With the wind on the nose we decided to motor the last few miles to Marmaris but it wasn’t without incident. As we approached the stunning mountains that surround the Marmaris area we received a distress call on the VHF. A UK flagged boat called MaryLou had lost its steering and it turned out we were only 200m away from it. I attempted to call them on Ch16 but they didn’t reply as the couple were too busy running around the deck panicking. The poor guy was so distressed he couldn’t remember the phoenetic alphabet for his boat name so we motored over to give them some assistance. I suggested that we tow them back to the marina so I started rigging up a line out the back but this time it was my turn to forget – I completely forgot how to rig up a butterfly knot, something I had done on my Day Skipper course when Esper had to tow another vessel that had lost its prop….
Whilst I was doing this a Dutch boat, Meteor, called up the Turkish coast guard and within 2 minutes they appeared and boarded MaryLou. Figuring that they now had enough assistance we continued on our way to Marmaris, but not without having a chat with some friends of MaryLou, a boat named Insomni, who were also on their way to assist. We agreed that to get a tow from the coast guard could cost them a pretty penny or two so Insomni said they’d go over and give them a tow instead. I’m not sure what the outcome was in the end but they looked like they had enough people to assist them.
We were always told Marmaris town wasn’t a patch on Bodrum so we weren’t expecting too much from this area. However both Liz and I agree that the surrounding countryside of the Marmaris bay is absolutely stunning. Green mountains, not grey, dominate the bay and parts of it have a real Caribbean feel. We hopped on a Dolmus to meet Mark in the Orange Bar and the journey round was incredible. Superb holiday villages tastefully presented dominate the eastern side of the bay and when we got to the bar we knew this was going to become our local! In terms of the sea and the countryside, give me Marmaris over Bodrum any day!
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Hi Uwe, as you suggest this must have been another incident, or maybe you picked up from where we left. The incident we were involved in was as described. We recorded the names of the boats involved in our log book and I don’t remember a half-rigged main sail. If it was the same incident it could be that you came along after Insomni and identified the problem before Insomni attempted to tow MaryLou because we didn’t actually see her being towed away. We left at that point. I’m not in the habit of making stories up and all that is described above IS correct, Uwe!
Hey Jamie, this story is not correct. I heared a mayday-call from MaryLou. He was floating without steering in the Marmaris Bay area (around midday). I was on a diving boat when I heard the mayday-mayday call from his wife. As soon as I got the position, I realized, they are close to us. We saw MaryLou with a half rigged main sail. It took me and Yahya only 3 minutes with the speedboat to get there. I jumped on the boat and asked him “what is your problem”. He answered, that both steering wheels are blocked. I realized directly the reason of his problem. Funny – he just locked the screws of both steering wheels.
I was just finished to sort out the problem when the coast guard arrived and tied up. Yahya explained the problem to the coast guard and told them, that it was just a small problem. After they checked the ship paper they went back.
When MaryLou was back in Yacht Marina he envited Gaby and me for a dinner.
Did it happend a nother time to MaryLou to have problems with the steering?