Bonzo looks well

Home again.  Bonzo looks fine, if a little crazy.
There were no serious, epic or near-epic events on our way home (apart from F7 heading back to Guernsey), but we had a great trip ... "thank you" to all our guests for making this Summer Cruise even better.

Here's a nice sunset in L'Aberwrac'h.

(You may not know that L'Aberwrac'h when spell-checked comes out as Aberrational,  Blabbermouth, Liebfraumilch or Liberace).

In the footsteps of Pete Goss

Here we are  .. on pontoon "L" at the Sables d'Olonne, Port Olona. 

This is from where my mate Pete (also Tony Bullimore and Ellen M) all set off  .. from this very  pontoon ..   the very wood is hallowed..

Where've we been?  Well, from St Denis we went down to St Martine and moored outside.  At St Martine we were entertained to a helicopter rescue of an empty stretcher (at sea) by a helicopter and several men dressed in black rubber .. anyway, it made a lot of noise and was quite interesting for the first 20 minutes or so.

From thence to Bourgenay, a nice place where a serious single-handed 6.5 M trans- Biscay  epic was ending .. The French know about sailing and about epics ...  anyway, next day en route back to St Martine we caught a swordfish,  not a big one, but it got away. Later it came back with its friends and ate ALL OUR HOOKS.

Later we berthed in St Martine.  Historic indeed.

Next to La Rochelle  via Ile d'Aix.

La Rochelle is big (you may think it’s a long way to ... etc,  but  La Rochelle is even bigger).. anyway…. at LR we had to say "Goodbye" to Rob, Gemma and family  and try to cope alone without them.

4 nights in LR.

Windy trip to  Les Sables  .. F6 at one stage (cold front with 20 degree wind veer and some concern on board) anyway (again) we made it to Les Sables. 

At Le Sables we explored St Pete Goss' pontoon, had a lovely supper of Smoked Salmon Pasta and are now listening to Bob Marley.. Tough, eh ..

Went running (briefly) today.  Then we explored the sacred pontoon.

At the end is a 150 foot mega motor boat  .. see picture  . The thing that worries me is  .. why couldn’t they afford a proper stainless steel anchor?

Denis Denis

Taxi, EasyJet, Navette (whatever that might be), Train, Mini-bus .. alors   .. Port Medoc  again.

Port Medoc.

Royan .. nice, mais les WC terrible

Man dressed in banana (at Royan)

Denis de’Oleron   .. “generally a good thing”

30 degrees, sunny, good swimming.

Rob and Katie took out an F1  (cat  .. chat?)

Banoffee Pie tonight

Up at 0645 mane.

Something about tides

As we are home feeding the dogs for the next few weeks, and therefore not blogging, it may be a good time to  ponder the Brittany Tides.

Tides are something to do with the moon and Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

Here's Al holding down a pile at L'Aberwrac'h

Here's the same pile 6 hours later. (note how the moon has made it grow).

More on Advanced Physics for Sailors next  month.

Bordeaux .. almost

Next stop Saint Denis d'Oleron.
Lovely.
Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as 50 or more old gaffers on a rally.  The French seem to love rallies.
Extremely helpful Harbour Master  found us an easy spot on the end of a pontoon.

Up early  .. too early .. I blame the Captain (me).  After looking at the sums again we delayed our departure to 0830 on account of a minor error in my tidal calculations.

Motor-sailed  down to the Garonne.  Beware the tides and the sand banks of  this mighty river!
Also beware not having updated your chart.
Anyway, we didn't hit the bottom and arrived safely in Port Medoc.
Large modern, spacious, easy  with staff that speak English even better than I speak French.  Remarkable ne c'est pas, eh ?

(a not-very-good picture of Port Medoc)

Another run with Jeannie  (nuf said)

Port Medoc is  quiet near the airport (I thought)
Mini bus to  Le Verdun  (whose Train Station is indeed a testament to public transport subsidy and whose Station Master  may one day appear on  Have You Got Talent).
2 hours train to  Bordeaux St Jean

40 mins Shuttle to Bordeaux airoporte
3 hours sensory deprivation at the aforementioned airport.
1 hour "Easy Jet"
Gatters
Train
Taxi
HOME!

Remarkably  Bonzo had either not had the opportunity to eat any intruders, or if he had, he'd left no crumbs.
But then he's a tidy (if mildly  psychopathic) dog.

Life, the Universe, Everything

After Joinville we sailed onward to  Les Sables D'Olonne.
A nice marina full of nice people.
Soon after we'd tied up, a familiar-looking boat appeared and docked next to us.  Jean, Mark and Gill went on an important shopping expedition, leaving me to re-water the boat (and chat to neighbours).  On their return the boat hadn't been re-watered but I had.  Anyway, after another hour or two aboard "Midnight Sky" we went out to supper.  This brings me on to "Allegra"  (CCRC). She'd seen her  moored outside the Capitainerie and remembering that her skipper and crew were not only charming, friendly and invariably welcoming but also that they are probably the best cooks  afloat, we popped in for a chat.
Sloe Gin is even better than I remembered.

So much for Les Sables  (it's where the Vendee Globe starts from of course  .. had  hoped to  bump into  Pete Goss and perhaps my mate Tony Bullimore  and give them a few tips about the Southern Ocean but apparently the  next Globe doesnt start till next year.)

From Les Sables we were aiming at La Rochelle  but Jean sensibly suggested that instead we should anchor off the end of Ile-de-Re. We had a pleasant afternoon being interogated by the very pleasant Customes Team  that boarded us  in their flubber-francaise  whilst their 70 foot  grey steel mother ship  circled us  with  guns suitably aimed.  Anyway, I did eventually  find the "ship's papers" and we left to suffer the night on our rolling mooring  (those of us, that is, who  werent up at  0230  and 0300  fiddling  with  straining mooring lines).

Next on to Ile D'aix for an very pleasant lunchtime anchorage  (not Douanes there), thence 13  miles up (the very very beautiful) River Charente  to Rochefort, were we are now.  A lovely town,something of a cross  between  Chatham, Dartmouth and Beaulieu.
Very hot.
Went for a 6 mile run with Jean before breakfast .. it's either love or the sun's getting to me.

What Exactly constitutes an Epic?

The Summer Epic Cruise is progressing  very much as expected.

After a slow and sometimes rough start  with the excellent company of Al, we eventually made it (sodden with spray and rain) to L’Aberwrac’h .  .

Our  next stop was St Evette  after a near epic  from L’Abers.  Nice overnight  stop on a mooring buoy, then a modest epic down to Sauzon  on Belle Isle ..  this trip qualified for epic status on the basis of being a very long way.  Wobbly night at Sauzon attached to another mooring buoy  and then on to Pornichet (non-epic trip  only 35  miles  but  near-epic manoeuvres in marina  with much traffic on hot  Sunday  afternoon).

Successfully met up with Mark and Gill in Pornichet, re-fuelled and re-provisioned (how do you spell  “vital” as in food?)

Next  morning off to Noirmoutier where we anchored and swam  and enjoyed a lovely hot afternoon .. swimming involved  having  someone constantly on Jelly-watch  as we spotted a big one when we anchored.  No jellies attacked however and fortunately none tried coming up the pipe to the loo either .. also no crocs or alligators either.

Yesterday set off again, this time for Joinville on Isle de Yeu.  Should have been an easy  (non-epic) voyage  but had a minor  thunder storm  en route.  Fortunately we noticed other boats dropping sails and stuff before  the  hot air  (amazing hot blast F6) followed by rain and colder wind hit us.  We also followed a bigger boat  closely in the hope that any lightening  would prefer his much taller mast.

Today  .. a day off in Joinville  .. went running  (short, but quite pleasant, remarkably)  .. lunch on the boat,  nice walk to the cliffs and 15^th century  castle etc.

L'Abers

L’Aberwrac’h

Managed to do Lesardrieux to L’Aberwrac’h in one step having decided it was impossible.  It nearly was.  Probably qualifies as an epic.

Arrived 9 pm after surviving (currently known as  “epic 4”)  ..  briefly ..  F6 gusting F7 and 2 knot tide both on the nose  ….anyway L’Abers is great.  Got here (wet) , had supper  .. a little red wine (euros 2.99)  .. slept very well.

Monday.  A day off in  L’Abers. Rained a lot.  Everything and everybody is wet.

The wet locker  also known as the shower is wet.

Cider for  lunch, then we went shopping

Beer for 1^st tea.

Tea and lardycake for 2^nd tea.

Wine for hors d’ouvre.

Crepes at restaurant. Very good meal.

Apple liquor.

Rum.

Bed.

Tuesday.

Said “Good Bye” to Al at bus stop.

Tried to dry out the boat.

Sunshine later.

Windy.

Discussed options for getting south.

No conclusions  but  will go tomorrow if the “7” disappears from all the forecasts.

Warmer now.

Drier and sunny.

Spag bog and lardycake for supper..

Life is good.

Northern Brittany

Captain's Log   .. star date 18.06.2012
Now marooned in French Sector.
Professor Edwards  seems able to communicate with the local civilians.
Captain's wife as lovely as ever.
Windy.

Left Itchenor on Monday.  Nasty bumpy crossing to Cherbourg.
Sainsbury's pork pies proved to be the ideal anti-emetic  (fear of tasting them again the way up seems to suppress gag reflex) .. or so the Prof believes.  Anyway, we all survived.

Anchored outside Cherbourg on Monday night.  Slept well.

Tuesday, pleasantly motored to St Peter Port.
2 nights in St Peter Port. 
Nice walk along the cliffs.

Thursday close reach then beat towards Treguier.
Big waves F5 and strong current.  Ended up in Lesardrieux.  I always like it here.
Friday  .. nice walk  .. Jardin Botanic ... heavy rain at times  ... F7-8 at sea  ..   nice in the marina .. huge tides.

Today  .. Saturday ... Jean went out for run   (I didnt).   Shopping trip  and much passage planning for tomorrow. The weather looks better for tomorrow  so we aim to anchor off Primel then aim at L'Aberwrach on Monday.

Al is cooking Thai Red Curried Turkey  with local cider as hors d'oeuvre.

CCRC Summer Cruise

Friday 27th May.

Hayling Island to Cherbourg.

Start put back to 0700 as so windy (very sensible, 2 hours more in bed).

Broad reach with 2 reefs across Channel. 7 hours (a PB). 3rd over all in the Beta Fleet. Pretty good, considering our handicap (must have a word .. or perhaps a plead .. with His Eminence The Handicapping Officer .. would buying him a few drinks help?).

Saturday.

Cherbourg was nice. Dinner at the Yacht Club was good.

Sunday.

Off to Carteret. Most people stopped at Dielette for lunch. We decided to follow the advice of the Almanac instead, but Marmite sandwiches never disappoint. Sailed slowly to Carteret, arrived at HW -90 and still almost grounded. Carteret was nice.

Monday.

Jean went for a run with two esteemed fleet athletes.

We were (narrowly) eliminated in the first round of the annual CCRC petanque competition (again). Lovely BBQ.

Tuesday. Off to St Helier. This shows Arcadia sailing very nicely in the company of Dolphins.

Tuesday afternoon. After a rapid and nice sail we arrived outside St Helier Marina (via the fishing boat harbour after a minor navigational error). Eventually managed to get rafted up (odd how boats that are longer, or fatter, or older than us naturally assume that we wont mind queuing just a little bit longer).

Relaxing in St Helier. Was it a long day, or are you checking something aloft?

Bad news.. weather forecast worrying for weekend. With wedding to get back for, we opted to depart on Wednesday before the the weather became pear-shaped.

Red Apple settling into their berth.

Tuesday evening. "Safari Supper", wonderful.

Wednesday morning. Up at 0430, not so wonderful.

We left St Helier at 5.00, reached the Alderney Race at 10 am (2 knots current, less than 60cm chop), we motor-sailed across the Channel in warm sunshine and picked up our mooring at Itchenor at 10 pm.

Red Apple followed us towards the Race and then headed off to Cherbourg.

A long, but otherwise easy, day.

Arrived Chichester 2200. Nice sunset!

Albatross 10th in Beta Fleet

Albatross finished 10th in testing conditions on Sunday.

The wind was variable 1 knot gusting 4 knots.

We checked our computers and opted not to reef.

After a reasonable start, we sailed even more slowly than usual, managing to cross the line in a 2 mile course in 1 hour 21 minutes.

Average speed 1.5 knots.

It was a lovely day. It was great to be on the water in the sunshine with friends.

Early Spring Solent Cruise

Lovely Spring Sunshine, so we abandoned Bonzo and her 6 rapidly growing Rottweiler-cross puppies with the now-resident "children" and took to the water.

Itchenor to the Folly for supper (nice food but a long queue).

Pleasant sail to Yarmouth next day.

New walk-ashore berthing is very expensive.

No water or electricity connected yet, berthed near the commercial fishing fleet.

To pay about £35 to moor to an unfinished pontoon (in April) and still have pay £1.50 per shower is a rip-off.

Meal at the Bugle was nice.

Lovely close reach to the Beaulieu River (F4 warm and sunny).

(Nice picture of our tender at Buckler's Hard.

Berthed on the piles (which now has a pontoon).

Peaceful. Flubber trip up the river.

Supper aboard.

Nice Sunday morning walk to the village.

Motored back to Chichester.

Bembridge or bust

We set off on Monday afternoon with an overladen car (two folding bikes on the roof rack) and nearly came straight home! I won't bore you with the whole saga of the outboard motor but suffice it to say that it deserves to be put in a skip! However Peter finally made it work and we set off with the wind BEHIND us!!

At 4 pm there was little choice of destination so it was nearly a night in Chi Harbour when we had a brainwave and went to Bembridge. The tides were perfect and of course it wasn't busy on a Monday night in March.

Having checked the tidal depths we decided it was safe to stay all day on Tuesday, so we had a day of cycling (there are a lot of hills on the I o W) and pottering around on the boat. Our calculations however, suggested that we would hit the bottom and possibly fall over (the boat, not us) if we stayed another night, so in spite of waking to howling winds and banging halyards we intrepidly motored out of Bembridge this morning and SAILED (yes, we used those big bits of white cloth) back to Chichester. It was windy and cold ( a northerly wind) so we didn't feel

like going too far and home seemed an attractive destination.

The outboard broke down yet again getting back from out mooring, so we had an "invigorating paddle". The landfill beckons.