Sailing again in 2008 - Eastern Mediterranean

Rumpus has been visiting beautiful spots like Knidos in Turkey in the last few days.


Rupe reached Marmaris in early April and completed a Herculean task - lift out, anti fouling, and back in the water for summer.



Now Richard and Pippy Buchanan have joined him and they are visiting some Greek islands before they begin the Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally.
Click here for Richard and Pippy's blog with their latest exploits on Rumpus.


The Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally will be an amazing voyage - 80 yachts from many countries, visiting Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt over two months to the 18th of June.
I am still in New Zealand, anticipating with great excitement a flight to Istanbul on the 13th of May, to join Rumpus in Alanya for the rest of the rally. My mother Diane will join us for a few weeks in Lebanon and Israel, visiting the places where she grew up. And after that, Rupe's daughter Kate and her husband Duncan will join us in Cyprus. Good times ahead.

Transformation and the 2007 journey

One of the earliest challenges was to choose a new name - we just couldn't pronounce the old one (Danish for forty four point seven). So we called her "Rumpus" - it means chaotic, disorganised fun.
That's 'Romeo, Uniform, Mike, Papa, Uniform, Sierra' on the VHF, or "Roompoos" if you're Spanish, Italian, Croatian or Greek.

The unpronounceable Danish name, removed and replaced by Martin




Rumpus in Kiel, Kate and Chantal making friends.

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In 2007, Rumpus sailed all the way through Germany(via the Kiel-Cuxhaven Canal); from Holland, Belgium and Northern France to the Isle of Wight (UK) for fitout and provisioning. From there across the English Channel to Brest, across the Bay of Biscay and down the Portuguese coast to Spain, around Gibraltar and to Valencia in time to see Team New Zealand win the Louis Vuitton cup.



Then the Wild Things left Rumpus for more wild adventures, and Kristin and Rupe carried on to the Balearic Islands and Corsica, where we met Oliver, Lana and Luc Ferry.



They were the first of many guests for 2007: we also very much enjoyed the company of Marguerite Delbet and Alastair Hercus, Graham and Linda McKenzie, Joan Hoffman and Jeff Malone and Steve and Cathie Franks. After Kristin and Gabriel returned to New Zealand, Rupe explored Turkey with his kids Kate and Guy.

And Rumpus spent the (northern) winter in Marmaris, Turkey until Rupe returned in April 2008 for the next adventure.

Rumpus April 2007

Rumpus's journey began when Rupert Wilson, proud new owner, steered her out of Eckernforde harbour in Northern Germany on Tuesday, 24 April 2007.

The original crew of Wild Things :
Kate & Duncan Lash, Martin & Kate Caughey, Chantal Crisenel and Kristin Percy.















L to R: Rupe, Kristin, Martin, Duncan; sitting, Kate L, Kate C and Chantal.