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Put some donk on it / Peter Mathias

I’ll come to the title later.

This blog is intended only to highlight the interesting, humourous or otherwise noteworthy happenings of our travels in Filibuster.

Our the last trip of some 4 weeks was, well, average. The weather was,well, average, we didn’t hit anything, nothing hit us (apart from the mysterious yellow mark now on our life raft). All the places visited have been written about… no cars fell in the water etc…

Something Remarkable….

But before I distil that , that recent, average, trip, let me tell you about something remarkable that happened today, down here in Pembrokeshire:

Peter Mathias walked up the hill to the chalet, in between rain storms and with a smile said “hello”  and:

  • It was my birthday yesterday
  • I’ve just got engaged
  • Can I introduce you?

WOW. Peter’s wife Anne passed away in 2013 after a battle with cancer. We had lost touch a bit.

And now a new love enters his life. Cath is a delightful lady, Irish, shares a common love of golf with Peter and enjoys travel.

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Peter and Cath.

Peter holds a dear place in our life and early sailing career: we raced with and against each other, did delivery trips together, we bought our chalet from him and more recently he hosted James for a week of work experience at a real architects practice.

We wish Peter and Cath the best for the future.

A neat manoevre

Read this: About getting Filibuster into a tricky mooring.

So, if you find yourself having got yourself in to a similar position :

  • alongside a pontoon
  • 3 boats fore, 3 boat aft, no more than 2 ft either end to play with.
  • no wind to help you out
  • no bow thruster to turn the nose?

And the 3 boats aft being worth more than £1m, skippers hovering, all watching and wondering how you are going to get out without damaging their prized possessions….

We saw this in Piriac, just a few weeks earlier, when a student in a bateau ecole (training boat) got their command stuck and the teacher had to show them how to get out:

  1. create a pivot point on the bow by taking a line from outermost cleat to the pontoon.
  2. remove all other lines
  3. put the boat into reverse.

The boat can’t go forward, can’t go backward, can only pivot around the one line – and it will do so to 90 degrees or more.

Slowly she does it. Slip the line and reverse out. Works on a bateau ecole, worked on Filibuster.

All watchers smile, think “neat”. A Facebook equivalent of a super like if they have one…..

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How to get out of a tight spot (I’m a better sailor than an artist!)

The donk

not yet…

Frank Singleton

We bought Filibuster in 2007. Mobile internet was not there. For those of us needing up to date weather info there was one source: Frank Singleton and his collection of nascent weather info delivery services that could be acquired using the painfully slow, but all we had at the time, GPRS on mobile.

Well I’m pleased to report that Frank and his wife Jennifer came alongside us in St Martin for a few days.

Both over 80 they are a remarkable example of “continuing to use it” as they have campaigned their Halberg Rassy for many years and continue to do so.

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Frank and (recently showered) Jennifer Singleton aboard their HR34 Anhinga in St Martin, Ile de Re

Demi Donk

Explained later (sorry: I’m struggling to pad this one out)

Photos from a plane

See this:groix from the air

Well we’ve all taken photos from a plane. Note how clear this one is? It comes from the driver’s seat. Cap’n Laurie Stimpson flying an Easyjet Airbus south-ish to Lisbon. The island is Ile de Groix, L’Orient and Port Louis to the left. Mid picture is the Quiberon Peninsula. In the far distance would be Piriac Sur Mer, where I write from.

 

And finally: donk

our new found friends: John and Julia Strudwick on board their Nauticat Wyldwind. Now Nauticats are built for comfort,pleasure and not hi-performance. they come with appropriately sized engines (ie the donk) that, when sailing isn’t the right option , the donk does it.

And so into our vocabulary comes:

  • put some donk on it: give it some welly
  • demi donk day: motor until the wind pipes up
  • donk it: better put the engine on to avoid whatever needs donking

The next instalment

Starts August 16th. Let’s hope something more interesting happens. Let me know if you would like to join us.

Hola 2016

Qué ? What’s going on?

Last time we spoke Filibuster was in France, and now Martin, está hablando español….

And, quel horreurs, on a boat without sails! Not even any visible means of supporting such sails.

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Has Martin taken leave of his senses and gone to the dark side?

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To suffer warm, private sandy beaches, full sunshine, clear waters in the Med?

In April, where back home was a)chuffin cold b)wet

Well, actually folks, you can rest assured. The boat belongs to our good friends Ian & Judy and they have introduced us to the temptations of Menorca. And what a tempting place it is:

  • 300 days per year sunshine
  • excellent food and drink at very reasonable rates
  • beaches, coves, walks to die for
  • crystal clear, warm,  sea (well it was a tad cool on the day highlighted, but Ian & I swam ashore)
  • Largely unspoilt and civilised with strong connections to the UK
  • Unbelievably friendly locals who cannot say a word without a smile

If you have never been to Menorca I can thoroughly recommend it.

Navigation

Ian’s nav system comprises of:

a) a Garmin GPS chart plotter with a faulty screen

b) an Apple Iphone that has the tendency to fall on the floor (clonk) at inappropriate moments

To avoid getting lost at inappropriate (clonk) moments I decided to purchase an upgrade to the system.

No batteries or screen required, doesn’t clonk when it falls on the floor. Superbly accurate with AIF (that’s a new piece of tech called Automatic Identification by Finger).

A prototype of the system was tested back in France here.

It is of course the highly reliable, patented, TTNS:

TTNS (Tea Towel Navigation System)

TTNS (Tea Towel Navigation System). This is an upgraded version with AIF indicating current position, compass, wind directions and instructions on what to eat (Old Menorcan cheese) and drink (Gin) in an emergency. Can also be used to cover modesty of naked sailors and sailoresses.Reversible screen. Can be used to communicate over long distances. Beat that, Apple…(clonk)

 

Welcome to Sailing (or should I say Boating) 2016

And so to Sauzon

 

Sauzon 005

Amazonas Sauzonas. Capitanerie Girl showing how meet and greet and park is done. The following evening doing the same job in a dress!.

 

Oyez! Oyez!. All you creek crawlers, bilge keelers, flat bottomers and lifting keelers. Welcome to Sauzon, Belle-Ile, for this is your heaven.

This is the place that perfectly exonerates your decision to acquire a boat that “can take the ground”.

Along the astonishingly pretty quayside of Sauzon is a huge, sheltered, drying harbour, complete with moorings to assist your arrival, which of course you do when there is water in the harbour.

Fin keelers (like Filibuster) whose decision to visit Sauzon is always a gamble on how much swell you can tolerate. Swell whilst mooring to a buoy in the anchorage outside the harbour (lumpy) or swell whilst mooring fore-and-aft in the outer, non drying harbour (also lumpy).

Happily, nay smugly , the “take the grounders” chug past all the fin keelers. Smiling inwardly, smiling visibly, smirking, going onward to a nirvana where no fin keeler can stay.

Sauzon 006

Filibuster, bobbing about in splendid isolation. We remained so despite the fact that the other moorings had no less than 3 boats each by the end of the day (something to do with size: the capitanerie people like to keep similar sized boats together, and with Filibuster bang on the maximum allowed length, no one else of our size came in to join) . That night the wind turned to the North making the outer harbour uncomfortable and it emptied quickly the following morning

Sauzon 013View looking into the harbour at low tide, showing smug bilge keelers happily parked.

 

The ground in the drying harbour is mainly hard sand, so if you can get off your boat it’s easy to walk ashore.

 

 

 

The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared

Have you read the book? It’s very funny. Essentially a long shaggy dog story. But there’s a bit missing, entitled “and so to Sauzon” I include it here.

And so to Sauzon.

Henri, the hundred year old man, found himself on the West Coast of France. He’d heard that Sauzon was a nice place and that sailing a yacht was a nice thing to do.

So he decided to borrow a yacht. He’d never been sailing before but reckoned it can’t be that difficult as you can  just switch the engine on and go. So he did, and off to Sauzon he went on a pleasant summer’s day.

On arrival he was pleased to see that Sauzon was indeed a beautiful place and happy he’d made the decision to visit. He had only one problem to settle and that was how to stop and stay.

Observing a nice big British yacht already moored in the harbour, Henri asked the skipper “puis je fair a couple avec vous” (which is not a request to get over familiar with someone, but just to come alongside).

Martin, the skipper of the nice big British yacht says “mais bien sur, fair un turn (because he was facing the wrong way round ) en retour ici”.

Hundred year old man goes round and starts to come alongside. Martin notices he has no fenders prepared. Or lines to attach with. Typical French. Martin “advises” him, “ou et votre lignes et defensoirs”. Henri points to a locker as if to say “obviously in here, you stupid Brit, where else?”.

He’s passing. He realises that lines are the key to stopping and staying. He gets a line out of the locker and passes one end to martin. And the other end. And the middle. All of it, not attached to anything.

Incroyable.

“What do you expect me to do with this?” dit Martin en Francais. Henri looks at me genially as if to say “you’re the expert – you tell me”. I throw it back, all of it.

So I tell him, in French, kindly “attach your lines and fenders first, then come alongside”. Blank look returned.

Is it my French that’s the problem? (could be: my inner French man quite often says things that my inner English man doesn’t understand). Perhaps Henri got the last missive as “put out your washing line and install your fence before coming to my place”

I recruit the next nearest boat to translate from English to French for Henri. Blank Henri look again. A discussion in French ensues. The centime drops. A little wave of a Henri hand acknowledges in a “righty ho” sort of way.

Henri, being a hundred years old, doesn’t do anything really quickly. He slips, nay slides or possibly slopes into the task now in his mind.

He chugs off for another turn. Connects an end of the ligne to his boat. Forgets about the fenders. Comes alongside. One line attached and he’s stopped.

At this point the Capitanerie boat gets involved and takes control: gives Henri a parking place alongside a similar sized boat . Henri now remembers fenders and starts to attach whilst we hang on to Henri’s boat.

Capitanerie man moves Henri. Zut go the new neighbours. Phew go we.

He doesn’t have a dinghy so sits on deck reading and then goes to bed. He left early that morning and for all we know is still out and about.

PS

And as I write this in Port Haliguen a smart Beneteau 45’ comes alongside the other side of our pontoon. Fully crewed by Henri-relatives and driven by an incompetent Henri-alike who commands with an air of authority-without-experience. No lignes, no defensoirs on a boat probably worth £100k. Much snarling and gashing of engine. Backwards, forwards, over the Irish sea sort of thing, nearly over the boat in front, Michele goes to help. They throw a line, in the water. Eyes look to heaven. Etc….

PPS above mentioned boat has 13 people aboard. Several generations of family, not all happy about being on granddad’s boat together. Noisy, at least whilst awake and then an absolute calm descends on this quiet, flat corner of the marina.

PPPS Rather shyly they aplogisied for the enthusiasm of their gang on holiday. Apology graciously accepted, but it was still nice when they went to bed….

And so back to Sauzon

I’ve digressed and dithered a bit, and I’m sure you want to know a bit about Sauzon.

Some observations:

  • It’s on Belle-Ile. A popular holiday island for French rich and/or famous and it shows, especially in Sauzon.
  • It’s very pretty
  • The quayside is closed to traffic Friday and Saturday evenings, making promenading, people watching and checking out the many restaurants a pleasure
  • It has resident quayside bands – we pitched up at a bar and listen to “The Golden Jakes” Jazz Band. Niiice.

It’s a must visit place. We did a couple of years ago by scooter and a few days later by car…

If you feel daring and just want to stay long enough for an meal, springs tides will float your boat in the inner drying harbour for long enough to enjoy a peaceful evening meal or lunch if the tides are neapish.

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belle isle 111

Waterside Sauzon
Taken a couple of years ago.

 

 

Ile d’Groix

Ile d’Groix

Ile d’Groix. Let’s put it context for you: About 4 miles long by 1.5 miles wide…

Or try this pair of photos of the same kind of facility (the Capitainerie or Harbourmaster’s Office)

Port Louis 004

Impressive new Capitainerie at Port Louis

Ile d'Groix 012

This one does a similar job on Ile d’Groix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ile d’Groix. Pop: around 2500 permanent, 1 small marina. Across the water is Lorient: Pop 225000. 5 marinas.

It’s not surprising that Ile d’Groix is a top spot for visiting boats from nearby. And not so nearby.

We pitched up from Port Louis (*****favourite) a long leg of 10 nm with a nice sail.

It’s full. Fuller than full. Not enough capacity, of water, of marina, of electrics.

Ile d'Groix 013

Cap’n – the di-lithium crystals can’t take much more of it

The Rhythm of the port

…goes like this:

  • It’s in 3 bits: the inner locked bit for local boats.
  • The marina. Standard stuff. Always full.
  • The outer harbour– fore and aft buoys.

Did I mention the ferry bit? That takes up a lot of space.

Did I mention it’s always full? Even late June. It’s full and the workings go thus:

  • Turn up anytime: there’s no space in the marina. As I said and all the pilots say, it’s full.
  • If you are very lucky you can raft on one of the hammerheads to a max of 3 deep.
    • Fishing boats will disturb in the early morn
    • But the benefit is you get first dibs on seeing marina berths become empty

Turn up in the afternoon and you might get somewhere to stay in the outer port on the fore and aft buoys. Not so bad as long as you have a dinghy. Nice views. Not so manic.

Except when the ferry does a 180 turn, and uses your boat as a guide.

he gets this close:

Ile d'Groix 022

wait for it, wait for it….

 

Ile d'Groix 033

Ok Scotty, let ’em have it….

The close up photo taken whilst we were on the outer pair of buoys above. eek.

Next morn you watch for boats coming out of the marina so you can get a top spot space in the marina-hammerhead-outerbouy pecking order. And we did.

So that’s the rhythm.

We arrived. Newbies. No space for a 40ft-er inside so troll out to pick up a fore-and-aft.

 

An electrifying moment:

It’s sunny. Warm, about one o’clock. We get out the “clacker”, a special device that allows us to quickly hook onto ring topped buoys. Before clack-and-attach happens a voice rings out

 

‘Martin’

Ssszzzsss!!. We’re 200 miles south of home. No-one knows us here…but someone calls my name, in my direction, not a French Martin call, but an English Martin call. Someone knows us and wants to say hello.

A look around. It’s Stephen Lenister and the Topsail gang (see here). Joy fills our hearts: friends . Friends culturally, linguistically and all those things that herald a good meeting with like minded, enjoyable people.

We go alongside. Hail friends well met. And the scene is set for another nice meal – 8 all told at the Blue Thon up the hill. Warm. Outside. Seafood . Heaven.

 

And So to Ile de Groix.

The Capitainerie, the electrics, the rhythm of the port: it all settles you into life-a-Groix.

An enveloping calm. Life is relaxed here at this slightly out of season time. Not frenetic like the larger islands can be in season.

Port Tudy tries, with the obligatory port side bars, restaurants and marine style shops. But the next layer beyond the port is just calmness.

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Qui madam, j’ai les vetements marine de cette annee. Quel colour voulez vous votre stripes?

Imagine this:

Many years ago: Pierre and Florence, at home on Le Bourg, the largest of the villages on Groix and close to Port Tidy (the port we are in).

Pierre says to Florence. “Florence dear, I’m just off to the shops”. He goes. He doesn’t come back. And all over the island appears to be this evidence of many Pierres doing the same.

Substantial and old, pretty, abandoned building just left.

Ile d'Groix 061 Ile d'Groix 060

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fields seem to have been abandoned to nature.

What happened? Could it have been linked to WWII when this part of the world suffered dreadfully?

I’m pleased to report that many Pierres, or their offspring , are returning and there is clear evidence of renovation.

Groix a bike

The tourist office have a lovely map. It includes the walking routes (up and down narrow tracks), the roads (up and down narrow tracks) and cycle tracks (up and down narrow tracks). So around the island we cycled according to the map. it didn’t make much difference from being on a road to a cycling track…

And you can’t get lost due to the many Groix-esque road signs.

Ile d'Groix 037

typical roadside, trackside, pathside signage found all over

And as befits this friendly quiet island you get taken around a place devoid of traffic, devoid of modern signage, devoid of hectic activity that the ride is an absolute pleasure.

And full of interesting old buildings, narrow streets, hollyhocks.

And the smells. Of wild flowers, honeysuckle, broom, blackcurrant, of nature. Everywhere. In fields that are no longer productive.

And even the wildlife are friendly;

 

And to conclude

Apologies if Groix is a ramble. So much to say for such a tiny place. I just hope I’ve encapsulated some of the ambience of the place.

We’ve been to most of the Islands lying off the West Coast of France, but Ile d’Groix ranks high in the list. Different again from all the others. Not over exuberant…not over developed (yet), friendly, laid back.

And yes, we will return.

chart

Ile Groix 004

Ferry coming in. Tops’l going out

 

So Houat

So,Houat

A play on words, as we will see later.

It’s 730am. 21st June. A Sunday. We’ve been chilling out at LRB for 3 nights and it’s time to go.

Ping! Martin awakes with a bright idea. Get away quick and we might make the 0800 lock and out to the sea…..

….some time later we approach the lock for 0900 opening. Happy in our little time lapse universe that no one gets up so early on a Sunday in France because it’s closed. And fully expecting the lock keeper to be happy to see us, having nothing else to do so early.

Now, you can get some things a bit wrong. And some things a lot wrong. And we got this call so unbelievably wrong you wouldn’t believe it.

Sometime in the 3 days since we left Arzal a bunch of boats about 140 strong crept into Arzal. Had a party and now wanted to go home. All of them. To catch the tide, which was falling.

Now Arzal lock is a big lock, it takes 20 or so boats, less if some of them are real big. Hmmm 140 boats divide by 20 = 7 locks. That’s all of Sunday just for the rally.

We tried to get in to the 0900 and failed. Waiting for the 10 o’clock lock it’s apparent that a few more boats have woken up. It’s mayhem. Boats go left, go right, go forward, go backward. Occasionally they crunch. See photo.

LRB-Houat 005

Left a bit, right a bit, crunch. Boat 2nd from right desperately trying to avoid being run over by large boat reversing into him. He failed: crunch. Boat to his left desperately trying to fend off. He failed as well: crunch. Small boat to the 2nd from left is the rossers. They don’t know about the feeding the ducks episode.

Filibuster stakes her claim – we’re not going to be missing another. Near the front of the queue and defending our position we get into a very, very crowded lock.

I’ve written about the fun of the Arzal lock before, so no need to repeat that.

And BTW the rally wasn’t a booze up – it’s held in aid of disabled people to give them some experience of boating. It calleds the Pen Bron Rally. More here (in French).

Hoedic

We chug off down river and out to sea. We’re heading for Houat (pron more like Hwat and not like goat). The wind pipes up and the sun comes out and we’re sailing proper. Heading to Hoedic because that’s where the wind takes us on our route.

And in fact so close in to Hoedic our point of tack was virtually in the harbour, our could have been had it not been for discretion beating valour.

LRB-Hoat chart

Hoedic (duckling) is a one horse island that we have a soft spot for. It’s bigger brother, Houat, was our destination.

LRB-Houat 007

Hoedic. One horse island: the horse left.

Houat

We sailed on. We entered the harbour, we mused about the tri-bollock floating mooring system. We moored. Went ashore, had a drink and left the next morning for Port Louis where I write from.

LRB - Houat 011

St Gildas Harbour, Houat. Off season. High season will be an absolute bun fight.

It appears that everyone who raves about Houat are not talking about the harbour, but the huge sheltered beach to the SW of the island that we shall return to one day.

Jasper Carrott

What? How do we get from Houat to Carrott. Jaspers’ Joke delivered whilst in Salisbury on the 14th June runs thus:

Three girls in their twenties decided to go out and decided to go to the Hotel Ocean because the waiters were good looking and had nice bums.

Twenty years later they meet up and decide decided to go to the Hotel Ocean because the wine was good.

A further twenty years, now in their 60’s, later they meet up and decide decided to go to the Hotel Ocean because the food was good.

Twenty more years pass and now in their 80’s they meet again and pondered where to go. They decided to go to the Hotel Ocean because they hadn’t been there before.

And what has that got to do with sailing I hear you ask?

Well, in our delight to be out sailing proper with good speed and a nice angle of heel, we had forgotten about the laws of gravity and it’s effects on improperly stowed boats contents:

LRB-Houat 008

after effects of a well heeled party

Nothing broken. Lesson learnt. The sail up to Port Louis the following days  was even more exciting: 8.3kn at the entrance to Lorient Harbour. Fun.

And if you get the chance see Jasper on his current tour, jump at it. 3 hours of top notch entertainment from people who know how to entertain.

 

a l’eau a l’eau

Bonjour mes amis.

Sailing season 2015 gets underway 🙂

Airbnb – what they didn’t say

Whilst the boat was out of the water we stayed at an Airbnb place for 4 nights. Situated right in the port side of Vannes it was ideally located and much better than a hotel. More details here.

Except for one thing: the steps. Located on the 3rd floor it was 65 steps up! And the mezzanine bed-floor was as steep as a ladder….

And so onto boaty things

Launched yesterday after 3 days full time faffing, cleaning, pressure washing, fitting, fixing and fiddling we are now chilling out at La Roche Bernard.

sail 15 005

wife and mistress. Both demanding.

And even more serious matters

I broke the law yesterday. Unwittingly. So I bring to your attention the following notification about feeding the ducks: it’s illegal here.

sail 15 006

Now there are are some questions that need answering. And in the absence of any obvious sign of the anti duck feeding fuzz to help with clarification here we go:

  • Why €38? and not the easier to handle €40. Did the pro duck lobby get the fine reduced?
  • But why set the fine at that level at all, Would €38 stop you from illegally feeding the ducks. Would €20 have the same effect?
  • Charlie Drake, pictured centre, takes the wrap. Why did his mate Francis exit stage left so fast? Was it to avoid being done for receiving the illegal bread?

So many questions, so few answers, it’s driving me quackers.

And with that it’s adieu until I find something more worthy of writing about.

L’Herbaudiere and Francois the Forgetful fisherman

L’Herbaudiere

Well here we are (or were) in L’Herbaudiere on the tip of a small island to the South of Nantes. It’s our first stop after escaping Arzal.

Note whitewashed houses and clay roof tiles signalling warm and sunny, which is exactly what it is.

Francois 007

very med. what’s not to like?

Now we don’t really like this place too much and Michele would have me spend 3 more hours travelling to avoid it, but it is bang on our route and anywhere else isn’t.

So why don’t we like it I hear you ask in unison. Is it the local facilities? Non. The services du port? Non. Then what?

It is the fact that 1) it is a bit popular (also on everyone else’s route) 2) you end up rafted out into the main fairway and 3) worst of all the local fishermen are a bit anti people enjoying holidays in yachts.

They take particular delight in fishing into the night and passing very fast and very close to rafted boats and their sleeping content. The resultant crash-bang-slap of the associated wake wakes everyone up and there is a joint low mutter of bastardo, or the French equivalent, as we all curse passing fishing boat.

Which leads me to the story of Francois the Forgetful:

Francois had being having a hard time – he had been courteous to sleeping yachtspeople by passing carefully and slowly, especially at night.

Sadly Francois’s boss was a bit anti yacht and warned him “if you don’t give them a hard time I’m going to give you a hard time and the sack. Let’s see you in action tomorrow 8am prompt”

Francois’s girl Francine was also giving him a hard time – “work harder and earn more money” she argued with him that morning.

So, eager to please both irate girl and irate boss, Francois put on his best blue top and went off to work: but the prospect of taking it out on the yachties troubled him.

Late for work following the contremps with Francine, Francois raced off in his silver Peugot, Pierre. He parked on the quay wall, but being late his regular slot of 51a was occupied, so he parked next door in 51b (more later), leapt out and off to his boat….bad move Francois…

…. about 30 seconds later an enormous crash follows as his trusty Pierre fell off the harbour wall. Francois the forgetful had forgotten to put the handbrake on….oooops

Now most of the parking spaces on the harbour wall do indeed face downward and would be subject to a roll away and splash were it not for the fact that anti-roll-away barriers are installed opposite most of the parking spaces. Except 51b….an unlucky choice on this day of all days ….

Of course all this in direct view of the aforementioned sleep deprived yachties now having a good serving of trog watching with their breakfast.

The old Irish trick? I’m sure you’ve all seen the mockup of 2 mobile cranes falling into an Irish Harbour to recover a car – I say mockup because only one fell in. This is how the French recovered Francois’s car:

Francois 001

Francois (top), Pierre (bottom). The sapeur-pompiers inspect the problem

1)      Bring in the sapeur-pompiers to investigate. Note Pierre’s in his best blue top pointing to 51b and final path of Pierre the Peugot.

Francois 003

I parked it over there in 51b, Francois explains. Note gap through which Pierre rolled.

 

2)      Realising this is a job requiring specialised lifting gear bring in divers and the guys from Phares and Balises (lighthouses & buoys dept)

Francois 004

crane in the water, French style

3)      Pull out the car

Francois 006

good job we was ‘ere guv, wasn’t it

4)      Take it away

Francois 009

For Sale. Peugot 205. Slight accident damage

The whole process lasted no more than 20 minutes.

Poor Francois, or whoever “the forgetful” one was.

And the moral of the story. Don’t annoy the yachties because they have ways and means of having the last laugh 🙂

PS This is a true story….well part of it is….and all names have been changed to protect the true identity of the unlucky Peugot driver.

 

 

 

‘Allo ‘Allo

Just to let you know  a new season is underway.

We are in Arzal, it’s the 29th July. Perishingly hot at 28 degrees in the day and not a lot of air around. The water temperature is the same! Yuk. The evening temperature as I write at 930pm is 24. Double yuk. The water is still 28…triple yuk…

Can’t wait to get out to the freshness of the sea, which we will do Wednesday

The view from here is pretty much like last year:

Just after sunrise on the 28th August

Just after sunrise on the 28th August

And that’s because we are in the same berth. D137.

If you are seeing this and didn’t see any of these posts last year that’s because over the winter I added a few contacts to the distribution list. Unsusbcribe if its not for you (there a link to do it at the bottom of the email)

Our itinerary this year takes us down to near Bordeaux where James and Zoe will join us for a week from 16th August and thence back to la Rochelle.

And after that? Who knows? Michele has retired. We booked a one way trip on the ferry. Come and join us.

More to come once we get underway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camaret sur Mer and the Navigation system

We made it to Camaret sur Mer yesterday (23 July) after a long motor from St Agnes in the Scillies…..

Our route took us through Chanel De Helle / Chanel du Four: the pilot guide says something like this about the area:

Avoid going through in anything other than fine weather with good visibility unless you have a good navigation system with up to date charts”

Well, after a flat calm night we arrived at the entrance to “Hell Chanel” and no sooner had we committed ourselves when a thick fog rolled in:

IMAG0043

Visibility dropped to 50-100 yards. Tide ran at around 5kn. dangerous rocks were all around. Unseen vessels were heard to pass near by.

It would  have been the nightmare scenario just a few years ago.

Having the right kit and team

Fortunately Filibuster has en excellent navigation system using state of the art technolgy as pictured the following day in sunny Camaret. 001

Our helm (Andrew Wiltshire) expertly guided by the navigator (Tim Greathead) got us to our destination safe and sound.

….and the sun came out 🙂

Addendum: check performance of the nav system cdh passage 24 Jul 13

(blue line = desired track, orange = actual)

Before the off

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Filibuster – A Bavaria Ocean 40 on her home mooring in Lawrenny….

 

…next to some smaller yachts (now is that a big boat nearby and some other boats further away, or just a big boat?)

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