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Dear guests, my dear friends, I thank you very much for accepting our invitation and coming here on a Friday evening of July. I also understand my friends, who were not able to come.
We are happy to be back to Kalamış marina safely, after 657 days and 28276 miles, which we’ve left on19th of September 2004.
During this time, I came to Istanbul 6 times for various reasons, therefore our trip was composed of 7 laps.
I’ve read the books of the great sailors Sadun Boro and Osman Atasoy on the way. I’ve seen what they have experienced and I’ve appreciated their effords.
It requires a great courage, mastery and determination to circle the globe; with modest boots, without crews and by doing anything on their own, only with the help of their wives. Furthermore, they bore children on course and we even couldn’t do it.
My conditions were much better, in comparison with my friends conditions. But when the sea gets wild, the size of the boat doesn’t make any difference.
Thank to our capitain Yosi's choosiness, attention, disciplined management skills and experience, we could complete our world tour without being in a serious danger. He is also very good at balancing the budget.
Of course this is a team work and the rest of the crew also completed all of their tasks perfectly.
Eddy, beside his 2.captaincy, took care of all English communication and found good bars and restaurants everywhere. He also took care of varnishing. I made good use of his general knowledge. If he doesn’t know something, he makes research and brings the results.
Mehmet, did everything from repairing watches to climbing up to the beams. He is a real joker.
Kemal, our engine operator could successfully produce the circulation pump shaft in 5 hours, which was broken in the Pacific; in the engine room which was 45 C hot. He is modest. He is a gentleman.
Wendy could successfully cook in any weather circumstand and she kept reading, she smoked on the deck and has been always happy. Her kitchen is always clean.
Suzan , even she is a ER nurse, took care of everything from food service to cutting hairs, choosing clothes to sewing.
Dr. Erhan Bulutcu took care of everything from treatment of the burned arm of a native on San Brass island to video-photograpy shootings, film organizations to maintaining daily newspapers and e-mail traffic, writing diary to reading books and has been my greatest friend during our trip. He had no minute to rest.
We have visited 55 ports, refined and used 630 tons of water and spent 180 tons of diesel oil. Our cook has cooked 1280 pizzas. Don’t think that we only ate pizza during the trip.
The biggest fish we have caught was a 25 kg vahu and when we took it to the deck, it bite Yosi’s foot.
We saw many places, met many people, tastes different foods and culteres.
As a result, we made the decision that there is no better continent than Europe, there is no better sea than Mediterranean, Agean and Marmara seas and there is no better country than Turkey.
I thank God that I was born on this soil, we can easily learn foreign languages, we have four seasons and eat seasonal food. This is a great merit, we should be aware of it and try to make our country better.
I strongly recommend that you see the world to recognize the worth of your country.
The only thing which makes me upset is that my dear friend Sadun Boro could be a multi-millionare today, if he would have bought a couple of islands on the Pacific, which were almost free-of-charge that days.
I thank you very much in behalf of all of us, for being together tonight and present you my best wishes.
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