Sailing Around the World the Wrong Way: Volume V
Turkey to the Black Sea
by
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Two hours out on a 15-knot wind, an intense squall overtook us from the northwest with very heavy rain. Many hours later in the pitch black night we made landfall on a white light blinking 3 times instead of the 2 times that we anticipated. The GPS told us that this was not the mouth of the Bosphorus that we were aiming for. In close to shore, the wind died but the big waves continued. We rocked and rolled on down the shore with the engine. Finally we saw a line of freighters entering and leaving the strait. This was a relief after a hard day and most of the night on a stormy sea.
After entering the strait, we had to cross over to the other side to Poyaz Harbor. This was tricky as the large freighters and long tankers were lined up at full speed into the strait on our side and going out at full speed on the other side. We had to time our crossing perfectly as we would be doing about 5 knots and they would be doing at least 15 knots and would be unable to stop or turn in less than a few miles. Just after one super tanker and just before the next, we gave Idyllic full throttle and turned to start across. Part way across, in front of a 1000-foot tanker coming at full speed, our engine quit!
I dove below, assuming that the fuel filters were clogged again. Harold unfurled the genoa and desperately tried to catch enough wind to move the boat out of the path of the oncoming ship that would not even see us in the dark. There were high bluffs on either side of the strait blocking what little wind there was. Harold was just barely able to get us back out of the way in time, while I was upside down in the dark trying to get the gunk out of the filter.
We restarted the engine and this time we managed to get across between the ships to the harbor of Poyaz where we anchored about 1:30 a.m. for the night after 17 hours of sailing in stormy seas.
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Book Details
About the Book
This book is the true story of one man’s attempt to live out his lifelong dream of sailing around the world to strange foreign ports in his own sailboat. Upon retiring from teaching school and farming in Michigan, Harold Knoll, Jr. left his forthcoming sedentary life, took his sailboat down to the Gulf, and headed around the world. Few men have the courage to do this, even though most of us have these dreams.
Volume I covered the first part of his journey from Michigan to Trinidad. Volume II covered his journey from Trinidad to Spain and through France to Amsterdam and Scandinavia. Volume III covered the third part of his journey from Amsterdam around the British Isles, through the French canals to the Mediterranean, and down the coast of Italy. Volume IV covers his trip from Rome to Greece and through the Aegean Sea to Turkey. This Volume V covers his trip to the Black Sea and back to Turkey.
Captain Knoll, a true free spirit, picks up crew as he travels along. In the process, he meets many very fascinating people and has many thrilling, and sometimes humorous, experiences. Forthcoming volumes will cover the future trips that he takes as he proceeds on his voyage around the world the “wrong way” (against the prevailing winds).
About the Author
Harold Knoll, Jr.
Captain Knoll was born and raised in Michigan, where his free days were spent fishing, hunting, and boating. His dream of sailing to foreign ports developed at an early age. He learned boating and sailing on Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan. When he retired from teaching and farming, he began to live his dream of sailing around the world. Since then, he has sailed very extensively in foreign lands. He has sailed his 32 ft. sloop over 22,000 miles at the time of writing this volume. When he is temporarily home from his travels, he lives with his sailor wife in Montague, Michigan.
Harold C. Byler, Jr.
H. C. Byler learned to sail in the 1950’s in a sailboat that he and a friend designed and built. He became interested in ocean cruising and recruited friends to rent boats and sail on the North Atlantic and Long Island Sound to Nantucket. He later sailed the Northeast Pacific, the Gulf coast of Florida, the Leeward and Windward Islands of the Caribbean, the North Sea, the Western Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea. He has authored several previous books and is applying this experience to assisting Captain Knoll with this book. He lives in a small town in dry West Texas with his sailor wife of 51 years.