Delivery Day of Olive: 2nd of July 2013

Today Olive will be delivered. Together with our captain we'll prepare the boat for the long journey.
Galip will join us from Gothenburg and help us to do some shopping with his car as we no longer have a car.
At 10 o'clock we meet on the boat. Jonas starts with the introduction of the boat and explains everything.
Then he started with the assembly of the Genoa which was relatively easier  and it rolled nicely on the furling then we inserted the main sail into the Selden  furling mast. The sails nicely rolled into the mast. Then we had a long introduction to the systems of the boat. At first it looked complicated and it seemed too much information in such a short time. However; with the captain and three crew we all picked up important points  collectively and we learned a lot. The boat looked fantastic and in mint condition. We had two bottles of  Champagne to celebrate, one from Galip and one from Hallberg Rassy. We opened one of the bottles and toasted for the safe and happy lifetime of Olive with happy people sailing safely in it.

After the lecture we had lunch all together at our hotel which was temporarily our home during the last week.
After one more day at the hotel we will be moving to Olive, our new home for the next 40 days.
First sailing experience with Jonas was very impressive. Olive can be handled with one crew from cockpit after gaining some experience. Its quiet fast and your immediate feeling is the security of the boat. Jonas showed us the operation of the Gori propeller and how to shift to overdrive gear to save fuel. Detailed specs of the Hallberg-Rassy 40 can be found in the web site www.hallberg-rassy.com.

After sailing for two hours we moored back in the Hallberg-Rassy Marina and I had to visit the spare parts office run by Mellie who is a very nice lady sharing her experience to help to choose the essential spares for the boat.

We ended the evening with a nice dinner with the crew and Galip. After dinner we said good-bye to Galip as he was going home next afteroon.

Captain Paul, Jonas, Temel and Galip

Inspecting the Champagne !!

Captain Arrives 1st of July

It will be an interesting day today. Our Captain from PYD (Professional Yacth Deliveries) a UK based company is arriving. I will meet him at a small airport, in the northwest of Gothenburg and drive him back to Ellös.

Later on I will take Saadet to Landvetter Airport. She will be flying home to take care of our grandchildren and the company. Saadet's cousin Murat who will be our second crew member is arriving too. Galip, the HR Agent,will also come for the delivery of the boat.

We woke up early today and after breakfast I drove to Saeve Airport. As planned, the plane from UK arrived at 9:50 and our captain came out with a smiling face. Paul Lawton is relatively young man and he is a very friendly person. He is a well educated Captain with double major in Zoology and Oceanography from Swansea University. He has excellent qualifications as Yachtmaster Ocean and RYA Yachtmaster Instructor. We will be learning lots of practical things from him during this trip.

Galip was quiet right with his recommendation of having a Captain from PYD. During this period the General Manager of PYD, Mark Matthews was very helpful. He arranged the yacht's insurance and  the delivery of  life raft, tender and the outboard engine to HR Shipyard on time. Another good news was the arrival of MMSI Number for the EPIRB System. This system in case of an emergency automatically sends messages to a center through a satellite system giving exact position of the EPIRB device and initiate a rescue operation. Additionally we have a radar too, indicating the exact position of stationary and moving obstacles along the route of Olive.

With the captain I came back to hotel around 11:30 and left him with Frederico. Then I took Saadet to the airport and left my rented car. We met Galip and Murat and said goodbye to Saadet. I will be away from home for almost 40 days. While I was meeting the captain Saadet and Frederico went to see Olive.It was Saadets first encounter with Olive. Here you see Saadet happily sitting with Jonas in the cockpit of Olive below:

Galip took us back to Ellös, with the captain we visited Olive and Paul had a quick look at the boat. His first impressions were quiet positive. We ended the day with a nice dinner all together in the hotel's restaurant. Everybody  were tired and looking forward to an exiting next day and we went to sleep.

Sunday at Ellös; 30th June 2013

Its Sunday, and a beautiful sunny day . We woke up quiet late catching breakfast at the very last moment. After breakfast we went for a short walk towards the marina to visit Olive and walked to the end of the Hallberg Rassy Marina. Frederico took a panoramic view from the end of the pier, we will be travelling towards this horizon to an adventure in couple of days...

We were invited to lunch by a close friend from Sweden. He is Professor Tor Khilman from Chalmers University a nice friend of mine from International Institute of Noise Control Engineers community. He is a veteran sailor with 65 years of immense experience in the rough north sea and Scandinavian coast line.
Tor came around 13:00 and he took us to a golf club nearby Ellös. We had a very nice lunch with Saadet, Frederico and Tor in a nice restaurant surrounded by the green golf fields. Time passes so quickly when you are with good friends. Tor told us stories of his past sailing experience and about his travels up towards the remote isolated lands near the north pole. After dinner we came back to hotel and took a nice rest for couple of hours. Later in the afternoon we did some shopping at the food store nearby our village and had a light dinner in a Pizzeria Shop.It was surprising to find out that the owner  was from Mersin, Turkey. We enjoyed the  friendly welcome of being from Turkey in this remote coastal village in Sweden at this little Pizzeria shop. The day ended quietly and we went to bed early getting ready for a busy next  day.

Two quiet days: 28th and 29th of June 2013

Saadet and Frederico arrived on Friday. It was a nice and sunny day with white clouds. I drove to Landvetter Airport to meet them at 11:00. THY arrived on time, we drove back to Ellös enjoying the green Swedish countryside. After checking in we had lunch at the hotel's restaurant. They both liked the food, especially Frederico being a Portuguese very much enjoyed the fish. After lunch, first; we visited Olive, strangely there were no one in the shipyard working on a Friday afternoon. I guess Swedish people are enjoying the long weekends during summer, taking the revenge of short daylight winter days which is quiet understandable. Saadet and Frederico both admired the beautiful appearance of Olive and its excellent craftsmanship.

After this short visit to the shipyard, first we went to Hallberg Rassy Parts shop and Saadet looked around and we made some quick decisions of what we are going to buy from the shop for Olive. Then we drove to a shopping complex nearby Uddevalla, and visited Ikea to buy some necessary items for the boat. Its a long and tedious process similar to  furnishing a new house. We ended the day with a short walk in town and had a dinner at a local restaurant. Then we slept like a log until 9:00 next morning.

Saturday the 29th of June started with pouring rain. We decided to go to Gothenburg, I need to buy waterproof boots for Skagerak Sea and Biscay Bay crossing. After breakfast and doing some packing in the room we started off to Gothenburg. It was a wet and boring shopping day, but I found the boots in the Helly Hanson shop thanks to Saadet's wisdom. We run fast to escape pouring rain into a restaurant, by the time we finished our lunch rain had stopped and we could see the sun again. During lunch a good old friend of mine, Tor called and invited us for lunch on Sunday. They live not far away from Ellös, we'll be looking forward to be with them tomorrow.

Olive's mast is placed

Its a better day today, sun is shining through the clouds, rain has stopped and the temperature is around 18-19 degrees. My plan is to meet Jonas and get some tips on where to buy an ocean type jacket, hi feet trousers and waterproof boots. That means I got to go to Gothenburg. Of course I would like to see Olive with her new mast installed as the first thing in the morning.
I woke up early because there was already sun light at 05:30. Tried to get some more sleep but with not much success. After a warm shower I had my breakfast and went to see Jonas. I do not want to go near Olive  to distract technicians work without asking Jonas.
Jonas tried to call the marine wear shops to find out if they may have the goods that I want. He spent lot of time on his phone but with not much success. It seems that everybody these days have abandoned to use their phones in Sweden. Eventually I decided to go to Gothenburg and try my chance in couple of shops. But first I was curious about Olive's new appearance. Here she is with her beautiful Selden in-mast furling  mast installed:

Now she looks like a real beautiful sailing boat. You can see the Furuno Radar being placed at half the mast height. With this good news I went to the Hotel's restaurant and had a nice lunch then started off to Gothenburg. After an hour of driving my gps guided me through the city traffic and I came to the parking lot. But unfortunately it was completely full. However, I have this magical luck of finding the best of the parking places. Relying on that I started circling in the vicinity of the car park and thanks to my parking angel I found a nice parking place. Luckily I also found the shop where they sell Henry Lloyd Sailing outfit and I bought myself the jacket and the trousers. But unfortunately I couldn't find the waterproof boots. Anyway today was a successful day, we made progress both on the boat front and with my sailing gear. Before I left Gothenburg I had Sushi at a modest Sushi House and made may way to Ellös. Around 22:30 it was still light and I watched the sun set. I want to share this impressive sun set  with you:

Well its already getting too late I better go to bed. Tomorrow Saadet and Frederico are coming I got to go to Vettenberg Airport and pick them up. See you tomorrow !

My first two days in Ellös

Yesterday, I arrived on a nice sunny day around 11:00 am local time to Landvetter Airport, Gothenburg.
During landing under white clouds the view below was very pictorial, the green countryside with forests and lakes gave an impression of  a dream country. Trekking should be lot of fun here.
Airport is located some 20 kilometers southeast of the city. I rented a car and set my destination to Ellös on the navigation system and started my trip.
Ellös is a nice little village between Gothenburg and Uddevalla on an island Orust.
Hallberg Rassy (HR) Shipyard is in this village and I am staying at a nice hotel called Sjögården Hotel facing the HR Shipyard.
I arrived Ellös around 15:00 and settled in a nice double room on the ground level facing the shipyard.
The first thing that strike my attention was, the robot lawn mover under my window, cutting the grass unattended in an intelligent way. The robot was recognizing the obstacles as well as non-green boundaries and turning to different paths and cutting the grass patiently.
Having placed my heavy luggage in the room I walked to the yard and visited Jonas. Jonas Algården  is the Area Sales Manager responsible for Turkey at Hallberg Rassy.  I should mention that both Mr. Galip Kaynar, the Turkish Representative of HR and Jonas  have been very nice and extremely helpful throughout this long acquisition process of my Olive. We had a short discussion over a cup of coffee with Jonas and planned the next day. Then Jonas took me to see Olive which was lowered to sea the same day I arrived without her mast. The plan was to install the mast next day.

After I left Jonas's office I made a short trip along the coast and took some pictures. Then I went to have a light dinner and went to bed early. I had only a few hours of sleep on the previous night.

I woke up to a cloudy and a rainy day at Ellös with temperatures below 15 degrees. This is very unusual for someone feeling the warm summer in his bones with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees in Istanbul in June and July. I had an appointment with Jonas at 10:00 so I took a quick shower had my breakfast and walked down to Jonas's office. We went through the parts list in detail then visited Olive. Technicians were working on the rigging and preparing the Selden mast carefully. In-mast furling was my choice when I decided to buy Olive. I wanted to simplify sailing as much as possible and try to get the pleasure of the boat during sailing.
We went in the boat and had a quick look at the cabins, the engine and the Hi-Fi system. Then Jonas took me to the shipyard and we went through the new releases from Hallberg Rassy; HR 43, HR 48 and HR 55 as well as a HR 64 in water. Then Jonas invited me to lunch at the hotel. It was a nice morning.

In the afternoon I went to the parts shop of HR and renewed my list and ordered a first aid kit from Germany. This company in Hamburg has been specializing in preparation of first aid kits for sailbaots and their list is quiet impressive. I decided to get one to be on the safe side.

I also brought my Cordette and thanks to my friend Ahmet Güney, he loaded my computer with a large number of music from his collection . In the afternoon I decided to go to a shopping complex some 50 kms away and see if I can buy a general purpose tool box and a cable to connect my Cordette to the Hi-Fi System in the boat. I need to buy a thick water-proof ocean going jacket-trousers and waterproof boots. I drove all the way to Torps Köpcentrum but could only buy a toolbox. Tomorrow I may go to Gothenburg to try my chance with the essential marine wear I need for the trip. I also want to see Olive with her mast assembled tomorrow.

Last night in Istanbul

My name is Temel Belek and I am a Professor at ITU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
Today is 24th of June 2013.
Olive's adventure starts.
It was a life long dream I had, its my retirement plan.
To have a sailing boat and to travel distant seas and places.
I have been studying all kinds of sailboats for the last 10 years and eventually I made up my mind.
My choice was a Swedish Hallberg Rassy 40 built in 2009 and mainly used as a demo boat.
Its a center cockpit sailing boat with two large cabins plus a comfortable living quarter in the middle section.
We decided to buy it last year and named it Olive after days of long discussions. Olive reminds us Mediterranean where she belongs.
Olive is also  "Pop Eye the Sailor"s girl friend's name by funny coincidence.
 "Pop Eye the Sailor" is known as Temel Reis in Turkish. So she is named after my girlfriend !!
Tomorrow I'll  fly to Gothenburg, rent a car and drive to north to an island called Orust. Hallberg Raasy shipyard is located at a little village called Ellös.
I'll be staying in a small hotel overlooking the bay where the boats are prepared for delivery.

Hallberg Rassy is famous for their punctuality, they always deliver their boats on time. I've been informed that my boat will be delivered on the 2nd of July 10:00 am. I'll be spending some time with shopping for necessary spares and missing items for the boat until the delivery. Buying a boat is similar to starting a new house.

My wife Saadet will join me on 28th of June together with the crew of the first stage. Tomorrow at Ellös I will continue giving you more information about our adventure.