Fwd: Medellin and coming to terms with our new life

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 28 June 2018 at 19:37
Subject: Medellin and coming to terms with our new life
To: Alex Donald <adonald@abdonaldltd.co.nz>

Hi to all,

Firstly some possibly positive news re TT3. We have been contacted by a classic yacht broker in the UK who has a client quite interested in flying to Turkey to inspect the old girl. This may come to nothing, but there seems little doubt that having her on the market at a very cheap price in the Med is the way to go. And it's not expensive to fly to Turkey from the UK.

With the benefit of time for deep reflection, we've changed our thinking inasmuch as the decision to ship her to the Med was correct, as even at a cheap price, it was unlikely that any sale would be forthcoming in Asia. At least now we have some hope. And our decision to leave Turkey was also correct for a variety of reasons. With a seeming inability to get replies from the yard regarding a finishing work schedule and financial information - much less a launching date - we were bleeding cash with accommodation and car hire and being slowly driven mad. We must add that we have no idea even now how this state of affairs came to pass. Add to that the physical effects at our age of all the work we had done when we first hauled out plus the emotional trauma of trying to deal with the yard, and we had only one alternative - which we took. It is disappointing that all this means that we would miss sailing through Greece and then Malta before Sicily, but again we had to have regard to the wider picture, and the priority of our health and well-being.

We continued to enjoy being with Josie and Reinhard in Werneck. Reinhard took us to an adjacent village to buy direct from the farm some asparagus but alas the season was over. So we continued to another village where there was a car ferry (miniature version of Opua) across the River Main. We sat in the sun watching the little ferry coming and going and also visited a campsite on the river where there were some motorhomes. While were there at least 2 very large motorized fully laden barges passed by. Complete with owners spacious accommodation and a crane for lifting the owner's car on and off at various places. It seemed like a very pleasant way of life. The barges were massive - we estimated at least 200' long.

All too soon though, it became time for us to take a sad goodbye to Werneck and Josie and Reinhard. They drove us to the Wurzburg Bahnhof and there was a sad farewell on the station platform. The train arrived more or less on time and we boarded with our 2 x 23kg cases plus our smaller carry on luggage. Only problem was we were at the wrong end of the train, having earlier perused a diagram earlier on the platform. But it didn't matter and we were soon at Frankfurt Airport. Once again a wonderful quiet ride in one of these beautiful trains. Makes you not want to really get off!

We recall the many fascinating conversations that we had with Reinhard, covering family history and history generally including that of the Nazi era. Reinhard has written books about his family with photos of long ago ancestors and historical and biographical notes. Very very impressive. One thing that irrationally stands out - we told Reinhard and Josie about the classic "Grand Prix of Gibraltar" by that great British actor and comedian, Peter Ustinov. We mentioned the interview with the French team manager, Monsieur Orgini, when he was asked about all the beautiful girls in the French pits. He said "well, they are friends of the drivers (!), and as our pits are next to the Germans, perhaps they may cause the Germans to be a little less efficient!!". Reinhard enjoyed that.

The only regret about the German visit was that we didn't go to Stuttgart (Sindelfingen) to visit the Daimler-Benz Museum there. But we really didn't have the energy for another train ride and back. Maybe some time in the future we will return to do that.

Frankfurt Airport is very time consuming to process oneselves through and an alternative (where possible) should be found as it takes an inordinate amount of time just to get to the gate on time. Nothing worked efficiently and this combined with the German predilection for correct procedure made for a long process indeed. You need to allow LOTS of time. However, after about 3 hours we did finally get to the gate and then the fun really began. We boarded our LATAM Dreamliner with Rolls Royce engines for the flight to Madrid, and half an hour late after leaving the gate, started the long taxi to the runway. However, when we were almost there we inexplicably stopped and after a time became aware that the reason was that smoke had been observed coming from both engines. Of course we immediately thought about what we'd read about Air NZ with 2 engine failures in flight and having to have most of their RR powered Dreamliners grounded for some time while the engines were modified in Singapore. This process may still be continuing. Did nothing for our confidence. To further upset our equilibrium, several excitable Latin passengers were demanding to be allowed to leave the aircraft. So the aircraft was parked a short distance away and a gangway was brought alongside whereupon thankfully they left. Then of course all the hold baggage had to be sorted so that theirs could be removed as well. In the meantime some Lufthansa engineers began examining the aircraft and some 2 hours later they said there was no problem and that the small amount of smoke was "normal". Once they had signed the aircraft off we proceeded once more and took off with yours truly keeping an anxious eye on the port engine!! The flight was uneventful and we landed at Madrid some 4 hours late around 0200. We had met a very pleasant Spanish lady who was sitting next to us in our bulkhead seats and she very kindly guided us through the airport. There was a 15 minute train ride (standing up) before we could get our bags and fall into a taxi - knackered again! We were staying at a budget but very new hotel roughly half way between the airport and the city. We were pleased to finally fall into bed and sleep. Fortunately there was no time difference to cope with.

We had 2 nights and one full day so, in spite of feeling like staying in bed, we had a sparse 2 x 4.50 Euro breakfast and headed for the metro station to go to town. Again we were helped by a very pleasant young Spanish couple to extract our tickets from the automatic machine. The train was only about 30 minutes into the city. Off we got at the main Estacion Sol and then about 6 levels up and back into the sunshine. Lots of attractive and well maintained old buildings - some quite spectacular. Then we wandered the back streets where we came upon a very enticing restaurant where we had a great lunch and 2 glasses each of an excellent Spanish rose. Then more wandering and we found another restaurant offering Calamari at a good price so we filled our faces again. By this time we were well and truly past it so headed underground once more to get the train back. However, inadvertently we caught an express which did not stop at our station and so we had to go to the end of the line from where we caught another train back to our stop. After about an hour's sleep, we staggered downstairs for a very indifferent meal in the hotel cafeteria - then back to bed again.   

Our flight to Medellin the next day had a 1600 departure time but with Frankfurt fresh in our minds, we decided to leave the hotel at 1000 to ensure that we had plenty of time. By a great coincidence our taxi driver was a Colombian who had lived in Spain for a number of years. He spoke good English too so we had a good ride to the airport. However, Madrid was a totally different situation and everything operated seamlessly. So much so that we had time on our hands so found another good restaurant where we spent the best part of 2 hours with 2 more glasses of Spanish rose. We were flying Iberia (the Spanish national airline) and had 2 exit row seats on their own so there was plenty of legroom.  These seats had cost us another 58 Euros each over the ticket cost but worth it for the 10 hour flight. We left the Portuguese coast between Lisbon and Porto and then slept as there wasn't anything to see. Crossed the Venezuelan coast just east of Lake Maracaibo and ran into heavy high level cloud which persisted most of the way to Medellin. However, landed without incident at Medellin Airport which is 6,000' above sea level at 1930 local time and Noelia (our property agent) had arranged for us to be met. Soon we were on our way into the city, although not to our apartment as it was let. So we had arranged through another real estate acquaintance to lease a smaller apartment in the Suramericana district - not as salubrious as Envigado but quite OK and right next door to the Exito Colombia supermarket. No food, tea, coffee or anything in the apartment and the supermarket was closed, so we staggered along the road with David Garcia who had arranged our apartment to a small local restaurant where we had some Colombian food which kept the wolf from the door!

Next day (23/06) we spent up large in Exito and felt a little more "at home".

However, the events of the past 3 weeks or so were catching up on both of us with a vengeance and we spent a fairly miserable weekend not feeling well, quite emotional at times and generally out of sorts. But we are slowly coming to terms with everything that has happened. At least we have only pre-empted our arrival in Medellin by around 12 months from our original plan!

On Monday we contacted our lawyer, Astrid, and arranged an appointment to catch up and start our permanent residency applications. One amusing note - we had inadvertently made another unintended phone call to Astrid and she rang back not knowing who had rung. Jim answered the phone and neither Astrid nor Jim realized who we were talking to. Astrid said "do you need a lawyer?" and Jim replied "no, we already had one!!!" We had a bit of a laugh over that.  Also we talked again to Noelia, and Jean has also been in contact with 2 of our neighbours in our Envigado Jardines de la Maria building. We will catch up with everyone over the next few days.

Tuesday we went to Astrid's apartment opposite the Vizcaya Mall in Poblado where we regaled her with our Turkish experiences, and discussed our upcoming residency applications. Then we repaired across the road with Astrid to a restaurant where we had been before for lunch. Jim had a "sin alcohol" beer with lemon juice and a salt caked rim which was an interesting taste experience!! Then we took our leave of Astrid and went to meet Noelia and her liitle daughter, Luna, in her apartment not far away. Jean had been following Luna's progress since she was born 11 months ago so lots of catching up again and then back to our place. Much to do now with dealing with our apartment and the residency applications. We hope to be able to move into our apartment in the Jardines de la Maria building in early September.

We've had another visit to Astrid (our lawyer) today to further discuss our residency applications and also visited a Notary again! Prior to that we were in Poblado and witnessed the great jubilation of many Colombians at the Colombian Soccer Team's victory in the World Cup against Senegal. Many people wearing yellow shirts yahooing in the streets, loud music and yellow, red and blue balloons everywhere.  The exuberance was infectious.

More news soon - we are attaching some relevant  photos

Cheers and lotsaluv from us in Medellin.............

Jim and Jean

www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com 

P.S. If you go to our blogsite (www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com) there will be some further photos

Photos as below:

015 - TT3 on the ship the day of unloading

034 - TT3 on the homemade "travelift" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Fethiye

036 - Levent - the owner of the yard - our nemesis

045 - Jean in Reinhard's and Josie's front garden with the roses

046 - the old Bishop's Palace in Werneck

052 - ditto from the park side

054 - Jean and Josie in front of an unusual flowering tree

Fwd: Medellin and coming to terms with our new life

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 28 June 2018 at 19:37
Subject: Medellin and coming to terms with our new life
To: Alex Donald <adonald@abdonaldltd.co.nz>

Hi to all,

Firstly some possibly positive news re TT3. We have been contacted by a classic yacht broker in the UK who has a client quite interested in flying to Turkey to inspect the old girl. This may come to nothing, but there seems little doubt that having her on the market at a very cheap price in the Med is the way to go. And it's not expensive to fly to Turkey from the UK.

With the benefit of time for deep reflection, we've changed our thinking inasmuch as the decision to ship her to the Med was correct, as even at a cheap price, it was unlikely that any sale would be forthcoming in Asia. At least now we have some hope. And our decision to leave Turkey was also correct for a variety of reasons. With a seeming inability to get replies from the yard regarding a finishing work schedule and financial information - much less a launching date - we were bleeding cash with accommodation and car hire and being slowly driven mad. We must add that we have no idea even now how this state of affairs came to pass. Add to that the physical effects at our age of all the work we had done when we first hauled out plus the emotional trauma of trying to deal with the yard, and we had only one alternative - which we took. It is disappointing that all this means that we would miss sailing through Greece and then Malta before Sicily, but again we had to have regard to the wider picture, and the priority of our health and well-being.

We continued to enjoy being with Josie and Reinhard in Werneck. Reinhard took us to an adjacent village to buy direct from the farm some asparagus but alas the season was over. So we continued to another village where there was a car ferry (miniature version of Opua) across the River Main. We sat in the sun watching the little ferry coming and going and also visited a campsite on the river where there were some motorhomes. While were there at least 2 very large motorized fully laden barges passed by. Complete with owners spacious accommodation and a crane for lifting the owner's car on and off at various places. It seemed like a very pleasant way of life. The barges were massive - we estimated at least 200' long.

All too soon though, it became time for us to take a sad goodbye to Werneck and Josie and Reinhard. They drove us to the Wurzburg Bahnhof and there was a sad farewell on the station platform. The train arrived more or less on time and we boarded with our 2 x 23kg cases plus our smaller carry on luggage. Only problem was we were at the wrong end of the train, having earlier perused a diagram earlier on the platform. But it didn't matter and we were soon at Frankfurt Airport. Once again a wonderful quiet ride in one of these beautiful trains. Makes you not want to really get off!

We recall the many fascinating conversations that we had with Reinhard, covering family history and history generally including that of the Nazi era. Reinhard has written books about his family with photos of long ago ancestors and historical and biographical notes. Very very impressive. One thing that irrationally stands out - we told Reinhard and Josie about the classic "Grand Prix of Gibraltar" by that great British actor and comedian, Peter Ustinov. We mentioned the interview with the French team manager, Monsieur Orgini, when he was asked about all the beautiful girls in the French pits. He said "well, they are friends of the drivers (!), and as our pits are next to the Germans, perhaps they may cause the Germans to be a little less efficient!!". Reinhard enjoyed that.

The only regret about the German visit was that we didn't go to Stuttgart (Sindelfingen) to visit the Daimler-Benz Museum there. But we really didn't have the energy for another train ride and back. Maybe some time in the future we will return to do that.

Frankfurt Airport is very time consuming to process oneselves through and an alternative (where possible) should be found as it takes an inordinate amount of time just to get to the gate on time. Nothing worked efficiently and this combined with the German predilection for correct procedure made for a long process indeed. You need to allow LOTS of time. However, after about 3 hours we did finally get to the gate and then the fun really began. We boarded our LATAM Dreamliner with Rolls Royce engines for the flight to Madrid, and half an hour late after leaving the gate, started the long taxi to the runway. However, when we were almost there we inexplicably stopped and after a time became aware that the reason was that smoke had been observed coming from both engines. Of course we immediately thought about what we'd read about Air NZ with 2 engine failures in flight and having to have most of their RR powered Dreamliners grounded for some time while the engines were modified in Singapore. This process may still be continuing. Did nothing for our confidence. To further upset our equilibrium, several excitable Latin passengers were demanding to be allowed to leave the aircraft. So the aircraft was parked a short distance away and a gangway was brought alongside whereupon thankfully they left. Then of course all the hold baggage had to be sorted so that theirs could be removed as well. In the meantime some Lufthansa engineers began examining the aircraft and some 2 hours later they said there was no problem and that the small amount of smoke was "normal". Once they had signed the aircraft off we proceeded once more and took off with yours truly keeping an anxious eye on the port engine!! The flight was uneventful and we landed at Madrid some 4 hours late around 0200. We had met a very pleasant Spanish lady who was sitting next to us in our bulkhead seats and she very kindly guided us through the airport. There was a 15 minute train ride (standing up) before we could get our bags and fall into a taxi - knackered again! We were staying at a budget but very new hotel roughly half way between the airport and the city. We were pleased to finally fall into bed and sleep. Fortunately there was no time difference to cope with.

We had 2 nights and one full day so, in spite of feeling like staying in bed, we had a sparse 2 x 4.50 Euro breakfast and headed for the metro station to go to town. Again we were helped by a very pleasant young Spanish couple to extract our tickets from the automatic machine. The train was only about 30 minutes into the city. Off we got at the main Estacion Sol and then about 6 levels up and back into the sunshine. Lots of attractive and well maintained old buildings - some quite spectacular. Then we wandered the back streets where we came upon a very enticing restaurant where we had a great lunch and 2 glasses each of an excellent Spanish rose. Then more wandering and we found another restaurant offering Calamari at a good price so we filled our faces again. By this time we were well and truly past it so headed underground once more to get the train back. However, inadvertently we caught an express which did not stop at our station and so we had to go to the end of the line from where we caught another train back to our stop. After about an hour's sleep, we staggered downstairs for a very indifferent meal in the hotel cafeteria - then back to bed again.   

Our flight to Medellin the next day had a 1600 departure time but with Frankfurt fresh in our minds, we decided to leave the hotel at 1000 to ensure that we had plenty of time. By a great coincidence our taxi driver was a Colombian who had lived in Spain for a number of years. He spoke good English too so we had a good ride to the airport. However, Madrid was a totally different situation and everything operated seamlessly. So much so that we had time on our hands so found another good restaurant where we spent the best part of 2 hours with 2 more glasses of Spanish rose. We were flying Iberia (the Spanish national airline) and had 2 exit row seats on their own so there was plenty of legroom.  These seats had cost us another 58 Euros each over the ticket cost but worth it for the 10 hour flight. We left the Portuguese coast between Lisbon and Porto and then slept as there wasn't anything to see. Crossed the Venezuelan coast just east of Lake Maracaibo and ran into heavy high level cloud which persisted most of the way to Medellin. However, landed without incident at Medellin Airport which is 6,000' above sea level at 1930 local time and Noelia (our property agent) had arranged for us to be met. Soon we were on our way into the city, although not to our apartment as it was let. So we had arranged through another real estate acquaintance to lease a smaller apartment in the Suramericana district - not as salubrious as Envigado but quite OK and right next door to the Exito Colombia supermarket. No food, tea, coffee or anything in the apartment and the supermarket was closed, so we staggered along the road with David Garcia who had arranged our apartment to a small local restaurant where we had some Colombian food which kept the wolf from the door!

Next day (23/06) we spent up large in Exito and felt a little more "at home".

However, the events of the past 3 weeks or so were catching up on both of us with a vengeance and we spent a fairly miserable weekend not feeling well, quite emotional at times and generally out of sorts. But we are slowly coming to terms with everything that has happened. At least we have only pre-empted our arrival in Medellin by around 12 months from our original plan!

On Monday we contacted our lawyer, Astrid, and arranged an appointment to catch up and start our permanent residency applications. One amusing note - we had inadvertently made another unintended phone call to Astrid and she rang back not knowing who had rung. Jim answered the phone and neither Astrid nor Jim realized who we were talking to. Astrid said "do you need a lawyer?" and Jim replied "no, we already had one!!!" We had a bit of a laugh over that.  Also we talked again to Noelia, and Jean has also been in contact with 2 of our neighbours in our Envigado Jardines de la Maria building. We will catch up with everyone over the next few days.

Tuesday we went to Astrid's apartment opposite the Vizcaya Mall in Poblado where we regaled her with our Turkish experiences, and discussed our upcoming residency applications. Then we repaired across the road with Astrid to a restaurant where we had been before for lunch. Jim had a "sin alcohol" beer with lemon juice and a salt caked rim which was an interesting taste experience!! Then we took our leave of Astrid and went to meet Noelia and her liitle daughter, Luna, in her apartment not far away. Jean had been following Luna's progress since she was born 11 months ago so lots of catching up again and then back to our place. Much to do now with dealing with our apartment and the residency applications. We hope to be able to move into our apartment in the Jardines de la Maria building in early September.

We've had another visit to Astrid (our lawyer) today to further discuss our residency applications and also visited a Notary again! Prior to that we were in Poblado and witnessed the great jubilation of many Colombians at the Colombian Soccer Team's victory in the World Cup against Senegal. Many people wearing yellow shirts yahooing in the streets, loud music and yellow, red and blue balloons everywhere.  The exuberance was infectious.

More news soon - we are attaching some relevant  photos

Cheers and lotsaluv from us in Medellin.............

Jim and Jean

www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com 

P.S. If you go to our blogsite (www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com) there will be some further photos

Photos as below:
003 - A Turkish Gulet on the hard - they pull them on skids across a public road

015 - TT3 on the ship the day of unloading

034 - TT3 on the homemade "travelift" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Fethiye

036 - Levent - the owner of the yard - our nemesis

043 - Jean and Reinhard outside a church in Hassburg

045 - Jean in Reinhard's and Josie's front garden with the roses

046 - the old Bishop's Palace in Werneck

052 - ditto from the park side

054 - Jean and Josie in front of an unusual flowering tree

061 - Palace gardens

Fwd: NZ registered Gauntlet yacht "Tiare Taporo III" (NZ1572)

We attach an email we sent to the NZ Embassy on June 24th. regarding the inexplicable events that surrounded our haulout at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard in Fethiye, Turkey. We received a reply which was sympathetic to our problem but as expected offered very little in the way of assistance beyond providing a list of lawyers! We are certainly not taking that route for all sorts of reasons. A quick way to bankruptcy.

Cheers from us.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 24 June 2018 at 15:58
Subject: NZ registered Gauntlet yacht "Tiare Taporo III" (NZ1572)
To: newzealandembassyankara@gmail.com

Hi,

We are writing to you to recount a very sad experience that we have had with our yacht at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Karagozler, Fethiye.

We sailed our Gauntlet yacht from NZ in 2011 and eventually arrived in SE Asia (Johore, Malaysia) in late 2013. Since then we have been trying to sell her, but the market for classic wooden yachts in SE Asia is just about non-existent, unless you were to give it away. Our reason for selling is that we are both now 71 and cannot keep sailing forever. She is an iconic and well known Wellington yacht as she was launched at Evans Bay in 1978 after 31 years of building since 1947!!. She was originally launched as "Reflections of Wellington". We undertook a very extensive refit and re-equipment in Whangarei in 2008/09 before leaving NZ in 2011. Because of the poor market in SE Asia we decided to ship her to the Med. early this year as there is much more interest in classic wooden yachts there.

The yacht arrived at Fethiye by Sevenstar Yacht Transport on April 7th. It was our intention to haul out and we were recommended to this particular yard by the Port Captain, Fethiye as they were reputed to know something about wooden boats. We needed to anti-foul, fix a weeping leak from the top rudder gland and paint the topsides. We personally sanded and painted everything above deck level. We hauled out on April 25th. and at first all went well. The rudder was removed but then a projected haulout of 2 weeks turned into 5 weeks plus. Eventually the rudder was re-installed and the yard painted the topsides with us supplying the paint. However, their earlier efforts were substandard and we insisted that it be done again.

Not long after, relations between us and the yard broke down to such an extent that the yard owner (a Mr. Levent) one day screamed at us to get the boat out of his yard! Just how we would do that with no rudder and needing him to actually supervise the re-launching remains a mystery. Jean has had experience in nursing mental health patients many years ago, and her opinion is that he is definitely suffering from a serious mental disorder. We have certainly never been rude or objectionable.

In addition he insisted on payments being made to him in CASH in Euros and Turkish Lira for reasons we can only speculate about! This is in spite of our never having received any official invoice from the yard at any stage, in spite of numerous requests from us. We also told him through his partner (an Englishwoman called Claire Jones) that we could not get Euros as our bank accounts were in NZ and all we could get from Turkish ATM's were Turkish Lira. We did at one stage offer a bank to bank transfer which could have been done in Euros, but never had a reply to that offer. In the meantime we met Claire and she presented us with some figures written out on a scrappy piece of paper. We estimate that at this stage the total amount owing to the yard would not be in excess of USD4,000 (approx. TRY19,000). Following this we then made another arrangement to meet Claire to give them TRY5,000 as an interim payment but she had told us that they would not give receipts. We were not prepared to accept this non commercial arrangement. In the event she rang us within 15 minutes of the agreed meeting time and cancelled the meeting due to some alleged personal emergency. This was on a Saturday and by this time we had booked to fly out of Turkey on the following Monday (04/06) to stay with friends in Germany for our sanity and health. We were also beginning to fear for our personal safety.

We also have to say that we have started to wonder whether this bizarre series of events is in fact a ploy aimed at eventually seizing ownership of our boat. As the yard costs are at a maximum 10% of the value of the boat this may seem improbable, but we don't know Turkish law and frankly have no desire to continue pouring good money after bad to find out. We had been staying in accommodation and renting a car way beyond the budgeted period and simply could not afford to keep doing this.

So we left our beloved home of the past 9 years in a bad emotional state as she has looked after us through thick and thin from New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and now Turkey. It was not easy to simply abandon her.

However, we had met a Bodrum based broker with whom we have listed her at a ridiculously low price in order that she might find a younger owner who can deal with Levent and get sailing again. 

We will not be returning to Turkey and it is our hope that something can eventually be salvaged from this debacle through the broker. His name is Murat Toplak and his phone number is +90 5336527767. About 2 years ago we purchased an apartment in Medellin, Colombia where we had planned to finally retire, and we are now in Colombia having arrived here prematurely 2 nights ago.

We don't know whether you are able to offer any practical assistance in this very difficult situation but we wanted to report the matter to you in the hope that at least you may be able to offer some advice.

We'll await your reply.

James Bell Donald (NZ passport no. LL497021) and Dorothy Jean Tallentire (NZ passport no. LL490677)

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Medellin and coming to terms with our new life

Hi to all,

Firstly some possibly positive news re TT3. We have been contacted by a classic yacht broker in the UK who has a client quite interested in flying to Turkey to inspect the old girl. This may come to nothing, but there seems little doubt that having her on the market at a very cheap price in the Med is the way to go. And it's not expensive to fly to Turkey from the UK.

With the benefit of time for deep reflection, we've changed our thinking inasmuch as the decision to ship her to the Med was correct, as even at a cheap price, it was unlikely that any sale would be forthcoming in Asia. At least now we have some hope. And our decision to leave Turkey was also correct for a variety of reasons. With a seeming inability to get replies from the yard regarding a finishing work schedule and financial information - much less a launching date - we were bleeding cash with accommodation and car hire and being slowly driven mad. We must add that we have no idea even now how this state of affairs came to pass. Add to that the physical effects at our age of all the work we had done when we first hauled out plus the emotional trauma of trying to deal with the yard, and we had only one alternative - which we took. It is disappointing that all this means that we would miss sailing through Greece and then Malta before Sicily, but again we had to have regard to the wider picture, and the priority of our health and well-being.

We continued to enjoy being with Josie and Reinhard in Werneck. Reinhard took us to an adjacent village to buy direct from the farm some asparagus but alas the season was over. So we continued to another village where there was a car ferry (miniature version of Opua) across the River Main. We sat in the sun watching the little ferry coming and going and also visited a campsite on the river where there were some motorhomes. While were there at least 2 very large motorized fully laden barges passed by. Complete with owners spacious accommodation and a crane for lifting the owner's car on and off at various places. It seemed like a very pleasant way of life. The barges were massive - we estimated at least 200' long.

All too soon though, it became time for us to take a sad goodbye to Werneck and Josie and Reinhard. They drove us to the Wurzburg Bahnhof and there was a sad farewell on the station platform. The train arrived more or less on time and we boarded with our 2 x 23kg cases plus our smaller carry on luggage. Only problem was we were at the wrong end of the train, having earlier perused a diagram earlier on the platform. But it didn't matter and we were soon at Frankfurt Airport. Once again a wonderful quiet ride in one of these beautiful trains. Makes you not want to really get off!

We recall the many fascinating conversations that we had with Reinhard, covering family history and history generally including that of the Nazi era. Reinhard has written books about his family with photos of long ago ancestors and historical and biographical notes. Very very impressive. One thing that irrationally stands out - we told Reinhard and Josie about the classic "Grand Prix of Gibraltar" by that great British actor and comedian, Peter Ustinov. We mentioned the interview with the French team manager, Monsieur Orgini, when he was asked about all the beautiful girls in the French pits. He said "well, they are friends of the drivers (!), and as our pits are next to the Germans, perhaps they may cause the Germans to be a little less efficient!!". Reinhard enjoyed that.

The only regret about the German visit was that we didn't go to Stuttgart (Sindelfingen) to visit the Daimler-Benz Museum there. But we really didn't have the energy for another train ride and back. Maybe some time in the future we will return to do that.

Frankfurt Airport is very time consuming to process oneselves through and an alternative (where possible) should be found as it takes an inordinate amount of time just to get to the gate on time. Nothing worked efficiently and this combined with the German predilection for correct procedure made for a long process indeed. You need to allow LOTS of time. However, after about 3 hours we did finally get to the gate and then the fun really began. We boarded our LATAM Dreamliner with Rolls Royce engines for the flight to Madrid, and half an hour late after leaving the gate, started the long taxi to the runway. However, when we were almost there we inexplicably stopped and after a time became aware that the reason was that smoke had been observed coming from both engines. Of course we immediately thought about what we'd read about Air NZ with 2 engine failures in flight and having to have most of their RR powered Dreamliners grounded for some time while the engines were modified in Singapore. This process may still be continuing. Did nothing for our confidence. To further upset our equilibrium, several excitable Latin passengers were demanding to be allowed to leave the aircraft. So the aircraft was parked a short distance away and a gangway was brought alongside whereupon thankfully they left. Then of course all the hold baggage had to be sorted so that theirs could be removed as well. In the meantime some Lufthansa engineers began examining the aircraft and some 2 hours later they said there was no problem and that the small amount of smoke was "normal". Once they had signed the aircraft off we proceeded once more and took off with yours truly keeping an anxious eye on the port engine!! The flight was uneventful and we landed at Madrid some 4 hours late around 0200. We had met a very pleasant Spanish lady who was sitting next to us in our bulkhead seats and she very kindly guided us through the airport. There was a 15 minute train ride (standing up) before we could get our bags and fall into a taxi - knackered again! We were staying at a budget but very new hotel roughly half way between the airport and the city. We were pleased to finally fall into bed and sleep. Fortunately there was no time difference to cope with.

We had 2 nights and one full day so, in spite of feeling like staying in bed, we had a sparse 2 x 4.50 Euro breakfast and headed for the metro station to go to town. Again we were helped by a very pleasant young Spanish couple to extract our tickets from the automatic machine. The train was only about 30 minutes into the city. Off we got at the main Estacion Sol and then about 6 levels up and back into the sunshine. Lots of attractive and well maintained old buildings - some quite spectacular. Then we wandered the back streets where we came upon a very enticing restaurant where we had a great lunch and 2 glasses each of an excellent Spanish rose. Then more wandering and we found another restaurant offering Calamari at a good price so we filled our faces again. By this time we were well and truly past it so headed underground once more to get the train back. However, inadvertently we caught an express which did not stop at our station and so we had to go to the end of the line from where we caught another train back to our stop. After about an hour's sleep, we staggered downstairs for a very indifferent meal in the hotel cafeteria - then back to bed again.   

Our flight to Medellin the next day had a 1600 departure time but with Frankfurt fresh in our minds, we decided to leave the hotel at 1000 to ensure that we had plenty of time. By a great coincidence our taxi driver was a Colombian who had lived in Spain for a number of years. He spoke good English too so we had a good ride to the airport. However, Madrid was a totally different situation and everything operated seamlessly. So much so that we had time on our hands so found another good restaurant where we spent the best part of 2 hours with 2 more glasses of Spanish rose. We were flying Iberia (the Spanish national airline) and had 2 exit row seats on their own so there was plenty of legroom.  These seats had cost us another 58 Euros each over the ticket cost but worth it for the 10 hour flight. We left the Portuguese coast between Lisbon and Porto and then slept as there wasn't anything to see. Crossed the Venezuelan coast just east of Lake Maracaibo and ran into heavy high level cloud which persisted most of the way to Medellin. However, landed without incident at Medellin Airport which is 6,000' above sea level at 1930 local time and Noelia (our property agent) had arranged for us to be met. Soon we were on our way into the city, although not to our apartment as it was let. So we had arranged through another real estate acquaintance to lease a smaller apartment in the Suramericana district - not as salubrious as Envigado but quite OK and right next door to the Exito Colombia supermarket. No food, tea, coffee or anything in the apartment and the supermarket was closed, so we staggered along the road with David Garcia who had arranged our apartment to a small local restaurant where we had some Colombian food which kept the wolf from the door!

Next day (23/06) we spent up large in Exito and felt a little more "at home".

However, the events of the past 3 weeks or so were catching up on both of us with a vengeance and we spent a fairly miserable weekend not feeling well, quite emotional at times and generally out of sorts. But we are slowly coming to terms with everything that has happened. At least we have only pre-empted our arrival in Medellin by around 12 months from our original plan!

On Monday we contacted our lawyer, Astrid, and arranged an appointment to catch up and start our permanent residency applications. One amusing note - we had inadvertently made another unintended phone call to Astrid and she rang back not knowing who had rung. Jim answered the phone and neither Astrid nor Jim realized who we were talking to. Astrid said "do you need a lawyer?" and Jim replied "no, we already had one!!!" We had a bit of a laugh over that.  Also we talked again to Noelia, and Jean has also been in contact with 2 of our neighbours in our Envigado Jardines de la Maria building. We will catch up with everyone over the next few days.

Tuesday we went to Astrid's apartment opposite the Vizcaya Mall in Poblado where we regaled her with our Turkish experiences, and discussed our upcoming residency applications. Then we repaired across the road with Astrid to a restaurant where we had been before for lunch. Jim had a "sin alcohol" beer with lemon juice and a salt caked rim which was an interesting taste experience!! Then we took our leave of Astrid and went to meet Noelia and her liitle daughter, Luna, in her apartment not far away. Jean had been following Luna's progress since she was born 11 months ago so lots of catching up again and then back to our place. Much to do now with dealing with our apartment and the residency applications. We hope to be able to move into our apartment in the Jardines de la Maria building in early September.

We've had another visit to Astrid (our lawyer) today to further discuss our residency applications and also visited a Notary again! Prior to that we were in Poblado and witnessed the great jubilation of many Colombians at the Colombian Soccer Team's victory in the World Cup against Senegal. Many people wearing yellow shirts yahooing in the streets, loud music and yellow, red and blue balloons everywhere.  The exuberance was infectious.

More news soon - we are attaching some relevant  photos

Cheers and lotsaluv from us in Medellin.............

Jim and Jean

www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com 

P.S. If you go to our blogsite (www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com) there will be some further photos

Photos as below:
003 - A Turkish Gulet on the hard - they pull them on skids across a public road

015 - TT3 on the ship the day of unloading

034 - TT3 on the homemade "travelift" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Fethiye

036 - Levent - the owner of the yard - our nemesis

043 - Jean and Reinhard outside a church in Hassburg

045 - Jean in Reinhard's and Josie's front garden with the roses

046 - the old Bishop's Palace in Werneck

052 - ditto from the park side

054 - Jean and Josie in front of an unusual flowering tree

061 - Palace gardens

Great sadness and yet looking forward

Hi to all,

We hope that this finds you all in the pink as always, but we don't exactly match that description right now. We have been very blessed with being able to stay with Josie and Reinhard in Werneck, Germany. Both of us, but Jean in particular, have been greatly traumatized by the treatment we received at the hands of the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard and even now the thought of returning brings her out in a cold sweat - and more. So, that is definitely not an option. Being in Werneck and with Josie and Reinhard has been a godsend and has returned us to a semblance of normality.

The decision to have the yacht shipped to Turkey (Fethiye) has been an unmitigated disaster, but in no way is this intended as a criticism of Sevenstar Yacht Transport whose service and care of TT3 was exemplary.

We have given extensive detailed information about the yacht to brokers in NZ, the UK and in Turkey and reduced the indicated price massively. It's a dose of reality for us and probably just reflects the state of the yacht market generally. It's amazing how actual events act as a motivational force. We can only hope now that she will sell to someone who will act as her next caretaker. This is definitely NOT how we ever envisaged our sailing careers ending.

We have been having some doubts as to the security of our on-going ownership of the boat, given that so far we have been unable to pay the yard because it was only 2 days before we departed that we received any idea of the amount owing with itemized amounts written on  a scrap of paper. Never have we been given an invoice, or any bank details for the yard. Furthermore we were told that they did not issue receipts! Who in their right mind would hand over large amounts of cash without a proper receipt? Then all meetings with us were abruptly cancelled and as we were already booked, we flew out without making the payment we thought had been arranged.

However, the Bodrum based broker has already been in touch with the yard and we feel reasonably confident that we can attract a buyer soon and firm arrangements made for payment and subsequent launching. We know that if we went back things would just drag on as before with us incurring more and more cost.

Dealing through a local broker/agent seems our only alternative.   

Meanwhile we have been reveling in being in Werneck which is a very quiet peaceful small town SE of Frankfurt. There is a supermarket and a few small cafes within walking distance. Everything is very neat and many houses have extensive vegetable gardens. Difficult to compare with NZ - Werneck would be about 50% bigger than Wellsford at a rough estimation. All around is farmland, but all cropped. Just rolling country. Haven't seen any animals. Also many wind generators on massive towers turning so slowly that you imagine they would not be capable of any significant power generation but all done through turbines and apparently very effective. Also a great many houses have large arrays of solar panels. You would think that here where winter temperatures can drop to -10C, these also would be not so effective. Especially as with the past few days with heavy overcast and occasional rain, but no doubt the sums have been done.

The weather started off being very warm when we arrived but the last 3-4 days have been unseasonably cold. We've been wearing windbreaker jackets when going outside but now it is warming up again.

Josie and Reinhard have a cherry tree in their back garden and we have been eating great quantities of those beautiful fruits. Also roses galore and many plants we are familiar with in NZ. We eat much wonderful German bread which we are trying to cut down on having regard to our waistlines. Much ham and Bratwurst sausages! And Schwein (pork). Beautiful food.

We have been for extensive walks around old historic buildings here and in Wurzburg - a city on the River Main where last weekend by accident we witnessed a parade associated with the consecration of the new Bishop. We don't share the religious beliefs but could not help but be impressed with the colourfulness and majesty of the procession. Also the obvious devotion of many spectators. Josie works part time as a caregiver for elderly people and we recently met a 90 yr old woman (Gertrude) when we all took her for a walk in her wheelchair to a local park - very beautiful with lovely old trees and a very big pond. Probably half the size of the Auckland Domain - wonderful for a relatively small place like Werneck. There is also a very large old building overlooking the park which is currently used as an orthopaedic hospital. Used to be the bishop's residence back about 300 years ago! There is a café in front of the old palace and we spent a very pleasant time with coffee and homemade German cake!!! Gertrude spoke minimal English but Reinhard was an enthusiastic translator and filled us in on much of the history. 

Today (17/06) there was a street party in our street but not as we understand the term in NZ. So organized. Firstly a portable set of toilets marked "Damen und Herren" was parked almost in front of the house. The street was closed and tents were set up on the road with long tables and chairs inside. Just adjacent was a portable kitchen with bratwurst sausages, rotkraut, and beef rolls and potato dumplings. Plus much more. No-one brought their own a la NZ - just purchased from the kitchen. Not cheap - 11 Euros for 1 beef roll, 2 bratwurst sausages, 2 dumplings and 2 servings of rotkraut. Jim didn't expect to like the rotkraut, but it is quite delicious. Cooked with vinegar and apples. Then a couple of hours later Josie suddenly produced some pieces of Apple Strudel together with vanilla custard. Goodness me!!! Absolutely wundebar. 

Then this afternoon Reinhard and Jim walked in one direction through the park and Jean in another and we were all supposed to meet in front of the Orthopaedic Hospital. When we arrived there was music from a live band and a female vocalist. Great music and we lingered but Jean didn't show! Among the numbers were "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Putting on the Ritz". Later back home she said she arrived before us, waited about 10 minutes and then left. A likely story! Anyway, it was all very pleasant.  

Yesterday Josie, Jean and Jim went into Schweinfurt again on the bus. This time, being a Saturday they only had a small 20 seater bus on and halfway into Schweinfurt it filled up with some very black immigrants who are living in a transit camp between Werneck and Schweinfurt. Used to be a USAF base apparently. Now the Americans are gone and the country has filled up with Turks, Somalis, Syrians, Libyans etc. Germany and the rest of western Europe have bought themselves a huge problem because of course these people don't assimilate, don't work and are in receipt of large amounts of welfare from the government. In Germany alone the immigrant population is about half of the total of New Zealand. This issue will only get worse as these immigrant populations have children and increase in numbers relative to the Germans. Chancellor Merkel is solely to blame and as she comes from the former DDR (East Germany), we can only wonder whether she's an extreme Socialist in sheep's clothing and/or there's a latent feeling of guilt with WW2 and all the consequences. Whatever the reason, it is a disaster and is turning into an even bigger disaster for Germany.

In Schweinfurt Jim bought some pieces of Schwein with crackling (!) and Jean found some clothing. Had a great lunch in the Schwein shop which has some tables where one can eat Bratwurst and sauerkraut, rotkraut, and of course Schwein! Beautiful but probably just as well we're leaving on Wednesday. 

We fly out to Madrid this coming Wednesday and after 2 nights there, we fly direct to Medellin. Our apartment in Jardines de la Maria is let until the end of September and possibly until the end of March 2019 so we cannot go there but we have taken a 3 month lease at this stage on a 1 bedroom apartment in the Laureles-Estadio district of Medellin. The rent is about half of that which we are receiving for our apartment so we will have a surplus which God knows we can do with.

More news again soon after we have arrived in the City of Eternal Spring - Medellin.

Cheers and lotsaluv from us in Werneck..............

Jim and Jean 

 

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Fwd: Germany and the on-going Turkish tribulations

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 9 June 2018 at 20:03
Subject: Germany and the on-going Turkish tribulations
To: Alex Donald <adonald@abdonaldltd.co.nz>

Hi to all,

You will have gathered from our previous blog that we have been having serious problems in our relationship with the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard in Fethiye. Things have not improved but in the meantime we felt personally threatened and we were also mentally and physically exhausted with trying to nail jelly to the wall! If we'd stayed, not only would we have incurred more and more cost, but we would have joined the lunatics we were trying to reason and deal with.

So we packed 37 kgs of personal stuff from our nautical home of the last 9 years and said a tearful goodbye. We flew out of Dalaman (Fethiye) to Istanbul and then on to Frankfurt in Germany on June 4th. with Pegasus Airlines. However, we have a few irons in the fire as regards a possible sale of the boat. We've reduced the price massively as anyone buying her would have a bit to deal with to get her in the water. We had a price indicated by a U.K. classic yacht broker (Barney Sandeman) for a quick sale around GBP60,000 (NZD115,000), but we consider that to be too high to get things moving quickly. So, we have indicated to our Turkish broker who is a good guy that we'd accept around 50% of that figure - possibly even less if a quick sale was in the offing.

In the meantime emails have been flying back and forth and we've laid a formal complaint with the Turkish Chamber of Shipping. At long last we seem to be achieving some results. The madman we have been trying to deal with who is also the owner of the boatyard, needs some extreme pressure to be brought to bear. At least all that TT3 needs now (apart from some minor details) is to be anti-fouled and re-launched. The rudder is re-installed. We can only keep our fingers crossed that it has been done properly and that a sale and re-launch can be accomplished without either or both of us returning to Turkey. If you go to the website (www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com) you will see our emails firstly to the Chamber of Shipping and also to the port agent who acted for us when we arrived ex Sevenstar.

And Jean's intuition is usually accurate and she feels strongly that we will be at risk if we return. On top of that there are concerns about the recently announced Turkish presidential elections. It has been said that if the incumbent loses (and that's entirely possible) he won't go quietly and that could be enough to provoke severe civil unrest at best and straight out civil war at worst. We don't want to be part of that. The government is desperately trying to bolster the value of the currency by increasing interest rates which are approaching 20%! And largely it's not working because the currency remains depressed.    

Anyway, we arrived at Frankfurt am Main early afternoon on the 4th. physically and emotionally absolutely drained. Not good to be like this at the ages of 71. We were greatly delayed before we could collect our 37 kgs of luggage because it appeared that there had been some sort of baggage handling breakdown - not at all what one would expect in efficient Germany!! We had 2 bags because the Pegasus website neglected to mention that 32 kgs was the limit for any one item. So, we had to purchase another smaller bag at Dalaman for TRY100 and we re-packed around 9 kgs into it so that we were legal. We eventually recovered the baggage from the carousel at Frankfurt and proceeded to the train station - klug bahnhoff! That process took a while but we eventually purchased our tickets and waited for the train to Wurzburg which was late! What is happening to Germany? We were going to change trains at Wurzburg to go on to Werneck but because of the delays we were going to miss the connection. So we waited a short time at Wurzburg Station where Josie and Reinhard collected us. We had managed to ring them on Skype from the train which has wifi  Wonderful train - so smooth and quiet. Pleasant rural scenery and we ordered a beer and a glass of wine. 12 Euros which wasn't exactly cheap but then there was a complication because we had changed our Turkish Lira (which we had been going to give to the boatyard) into Euros at the airport and we'd been given 2 x 500 Euro notes! Too big to handle on the train so we offered our credit card! That day the card system had broken down as well so all we could do was offer the coins we had (4.50 Euros) and they wrote off the other 7.5 Euros!! 

Such a pity that our state of mind was not completely attuned to the joyous occasion of Jean seeing Josie again after the Hong Kong years 20 years ago. But nonetheless it was great to see them and be driven to their house in Werneck. It is a typical German house for these parts - 2 stories plus an attic and a cellar below ground. The garden is lovely and full of roses which are Josie's pride and joy. Since coming originally from the Philippines, we suppose that they are partially still a novelty in the sense that they don't grow there in the tropics. One day last week we spent all morning in the garden deadheading the roses which had got a bit out of hand! Still plenty of blooms though.

Another day Reinhard took us to a regular re-union that he has with fellow retired teachers (he is a retired school principal). This involved lunch at Schloss Konigsburg which was wonderful. Jean had Bratwurst sausages with Sauerkraut and yours truly roasted pork (schwein) with great veges and potato croquettes (kroketten). All with Bier Alkohol Frei! It was a fairly steep climb up to the schloss but another member of the party offered a lift in her car which was gratefully accepted due to the knees! And down again afterwards. Then in the historic town where there are various buildings - churches and other public buildings - which date from as early as the 13th. century. We had a coffee in a coffee house and a cake so the day was complete.

By then we were starting to feel that we were regaining some sort of normality after the craziness of Fethiye!

Josie and Reinhart have been absolutely great and just what we needed after the nonsense in Fethiye. They have even given up their bedroom and moved into the spare bedroom over and above our loud protestations! The house is so peaceful and quiet, being in a country town in the middle of a large agricultural area. reminiscent of the Franklin district of south Auckland but much more orderly and dare we say it, more picturesque. Much of the building is post war as the area for the most part was not affected directly by war damage, except for ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt and also the various villages have expanded much since the 1940's.

We have been having some fascinating discussions with Reinhard about the war and recent history generally. He had an uncle Hermann who was captured late in the war in Norway and then sent as a prisoner of war to France where he took part in building a hydro dam just near Marseilles. This was known as the Barrage de Castillon which is still there today. They weren't released until 1948 - 3 years after the war ended. Possibly it was illegal to keep POW's after a state of war ended, but it seems that no-one worried much about those finer points. Of course there was also a degree of revenge involved. Anyway, 2 years ago they all went on a pilgrimage there with Hermann and re-visited places he was familiar with. Last night German TV was showing footage of the Nazi times including the 1936 Olympics where the black American, Jesse Owens, won 4 gold metals for the USA including in the long jump in which he defeated the German Luz Long. Hitler was so enraged by the success of a black American and in particular by defeating Long, that he later sent Long to the Russian front where he was killed. A severe blow for Nazi white supremacy. 

Another day we visited Hassburg a little to the east and had a walk around this very picturesque town.

Reinhard is great and a mine of historic information. His English is also excellent so we have had very insightful discussions about the war, the Nazis and what happened generally. We are very fortunate to be here and to be treated as well as we have been. Josie is a good cook and always cooks far too much so we certainly are not lacking for anything. Went to the local supermarket this morning (09/06) and bought quite a bit but only 94 Euros (NZD159). This included a comprehensive visit to the butchery and 3 bottles of wine the day before. Far cheaper than NZ which must be one of the dearest countries in the world in which to buy food.

But for now it's a waiting game. Our options appear to be: 

1) Both fly to Medellin

2) Jean goes to Medellin and Jim back to Turkey, or

3) both go back to Turkey

Hopefully we'll be in a position to make a decision early this coming week. But if we did get a buyer we might need to go back to assist in getting the old girl back in the water or maybe the broker can organize that. She cannot stay out of the water indefinitely in 40C heat so we would need to re-launch her regardless of the buyer situation. Then the question arises as to where she is berthed. This of course costs money and, as our apartment in Medellin remains let for the meantime, we would incur rent ourselves in Medellin plus berthage fees. And rent in Medellin is expensive. So, it's a conundrum - so many ifs and buts.

We so heartily wish we had never left Asia. Certainly nothing like this even came close to being envisaged. We seem to have landed into something resembling quicksand.

Watch this space.

Cheers and lots of love from us in Werneck, Germany.................

Jim and Jean

Fwd: "Tiare Taporo III" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Karagozler, Fethiye

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 9 June 2018 at 11:18
Subject: "Tiare Taporo III" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard, Karagozler, Fethiye
To: contact@chamberofshipping.org.tr
Cc: Interdolphin/ Captain Yunus <yunus@interdolphin.net>, INTERDOLPHIN SHIPPING AGENCIES CO - DERINCE / GOKHAN GULLE <derince@interdolphin.net>, Murat Toprak <info@yachtbrokerageturkey.com>, Kaptan Denizcilik <kaptandenizcilik@gmail.com>, Levent yıldırım <levent.first@gmail.com>, Claire Jones <cjmoonsilver@gmail.com>, "Derks, Marieke" <Marieke@sevenstar-asia.com>, "Jongerius, Chris" <Chris@sevenstar-asia.com>, Alex Donald <adonald@abdonaldltd.co.nz>, "Ece Saray Marina Resort ( N.Burak ARDAHAN )" <burak.ardahan@ecemarina.com>

Hi again,

One thing I neglected to mention in my previous emails - at one stage when we complained about an extremely poor paint job, Levent lost his temper and screamed at us: "get your boat out of my yard. I want nothing more to do with it!!".

This was just a childish tantrum and a ridiculous thing to say. At that stage the rudder still was not fitted and so the yacht would have sunk if she was launched. Also the anti-fouling was not even started. How could we have removed it from the yard - as much as we would have loved to get out of the madhouse???

I just mention this to illustrate that there is NO possibility of us being able to communicate with Levent in any way whatsoever.

And if we are to return to Turkey we require the following undertakings IN WRITING. This requirement is absolutely non-negotiable::

1) We will purchase the anti-fouling (10 litres) and the yard will apply 3 coats. Previously we were told that the yard already had the anti-fouling paint, but now it seems that this is not true. 

2) The yard will re-launch us within 24 hours of the last coat being applied.

3) The stainless steel modification to our pulpit must have been completely finished.

4) We want an invoice and receipts for any monies paid.

5) The lazarette door which was broken by the yard must have been repaired and re-installed using the new hinges which we have supplied. The cost of all this must be deducted from any final payment that we make.

Again we reiterate that if we are to pay any money to Levent, we absolutely insist on a proper invoice and receipts for all payments made. So far they refuse to issue any paperwork at all, including invoices and receipts.

Thanks and regards,

Jim Donald and Jean Tallentire

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Fwd: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 9 June 2018 at 07:05
Subject: Fwd: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.
To: contact@chamberofshipping.org.tr
Cc: Murat Toprak <info@yachtbrokerageturkey.com>, Kaptan Denizcilik <kaptandenizcilik@gmail.com>, Interdolphin/ Captain Yunus <yunus@interdolphin.net>, INTERDOLPHIN SHIPPING AGENCIES CO - DERINCE / GOKHAN GULLE <derince@interdolphin.net>, Levent yıldırım <levent.first@gmail.com>, Claire Jones <cjmoonsilver@gmail.com>, "Derks, Marieke" <Marieke@sevenstar-asia.com>, "Jongerius, Chris" <Chris@sevenstar-asia.com>

Good morning,

We are emailing you to ask for your help in resolving a very sad situation which has developed following the haulout of our New Zealand registered yacht "Tiare Taporo III" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard in Fethiye. We shipped her to Turkey by Sevenstar Yacht Transport and she arrived on April 7th. For your information we attach an email we sent yesterday to the port agent for Sevenstar who acted for us when we arrived.

We are at our wits end to know how to resolve this issue because no-one including the yard owner, Mr. Levent, or his partner, Claire Jones, will answer any communications that we initiate.

We have listed the boat for sale with a Bodrum based broker and we are hopeful that he may be instrumental in effecting a sale, but we still need to talk to the yard owner in order to complete the antifouling and get her back in the water.

This situation has completely destroyed our plans for sailing Turkish waters  and further extended sailing in the Med because our health (mental and otherwise) suffered at the hands of the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard and the situation that developed there. We are both 71 years of age and, although we have hauled out in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand a number of times, we have never experienced the degree of obfuscation, and absolute incompetence that we have been and are experiencing at Fethiye (Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard).

If you cannot directly help us could you please give us an indication of where we might go for advice because this situation (which is not of our making) will not be helpingTurkey's hitherto excellent reputation with visiting foreign flagged boats. 

We look forward to your urgent reply.

Thank you

Jim Donald and Jean Tallentire

Germany

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 7 June 2018 at 23:03
Subject: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.
To: Kaptan Denizcilik <kaptandenizcilik@gmail.com>
Cc: Interdolphin/ Captain Yunus <yunus@interdolphin.net>, INTERDOLPHIN SHIPPING AGENCIES CO - DERINCE / GOKHAN GULLE <derince@interdolphin.net>

For attention: Mr. Serhan

Good morning,

We have a very sad story to relate as regards our experience at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard (Mr. Levent).

Through yourselves we were recommended to haul out at the above boatyard for normal maintenance plus some other small jobs including a leak around the top rudder bearing.. We duly hauled out there on April 25th. We thought that we should only need to remain hauled out for approximately 2 weeks.

Immediately after we hauled out, the rudder was removed from the vessel and a new bronze bearing/rudder tube ordered from Istanbul. At that stage we were happy that the work was being done promptly. However, the work then stopped and we could not easily speak to Levent as he seems to be a very volatile character and would barely speak to us. However, we had met his partner, Claire Jones who is an English woman who has a boat maintenance business in Fethiye. For a short time she acted as the only means by which we could have any communication with Levent.

In the meantime we carried on with painting work above deck which we had always intended to do ourselves but at the same time we were becoming increasingly concerned that no work was being done by the yard. Then it was agreed that we should supply the paint for painting the hull above the waterline. So we purchased enough International Toplac from the Kalyon Chandlery for 2 coats of Toplac. Levent organised his painter and work started but it very soon became evident that the painter was not competent and much paint was wasted with coats having to be re-sanded and re-applied. Then, through Claire, Levent told us that the Toplac was no good (!) and that they would use Turkish paint instead. In fact this was just an excuse to disguise the painter's incompetence. The real problem was that invariably the painter did not actually start painting until between 10 and 11 in the morning by which time it was getting too hot. When we suggested that the painter should start at 7am and finish for the day no later than 10, Levent accused us of being "slavedrivers"!!!!!!! At this point communication completely broke down and even Claire announced that she was blocking our email. 

We could not understand this as we had never been rude or abusive - only complaining about substandard work which as owners we had every right to do. All this nonsense meant that our budget for accommodation off the boat at the Anna Apart Hotel, Calis Beach and car hire from FE Car Rental blew out by approximately TRY7,500.

As well as all this no other jobs which the yard had agreed to carry out were done and we could never get any sensible answer. Eventually some 6 weeks after we had originally hauled out, the rudder was replaced on the vessel. At the same time the painting was "finished" to an inferior standard.

Along with all of this, Levent had been insisting on payment in Euros, although even to this day he has never given us any sort of invoice or formal claim for payment.. We continued to tell Claire that we could not pay in Euros unless he gave us his bank details to enable a bank to bank transfer. This is because our bank accounts are in New Zealand and we can only obtain Turkish Lira from ATM's in Turkey, but we could send Euros by TT transfer. Eventually we had an arrangement with Claire that she would meet us and we would give her an interim payment of TRY5,000 for Levent, but then she rang us and cancelled the meeting. We tried to contact her again because we were leaving Turkey in 2 days time as we needed a break from the whole situation which was driving us mad! We were unable to meet and so we are now in Germany staying with friends of Jean's.

To summarise, the yard is disorganized and the management is appalling. The owner/manager, Levent, is impossible to communicate with. He is rude and abusive in person and does not respond to emails, texts or phone calls.

Meanwhile the yacht which is wooden is still in the boatyard baking in the heat. Jean does not want to return to Turkey because she says she fears for our safety. We have listed the yacht for sale with a Bodrum based broker (Murat Toprak - ph. no. +90 5336527767) and frankly we hope that the boat sells because I don't think that Jean can return. It has developed into an awful situation and we can see no easy solution. The purpose of this email therefore is to inform you of the situation and to ask you if you can possibly help us to resolve it.

In the meantime we have applied for 12 months temporary residency for Turkey and that was approved not long before we left.

We are almost at the stage of deciding to abandon the boat altogether which will be an emotional and financial wrench as she is a historic New Zealand vessel and has been our home for the past 9 years.

We urgently need some sound advice from someone such as yourselves. We will greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Regards,

Jim Donald and Jean Tallentire

Germany 

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