41
SVN Solovelanet Global
H
itting the gas, I avoid bumping into a
large tugboat inside the Bosphorus.
The dense black smoke which comes
out is soon blown away by the Poyraz
(the wind called Meltemi by the Greeks),
while the resulting wave hits my boat in the quar-
ter, making her roll a little. I proceed slowly under
engine power against about twenty knots of wind
and two or three knots of stream towards the Sea of
Marmara. Using the sails is forbidden along the en-
tire twenty miles of the channel, so I have no choice
but to rely on the inboard engine of Piazza Grande.
With the gorgeous Ottoman palaces and the mighty
Byzantine bastions to either side, I see in the di-
stance the last of the three bridges that connect the
European and the Asian shores of Turkey.
Beyond this lies the ancient Pontus Euxinus, that
sort of mysterious and unknown place that is today
known as the Black Sea: a slightly sinister name
which plays a role in keeping Mediterranean boaters
away. But are they right to stay away? It is to answer
this question that I am here.
The Black Sea is not a handy destination from Italy
as you have to travel a long way. Or else, as some
northern Europeans do, you may sail down the
Danube following the flow of the river. This is a route
typically used by those who want to reach the Medi-
terranean without making a detour via the Atlantic.
According to the pilot book I have on board, the
total number of boats that cross these two "entran-
ces" in a year amounts to a dozen units: virtually the
same as in any Italian or French marina in a single
summer day.
I leave the Bosphorus and head for the open sea to
get a few miles away from the coast, both to break
free from naval traffic and to avoid an area reserved
for drilling by the Turkish Navy. It is late afternoon
by now, and a night of sailing awaits me to reach
Tsarevo, Bulgaria. The wind is still strong and, once
the sails and the autopilot have been adjusted, I sit
in the cockpit to enjoy the silence and the satisfac-
tion of having arrived here.
by Luciano Piazza
