Month: September 2021

Back to Cherbourg

September 26, 2021 / fiandadrian

We left the dock at Dinan with admiring onlookers almost as surprised as me as Away negotiated the narrow channel missing the bank and other craft by thrillingly small margins.

The first lock would drop us into the tidal area. If we had calculated correctly the gates would open to a wide navigable waterway. If not we would find a muddy puddle in which to wait for the next tide. Bernie showed his level of confidence by jumping off the boat as we sank into the lock. His name and a number of Australian colloquialisms are now well known at the lock.

The lock doors opened to a somewhat narrower channel than we had imagined, but it was at least navigable. Our 1.2m draft with the centre board up allowed us to negotiate shallow sections, although at one point our depth gauge showed 0.9m!

We arrived at the second lock just after the hourly intake of vessels, and were relieved when they re-opened the lock doors for us. We made our way into St Malo marina as the sun set over the walled town. After our first aborted attempt to dock, the young men from the lightweight racing boat next to us generously helped guide our 17 tons of aluminium past their delicate carbon fibre bow sprit.

No rest at St Malo this time as the weather was perfect the next day to head north. We left at dawn, negotiating the rocky channel to open water as the Condor car ferry caught us and quickly disappeared north at 30 knots. We tested the radar which successfully identified a number of small craft not on AIS. At one point it showed a headland not on the map, made more concerning as it was on our course. We later realised it was the ‘glow’ of the local nuclear power plant.

The pilot transferring to the pilot vessel as the ferry leaves St Malo

We had been warned our destination, Dielette, was not much more than a marina with not much to see. With such an impressive recommendation we were not surprised to find miles of perfect dog walking beach complete with Baguettery at the end, and a cafe serving hearty end of sailing trip meals and sunset drinks. The following day the quiet marina turned into a circus as a flotilla of 20 yachts carrying handicapped sailors competed for jetty space with thousands aspiring Vendee Globe kids in their oppie dinghies.

Nothing around the marina…except spaniel heaven

The Alderney race stood between us and Cherbourg. The tide here can run at 9 knots which is a recipe for a very bad day out if its against you. We planned and replanned, and then talked to the marina people, and talked to local yachties on the dock, we walked the harbour wall at low tide to spot the shallow spots, and re-planned again. At low tide we couldn’t leave the harbour (even with our newly discovered shallower draft), but we needed to leave as close to low tide as possible to hit the race just as the tide turned.

All the planning paid off and we exited the harbour with 2m depth, and motor sailed to the race arriving as the tide turned. We even took a short cut across a shoal (usually rough) area as the tide picked up and spat us out at over 4 knots. The big red sail came out and we hit 10 knots over ground with only 5 knots through the water. No need to look out for crab pots as the current would flatten them just under the surface…just enjoy the sunset. We arrived after dark, but friends directed us to a free berth, helped with the lines and even fed and wined us. The perfect end to our Normandy adventure.

Sun setting our our Normandy adventure as we approach Cherbourg

St Malo, the River Rance and stunning Dinan

September 18, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi

St Malo

We loved being in the relative comfort of the inner basin at St Malo. We could walk easily the couple of minutes in through the ramparts and into the old town, with its plethora of fish shops, boulangeries, boutiques and restaurants.

Adrian walking in St Malo, just inside the main walls.

The cathedral here was quiet and peaceful.

We enjoyed some food and cider, and a few walks. We noticed that at low tide, it was possible to walk out to the small island called “Grand Be”, and then on to “Fort du Petit Be” so on our last full day at St Malo, we donned our dinner wear, and went for a pre-dinner walk along the sand. The day before, we had been here at high looking at the currents, and now to our surprise, at low tide, a pool had appeared, as well as the walking track out to the island. Pretty amazing place.

The swimming pool at low tide, and behind is the walking track to the island. At high tide this just looks like the sea.

View of St Malo and the pool from Grand Be.

Happy with our walk to Grand Be and getting ready for some dinner in town.

This is Port du Petit Be, and you can see people began rushing to get off the island as the tide was coming in fast. This was a dry path 5 minutes ago.

This couple only just made it off the island. They were the last people there and we all gave them a round of applause when they made it to Grand Be safely. But we also needed to be careful that we could get off Grand Be! The tide was heading in fast so off we all shot.

After our meal we headed back to Away, and did some prep for the next day. We had decided to brave the inland waterway of the River Rance. It took a lot of planning, as again, we needed to time the tides accurately to make sure we wouldn’t go aground. The extra complicating factor here was, we have to go through 3 separate locks (see last blog post for what a lock is) and we also have to contend with 2 different sets of tides, oh and 3 bridges that we calculated we *should* fit under.

To explain, we need to get out of the basin where we were docked, which was the 09:24 lock opening, which would give us enough tidal height to get to the next lock around the corner.

The next lock is called “The Barrage” which is attached to a tidal power station. The power station uses the force of the tides to run turbines. So they have dammed the river, and added a lock on the west side for boats. We were too late for the 10:00 lock, and so waited for the 11:00.

Because the power station tries to maximise the flow of water, they actually have changed the tidal range and times within the river. So the river tides are now different to the sea tides, and it is definitely possible for us to ground ourselves in the river. So we need to also align those times, with the leaving time from the inner basin at St Malo.

So going through the Barrage lock we need to ensure enough tide and time to get to the final lock (called Chatelier lock), after which we are then in the river proper, and there is no more tide. The piece of river between the Barrage, and the Chatelier lock gets very shallow and dries out. If we hit the bottom, we need to hope we got the tides right and it is a rising tide, if not, we would have to wait for a few hours for the tide to drop out, we’d sit on the ground, then we’d float again once the water rose. We weren’t 100% confident in the information we had, but we gave it a go. This is also the section where the 3 bridges are, and so the tide couldn’t be too high, or we’d hit the bridges with our mast.

The Barrage to Chatelier lock. This area got very shallow.

We did it but still not quite sure exactly how…. Here are some of the photos. The least depth we saw on this trip up the river was 1.4m. We draw 1.2m with the centreboard up so it was pretty close.

Adrian puts it nice and simply, if the tide it too high, we hit on the top, too low and we hit on the bottom.

This map is the Rance River and is not tidal here. It stays at a depth of 1.5m or above.

Leaving the inner harbour lock, with 20 race boats.

Its really scary going under bridges. But we had the data and were confident we would fit. We took it slow anyway because it looked so awful!

So different to cruise in a river! We felt like we were canal boating again.

People were looking at us and taking photos. We waved and felt a little bashful about all the attention. It was lovely though.

Dinan

Our final destination was Dinan, a beautiful medieval town on the river, with a thriving tourist industry. It honestly looks like the inspiration for Beauty and the Beast, it is just so stunning, so get ready for all the piccies. Once we were tied up, we went for a walk through the port area, and also had a nice meal. The old town is about a 10 minute walk up a hill, and so we were saving that for the following day and more energy.

Again I have to mention, the number of people stopping by and taking photos of Away and asking us about the boat and Australia was amazing. We were busy chatting a lot of the time! Someone asked me if I spoke English, and I misheard and replied “Je suis australienne” to which they responded in French that they did not speak Australian and laughed – oh well my French is getting better and better everyday.

View from the small bridge that blocks our path from going any further – clearance is only a few metres and our mast is 20m so Dinan is as far as we can go. Away is almost directly in the middle of this photo if you look closely. We are sticking out and take up half the river.

So many historic buildings here. This ones a little… leaning.

Yes, that really is the marina office and the amenities!

After a good walk and decent sleep we tackled the hill up to the old town and were rewarded with the old town of Dinan being one of the cutest places I have ever seen. We walked up to the ramparts, and the tower overlooking the port and had a view out north towards the sea and St Malo.

Heading up the hill from the port. Cuteness overload!

This is about half way up the hill to the old town. This is the gate through the old town walls.

So cute. Top of the hill. We got some groceries and looked around.

Gorgeous old buildings give the place such character.

View from the top of the ramparts. Super beautiful. The port is on the left so Away is there somewhere. How’s the weather?!?

After our walk we also decided that the Garcia motto “nowhere you can’t go” seemed to have been fully tested here, given we couldn’t go further up the river – so we got in our dingy for a river trip. I honestly thought I was in a Renoir painting it is so beautiful. We even got to take our little dingy through the next river lock. The lockmaster was a lovely man who was only too happy to oblige emptying and refilling the lock for us.

In the lock, filling up fast as I hold on to the side.

There is a lot of these little buildings everywhere, and abbeys and farms. Just a stunning river.

At about 6PM we turned around, and headed back through the lock again, and home to Away. We had planned for a quiet day the following day as it was going to be a little dreary. We needed to plan our next steps again, because we have some commitments.

We need to get Away back to Cherbourg as Garcia have recommended they give the Away a once over and check everything now we’ve been out for a while. They also have a few items to complete for us.

To complicate this, our visas for Europe are also running out fast. We have until the 25th of September to get out of Europe. Oh, and we also have a dog…

We basically need to get to the UK. BUT, you cannot take a dog to the UK by private boat, which means we need to take him over on a ferry. BUT you can’t take a dog on a ferry unless its in a car, so we need to also hire a car. BUT you can’t take just any car, it has to be an Audi, VW or BMW if you go with one hire company, another hire company just says no and another said yes (thank goodness). BUT then we have to leave the dog in the UK somewhere in boarding.

Jersey would be easy as there is a quick ferry from St Malo (just up the river) BUT Jersey has no available boarding kennels.

Plus we need PCR tests, and Bernie needs extra medication before he can travel to be given by a vet.

Possibly this is the most complicated issue we have had to solve in our adventures thus far.

We think we have solved it by planning to take Away to Cherbourg earlier than we planned, hiring a car from Cherbourg, driving the car to Caen, getting on a ferry to Portsmouth – and after that we have a little airbnb in the countryside so we can breathe for a second, plus add more time on our European visa in the process.

And we should have more luck with dog boarding in the UK.

So with all of that planned and most of it booked (it took an entire day) we were ready to enact said plan. First stop, back to St Malo, then on to Cherbourg!

And, we are away

September 10, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi

We left, we left, we left, we left!!!! It was not a hard decision to leave the relative safety of the Cherbourg Marina, but it was one that seemed to take a lot of effort. It is quite hard to explain – its like the dock is magnetic and I guess because it is so safe and we were getting to know Cherbourg quite well, we were feeling comfortable, and we had to make that decision to again be uncomfortable, and to go into the unknown – but this has so many other benefits such as exploring, adventure and having new experiences. So one evening, we felt the winds and waves were okay for a sail away the following day. The following day came, and we thought the same thing about the next day, so we waited. Just till the next day 🙂

I navigated out of our berth, heart racing as I am still not comfortable with how big and heavy the boat is, and what the forces such as current and wind will do to the boat while it is stuck in a berth with only 1 or two lines attached, while Adrian is trying to detach them all in the most safe order. As it were, we were fine and we headed out from our berth at about 07:30 in the morning. Into the cloudy, cold, grey, summers day. We were headed to the Alderney race.

The Alderney race is a piece of water where the massive tides in this area run through. It can be extremely dangerous, and so understanding the tide and the wind is very important. It needs to be right. Battling against a 3 knot current, with the wind against it is uncomfortable, slow and can be very dangerous. We chose the time where the tide would push us through the race safely, and in relatively benign wind and tide conditions (around neap tides – the smallest tidal difference in the monthly calendar). Bernie likes to keep me company when we sail by sitting on me. At no other time does he do this. Perhaps he is satiating his nerves due to the race?

After dodging crab pots along the coast, we got to the race at about the right time. We still took a couple of hits from the current as it whirled around and grabbed the boat and spun it a little, but it definitely sounds worse than it felt. We were fine and have had worse. We headed south towards the Channel Islands.

We skipped through the Balliwick of Gurnsey, and past Jersey as we would need to check in to the area – and with Bernie, plus Covid, it is all just too complicated – best we stay in France for a while longer. Granville was our ultimate destination, and required some very careful planning again. Some of the spots we managed to sneak a peak at are absolutely gorgeous.

I would expect as a totally novice sailor, this area would not be the one chosen from the outset. The tides here are among the largest in the world. Granville was a tidal marina, and to keep the water in the marina, a wall (AKA a “sill”) has been built on the sea bed, so that at low tide, the water stays in the marina. We needed to time this perfectly in order to not hit the sill.

We called up Granville marina a few hours out from our arrival, and checked that they had space for a 45 ft heavy aluminium sailboat, and they did. They said they would even be there to help us dock – PHEW!!! When we motored in, we had enough water over the sill but the tide was running and there was a bit of current – so the extra help docking was welcome. We got into our berth okay, and to be honest, we went and found some wine as it had been a big trip to Granville and the tides and currents were massive, and sometimes it seems like the crab pots we are almost constantly dodging are actually attracted to our boat… It is tiring, and a tonic was in order!

With marina behind the sill, it means at low tide here, you can walk on sand, on the other side of the sill wall – I hope you can see the people walking outside the wall in these photos. When the tide is about 1/3 high, boats can go over the wall as there is enough water. So timing is everything.

On a side note, apparently we were the first Australian flagged boat they have had at the marina in their memory. We got a discount 🙂 We loved it here!

The tide here has just dipped below the wall. Eventually, everything at the bottom of this photo will be sand, with the marina and its floating boats behind. You can see Away on the right.

Sand has now appeared on the other side of the wall. This is the view from Away.

People walking at low tide at the entrance to the marina collected seafood.

Granville is gorgeous!! It was the seaside childhood home of Christian Dior and also a popular seaside resort town – and we could understand why! It was HOT! We had come from the relative cool and dreary weather of Cherbourg, to essentially summer! It was 28 degrees C and beautifully dry. There is a large fishing industry here, and we enjoyed walking the ramparts of the old town on the hill. We also got to walk at low tide along the expanse of beach that appears. People are collecting mussels, oysters and whelks for their dinner – or for their restaurant – we weren’t sure, but enjoyed all the shell fish. This picture is of Christian Dior’s childhood home.

More of La Plage du Plat Gousset at low tide – it is huge at low tide, and then at high tide there is no beach at all!

Some white wine and oysters in a beautiful bistro in a cobblestoned alley way in the old town. Filled with French locals – we were feeling pretty good.

After a few days, and of course the inevitable boat jobs, we were again finding ourselves in the evening pouring over charts, chart plotters, cruising guides and the “Reeds Almanac” (aka the bible) and planning our next steps. Here’s the thing – we were planning to leave on the biggest tide of the month – called “Spring” tide and the difference in height was going to be 11m. You can imagine 11m of seawater moving in and out of the area here over a 6 hour period is going to create some serious water movement. The tides here are the 3rd biggest in the world, and we were planning to go out when they were literally at their biggest. So it was with some angst, that I was looking at the tide charts and possible routes.

Leaving day came. The tide was high, the wind was from the south, and this meant that the relatively calm and safe marina that we were about to leave, was totally the opposite. The waves were coming in full force, the wind was gusting, the boats around us were bouncing around and lots of excited people were adding extra fenders and ropes to their cleats. And Adrian said to me “ok ready to untie the lines??”. To which I responded with the appropriate amount of… fear. But eventually, convinced that I was catastrophising and that we had options once we were out there, and that “out there” was better than bouncing around and hitting a dock, I untied the lines, and Adrian did a stellar job of driving out of the berth. Please note this serene photo of Away in its berth is not reflective of leaving day…

And yes, once we were out, things felt a lot better. The boat sails nicely, and we had a plan. Or so we thought. Some quick back of the hand calculations proved that I had overthought the planning, and my back of the hand calculations from the evening before were wrong by half – we were not going to make our intended destination with enough time not to hit the bottom on the way there – remember the tides are the biggest on this day, and timing was everything – and my maths let me down.

New plan – which was actually the old plan, the first plan we ever came up with, but then replaced with a dozen other plans, before settling on the current plan, which we are now replacing with the first plan – honestly, sailing is as much physical as it is mental – angsty!! Plan is now – lunch at a place called Iles Chausey (pictured) – a gorgeous outcrop of small islands, clear blue water and sunshine, followed by a leisurely sail south to St Malo, where we would time the possible 4 knot current against us perfectly to get into a massive lock to get into an inner harbour… Ok – to explain better….

Our new plan, which was the original plan…

Our boat sails nicely at 7 knots. We can go faster, we can go slower depending on conditions. 7 knots is nice. So imagine that we are going into a 4 knot current – we would only be going 3 knots which isn’t fast, or better yet that 4 knot current, is actually going side to side across us pushing us quickly sideways faster than we can go forwards – so yeah, I was concerned we wouldn’t make it so well. Already the day was pretty hectic, and here we were battling the massive currents. As it were, we saw a maximum of 2 knots going across us, and we crabbed our way in through the outside channels of St Malo. Its pretty weird watching a marker or a rock straight in front of you actually move sideways as you are technically sailing sideways due to the current. But we would make it to the big lock in time! Here is one of the obstacles we needed to dodge to get into St Malo.

As we waited a few minutes for the lock to open, I prepared our lines, and tried to work out what would happen – at time of writing, having successfully navigated the lock, I’m still not sure what actually happened. As you can see from this photo, I was pretty confident St Malo was going to be worth the angst.

A lock is essentially a small piece of water with doors on both ends – in this case sea on one side, and a safe basin on the inside. The lock keeper opens the doors at the basin side where the water is high, and lets boats in to the lock. The doors close, and the water in the lock is let out. Once the water in the lock meets the water on the sea side of the lock (where we were waiting), the outside doors open, boats go out, boats (we) go in, and then the outside doors close, and the lock fills up with water, until it reaches the same level as the inside water, then we can go into the basin. Which is what we did….

… with a giant tanker and like 7 other boats…

Did I mention this day was already pretty angsty???????? !!!!!!

Into the basin we went, and Adrian again did an absolutely perfect job with docking. We got into a spot that probably shouldn’t take a boat our size, and we didn’t break anything or hurt anyone so it is all good.

We were exhausted – and had a quick dinner and bed – and we found a bottle of wine, aptly named – Angst.

Bernie did so well, I always amazed at how chilled he is, and how a few quick cuddles with him can settle any nerves I have about tankers being so close, and shouting French lock keepers and tide and wind and all the etcs that go with sailing.

What an experience.