TALISMAN'S 2008 CRUISE TO FRANCE, Pt 2.

By Martin Mcarthur.Instruments.


On our return from UK, carrying 4 containers of Morrison's powdered milk, a packet of Ruskoline fish dressing and enough medication for nearly 3 months, I was pleased to find there had been no visible problems while we were away. One day to settle back into shipboard routine and we motored out of the Basin des Yachts and headed for Minimes. On the way I found that the log had failed completely! In Minimes I discovered that there was a huge lump of marine growth on the paddle wheel. Mopping up after fixing the log I discovered that there was water in the forward bilge, our leaky tank was leaking again. A visit to one of the big chandlers produced a new replacement and the problem was solved. I also solved another thing that had been bothering me; I bought a 12v 3 bladed fan to bring some relief to the high temperatures (on occasions it exceeded 80 degrees!) in the cabin.

I spent some time considering where we should go next. I did want to go south to Royan, visited 5 years ago, getting there via the Pertuis de Maumusson. This passage, between Isle d'Oleron and the mainland is not recommended by my pilot book without local knowledge and settled weather. As the weather was less settled this time I decided to go via St Denis, on Isle d'Oleron, then round the island and take the longer route down the western coast. While considering these options we were also talking to friends in Fife, Tom and Betty, who were considering coming out to join us for a week before we set out homewards. Eventually they found a suitable flight from Edinburgh and set a date of 12th August for their arrival. This left only 6 days to get to Royan and back so we set off towards St Denis. The wind was on the nose and Talisman was not doing too well, even motor sailing we were clearly not going to fetch St Denis in time to cross the sill as the tide dropped. It was an easy decision to change our destination to Le Douhet, a marina south of St Denis. Le Douhet gave me the option of going either south, through the Pertuis de Maumusson, or going north, past St Denis, then continuing with the original plan. I had never been to Le Douhet before and followed the instructions from the pilot book with care but had no problems finding the entrance to the marina. A man in a rib, from the Capitainerie, met us at the entrance and told us which berth we were to go to, Next day things almost went wrong; the weather was not suitable for us to put to sea, we were very short of red wine and were out of potatoes. Had we reached St Denis this would not have been a problem as there are shops there; St Denis has none! Fortunately I had been talking to an elderly French yachtsman, whom I had met coming along the pontoon carrying a shopping bag, and had asked him where he had been shopping.. He spoke no English so the conversation was slightly difficult as my French is not even as good as that of the phoney policeman in "Allo Allo"! This led to me being invited aboard his yacht to sample some of the local wine. There I met another French couple, from Toulouse, who kept their yacht in Le Douhet, and who spoke excellent English. It transpired that Jean Baptiste was going to the nearest supermarket at about 6pm (it was now mid-afternoon). His offer to take me so that I could replenish our stock of red wine, cigarettes and potatoes was gratefully accepted. Our conversation meandered on through the afternoon and there was some discussion regarding whisky. This led to me inviting Michel, my host, to come on board Talisman, après le dejeuner, to sample some of the amber nectar. We had a very entertaining evening, all in French, with extensive use of my French English dictionary. We even advised him to offer Stugeron to his girlfriend as she suffered from 'mal de mer' and would not go sailing with him. We were able to provide him with the info leaflet from our packet of these very effective pills.

There was now no longer sufficient time for us to be sure that we could make the passage to Royan and get back in time for Tom and Betty arriving at La Rochelle. We set sail to St Martin, across the Pertuis D'Antioche, timed so that we would arrive when the gate was open. During this passage I was able to confirm that the log was under-reading, something I had suspected for some time. At St Martin we were directed to go right into the harbour, as far as possible, and raft up. A charming young lady in a rib, from the Capitainerie, assisted us very efficiently. She helped me to turn Talisman around and helped with the steering as we reversed to our appointed berth; fourth yacht out from the pontoon. We were in a raft that built up as the afternoon progressed until it was right across the narrow harbour. Three more such rafts were formed ahead of us. In the morning we had to wait until more than a dozen yachts had departed before we could also move out through a fairly narrow gap. We headed for Minimes where I took on fuel and did some shopping before moving on to the Vieux Port to await the arrival of Tom and Betty.

I had planned to take our visitors to both St Martin and Rochefort, just manageable in a week given fair weather, but on their first full day the wind was blowing quite hard from the wrong direction so we spent the time visiting the maritime museum and just sitting around in the cockpit trying to empty a 5 litre box of red wine. Next day there was less wind but still in the wrong direction. We set off resigned to the fact that, in order to reach the mouth of the Charente 3 hours before high water, we would have to motor or, at least, motor sail. Once clear of the river we turned towards Isle d'Aix, right into the wind and a short chop. Talisman does not cope well punching into even small waves but on this day she was having a lot of difficulty making even 2 knots! In desperation I opened the throttle fully and was dismayed to see that black smoke was being produced from the exhaust; this from a new engine, installed during last winter! However speed increased a little and by bearing away a few degrees I managed to get some drive from the main. With the increased speed the chart plotter predicted that we would arrive at the Charente about half an hour later than planned but I reckoned that once past Isle d'Aix I could bear away far enough to set the genoa and increase speed to make up for lost time. I told everyone that we would press on to the Charente and once there I would decide whether or not we would go up the river. By the time we reached the river mouth we had made up some time but it was still going to be a close run thing to get to the Rochefort marina before the gate was closed. We could always tie up to a pontoon, or pick up a mooring in the river if we could not get into the marina. In the end we made it with about 10 minutes to spare! As we motored into the inner basin I was very pleased to be hailed by Jan, on Scathow Glas, whom we had met before in Pornichet.

After another very pleasant stay at Rochefort we had to make an early start to exit the gate at 06.10 and were back in Minimes just after midday. Next morning we returned to Vieux Port in readiness for Tom and Betty returning to the UK the following morning.

Homeward bound.

By now Anne was beginning to tire of life aboard and was agitating for me to start the homeward voyage. My intention was to largely reverse our outward-bound track, with some variations, and started planning on that basis. I was not in as much of a hurry to leave France. At that early stage I worked out that we would have to stop at least 16 ports on the way home and made up a list. The list stayed on the chart table and each port was ticked off as we progressed.

The first place we stopped was at St Martin, a nice easy 14-mile passage. It was almost as busy as it had been before but this time there was only one other yacht between the pontoon and us. Yachts on the outside of us came and went over the course of the next 3 days and we had some very nice neighbours, some spoke no English and others were quite good, but we managed to have some sort of conversations with them.

Over the next few days we stopped at Les Sables d'Olonne, Port Joinville, Pornichet and Le Palais. In Le Palais I opted to dry out, but not on the grid, and when the tide had gone I was shocked to find that my propeller was covered, to a depth of 3 mm on both sides, with wormlike crustaceans. No wonder the engine had been performing badly and producing black smoke! This fouling must have occurred while Talisman was moored for 3 weeks in the Basin des Yachts in La Rochelle. It was easily removed with a scraper, breaking up into gritty particles that I washed off with fresh water then finally with a scrubbing brush. The difference was obvious next day when we set out for Port Tudy, on Isle de Groix. This was a new port for me but I had been told that it was a good place to call. When we arrived the usual man from the Capitainerie, in a rib, met us. He said that there were no pontoon berths available and we would have to raft up on a buoy. He led the way and took our bow line on to the buoy then left me to sort out the remainder. I was able to get my stern line on to the buoy behind by using my clever device that I push on to a ring then pull off bringing the warp through the ring. After that it was the usual rigging of bow and stern springs - the French call them 'guard' ropes. The mooring was open to the sea and a slight breeze caused a surprising amount of movement in the harbour. I did not spend a comfortable night. I must remember to avoid Port Tudy, at least during the French holiday season.

Leaving Port Tudy we then visited Benodet, Audierne and Camaret. The passage from Audierne to Camaret, taking us through the Raz de Sein, was one of the best sailing days of the trip. Leaving Audierne was difficult; the south westerly wind was against the ebbing tide and had set up quite a choppy sea - waves about 3 feet high and 3 feet apart. At one point Talisman was making no way through the water and we were only able to clear the harbour carried by the ebb tide! Once into calmer waters I motored out until I felt that I could set the sails and make the Raz, close hauled, and in one tack. Coming through the Raz we were on a reach and fairly shot through. When we reached the southern side of the Rade de Brest and had passed through the rocks to the west of Camaret I bore away and we ran before the wind to just off Camaret. An exhilarating day sailing!

As Camaret was our penultimate French port I had planned to stay there for 3 days so that I could add to the stock of whisky, gin, wine and cigarettes that I had been buying as we went north. I knew nothing of L'Aberwrach so was unsure of the availability of shops.

I had been mildly irritated by the log, which was now functioning intermittently, and, even when it did work, was under-reading. Then in Camaret the laptop decided that it had had enough, only 12 keys in the centre of the keyboard would work at all! There was a serious risk that I would actually have to navigate using my paper charts, hand bearing compass, parallel ruler, etc. Unfortunately the failing log would be a serious handicap to 'proper' navigation so I was still dependant on electronics in the form of GPS. I found that there was a computer shop, half an hour walk, uphill, from Camaret, went there and bought a flexible USB keyboard. This allowed me to continue with my detailed planning but while the keyboard was plugged in the mouse was not and I had to use the laptop mouse - pain in the neck!

The passage to L'Aberwrach needed a little more planning as we had to transit the Chenal de Four on the north going flood tide and this meant leaving Camaret around about midday. Fortunately the wind was kind, another south westerly and, although we were close hauled across the Rade de Brest, we rounded Point de St. Mathieu on to a broad reach at the start of the north going tide. We made remarkable speed through the Chenal de Four, sometimes reaching 9 knots over the ground, and eventually making the whole 35 mile passage in just over 6 hours! Despite the numerous rocks surrounding the approach, the entrance was well marked and easy to follow. As we entered the marina we were directed to a berth, this time by a man in a conventional motorboat. I had been right to suspect that there would be some difficulty in finding shops. the nearest, a small supermarket, a butcher and a boulangerie, were in Landeda, half an hour walk away and up a very steep hill!

We had to wait in L'Aberwrach for 5 days before the forecast indicated that the weather would be suitable for crossing the Channel. We set off at 09.00 so that we would arrive at, and cross the traffic going into and out of the Ushant traffic separation scheme, in daylight. All went well and I was pleased by the performance of the AIS. When we set out the wind was a very light southerly. As the day progressed it backed into the east and gradually increased in strength until we were reaching northwards in a steady F4. During the night, as we approached the south coast of England, rain began to fall, gradually increasing from a light drizzle to regular bursts of quite heavy rain. This always makes life difficult for me, as I have to constantly wipe my glasses in order to see! About 20 miles south of Lizard Point AIS indicated that there was a ship, about 8 miles away, coming in our direction, at about 17 knots, from the west. I could see nothing because of the rain, but shaped my course accordingly so that I would pass behind it. It was only about 2 miles away when their navigation lights became visible. Had I not had AIS I would have had less than 6 minutes to take precautionary action. This was the first of several ships to pass, all coming from the west and heading up the Channel from Lands End towards Lizard Point. Each of these ships was visible on AIS for a long time before I saw their navigation lights.

Once into Mounts Bay I could relax a little as we were clear of the big ship route, but by now the sea had become very confused, the wind was gusting to F5 and it was raining steadily. I should have dropped the mainsail earlier and life would have been a lot easier reaching in towards Newlyn under headsail alone. A fishing boat following me in towards the harbour further complicated life. I had to wait until he was past, before turning head to wind to drop the sail. I found that Talisman was pitching and rolling so much I was unable to tie the sail up. Another problem was that Talisman would not stay head to wind unless I applied a lot of power; this meant she was travelling faster into the seas and the motion became worse. Eventually I decided to leave the sail hanging loose over the boom and sort it out once in shelter of the harbour. Had I had lazy jacks I would not have had this problem, they will be fitted this winter! Inside the harbour the rain came down in sheets, there were bright lights everywhere, dazzling me, and I could not see where the pontoons were. I knew they were there as I had visited Newlyn from the shore while we were in Penzance on the way south, but I could not make out a safe passage to where they were. The only thing I could do was to tie up alongside a trawler and wait until daylight and, hopefully, the rain stopping. I was very pleased to get my head down, but less pleased when only 3 hours later, I was wakened by a knock on the deck. I was requested to move to make way for a trawler that was soon to be tied up where I was.

Once again weather kept us in harbour for 4 days before we could set out for Padstow. In order to arrive at Padstow at high water we had another early start, leaving in the dark at 04.50. Several fishing boats left Newlyn soon after and overtook us on either side. I was quite pleased when they were all past and clear ahead. The wind, from the west, was light but by standing out a little from the coast I was able to get the main filled as we motor sailed towards Lands End. Once we got to Lands End and turned north the wind would be on the beam, then from Cape Cornwall over the starboard quarter, plus the tide would help to carry us up the coast. Another fast passage, we were in Padstow 12 and a quarter hours after leaving Newlyn.

The remainder of our passage home was unremarkable, apart from the gradual and eventually complete failure of the laptop. This failure started as we left Milford and was quite complete by the time we reached Portpatrick. To get to Holyhead and from there to Portpatrick involved long 24 hour passages, and the final leg to Troon took nearly twice as long as is usual as the wind came from the north. Instead of arriving home at a decent time, around 8pm, we didn't get in until 05.15 after a frustrating 21 hours.

We had completed in excess of 1700 miles (the log was under reading or not working a lot of the time, so this is an estimate). We had visited 18 ports, most of them twice, and spent 40 days at sea, out of 114 days away from home.