Yacht Joshua, which circumnavigated the world between 1966 and 1969 click to enlargeWith a following wind, blue skies and an almost too hot sun, we cast off for the short 1½ hour trip to St Denis.
At a gentlemanly time of morning, we nosed our way between the many pontoons of the 5,000 berth Les Minimes marina and entered the fairway to meet the day’s challenge.
Challenges
Wall to wall yachts. They were everywhere. Yet with such a large yachting fraternity should we really be surprised? Maybe not, but today seemed like an overload.
First, we were targeted by the red, steel ketch, Joshua, which circumnavigated the world between 1966 and 1969 with Bernard Moitessier. She looked great, but not when coming straight for us!
Second, fleets of small racers with their multi-coloured sails lit by the sun, looking so deceptively pretty.
And then…
Fleets of small yachts were racing all around us click to enlargeAh yes. And then. Third, and potentially by far the most dangerous, was an 8m yacht, no more than 100m ahead and to starboard of us, which suddenly tacked but thankfully aimed to go behind us.
A few seconds later the skipper changed his mind to cut right in front of us. It was a question of immediate power off, engage reverse and open the throttles in an attempt not to mow him down and add him as decoration to Play d’eau’s anchor.
He passed not more than 10m in front of us. He lifted his hand in thanks. Did he know what he’d just done? Did he realise what we’d had to do?
Maybe the name of his yacht is more than just a name but a description of the skipper. It was ‘Bozo’.
Annoyingly, it happened too quickly to pick up the camera and take photos.
En route
Entering the approach channel to St Denis d’Oléron click to enlargeAn hour or so later, we were entering the channel for St Denis.
Met data
Les Minimes: E3/4, clear skies, hot sun, good visibility
Sea state: Choppy, with wind against tide
St Denis d’Oléron: E4
Nav data
Times are FST.
Date: 10 July 2015
Departed La Rochelle (Les Minimes): 1049
Arrived St Denis: 1223 (2 minutes late – I blame ‘Bozo’)
Moored: 1233
Pinchpoint: Access to St Denis
Longest individual leg: 4.9nmTime en route: 1hr 34min
Planned distance: 11.2nm
Tech issues: Nil, but still monitoring the Sat Compass and stbd engine charging voltage
Piers and Lin
from the Pilot House of Play d’eau
Fleming 55
(click on the photos below to enlarge, and use the left/right arrows)
John and Beryl have joined us for a fortnight click to enlargeOur dear friends, John and Beryl, have joined us after a nine year absence from cruising.
Flying into La Rochelle two days ago, we’ve already been having a ball; dinner at Safron (first there, last to leave), exploring the ancient town and climbing the recently restored tower that guards the entrance to the vieux port.
Un petit navigational challenge
Our nav plan showed the passage would take 3hrs 10mins. But with the Les Chalutiers lock opening only 2hrs before high water (HW) and the Rochefort lock closing some 30mins after HW, we’d have some 2hrs 30mins in which to execute our 3hrs 10mins nav plan. I say some, since HW at both locations is almost the same.
It didn’t take an Oxford mathematics don to see this was not possible unless we installed warp drive. Note to self: add warp drive to the wish list.
5,000 boat marina
A sea of 5,000 masts at Les Minimes marina, La Rochelle click to enlargeHowever, the solution was simple. The day before, we’d take the Les Chalutiers evening lock and motor all of 0.7nm to the Les Minimes marina which is open 24hrs a day with no lock. High five!
Enlarged over the last two years, Les Minimes is home to 5,000 leisure boats and the largest marina on the Atlantic east coast. When we say, ‘C’est énorme!’ we really are making a severe factual understatement. Gigantic would be a better description.
En route
On Monday, the alarm woke us at 0445 to give us time to prepare for our ETD of 0535. Again we were blessed with clear skies, a light N’ly breeze and warm air. C’est la vie.
We left at 0533. Two minutes early. We couldn’t wait – too excited. Pre-dawn light was just starting to take the edge off the star studded darkness as we crept out of the marina and into the fairway.
Captain John took his rightful place on the helm seat.Sunrise illuminated John as he was in the helm seat click to enlargeThe sun made her rich orange appearance over the landscape forty five minutes later as we were motoring SSE along the Plateau des Duraignes, heading to pass just east of Ile d’Aix, before entering the Embouchure de La Charente.
La Charente
Approaching La Charente, you can’t miss the numerous forts that guard this seaway, including Fort Boyard. It’s no surprise given Rochefort, some 12 miles upriver, was a major naval shipbuilding town between the late 1600s and early 1900s.
The river is so pretty albeit the water is a muddy brown. Flat land either side, fringed by reeds and carrelets, small fishing huts on stilts dangling large square nets waiting to be lowered by rope and pulley into the muddy waters to catch – who knows what?
Rochefort
Having piloted Play d’eau the 12.9nm upriver, we arrived outside Rochefort lock at 0844, one minute early of the time we were given. The nav plan had worked! But actually it hadn’t. The lock hadn’t yet opened.La Charente has many strange looking carrelets on her banks click to enlargeHovering outside in the river, the lock opened at 0853 allowing a stream of boats to leave before we entered at 0910 and were moored by 0915.
Might that extra 25 minutes have allowed us to have made the journey in one hop from Les Chalutiers rather than stopping at Les Minimes?
‘But hey!’ I answer with a Gallic Shrug. ‘This La Belle France. C’est la vie!’
Met data
La Rochelle: N2, clear skies, good visibility
En route: Wind veered and increased to NE3. Skies remained clear
Sea state: Very smooth
Rochefort: Outside the lock, NE3. Inside, NE2 (the trees and buildings offered shelter)
Nav data
Times are FST.
Date: 6 July 2015
Departed La Rochelle (Les Minimes): 0833
Arrived Rochefort: 0844Moored in Rochefort on her own pontoon click to enlarge(1 minute ahead of plan)
Moored: 0915
Pinchpoint: Lock times Rochefort
Longest individual leg: 12.9nm (pilotage along the river La Charente)
Time en route: 3hr 11min plus 31 minutes waiting for the lock and mooring
Planned distance: 25.2nm
Tech issues:
Sat Compass. This has suffered two problems since Les Minimes. ‘Aborting’ & ‘Output Error’. Changed sources to the fluxgate compass and No 2 GPS. Will monitor the Sat Compass over the coming three days whilst we are in Rochefort.
Over the last few legs, there’s been a gradual reduction in the starboard engine instrument readings. Not a problem in itself apart from creating a furrowed brow. The cause appears to be a lowering of DC voltage. Need to eliminate probable causes sooner rather then later
Piers and Lin
from the Pilot House of Play d’eau
Fleming 55
(click on the photos below to enlarge, and use the left/right arrows)
