on a long break water and then cross over to the European side. We did that. Just short of the light we had little current so were able to wait on the big ships and then when we got a break we headed straight across to the a point north of the Golden Horn. it worked great and we hit a counter current as both the General and charts said was there. We ran the entire Straits on the European side until just short of the north side entrance.
We did run into a wicked current at one of the bridges and had to push the rpms way up and still barely made 5k. at another point when we had throttled back we were doing well until we noted we were going sideways as a current was pushing us westward. a lot of throttle and steering got us headed back north
at the end we had originally planned to stop at a fishing port but with really good weather we just kept going as we had no northerly winds and no north to south swell - we had the swell and winds off our starboard beam so we made hay and a lot of hav.
Second we went up on a Sunday -- it was probably the best day as the ferries are few and far between which means you do not have to spend a lot of time dodging ferries and the seas are not chopped up but multiple ferries running all different directions. We did not plan on a Sunday it just happened.
Third we went early in the morning. We were out of the marina at 0545. We did however have to do a few turns just short of the entrance to let multiple big ships pass -
Fourth we met a retire Turkish Air Force general who is a sailor in the marina and told us to go for the light before the entrance on a long break water and then cross over to the European side. We did that. Just short of the light we had little current so were able to wait on the big ships and then when we got a break we headed straight across to the a point north of the Golden Horn. it worked great and we hit a counter current as both the General and charts said was there. We ran the entire Straits on the European side until just short of the north side entrance.
We did run into a wicked current at one of the bridges and had to push the rpms way up and still barely made 5k. at another point when we had throttled back we were doing well until we noted we were going sideways as a current was pushing us westward. a lot of throttle and steering got us headed back north
at the end we had originally planned to stop at a fishing port but with really good weather we just kept going as we had no northerly winds and no north to south swell - we had the swell and winds off our starboard beam so we made hay and a lot of hav.