Sailing Cruise round trip  Ashkelon, Israel - Limassol, Cyprus - Ashkelon, Israel
          March 10 thru 15 2004 aboard the 40’ ketch Adeline

In the beginning of March I was informed by On Zabicky my sailing partner
that a relative of his bought a forty foot yacht and needs a skipper and
crew to help him get sea time for his international endorsement
(skipper – 24 meters). As my previous “long” cruise (charter) was nearly
two years ago (I have been sailing locally at least once a week) I jumped
at the opportunity to be skipper. On Friday 5 March, 2004 we agreed to
have a short sail to see if all was compatible. The crew was to consist of
myself, On, Moshe Gini, the owner, and Avi (I believe) a friend of the owner.
We met onboard and we went through the systems aboard. We went for a short two
 hour sail to see how she handled. On the engine she was a bit slow but we
figured the sailing would be good. We agreed the we sail either on the 11th
or the following week the 18th. Avi said he didn’t think the 11th was good
and On couldn’t on the 18th. In the end On called me on Sunday and said we’d
leave Wednesday night the 10th. During the week I plotted a number scenarios
and course to / from Cyprus. Ashkelon – Pafos – Limassol – Ashkelon,
Tel-Aviv – Limassol – Ashkelon, and few more. Our original plan was to be
Ashkelon – Pafos – Limassol – Ashkelon.

On picked me up at 15:30 on the 10th and we headed for the Ashkelon Marina.
We stopped at a supermarket to do the shopping. We bought a bit of this and
that for a total of 197 shekels. I think we left about half the food. We arrived
at the boat a bit late and missed the fuel station closing time, but Gini figured
we’d have enough fuel to get us to our destination. After check-out from Ashkelon
by Liraz (or something like that) we headed out to sea at 19:00! I was at the helm,
and was going ahead real slow as we had to make sure we squirted the sand reef at
entrance to the marina. It was already dark, so On was at the bow with a spot light
showing me the way.  Upon exiting the marina we continued on course to Pafos(330?, 217NM)
on engine as there was no wind to speak off. We set the course set the autopilot
and set about straightening up the yacht for the trip. (we didn’t have time at the
dock cause we already did check-out. At 20:37 our first fix showed us that we were 3.5NM
from Ashkelon.at 21:15 a Securite was received that a fishing boat sank off of Haifa
and it’s bow was sticking out of the water.

We started doing a watch cycle at 21:00. three hours on six off. We also decided that
Pafos was too far to reach before dark on Friday (and be back in Ashkelon at 15:00 on
Sunday) (at our present speed,) so we opted for Limassol, approximately 20 NM closer
(5 hours at our present speed of 4+NM).

On had first watch 21:00 – 00:00, I had second 00:00 – 03:00 and Gini and 03:00 – 06:00,
then On would be up again, and Gini and I would be up soon after. I had told everyone
that we should make sweeping checks for other boats every 15 minutes and put a fix on
the map every hour. The boat is equipped with a GPS that has a screen with the road to
destination, so it was quite easy to keep on course (even when sailing as we were able
to tack say every hour or so and still be on track). The radar also assisted in “seeing”
other vessels at a distance of 12NM or less. During my watch I put in the coordinates
for Limassol, the GPS says it’ll take forever.

During Gini’s watch we raised sails but left engine on. We were moving along at 5.3Kts.
At 06:00 we cut the engine and our speed dropped to 4.9Kts. Our speed continued to slow,
at times to 3.7kts.  A pod of dolphins showed up at about 0630 and played around for
about half an hour. At 10:30 we restarted the engine and got up to 4.5-5.0 kts.

Nothing goes on during a trip like this. On was a little seasick but performed all
his duties perfectly. Gini brought a DVD player so we were able to watch movies during
our long haul.

23:45 engine stopped and all hands came on deck. Gini finally figured that the day tank
ran out of diesel. So we transferred fuel to the day tank and continued. The engine
shouldn’t be using so much fuel. The rest of the day was uneventful. We didn’t eat much.
Friday was much the same except that at 0700 the autopilot stopped, but it started
working again about half an hour later. Our ETA to Limassol is now 1530. at 11:30 the
day tank again emptied, but we shut the engine before it died. Now we took two of the
three twenty-five liter jerry cans and filled the day tank.  We had twenty-four NM to
go. At 1200 the autopilot went again, so we were back to hand steering. I started
calling Limassol Pleasure Marina at about 1400. Finally San Raphael Marina answered
and I understood that the name changed since the Pilot book was published. They were
very helpful (as was Limassol Traffic). I told them that our ETA was 1700, and was
informed that the fuel dock would be closed at that time. We were instructed to go
to the visitors quay longside and go to the gate to the police officer to check-in
for the night. We did as instructed, On executed a perfect approach and two guys
were on hand to help tie up.

After checking in (our passports were not stamped but we issued transit cards and
left our passports with the police officer) On started making supper and Gini and
I went to shower. When we came back On had wiped up a great meal consisting – of
potatoes hard boiled eggs a salad of vegetables and tuna fish, and some spreads.
Best meal we had in two days.

San Raphael marina is to the left of the hotel which is seen from sea as a square
light colored  building. It is at 34?42’N 033?10’E, just outside of Limassol.
Website www.raphael.com.cy. Very quiet this time of year. It has nice showers.
A supermarket is not too far, and I understand there is some chandlery nearby
or on the premises but we didn’t go to see what was there. We lower the salon
table so On could get a good nights sleep finally (he was sleeping on one of the
salon benches (small and narrow for his lanky long body).

I took the yacht over to the fuel dock and Gini directed the refueling process.
He decided that since the fuel is expensive we would take on about 400 litres
(instead of the full 700). As it was fuel, one nights stay, check-in / out cost
us about 217CY (Cyprus pounds). At 100USD = 40.41CY it was a hefty overnight.
We left at 1000, raised sails and took a couple of pictures. Our course would be 160?
to Ashkelon. We were hoping for an arrival on Sunday, but as the day went on we
noticed it would take an extra 24 hours. I was thinking of renaming the yacht –
The Slow Boat to Ashkelon! At 1340 we restarted the engine cause our speed dropped
to 2.8kts. (with engine we got up to 4.8kts, something definitely was not correct
there. The day continued with cloudy skies but no wind. The forecast shown me in
Limassol called for force 4-6, I was looking very hard for the winds. Again On made
a lovely lunch eaten at 1530 (it was also breakfast save for an orange and some
pretzels). We used the same watch system as the previous nights at sea. Three hours
on six off, with on first then I then Gini. I came on watch at 0000 Sunday morning.
At 0110 the wind came up and I was able to kill the engine and do some sailing finally.
I had started watching a movie (about a 1805 Royal Navy ship in the Caribbean) but had
to stop. When I awoke at 0700 On was at the helm. The weather was now what had beed
forecast for yesterday. Wind was up to force 4-6 and the was two to two and a half
meters, perfect for our sailing. We were on a run so Gini rolled away the headsail
and did a butterfly with the main and mizzen (our speed was at about 5+kts). Then
Gini decided to open the headsail and changed to  öã. At 1145 we restarted the engine
to bring us back to the road on the GPS, as we were about 4NM off because we couldn’t
sail on the other tack, and to recharge the batteries. I recalculated our ETA and came
up with Monday 15 March 2004 1300 hours. Oh well there goes another day of work.
The day turned out to be a great sailing day. We all took turns hand steering in
the force 4-6  as the autopilot couldn’t handle the waves.

I went to sllep at from 1800 to 1900 then send On to sleep (remember his watch
2100 to 0000).

At 2100 I decided that On was not up to sailing so I took the watch to 0000
(I told Gini I’d wake him at 0000 and he could wake On at 0300 (if he wanted to).
I was also tired so I stayed on the engine even though the wind had come up about
2230. when Gini came on at 0000 he unrolled the headsail and started moving along
at up 7.7kts. I came up to see if everything was ok and he said he’d stay on for
the 0300-0600 watch also (he was having fun). At about 0300 or so Israeli navy came
on and we finally decided they were calling us. Gini handled the communications and
the sailing at the same time very well. Israeli Navy kept asking all kinds of
questions, and Gini fielded each one calmly and professionally. We had a bit of a
problem cause the previous name of the (Bellitrox) was still painted on the bows.
(Gini hasn’t gotten around to paint on the new name). This came up again when the
Dabur (Israeli navy patrol boat) came out to see us at around 1130. We had to stop
and wait permission to continue. Gini decided maybe we should take down the sails
as we only had about an hour left to Ashkelon Marina. The Israeli police patrol boat
also came out to see who we were. (I suppose part of the beefed up security was
because the previous day there was a double suicide attack on the Ashdod Port).
We were told to tie up at the quarantine dock (first dock to our left after the
entrance). We tied up around 1300. we were visited by customs and immigrations
police and health authorities. We had to move from the quarantine dock to the
Adaline’s berth. The wind had kicked up bit making the docking a bit tricky, but
Gini did an excellent job, and we were tied up and ready to depart. Gini stayed
behind cause wanted to take down the headsail to get repaired (it a small tear).
So ended a great learning experience in sailing in semi rough sea conditions.
Sunday was the “roughest seas” that I or the others had been in.