1st Flotilla Holiday - tips please

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tanimola

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We're off on a Sunscape Flotilla (Turkey) in a few weeks. Looking for some guideance with regard to what to take with us.....

Just a few tips from those of you who have had some experience of this type of holiday...
 
All you really need is the appropriate clothing.
I took my own nav instruments and hand held compass. Nice to have but not essential.
If I were going again I would take a handheld GPS, but it wouldn't be vital.

A lovely way to have a holiday! Enjoy it.
 
Bug Spray
Mossi Repellant for wearing
Mossi Repellant for cabin
Long trousers for evening
Long sleeve shirt for evening
Hand Held Radio
GPS
Pens
Mobile Phone ( To contact Lead Crew )
2B Pencil
Chart ( Ours was in 4 parts )
Credit Cards / Bank Cards / Turkish Lire
£10 Note per person for your entry Visa / Landing Charge
Don't think about stopping off in GREECE
Mooring is usually stern to with a Lazy Line


By plenty of water from supermarkets. Buying it in small bottles is expensive. We stocked up with 10+ 5ltr bottles for drinking. Plan where you are going to get provisions. Bread is sometimes available from the restaurants in the morning. Don't expect to get provisions everywhere. Have enough provisions onboard for a meal incase you don't like the look of the restaurant / prices

Other bits we have yet to master.

Drop the anchor and take a line ashore. Sounds simple.


Best Bit

No tides so DON'T RUN AGROUND


Have a good holiday :-)

When are you going .. Which bit ..

..
 
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Flotilla holidays

All good stuff from Exfinnsailor and others.
In the flotillas I've done, there has been the likeable idiot and the hard to like know-all. If you don't recognise either of these early on, check that you are not one or the other. Take plenty of tolerance, some humility and have a great time.
Morgan
 
exfinnsailor said:
Bug Spray
Mossi Repellant for wearing
Mossi Repellant for cabin
Long trousers for evening
Long sleeve shirt for evening
Hand Held Radio
GPS
Pens
Mobile Phone ( To contact Lead Crew )
2B Pencil
Chart ( Ours was in 4 parts )
Credit Cards / Bank Cards / Turkish Lire
£10 Note per person for your entry Visa / Landing Charge
Don't think about stopping off in GREECE
Mooring is usually stern to with a Lazy Line


By plenty of water from supermarkets. Buying it in small bottles is expensive. We stocked up with 10+ 5ltr bottles for drinking. Plan where you are going to get provisions. Bread is sometimes available from the restaurants in the morning. Don't expect to get provisions everywhere. Have enough provisions onboard for a meal incase you don't like the look of the restaurant / prices

Other bits we have yet to master.

Drop the anchor and take a line ashore. Sounds simple.


Best Bit

No tides so DON'T RUN AGROUND


Have a good holiday :-)

When are you going .. Which bit ..

..
Click to expand...

Spot on I would say :)
 
I wouldn't take lira, the exchange rate you'll get in the UK will be at least 2 points below what you'll get in Turkey! I was in the UK last week, and the robbing Ba%6$3ds charge 2.3 or 2.9 buying or selling! in Turkey you'll get 2.5 Take pounds and exchange, or (depending upon your bank) withdraw direct from a machine even at the airport!

Oh, just shorts, tee shirts, and probably sun cream and aftersun! it's warming up nicely here at the moment! 36 - 40deg C at the moment!
 
If you have one then I would take the HH VHF & GPS - they're a handy - but not essential. Flotilla leaders often give instructions via VHF when berthing - so it's handy to have a unit in the cockpit to talk with them rather than having to go below.
The GPS just gives you a course and distance to a destination - but the Nav is normally very simple and the Flot leaders will do you a basic daily "passage plan" ...

What has not been mentioned is an "emergency meal" ... we took some dried pasta with sauce and got a tin of tuna - just as well as on our flot we had one long day and didn't get into port till after sunset - so we were able to eat on the move. Unusual - but 1 emergency meal isn't a lot of weight.

Other than that - take a lot of stress and tiredness with you and leave it on the dockside as you get onto your boat ... ;)
 
In addition...

In my experience flotilla boats don't have shore-power leads, so maybe a mini-inverter that plugs into the 12v socket for everything that needs charging.

Supermarkets will often sell frozen bottles of water - buy these to keep your beer cool in the fridge.

Sun protection, especially if you're fair-skinned like we are. Factor 50 for the face. Also, is it just me that burns the area just above the knee from sitting in the cockpit? Also remember hats, and I use one of those Buff things to keep it off my neck.

Waterproof bags for cameras, phones etc if you think you'll be coming ashore on a dinghy at any point.

A small torch for the same at night.

Also, I think these are great for getting a quick look at coastlines http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/b-solognac-100-fix-145721715/
 
exfinnsailor said:
Bug Spray
Mossi Repellant for wearing
Mossi Repellant for cabin
Long trousers for evening
Long sleeve shirt for evening
Hand Held Radio
GPS
Pens
Mobile Phone ( To contact Lead Crew )
2B Pencil
Chart ( Ours was in 4 parts )
Credit Cards / Bank Cards / Turkish Lire
£10 Note per person for your entry Visa / Landing Charge
Don't think about stopping off in GREECE
Mooring is usually stern to with a Lazy Line


By plenty of water from supermarkets. Buying it in small bottles is expensive. We stocked up with 10+ 5ltr bottles for drinking. Plan where you are going to get provisions. Bread is sometimes available from the restaurants in the morning. Don't expect to get provisions everywhere. Have enough provisions onboard for a meal incase you don't like the look of the restaurant / prices

Other bits we have yet to master.

Drop the anchor and take a line ashore. Sounds simple.


Best Bit

No tides so DON'T RUN AGROUND


Have a good holiday :-)

When are you going .. Which bit ..

..
Click to expand...


Thanks to you all, great advice which we will use :-)
 
I allways take a pair of rubber gardening gloves for the lazylines as sometimes these come up with bits of sharp shell on them,and also a bag of nappysacks for used loo roll.
 
Bluenote2 said:
I allways take a pair of rubber gardening gloves for the lazylines as sometimes these come up with bits of sharp shell on them,and also a bag of nappysacks for used loo roll.
Click to expand...

A pair of leather riggers gloves is my preference. The worst lazy lines for shells appear to be in marinas, most of the restaurant jetty ones I have used this year have been OK.
 
One practical tip. You are going to have to moor stern to, and probably into a gap between two other boats. When you first take the boat out just find a quiet piece of water and practice motoring astern, find out what prop walk the boat has, and how much throttle you need to get it going astern just fast enough to steer it, and how much you need to rev it in forward to stop it. Then when you do your first mooring with it you will know how it handles, and have a good chance of getting it right. It is usually easiest to moor if you turn and start going astern from well out, rather than try to get in close then turn backwards into a space.
 
On going backwards, and this works best on a single wheel boat with a binnacle, throttle lever also on binnacle.

Stand the wrong side of the wheel (companion-way side) facing the stern when going in reverse. Steering and throttle then work more naturally. Push throttle away from you to go towards your target space (reverse), pull back to slow down and stop.

Steering is also the right way round (wheel to port sends the stern to port, starboard to starboard) and you don't need to keep looking over your shoulders.

Was a revelation to me when I first tried it. :D

The advice about starting to go astern well away from your mooring spot is very good. I think the furthest we have managed is about 6-700 metres through a marina - all astern in an Oceanis 461, steered like a dream and slotted perfectly into the allocated berth - all done using the method mentioned above.
 
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Baggywrinkle said:
On going backwards, and this works best on a single wheel boat with a binnacle, throttle lever also on binnacle.

Stand the wrong side of the wheel (companion-way side) facing the stern when going in reverse. Steering and throttle then work more naturally. Push throttle away from you to go towards your target space (reverse), pull back to slow down and stop.

Steering is also the right way round (wheel to port sends the stern to port, starboard to starboard) and you don't need to keep looking over your shoulders.

Was a revelation to me when I first tried it. :D

The advice about starting to go astern well away from your mooring spot is very good. I think the furthest we have managed is about 6-700 metres through a marina - all astern in an Oceanis 461, steered like a dream and slotted perfectly into the allocated berth - all done using the method mentioned above.
Click to expand...

I've tried standing the other side of the wheel, but it just didn't work for me!
 
Baggywrinkle said:
Did you try turning round to face the stern when you were standing the wrong side of the wheel? :p

Sorry ... I couldn't resist .... no offence intended. I find it works really well for me.
Click to expand...

No offence taken
thoeps.gif


It just felt wrong to me. I'd never tried it that way and when someone suggested it I gave it a good go, but it just didn't work for me.
 
Buy frozen bottled water to keep the fridge cold when not running the engine. Once it thaws you have nice cold water to drink buy it each time you stop if possible.

Buy your own charts of the area so you can plot when you went and have a memento of the holiday.

Take some LED torches good for hanging up in the cockpit to read in the evening or to open beer by;)
 
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