David's Diary: Tuesday, July 29, 2003

To Mersincik via Knidos

We are up by 08:00 and I do some grocery shopping before we leave. Around 10:00 Van Kedisi and Dragonsinger pull away from the dock. All of our children are onboard Van Kedisi -- this is the first time in two years that Karalee and I have sailed Dragonsinger by ourselves. It is a different feeling as the two of us put the sails up in the building wind.

Van Kedisi Offshore from Knidos

Dick suggested that we pull into Knidos for a lunch stop. Knidos is an ancient port city founded around 400BC whose scattered remains stretch for 3 kilometres along the coast. As we passed the entrance breakwater the wind started increasing. The last time we rounded the peninsula at Knidos the wind was blowing F5-6 with 2m waves. I told Karalee that I'm not comfortable stopping, so we radio Dick, do one circle of the anchorage, then head back out.

The wind that I was fearful of did not materialize. We rounded the peninsula, marked by a lighthouse high above on the cliff top, under power. After we get around the wind blows from the port side. Van Kedisi and Dragonsinger both put out their sails and we had an impromptu race to Mersincik. The last time we were in Mersincik we dragged our anchor. We want to avoid the experience this time, so Dick helps us get Dragonsinger lined up and he goes for a swim and dives down and checks that our anchor is well and truly set in the sand bottom. We all go for a swim before having a drink together in the cockpit.