Heimløsa Rus sails to Miklagard (Istanbul)

Edited by Koivusalo & Kallio on the basis of messages that were sent to Finland during the voyage

Updated on 17th of October 1999

28.4.99
Flight from Finland to Turkey.
29.4.
Heimløsa Rus is tared and caulked with porridge. Then the ship is launched by manpower and rowed to the Marina of Bodrum during the night. Pos N37 02' E27 26'. A good exploit of the crew, which is composed of Fredrik Koivusalo, Jan Mellring, Dick Lindberg, Esko Pesonen, Nicolas Leterrier and Bruno Lelievre.
1.5.
Start from Bodrum at 2 pm (local time). No wind. Rowing. Temp +34 C, humidity 65%, atmospheric pressure 1028. Arrival to Gümüslük at 23.15, pos N37 03' E27 14'. Ancient harbour. Friendly people.
2.5.
Start 08.30. A good SW wind fills the sail. Arrival to Kusadasi marina at 11.15 pm, pos N37 52' E27 16'. A good marina with friendly staff. We are now 78 nautical miles (nm) from Bodrum.
3.5.
We spend this day at the ruins of Ephesus (picture on the left), the capital of the Roman province of Asia. An impressive place. Cleopatra came here to meet emperor Marcus Antonius!
4.5.
Start at 8 am. Kemal Saatcioglu joins the crew. In the afternoon we have a strong headwind and therefore we land in the lee of cape Doganbey Adasi. Pos N38 01,9' E26 52,5. The sun is shining! Cooking food. Many orchids on land. We make some test sailings and take photos before we go on at 8 pm.
5.5.
Arrived to Cesme at 7 am. Pos N38 19,4' E26 18,3'. 65 nm from Kusadasi. A S wind is blowing and we sail away from Cesme at 2 pm. The wind gets strong and we go to the small fishing harbour Yeniliman. Pos N38 39,4 E26 26,2. We made 26 nm in five hours, which makes 5.2 knots. A fair speed!
6.5.
Hard NE wind (Poyraz) and we stay in Yeniliman. Kemal travels back to Kusadasi. During the day the wind-force increases to gale. No one speaks English in Yeniliman but Dick learns Turkish quickly and becomes our spokesman. We have to walk 3 km up in the mountains to find a place where there is covarage for the gsm.
7.5.
A cold night. The gale continues. Erol Serc invites us to his beautiful house for dinner. A delicious fish meal!
8.5.
The wind has slackened a little but is still too strong for us. A visit to Karaburun by bus.
9.5.
The wind slackens further and changes to W. We sail away at 2 pm. A Greek patrolboat hijackes us dramatically to Mitilini on Lesvos in the middle of the night. They didn`t like the flash of Dick´s camera. When they find out that we are not so dangerous after all they let us continue.
10.5.
During the night we have some problems with the current that came against us in the sound of Dikili Bogazi but we get through and arrive to Ayvalik in the morning at 4 am. Pos N39 19' E26 42'. A good marina. A photographer from the Turkish National Geographics takes some pictures of us. We leave in the evening at 11 pm.
11.5.
We arrive at 5 am to the small harbour of Assos. Pos N39 30' E26 20'. At the entrance we run aground on the 2500 year old ancient mole. A harmless contact with the pier to which Alexander the Great moored his ships. In Assos we have some problems with the military personel of the harbour but by a phonecall to Kemal, and with his kind help, the situation is taken care of. In the afternoon we walk to the ruins of Assos. Aristotle carried out much of his research on life sciences here. Beatiful scenery from the height of the Temple of Athena (picture to the right).
We sail away from Assos at 7 pm.
12.5.
Arrival at Bozcaada Liman at 5 am. Pos N39 50' E26 05'. Everything OK. We have some hours of sleep. When we leave at 1 pm there is a friendly man on the pier giving us fish, bread and a bottle of local wine. The wine was the best we tasted in Turkey. Thank you very much!
We blow into the Dardanelles under full sail with a wind from SW. A historic event! The first time in modern times a Viking ship sailes through the Dardanelles. Near Canakkale the current is rather strong but by going near the shore we get through to Canakkale and arrive there at 11 pm. Pos N40 08' E 26 24'.
13.5.
We cook scorpion fish for breakfast. Niko and Bruno leave the crew and go back to France. Jan and Fredrik make an intellectual excursion to Troy. A visit in honour of the Goddess Athena
14.5.
We leave Canakkale at 5:40. The current and the strong NW wind make maneuvring difficult and we have to take shelter in a small fishing harbour at 9:30 am. Pos N40 13.8' E 26 26.2'. In the evening the wind settles and we can go on.
15.5.
pos: 8:15 N40 35 E 27 33
A flock of dolphins visits us at 5 am. They are very interested in the Viking rudder. A visit to Port Marmara for morning coffee. Pos N40 35' E27 34'. In the afternoon a visit to Saraylar. Pos N40 39' E27 40'. The place has been used since antiquity for shipping marble from the quarries on the island
16.5.
Arrival at Istanbul, Fenerbahce, in the morning. Berth in Kalamis Marina at 8.30 am. A very good marina. Pos N40 58.6' E29 02.4'. We had sailed about 500 nm from Bodrum in 2 weeks.
The crew went to a hamami, a Turkish sauna. Got rid of two weeks´ shit! Great feeling! In the evening it rained for first time during this voyage
17.5.
Five TV-companies and some newspaper reporters visited the ship and made their reports
18.5.
Two journalists brought us to Haga Sophia to study the runes that the viking Halvdan made a thousand years ago in this Byzantine grandeur.
19.5.
Dick and Esko travel back to Finland
20.5.
Departure from Kalamis Marina at 9 am for the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. The crew is composed of Fredrik Koivusalo, Jan Mellring, Atso Leikas, Sinan Cakmak and Kemal Saatcioglu.
The photo to the left shows Heimløsa Rus passing through Bosphorus under one of bridges that connect Asia and Europe.
We have a lunch break in the harbour of Istinye Pos N41 06.9' E29 03.6'. In the afternoon the headwind becomes too strong for us and we moore to a buoy. In the evening the wind settles and we go on. At sunset we arrive to Poyras, which lies on the eastern end of the Bosphorus.

We fought our way against the current and the wind through the Bosphorus. With a Viking ship this is possible only by knowing exactly how the currents and counter currents flow in the sound. The Bosphorus is nowadays one of the most frequently used water passages in the world. Going zigzag against wind and current, between big tankers coming in both directions and numerous ferries crossing the sound, is not easy - but we came through.

21.5.
In the morning we sail out on the Black Sea - the sea that is called "the birthplace of civilization and barbarism" by Neal Ascherson. In contrast to the other seas we have experienced, there are almost no pleasure crafts on this sea. The coast is relative desolate. In the evening we arrive to Sile. Pos N41 11´ E29 36´. We buy some kilo istavrit, which is a local small fish, from the fishermen in the harbour. Some we grill on the quay and the rest we hang in the rig for drying.

22.5.
Start 6.15 am. At about 1 pm we are attacked at sea by a big bee-swarm, which was looking for a new nest. They think our ship is the best place for that. We had another opinion and a big fight ensues. After about a one hour battle with wild smashing and tar burning on board we win. Left are thousands of killed enemies. Our losses are some sticks, small fire damages on the ship and one pair of sunglasses over board. Arrival to Kefken at 2.30 pm. Here we meet a Turkish man with his Danish girl-friend that are going round the Turkish coast in the westward direction in a small sailing boat which mostly resembled a small jolly. The warned us for Poyraz, the Turkish name for the northeast wind, which can reach considerable strenght and cause dangerous heavy sea in the Black Sea area.

23.5.
In the morning Kemal leave the crew and travels back to his job. We go on sailing eastward with a wind from west. The weather forecast promised a Poyraz wind but we have a fair west wind until 3 pm when it gradually dies. We arrive to Eregli at 8 pm, after 55 nm in 14 hours. The crew of the neighbour fishing boat invites us to supper on raki and grilled fish. Delicious! Seppo Suhonen and Marja-Riitta Topcu arrive at midnight and attend the crew.

24.5.
We spend the day in Eregli. The representatives of the town take good care of us and show the sights of the town, among others "the mouth of hell", the cave where Hercules killed the three-headed dog that watched the cave. Marja-Riitta plays the Finnish national instrument, kantele, for the Mayor of the town. Visit the local hamami. This typical turkish sauna is always a pleasant refreshing experience.

25.5.
Thiefs have emptied our gift cash box, which we had forgotten on the quay in front of the ship, during the night. This was a good lesson for the future. It is raining and there will be more rain the more east we come along the Turkish coast, as expected. But we are still lucky with the wind which blows strongly from west. We make good speed eastward after leaving Eregli early in the morning. We go in to Zonguldag at noon because Jan has to return home and he wants to do it from this town. Zonguldag is a coal shipping harbour and everything is, or becomes quickly, also Heimløa Rus and the crew, covered with a fine coal dust. We cook a soup on our dried fish. The strong west wind lies onto the harbour-mouth and makes it difficult to sail away but at about 4 pm we managed to get out to sea again. Arrival to Amasra when the dark comes on. Pos N41 45´ E32 24´.

26.5.
We stay the whole day in Amasra, a wonderful 3500 years old town. The town has experienced all the historical cultures, through which it has retained its generous and pleasant atmosphere. In one of the many handicraft shops we buy some wooden caskets for the ship. We are invited to a school to tell about the Rus project. In the evening we again experience the Turkish hospitality. Captain Süleyman treats us to fried mussels. During the night we have to listen to the cats´ opera-arias.

27.5.
Leave Amasra in the morning. The coast is steep with few harbours. At Sütlüce there is a natural anchorage. We take a lunchbrake at this most majestic and beautiful place. Arrival at Cide at 7 pm. Pos N41 54´ E32 58´.

28.5.
The voyage goes on along a rocky and steep coast without shelter. In one place (photo to the right) we find a landing place for a lunchbrake. Arrival to Inebolu at 5 pm. Pos N41 58,8´ E33 46´. This is our terminal point on the Turkish north coast, from which we plan to cross the Black Sea to Crime.

Allahu ekber, eseduenna ilahe illallahve eseduenna Muhammed en abdulve resullallah.