July 11th - 20th, 2012 (France)
Progress so far (Click picture to zoom)
Our intention was to continue heading south and cross south Biscay at the weekend (the only time allowed, as it’s a firing range during the week), but yet again the weather thwarted our progress, so we decided to go up the Vilaine, which is a fresh water river with a dam and a lock at the entrance. As we were motoring up to the lock, a young French couple on a 27 footer hailed us from a pontoon and asked if we could take them in tow, as their engine had failed. The wind strengthened considerably while we made a couple of attempts to tie up to their side. Unfortunately, they both went to the bows or stern together each time, making it impossible to get both lines tied up. We then approached head to wind and asked them to just tie our bow to the pontoon. However, they seemed to lack all basic sailing knowledge and pulled us downwind into their boat. We eventually persuaded them to transfer their lines to us and let the wind push them on to our port side. After that we only needed to cast off and motor into the lock.
That’s when the female crew decided it would be too difficult to get into the lock and said we should wait for the next opening in two hours. Luckily, the lock-keeper waved to indicate that there was room and we cast off. We made it through the lock without a problem, but had to ask them continually to keep an eye on our fenders to avoid any damage. The lock-keeper was great and explained to them how we were going to release them just outside the lock. Even that simple manoeuvre was a problem, as the female crew wandered back from the bows and the helmsman started fiddling with something in the cockpit before starting to steer into us instead of away. We were unable to release them by this stage as we were heading for a crane barge. Fortunately, a marina launch came out to tow them as we turned around to take them back for a second attempt. There are very few occasions when I think it should be compulsory for some sort of training before being let loose on a sailing boat, but this was definitely one of them.
We motored up the river a bit and spent a very pleasant night at anchor and carried on up river to La Roche-Bernard the next morning and once again the tent went up as the rain came down. At the moment the weather is very reminiscent of home, exceedingly wet and quite windy, but it’s definitely warmer. Bastille Day dawned bright and breezy and all the British boats put up their bunting for the occasion. Unfortunately, we’ve only got the very small flags that we used on old Mistroma, which are much too small for this boat, so we just flew our huge lion rampant from the forestay. There was plenty of activity during the day with a tango exhibition and competition in the town square and various food stalls around the marina. In the evening there was a concert with two bands, which we could hear from the boat, followed by an excellent fireworks display lasting about ten minutes. It was on the other side of the river, just down from the marina so we had an excellent view from the cockpit.
The following day we headed back down the river and had to circle around with another seven or eight boats, waiting for the lock gates to open. Once through, we motored further down river and anchored for lunch to wait for the tide to rise sufficiently for us to get over the bar and out into open water. Once out in the bay, the wind was north westerly F5 gusting 6 and because the depth only about 4 metres for 1-2 miles, the seas were very rough with green water coming over the sprayhood. I just love sailing in these conditions!
We motor sailed back to La Turballe where we spent the night before leaving for Ile d’Yeu. We had a great sail down with the wind south westerly F4 and the sun even shone the whole day! Anchoring off the east end of the island we had another extremely rolly night, as the boat was broadside on to the swell at times. The following morning we were wakened about 06:30 by swell from a ferry and it got so bad that we got up and left and had breakfast on the way. This was our first really hot day with no wind and not a cloud in the sky. We motored down to Les Sables d’Olonne and were tied up in the marina by lunchtime. The afternoon was spent cleaning the topsides for the first time since leaving home 975 miles ago and then Mike decided it would be a good idea to clean the hull as well. We’re looking very good again but it probably won’t last very long!
The next day was another hot one and we decided to stay a second night, so hopped on to the ferry for the short trip across the river where we visited the beach which stretches for miles, is surrounded by high rise hotels and is all very touristy and then we wandered around the town. Away from the shore it’s very picturesque with narrow streets and lovely gardens. We came across the Quartier Ile Penotte, where the walls are adorned with some amazing mosaics made of shells.
We have now travelled over 1,000 miles since leaving Ardrossan and are on our way south towards Spain, hopefully crossing south Biscay at the weekend. We motored sailed down to Ile de Ré near La Rochelle and dropped the hook in what claims to be a bay in this part of the world. This one wasn’t quite so rolly as previous ones, or maybe I’m finally getting used to them. At least I could sit inside without feeling sick all the time - a step in the right direction! After another early start the next morning, we motored down to Royan, as there was very little wind, and arrived mid-afternoon. We finally managed to get an internet connection for the first time in quite a while and spent the remainder of the afternoon answering e-mails, writing up this blog etc. The next couple of days we will be covering about 75 miles each day, with a favourable weather forecast and will probably be in Spain on Monday or Tuesday.
Blog updates may become a bit less frequent as we’ll be anchoring more often than going into marinas so internet connection may be a problem.
