Crew: Sadik Gokturk, Mike Grinnell, Dale Vincent, Eric Rosenfeld, Hy Livingston
Migration was stored in Split for the winter of 2004/5. However it was badly damaged in November of 2004 during a bad storm being sandwiched between 2 larger boats. The very heavy 70' steel ketch to windward of Migration sawed through its bow line, broke loose and came to rest on Migration. In the 80-90 mph gusts both boats would be pushed even further to leward onto a 70' gullet (heavy wooden boat built in Turkey). To make matters worse the windage of the tree masts made them heal in the gusts caused chewing action on all three, causing an expensive amount of cosmetic (not structural) damage. The purpose of this cruise was to sail Migration 280 miles from Split to Lefkas Marine, Lefkas Greece to be repaired. Due to the extent of the repairs Mike and Sheila had to forgo the 2005 sailing season.
THE START: The crew consisted of "all guys": Capt. Mike, Chef Sadik, Hy Livingston, Dale Vincent and Eric Rosenthal. Hy and Dale flew to Rome, where they spent the day and met Eric at the Rome Airport before departing to Split and hooking up Mike and Sadik on Migration June 5th.
The plan was to leave the 6th, however all the halyard messengers were broken, tangled & twisted so the sails could not be raised. What to do? Someone needed to go up the mast. Eric, the likely candiate, declined. Mike volunteered. Eric (the mountain climber and member of the Explorer's Club) tied a large number of knots around Mike's waist and up he went. He made it to the top of the spreaders. After lots of separating "the spaghetti" he was able to choose one of the top 5 halyards to hoist him to the mast top. Hy was on winch, Dale tailed and Eric had one line around his waist cleated to the deck and another around his waist serving as Mike's safety line. Sadik was there giving a much needed helping hand. We breathed a sigh of relief, when Mike finally got it all worked out. We went to Bambijana Restaurant in the Marina Kastela that night for a great peka dinner. Despite the warning fo the harbor master we took off the next morning, June 8th to Dubrovnik in 40 knot gusts. We had a schedule to keep. Once we were away from the mountains behind Split, we sailed in a beautiful 25 knot aft of abeam breeze.
THE SAIL: It was a fabulous overnight sail, about 18 hours in fresh breeezes and a clear sky. Sailing was tricky at night as there were numerous islands, channels, and ferry boats. But with the GPS, Capt. Mike, and Sadik's coffee we made it safely to Gruz (the port city of Dubrovnik) early on the 9th. We took a bus to Dubrovnik old town to tour, eat and shop. Fascinating really old, historic city that had been bombed in the recent wars by the Serbs. We left Gruz the morning of the 10th. Mike took us on a "photo op" of the medieval walled city, which one could only really see from the water. Mike set 2 watches, Mike and Eric 7-11pm and Hy and Dale 12- 4AM. Sadik cooked one great meal after another. Mike liked his Turkish eggs. Mike was awakened several times by the Hy/Dale watch breaking out in boisterous laughter. Hy and Dale went below every 15 minutes to make sure we would not take any left hand turns into any rocks. I was impressed that Mike trusted us or was just too tired from climbing the mast the previous day. Hy made a decision to head slightly Westerly towards Italy, to "avoid those Albanian pirates." Mike was bemused by Hy's paranoia.
Unfortunately after the wind died we left the main sail up to steady the boat in the residual sloppy seas. But the stress was too much. The entire foot blew out. In any case we arrived safely the morning of the 11th to Gouvia Marine, Corfu. Mike worked diligently, and paid dearly, to have the main sail repaired on a Sunday, the 11th.
CORFU: Corfu proved to be great. There were numerous restuarants in Old Corfu Town. Mike suggested Rex Taverna. Hy managed to let the ATM eat his credit card and went ballistic. After calling the card company he somehow got his card and some money back. The rest of the crew helped Hy get back to earth with calm counsel and numberous drinks. We ordered a large grilled fish, which we had deconstructed in no time. Dale, however, was still licking the bones and especially devouring the lips of the fish. I never knew whether it was his hunger or some gastronomical quality of those lips. We started talking with the 2 South African psychiatrists at an adjacent table, who were analyzing our every word. The conversation became lively. We ordered more wine. The conversation became even more spirited. I don't think the results of their analysis of this band of pirates was very kindly. After a while, exhausted, we went back to the boat leaving Eric who said he was going to stay and return to the boat later... it was 12 hours later. So drunk, we wondered how he tackled the return trip... what happened to Eric? We repaired, toured, ate, drank, and slept the balance of the 11th, all day of the 12th. We became morning regulars at the Gouvia Marina cafe with croissants and cappuccinos; and evening regulars at our favorite restaurant outside the marina, George's Taverna. The food was realy tasty Greek fare and the music very intertaining. Hy flew back home very early on the 13th. Migration with Mike, Sadik and Dale headed for Paxos. Interestingly, Eric, decided to hire a sea plane and flew from Gouvia to Paxos.
PAXOS: Arriving the afternoon of the 13th, we caught up with Eric, toured, enjoyed cocktails and dinner.
LEFKAS: The 14th we had a uneventful sail to Lefkas Marina. Les Wood (Glass Fiber Specialist and General Contractor) and Niel McRoberts (Carpenter) came to the boat to discuss the long term repair plan. Neil volunteered he has fixed up and chartered out two sailboats which turned out to be very profitable. Les drove Sadik to Igoumenitsa to catch the Minoan Lines ferry to Ancona, and then to Paris to hurry back to NY. Sadik was plannig to invite Les to a nice restaurant in Igoumenitsa, but could not find one, so that we had to settle for a modest Greek waterfront taverna, which was fine, but did not have Rebetika music. Sadik said "This was unquestionably one of my best voyages ever, if not the very best." Hy and Eric helped Mike haul and decommission the boat. Hy and Eric also rented a car to do some touring of this beautiful island. One day Dale and Mike drove up into the mountains to the Belvedere Restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous Greek lunch overlooking the Med from thousands of feet altitude. We were the only customers. Mike enjoyed using unlimited free Internet access on their computer. Les also very generously offered to drive Hy and Eric to Ioannia Airport for their departure to Paris for their rendezvous of their numbered pressed ducks at Tour d'Argaent, the 16th. Mike finished up decommissioning and flew home the 18th. It was now up to Les and his crew to empty the boat, and begin the long process of repairing Migration back to her normal gracious self.