Throw me the line

Picture the scene.


The sun has set, we have gone through 28 locks, it is dark and we are approaching a closed lock with a possible mooring before it. But the mooring is seemingly full with two river vessels and a larger craft. On shore we seem to be interrupting a small cocktail party with the occupants of the three craft. Now totally dark, we communicate with our limited French and their limited English. They seem to guess our intent to dock, so quickly they move their vessels giving us a mooring between their boats and they were ready for our arrival. I am stationed at the bow and Armando at the stern while Scott maneuvers Severance for docking. Only feet separate us now from the folks on the shore, pleading for me to throw the line to them. (I do not speak French, but sometimes you just know what things mean).

But, what is Scott’s prime directive?
Never, throw a line.
Why?
Because they will want to pull it!

I know this rule, but our soon to be new friends seem not to. Pleading for me to throw the line in their native French, I ignore their need to help us and Scott moves Severance to the proper position, then only with permission granted from the captain, I fling the line the last two feet to the confused, but grateful shore party, and they finished the already completed docking by pulling the line.

The reason for not throwing a line is that often the shore personnel will pull with the best of intentions, but not in conjunction with the captain‘s ultimate docking procedure.

So we meet and greet and since we are new friends, they do what all French seem to do, and bring out the Champagne. Add some scotch, red and white wine and beer, and proper introductions were made. Plans then were made for tomorrow’s passage through the locks and we agreed to share locks as we traverse the canals.



Following our new French Friends

I think I have not mentioned the rules of the lock system. They open at 9:00am allowing for passage. This is about 10 minutes after we wake up…well, after some of us wake up. Off we go and enter the first lock. This is the first time we have shared a lock with three other boats, and with two meters to spare, we all fit snugly. No photos of this portion of the journey, because we spend all our time in the turbulent locks trying not to smash into each other.

All the locks close for lunch between 12:00 and 1:00 pm. Actually most of France closes also. So our three craft approach a lock at noon and pull over for lunch. We are invited by our French friends to share lunch, which of course we agree to. Down below in our galley, we gather our sliced meat, bread, cheese and our boxed wine, glad to be able to contribute to the feast that awaits us. We scramble to shore and not surprisingly, our new French friends have 14 chairs, tables grouped together and a proper Sunday banquet complete with all the foods and cases of wine one would expect on the shores of France. Course after course throughout the long afternoon. Great times were had. Soon 1:00 became 2:00 then 2:00 became 3:00, and then it was time to say good-bye, as they had to return the boats they had rented for the weekend.

Franco-American toast

Another toast

Another toast

Another toast

Another toast

Preparing to depart

Departing


Posted by Jim

We all have jobs

Traversing the French lock is always interesting, yet repetitive. The captain and the crew responsibilities are assigned and almost never vary. As we approach a lock whoever is at the helm will adjust the throttle and reduce the engines rpm’s, and that action will usually awaken the captain. At this point we assume our positions, which are as follows: Scott drives the boat, Armando prepares the bow and stern lines, and I have the all important bow thruster position. When the lock is open, as they usually are, we enter the lock slowly, Armando leaps unto the ladder which he quickly ascends securing the stern line, then the forward bow line which he throws to me in the forward bow thruster position. With the transmission in a forward position, the rear door of the lock is closed and Archimedes principle is put into action. After the necessary waters have changed positions the front gate is open and off we go.

What is the all-important bow thrusting position, you probably been asking yourself? Assigned only to most qualified, you stand at the bow (the pointy end) with a 10-foot stick in your hand ready to defy one of nature’s forces. We all know about strong and weak forces found throughout the universe. Gravity, electromagnetism, quarks, and the newest of the phenomenon, lock attraction. For reasons yet to be discovered, a fiberglass boat is strongly attracted to the metal side of all locks no matter what position the rudder is in. So upon the front gates opening, the bow thruster grabs the stick, constantly pushing off the side of the lock, scurrying down the length of the boat till the attraction is broken.



Typical lock station. Most do not have sheep.

Armando at the ready.

Inside the lock.

The bow thruster.


Posted by Jim

Time to leave

Now it is time to head up river and leave Le Arsenal’ behind and let the future adventures begin. With a book on the French lock system in hand and a large cumbersome map of France, we reach a consensus that upon exiting the lock of the le Arsenal and entering the Seine we should turn. …left.

The locks of the Seine are large and manned by mostly unseen personnel stationed in towers at each lock. We share the locks with large river barge traffic (some are 100 meters in length), always trying to give them a wide berth and the right of way that they earn due to their size. But we must share and we do. We radio the towers speaking the only words we really have mastered in the French language, Je nais le parle pas francais. I do not speak French. They usually respond they don’t speak English, but we always managed somehow. Forward and upriver we go.

Upper Seine with Paris behind at our back

First night up river

Severance all decked out for locks

I believe I have not mentioned the number of locks to the Med. Well if you guessed 300 you win.

We hang a right at St. Mammes off the Seine unto the Canaux du Loing and the Canaux de Briare. 103 km and 50 locks lie ahead in this section of the crossing. Doing the calculus in your head one quickly figures, slow going and going slow.

Posted by Jim

Visiting Scott in France

I have been a dot watcher before Scott began his journey and have continued, as all of you, to closely follow him every step of the way. From the beginning Scott and I have discussed me joining him somewhere after he has arrived in Europe. When it gets to the point I have to begin to actually plan for my trip, and ask him when and where, his so typical Scott response is, “I have no plans and I am sticking to them". Logistically, this makes planning difficult, as my employers like to know in advance when I am not going to be working, and the airlines need to know where to fly me. They don’t know Scott like we know Scott. So initially I pick my dates to leave, and then try to guess where he will be. 90 days out, it is the Greek Islands or maybe Croatia. 60 days out, maybe not so far east in the Med… so maybe Nice, Marseilles or Barcelona. 30 days out, maybe not the Med, but Lisbon, on the way to the Med. Voila, I buy my ticket! 18 days out, Scott calls and announces a new plan of sailing through the center of France via the river and Lock system, and I should meet him in Paris. So I scramble and search for a new flight without an airline penalty. Nothing to Paris without a dramatic fare increase, but Lyon was available and I make the change.

The TGV train (I think that stands for a very, very fast, good train) transports me from Lyon to Paris in 2hrs, finally arriving in Paris at the Gare de Lyon station, miraculously just 500 meters from where Severance is moored. Equipped with a Google map showing both the dot and station, I walk down to le Arsenal where the boat, Armando and Scott are waiting.

A day in Paris or where’s the McDonalds!

One day in Paris and we put our heads together to decide what to do and we determine we want to see everything. But most importantly, we needed to find a McDonalds as it has free WI-FI, and Armando wants a shake. The boat is anchored at the foot of where the Bastille once stood, before the people got angry. From the square of the Le Bastille, we spotted the famous golden arches. Once we got there, it was only to find it was a sign directing us to the McDonalds. We couldn’t read the sign, so with that said, we never found the McDonalds. And thus Armando doesn’t get his shake.

Lets see the sites!

The three of use are off via le Metro and our feet, to the Arch de Triumph, The Eiffel tower, Left bank, and Latin quarter seeing everything in record time.

Le Arsenal with the Bastille monument in the background

Le Capitan

Scott and Armando in front of another famous Arch




Posted by Jim

Different Perspectives on the French Experience

Sorry to mess up the sequence, but we are tired of waiting for Scott to find Internet!

Scott has some more blogs that he has written on leaving La Harve and meeting his parents in Paris. He's still working on them and again - the internet problems...

Shortly after Scott's visit with his parents in Paris in late September, our good friend from college days, Jim Sexton, met up with Scott for a week in France. (Yes, this is the Jim who writes poetry!) Jim has a few thoughts to share on his experiences with the journey.

Not to let Scott off the hook, but Jim and I both decided that we could cover for him while waiting for Scott to find a McDonald's.

I will add Scott's blogs when we get them.

For those of you who don't know, Scott is going to leave the boat with Armando for 3 weeks and come home for Christmas. He will be here from Dec 16 - Jan 8. So be sure to stop by and see us while he is here.

Internet

The Good...
A nice small old hotel, restaurant, bar with free wireless access run by a young couple.

Sat at a table in the bar section, totally welcomed. Had the occasionally beer, wine, coffee. Very relaxed, showed them Google Earth, which they downloaded and really got into.

Had a great breakfast one morning of eggs, ham and potatoes with wonderful bread and butter.

A relative came by with her two young daughters and we played peek-a-boo.

Piles of clothes and linens were ironed at one end of the bar room.

The Bad...
OK...I've got to have access to the internet, we'll be in France for a month and a half at least, let's try the cell phone giant Orange again.

Yes, we do have a solution for you!

Pre-paid, so no 2 year contract (a prior stumbling block), a tad expensive (buy the “dongle”), 6 hours of usage for around 100 Euros.

OK, let's do it!

Do you have a French bank account?

No, I'll just pay with a credit card or even cash if that's better for you.

Oh, sorry, you have to have a French bank account to buy this.

What?! It's pre-paid. I'll give you cash, just give me the device and sell me the minutes, when they expire it's done, no problem, I have cash!!!

We're very sorry, but the minutes must be paid for from a French bank account.

Oh Mon Dieu....are you crazy, they're pre-paid minutes....you should be able to pay for them any damn way you want to!

No Monsieur, we're not crazy, we're French!!!!!!!

The Ugly...
McDonalds...clean bathrooms and unlimited free wireless internet access!

Screaming children, MTV on multiple flat panel screens (can't escape it), search for an outlet (come on, someone has to vacuum the place nightly, don't they?), bad food smells, French people actually eating there, sit at a table, login and catch up, battery goes low, there has to be an outlet, walk around 1 more time, there it is, move, plug in and recharge, go outside with the laptop to use skype, talk until the battery goes down, back inside to recharge, oh no, there's a family at that table, but how long can they take to eat that crap...it's fast food, they don't leave, search again, find an outlet by the door, the vacuum cleaner must have a really long cord, try to get the battery recharged, MTV keeps going, make a few calls, can't take the MTV anymore, leave, write this knowing I have to return there....God I wish I had a French bank account!

-- Scott

Le Havre to Rouen - 1st leg

Le Havre to Rouen is a tricky bit of travel.

You must make it in one daylight period (it is not legal to operate a pleasure boat on any of France's rivers or canals after dark) and there is no place to stop before Rouen.

Barges operate round the clock, or until they reach a closed lock (there are no locks between Rouen and the sea).

Then, it is only feasible to start the trip on an ebb tide, which makes the current of the Seine navigable to a low powered vessel.

We got lucky on that one, as the ebb was occurring in the early am.

So, we just needed to start at the crack of dawn...which almost happened (so far I have a perfect track record on missing early starts).

We sneaked into Rouen well after dark (should we run our lights or will that just get us in trouble?).

I had tried to cut a few corners (getting into slower current) but several clunks to the keel later I gave up on that strategy and stayed inside the buoys (apparently my local knowledge wasn't that good that day).

The next morning off we went to the VNF office, not sure of what strategy we might use (should Jean-Yves admit he was French, should I do my perfect dumb American act and “pretend” my French was bad?).

Anyway, it all turned out fine as the safe that contained all the forms and documents was broken!

So, no sticker could be issued until I reached Paris and I was issued a letter to attest that the safe was kaput.

Which meant I couldn't find out if I could get a locks sticker before getting all the way to Paris!?!

I wondered what the trucking charges would be to get Severance from Paris back to any place with salt water...

-- Scott

Severance Prepares for Crossing France – The Return of Jean-Yves!

Once the idea of crossing France via boat and taking Severance to Paris took hold I contacted Jean-Yves, I knew he would be up for it.

Jean-Yves is a great yachtsman and this would give us some time on a boat with him....so far we'd only shared time in marina's.

France is a place where your approach to things is very important, and knowing how to do that, and knowing people is very, very important.

And, he'd told me how important it was that I visit Paris. I didn't see that happening on this trip, but circumstances had changed and I really wanted to have him aboard when we got there.

So we were really happy to reunite with him.

There were a number of things that absolutely needed to be done to prepare Severance for the inland route through France.

First, the mast.

Many people take the mast down and carry it on the boat.

In what may be the one and only good decision I've made on this expedition I decided to ship it across France.

Severance is a racer-cruiser, meaning a lot of canvas, meaning a really tall mast. Plus it is keel stepped (more feet).

So, the mast would have stuck out many feet on both ends of the boat.

I've read about canals and locks and I knew the whole deal is a real bitch, locks are bad news (more on all that later)....so there was no way I was going to carry the mast on board.

We scheduled a mast removal and “pulled the stick”.

I could write hundreds of pages about that day and the process, but let's just say it went very badly, not according to plan but, in the end, we had a well wrapped mast ready for transport and a boat with a bunch of stuff to stow below that typically had a useful spot aboveboard!

We spent 3 days in Le Havre getting “ready” (more on that also later) and it was time to pull the trigger.

Oh, did I mention that the VNF no longer had an office in Le Havre?

I would need to go up the Seine to Rouen before I could get to an office where I had no certainty of the outcome.

But Jean-Yves had a couple of ideas.

One was that I could draw up a legal document and rent Severance to Armando (see prior blog), I believe I snarled at him about that idea.

Second he produced a forged document for me, one problem I had (besides the obvious of serious jail time) was that the picture was of some guy with a full head of hair (I thought the French were supposed to be masters of forgery...they always fooled the Germans in the movies I've watched!).

3rd, Jean-Yves had a copy of his brother's certificate, same last name but these guys could not possibly have had the same parents.

But, I've seen Jean-Yves pull things off before, I no longer had a mast, so off we went!

-- Scott

Le Havre

Bombed flat in WWII and rebuilt with an architecture that honors the square and the color white.

I'd include pictures but there is no point.

Great marina, easy access to shops, when I return to France and tour via car I will definitely skip it.

-- Scott

The Alderney Race

I started hearing about it in Brest - “Wait until you get up around Cherbourg and sail the Alderney Race!”

OK, where I come from “race” is short for “regatta”, and it took me a while to figure out what they were talking about (how did I know I would even be there when the “race” was taking place?).

It turns out they were referring to the tidal race that shoots through the gap between Alderney and the peninsula where Cherbourg is located.

The deal is that the English Channel narrows at that point (that's why they put a ship separation zone there, you'll know what that is if you've been keeping up with this tedious blog) and the water running along the wide part shoots up the coast, funnels between Alderney and the peninsula and joins the main flow, which is also quickening due to the narrowing of the channel.

And, voila!, up to 8 knots of tidal current!

Which, if you're heading East and it's moving in that direction, and the wind cooperates and comes from (at least slightly) behind you, you've got the makings of a sail to write home about.

3 hours before High Tide, plus that hour, plus 2 hours after the current is heading East, so you can get 6 hours of favorable and sometimes thrilling sailing in, before the prudent sailor packs it in and takes a 7 hour nap.

Of course, the start time turned out to be around 7am, it was cold, blowing a good 18-25 knots, but it wasn't raining and the wind was from the South East...the gods were smiling upon us!

Within 40 minutes we were in the thick of it, 1 reef, a full genny, confused but good seas and we were flying, and I mean flying.

I had an ear to ear grin and kept shouting a phrase not fit for this blog (and not because it has “Holy” in it), but you get the picture.

I swear we saw some 14 SOG (speed over ground) readings on the GPS.

As a sailor, it just doesn't get any better than that

The wind died down somewhere North East of Cherbourg and we furled the genny, fired up the iron one and kept going on a favorable tide,

Until it turned (remember the part about the “prudent sailor”?).

Somehow we should have gotten a lot further than we had, and I've lost my trust in certain tidal flow pages in our almanac (sometimes reality and the book don't seem to be on the same page), but around Pointe de Barfleur (NE corner of the peninsula) we got seriously parked.

So, we burned diesel and watched dismal SOG readings (at least they weren't negative) for 7 hours (remember that figure?) and then things picked up and we approached Le Havre around 2am.

Which, of course, had us entering one of the busiest commercial shipping harbors in France in the dark.

But, I've kind of gotten over my “shyness” around the big guys now and we wormed our way into the Port du Plaisance (marina), tied up and stepped back onto France, cold, tired but further South and headed (the hard way it turns out) for the Med!

And, here's a tip to remember. In France, marina fees are based on staying “overnight”. If you come in after midnight there is no charge for the following day.

Contrast that with the UK, where a day is a 24 hour period or any part therein.

And, now that you've got me started, in the UK it is money up front!!! “How many days are you staying?” is not a polite inquiry, but a question to determine how to write up the tab.

When you are boating, you really never know how many days you're staying...think Plymouth, I figured 1 week, 2 max.

The marina there wanted me to pay daily in advance. However, each 6 days gave you a free one, unless you had paid (in advance) by the day!

And you can't get a drink in the UK without paying for it when it is presented to you, What's the deal with that? What if you don't have cash and want to have a drink or two with a credit card???

In France no one would ever ask you for money in a bar (or a marina). You ask politely for l'Addition
when you're done. When you've completed your stay, pay. If there's a weekly discount, then you get it.

And another thing....oops, apparently I got off on a rant when this was supposed to be the Alderney to Le Havre journey...sorry!!!

-- Scott

For the Dot Watchers . . . .

The Dots are on the march again.

Somewhere just outside of Paris the iBoat transponder stopped working. More than likely a dead battery. Scott contacted Horizon Marine and they shipped him a new one. It is now on board and tracking.

It is a different link so if anyone was using a direct iBoatTrack bookmark, it will not work. The link in this blog has been changed to the new link. If you go to the iBoat site, look for the 'Paris to 2009' link on the right side. The other one takes you no where.

He is in the Mediterrean now, in Port Santa Lucia where he had the mast shipped. It is being restepped on Monday and will be ready when I meet him in Marseilles next week for 2 weeks of cruising the French Riveria (that sounds so exotic!!). The Cote de Azure!! Antibes!! I promise to take lots of pictures.

International Certificate of Competence and the VNF Sticker

Operating a boat in the French waterways (think inland) requires an International Certificate of Competency.

Unless you rent the boat, which obviously has something to do with not interfering with business!

Getting caught without one results in a heavy fine, and people will tell you stories of Brits being ticketed just past the lock to St Malo (kind of like a speed trap).

Anyway, no problem, a simple test (administered in the UK by the RYA), a small fee and that's that.

Sorry, the RYA only issues the certificate to UK residents...what?

OK, I'll get it in France, what...you must be a French citizen?

How about the good old US of A....oops, forgot that they don't participate in anything with the word “International” in it.

So, let's get this straight, a US citizen cannot legally operate their boat in France....doesn't that seem odd to any of you?!

No Monsieur, it is not odd to us, we're French (there seems to be a theme here)!

Next, the VNF (Voies navigables de France) sticker.

VNF controls all the locks and river systems. You must have a sticker good for the period you are in the system.

I found it could be obtained by mail, all you needed to do was send some money and provide certain information, including a copy of your International Certificate of Competency!

If they asked for that via mail, I figured it had to be part of the application, so I could be headed to La Havre just to find out I couldn't enter the canal system!

At least Le Havre had a VNF office, so if worse came to worse I could backtrack down the coast of France and go back to the original plan of sailing to the Med.

And, I did have an Ace up my sleeve, Jean-Yves, whose motto is “If there is a problem, there is a solution”....more to come on that one!

-- Scott

2nd Channel Crossing

I was bound and determined to make the 2nd cross in the daylight and Plymouth is a deep water port, so there are no tide issues to deal with.

The cross involves 2 tide changes, so that's essentially a wash, except that the French side has a great deal more current around Cherbourg, where we were headed for.

And the plan would have worked perfectly if we had gotten the dinghy deflated the night before...

My main plan this time was to come close to the separation zone between Cherbourg and the Isle of Wight as the ships have to enter and leave lanes (5 nm wide), so they are concentrated and easier to “deal” with.

Plus there is a 5 nm strip between the lanes where you can catch your breath and get ready for the next line of ships (East bound in this case).

I took a picture of the chart plotter screen that shows (little) Severance in between the lanes, the red arrows are all the ships entering and leaving the zone (I was staying just on the West edge of it).

The picture was taken at night...so I didn't quite achieve the daylight crossing goal.

Anyway, this route took some extra miles, but I liked the strategy enough to pay that price.

After getting through the traffic tide was starting to go against us and we ducked into Alderney and dropped the hook for the night to await the next tide.

One more successful cross!!!

P.S. I'm leaving out the fact that our autopilot wasn't working, it was colder than hell out, I wrapped myself in a sleeping bag when I steered, perhaps late September isn't the best time to be making a cross, but at least we were headed South!

Oct 29th - Tim Glass Update

I just spoke to Tim Glass and he sounds great and say's he's just fine...what a relief!!! He had high blood pressure and was not aware of it, so let's all be careful about that.

Hope to see him and Madeline in the New Year, somewhere warmer I truly hope!

- Scott

The Plan Changes!

OK, it may appear that there is no plan, and thus no way to change it, but my original intent was to sail down the West coast of France for a bit, and then cross the Bay of Biscay to Spain and round the corner into the Med.

My parents where spending some time in Morocco (you never know where they will go next) and suggested we meet in Paris for a week.

I figured I'd find a spot to leave the boat and take a train or fly there.

But then people started to suggest I take a canal there...who knew that was possible?!

The idea too intriguing to let go of and, after a (light) bit of research the new plan was to hatched to visit Paris via boat and travel to the Med via the French canal system.

Onward!!!

Plymouth Summary

Funny how life turns out, but I pulled (or limped) into Plymouth with some significant boat problems and thoughts of spending a week or maybe more there to get Armando his Yachtmaster.

A month (or so) later, we left.

Way beyond, out of plan, or not....this journey has a start and end point, but one done with a wide brush stroke.

The experience in Plymouth was tremendously mixed, I was cold a lot, stressed out over boat issues, overstretched trying to get a Yachtmaster certificate, but a lot of really good things transpired, most of which related to all the people I met.

Being in one place for that long lets you to get to know people and experience things.

I'm up in the air about Plymouth itself, interesting place, bombed out in WWII, not very nicely rebuilt but with a great marine facilities in Mountbatten.

But meeting Tim (Glass) and hanging out with him allowed me to understand England way more than I could have otherwise.

Getting the boat problems straightened out with a really competent engineering staff was so important to the trip (and my emotional well being) that I was able to keep going...which is what this all seems to be about.

Yachtmaster and the Plymouth Sailing School turned out to be a tremendous learning experience, I can't say enough about, even though I had never heard about it prior to this trip and kind of hooked in as a side thing.

And sailing in this area is just something you have to do to understand.

People that sail here are really to be respected....I feel like I came here, did my bit and left with a lot of respect for these yachtsmen, you will never find more knowledgeable seaman anywhere.

I spent my UK “budget” on Plymouth, when we were done I needed to head out and didn't get to all the places in England I'd hoped to get to.

But I would not have traded our weekend in Cornwall with Madeline for the world, or all the Yachtmaster experiences I had there, or getting to know Tim Glass...in the end spending a month or so there was all for the good!

Teat's Hill

You should see what they name their tunnels!!!

Pictures of Gipsy Moth

Madeline's Tale of Woe – A Gesture of Empathy

When nice people like Madeline (think Jan Breedlove – bless her heart!) see someone make a fool of themselves they feel compelled to share an embarrassing moment from their own lives.

In the hopes of starting a blog response of “tales of embarrassment” (come on...I know there are some great ones you'd love to share!) I will relay the one Madeline told us.

Whilst on a trip to the US (California I believe) Madeline and a girl friend rented a “Huge American Car” (at first I thought of a Crown Vic, but I would bet it was something along the lines of a Malibu).

The immediate problem that they faced was that it had an automatic transmission!!!!!!

Madeline's friend refused to even try to drive this thing, so Madeline ended up as the driver.

Things were going fine until she stopped for a light facing up hill. She reached for the handbrake and pure panic set in when she found none (OK, maybe it was a Crown Vic after all)!

Traffic built up behind her, the light changed and she didn't have a clue how to get herself out of this jam....she had to keep her foot on the brake or risk smashing into the car behind her!

So, she had her friend get out and run to the car behind her to ask if anyone knew where the handbrake on the damn car was!

Somehow, the person behind gave them a quick lesson on automatic transmissions and they were able to get underway.

And that's her embarrassing story...a blond unable to drive an automatic transmission (sorry about that one blog readers...please forgive me!) and she held up traffic for 3 minutes.

I wish that were my life's most traumatic moment, I seem to have much better ones (and I encourage people to share theirs)!

But I give her credit for displaying empathy, now I just wish people at the marina would stop avoiding me...

News on Tim

I just learned today (Oct 21) that Tim Glass suffered a stroke 2 weeks ago. I don't have all the details, but he spent 2 weeks in the hospital and has now returned to his home in Suffix. Madeline said that he is recovering well and his speech is fine now. I hope to speak with him soon and just wish him the best for a speedy and full recovery.

-- Scott

Are You All Right?

It's the question you never want to hear...typically it means you're upside down in your car (hanging from the shoulder harness) or you've just had a spectacular Wide World of Sports moment on a ski hill, you're trying to regain focus and breath and there's a group of people (with fear in their eyes) peering down at you.

It happened first in Brest. Keith was getting ready to pour drinks when he looked me over and asked “Are You All Right”?

I gave myself as best a look over as I could, I was in a 4 day old shirt and hadn't shaved in a bit, the swelling in my mashed finger was well under control, my limp (ankle) was imperceptible and I was doing my best to exude an air of confidence...so I was fairly certain a near stranger couldn't discern I was in way over my head.

So I decided to take the offensive “Why would you ask me such a thing...isn't it totally obvious to you that I'm just fine dammit!?”

Poor Keith (a nice, polite Brit...an accountant if memory serves me correctly), but he recovered and poured warm gin and tonics (the French haven't invented ice yet and the Brits don't seem to mind), I passed on the tonic as it dilutes the gin.

The next time was in Plymouth when Tim, who was fully apprised of my condition and issues, inquired “Are You All Right?”

OK, we'd become friends and it's nice to have someone express concern, so I gave him a 10 minute run down on how I felt I was turning a corner, even though the Yachtmaster deal was turning into a major hassle, my boat was soon to be torn apart, I was out of stove fuel, we were getting beaten apart by waves and wind on our mooring, I was cold, not sleeping well...you get the picture.

Tim looked a bit quizzical and not all that reassured.

2 days later he asked me again and this time I shortened things up and tried to sound more upbeat, the last thing I wanted was to get involved with some well-meaning social services group and either get held for observation or put on some heavy meds.

Then a casual acquaintance in a pub asked “Are You All Right?” and that did it. Apparently I was in a nation of amateur psychologists, I gave him a distinct brush off and started babbling to a total stranger to my left, not enough to turn me off pubs but give me a break!

And then, on Saturday morning on our weekend at Madeline's, basking in warm sunshine after a good night's sleep in a real house, with a cup of coffee in my hand and great plans for the day sweet Madeline (of all people) looked at me...”Are You All Right?”!!!!!!

I almost did a Danny Thomas coffee spit when it finally dawned on me, “Are You All Right?” is British for “How Are Ya?”...and the answer is “Just Fine Thanks...And You?”!

Apparently I hadn't learned anything in the 70's when the blacks at university started avoiding me (how was a kid from the burb's supposed to know “What's Happening?” is “Hello!” and not “What Are Your Sorry Ass Plans for this Weekend?”).

Anyway, I had to confess this faux pas to Madeline, who laughed until she cried, often covering her mouth with one hand as an expression of pure empathetic embarrassment!

She said she would never be able to ask that again without thinking of me (poor dear girl)!

I decided to get through my remaining days in the UK with my strategy for France, smile when someone speaks to you and say “Je ne parle pas Anglais!”, which turns out to be quite true.

And, if you are ever in Cornwall and a lovely blond woman asks “How Are Ya?”, you'll know the background!

P.S. Keith – I hope someday you stumble across this blog....sorry mate!!!

For the Dot Watchers

For those of you (like me) who were wondering what the heck Scott was doing hanging out in the middle of nowhere without moving for so long (I figured it was a particularly good vinyard with a generous vintor), it turns out that the satellite tracking system is not working.

It has not been tracking since Oct 10th. I'm sure this caused Pat to wonder since her husband Jim (of the bad poetry fame) was on board during from Oct 7 - 14.

So, they are making better progress towards the sea than it would appear. So, know that he is moving, and since I am paying monthly for the service - we will make sure that it is working soon.

- Posted by Diane for Diane :)

Weekend at Madeline's

Tim Glass had told his friend Madeline about a crazy American and Brazilian he was hanging out with and she expressed an interest in meeting with us.

So, we were invited to dinner on a Friday (the one my boat went back in the water on) and told to bring sleeping bags so we could all enjoy some vino without having to drive back home.

Meeting Madeline turned out to be one of those once-in-a-million encounters; she is just one of the most charming, lovely people you could hope to meet.


Madeline has a wonderful house in Saltash, Cornwall (just outside of Plymouth). After a week of living in a parking lot (prior to that we were on a very rough mooring) I can't tell you how nice it was to be in a house in front of a wood stove.

Dinner was a great lasagna, with good wine and company.

I didn't last long that evening and fell asleep on my bed in front of the stove, what a great change from my “normal” circumstances.

Apparently Madeline is not a fine judge of character, or perhaps is just a loving sole that takes in strays, but the plan to “home” on Saturday changed to “Why don't we go travel the Moors, have lunch in a pub and return here for dinner?”

No arm twisting was required and we traveled up to a well known hill with a top of the world view of Cornwall and Plymouth.

Tim is a font of knowledge and filled us in on the history of what we were seeing and provided me with an understandable interpretation of cloud formations and weather patterns.

The pub lunch was great, I learned what a Moor was and we returned that afternoon to cook the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner that we had “schemed” up.

But then Tim, a like minded soul that never fails to turn on a dime, pointed out that the sun was shining, it was perfect for a barbecue and that we really should do the roast and Yorkshire on Sunday!

And that's what we did, had a wonderful barbecue, lots of beer and wine, some people stopped by, Madeline genuinely was thrilled to have guests stay a second day and completely take over her house and kitchen and again I had a deep slumber on a wonderful bed in her home!

Tim needed to return to the Mountbatten for a morning shift at the Boathouse, and we returned to Severance to make sure it hadn't sunk (we had left the boat immediately after launch and tie up).

I figured I would put in the 4 hours on studying (intense) for the upcoming Yatchmaster deal, but I believe I settled on a nap.

When Tim was done we went back to Madeline's (I'm not kidding, she really wanted us to, she reminds me of an early Lori Wickman before she spent all those years working with me and made a few steps toward having an “edge”!).

So back to Madeline's we went and Tim taught me how to do Yorkshire pudding. We had a fine meal and, I believe, left Madeline that night...I truly hope she has recovered from her time in my presence!

I will be after both Madeline and Tim until they come and visit Diane and me in our home in Florida.

Posted by Diane For Scott

Dickie B's Solves a Vexing Problem!

Sailboats require rigging to hold the mast up, and the side attachment points are called chainplates.

Severance has the type that are straight stainless steel “bar stock” that go from the inside of the cabin right up through the deck, very strong, straightforward and completely prone to “leaks” (think major rainfall).

(Interpretation from Diane: Think 40 foot waves crashing over the bow!)

I had new chainplates made prior to the trip, as rudders and rig failures rate as the really big bummers of many a trip, but I had them made to the same design.

Over the years I've tried every caulking known to man and I finally realized (after a wet crossing) that the design was flawed from the get go and only a new one would work.

I was introduced to Richard (Dickie B) and told that, if there was anything I needed done, they could do it.

His facility is doing the complete refit of Chicester's yacht Gypsy Moth.

Anyway, I designed a chainplate modification, drew it up (I did, after all, get a “D” in drafting back in 7th grade...there seems to be a constant theme to my formal education) and presented myself to Dickie and his welder Dave.

To their credit, they looked over my skillful (read crude) “blueprint” and didn't break into laughter, I was feeling really smart at that point.

Then Richard asked if I wanted my idea implemented, or if I wanted my problem solved...it meant that not only did they understand the unsolvable problem but that they had addressed it in some other fashion that I had not come up with!!!!

A smart person would, at that point, ask them to explain two things....how did they know about this problem and how the hell did they solve it?

I deserve great credit as I asked both questions and found out why Richard (Dickie B) has his own complete outfitting business.

Richard had devised a solution, he built a cap that fits over the chainplate (see the picture) and is put on with copious amounts of caulk.

And damn if it doesn't work!!!

He's using that on all the chainplates on Gypsy Moth (I only have 2).

He has a number of major outfitting jobs underway. I really appreciate that he and his staff took the time to take on a very small project, even thought this was a very big problem for me.

Once again I would say that, if you have a boat in need of anything and you're in or around the UK, I would head for Mountbatten to get things done, Dickie B's is staffed and equipped to take on major refits, but will also work with any yachtsman in need....I'm really thankful for that!

Posted by Diane For Scott

Mountbatten Boathouse – More work on the boat!

After Merv (the Magician) did his magic with the transmission (2 bearings were replaced but everything else checked out) and I had reinstalled it, Gavin (the owner and a 1st rate engineer himself) came down to check out the alignment.

I watched him shake his head a few times and I asked the quintessential question “If this were your boat, what would you do?”.

I listened for a bit, stopped him and asked the essential question “When would you be able to fit this work in?”.

And so, once again on this journey, the boat was lifted and we were living in a parking lot again, climbing a ladder just to get home!

But, this time it was for about 10 days, and it rained, and it was cold, and the parking lot was full of mud, gravel and puddles, and I was tired, stressed, wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into (which is when I through myself into the 6 day intensive Yachtmaster theory course which had hours of exercises to be completed each evening...presumable around the dining room table near a crackling fireplace!).

Kim was assigned to the project as he had some experience with shafts and alignment (as in shafts of several feet in diameter on Navy ships!).

Kim is an exceptional engineer and he put my mind at ease “When I'm done you won't have any problems!”.




He pulled the shaft for inspection (it didn't pass and they got a new one) and redid the motor mount attachment points, cleverly cutting slots, inserting backing plates which he drilled and tapped. Before it was impossible to really align the mounts as you couldn't access the bolt heads....did I mention he was smart?

Merv was consulting on the project....I was really in good hands and I knew it.

Kim replaced the packing gland and the bearing behind it (both had gone oval). The bearing has a grease fitting now and a greaser, so it can now be properly lubricated.

He did some other work, shortening the packing gland fitting so the shaft can now slide back further, making it much easier to get the transmission out.

The shaft strut was aligned, with a new backing plate, the engine alignment (now possible) was done (spot on I was assured) and the boat was set and ready to go!

Kim was very kind to us as he did put the engine back in place every night, I was very grateful that I could at least move around inside our cold boat and not have to navigate around a Myanmar 3gm30 every evening!

Once back in the water, everything checked out and I can't convey how happy I am to have a working drive train!!!

If your travels take you anywhere near Plymouth and you have boat problems I would highly recommend the Mountbatten Boathouse.

I should mention that they are a full chandlery also, I obtained quite a bit of stuff there and really enjoyed bantering with their staff...really great place.

Posted by Diane For Scott

Plymouth Sailing School and Yachtmaster

The RYA (Royal Yachting Association) offers various levels of certification, their Offshore and Ocean are essentially captain's licenses and have a wide acceptance throughout the world.

Armando's goal is to become a working captain, so he needed this certification and I had agreed to stop somewhere in the UK for a week or so to make that possible....I figured I'd attempt to get one also since we would be spending some down time on it.

Once we really started looking into it, the “week or so” was completely unrealistic.

But, as it turned out, Mountbatten is home to the Plymouth Sailing School, run by Richard Brown and son (Richard Jr.).

Richard really help us out, offering to do as much or as little as was required to assess our needs and get us ready for the exam.

He's an RYA instructor of instructors...but completely down to earth.

He held an unscheduled day long session (for just the two of us) for our radio certification (a prerequisite for the Yachtmaster certification)

We ended up taking a 6 day intensive course in theory at the school (which Armando aced and I quickly fell hopelessly behind in).

Richard was able to get Armando on one of his boats with an instructor (several days into a 1 week on the water course...there had been 2 cancellations). I tagged along on most days to observe.

At the end of the on the water class a Yachtmaster examiner boarded the boat and spent one evening and a morning putting Armando (and 1 other student) through an on-the-water practical examination (I observed the evening session).

Armando was awarded his certification (the other student was not), which is really quite an accomplishment.

I scheduled an exam to take place on my boat several days later, figuring I would take the weekend to catch up what I hadn't done in the theory class (like all the exercises...in my defense I was pretty busy with boat stuff and totally burned out), take the boat out to check out all the work that had just been completed and scope out all the spots the examiner might direct me to take him to.

Anyway, read Weekend at Madeline's (coming soon to a blog near you!) to find out how I really spent my “exam prep time”!

My examiner boarded the boat in the late afternoon and put me through the paces, I was happy to be doing the exam in my boat. I failed to impress him with my spotty answers to all the material I had planned to bone up on over the weekend, but he passed me with the comment that “You're not the perfect candidate, but then no one is. I cases of doubt we're told to ask whether we would send our children out sailing with you, and I would, you're very safe”! I then had to promise I would learn all my fog signals and leave the UK within 1 week....we were off the next day!!!

I will say that I really gained a lot of knowledge from going through the Yachtmaster process. It was really a good experience since it was coupled with all the sailing we've done in the tidal waters of the Channel, much would be lost if you took this training in a less arduous sailing area. The training is really all about safety in one of the toughest areas to sail in the world....if you get your Yatchmaster there I think it really means something.

I can't say enough good things about Richard and Richard Jr at the Plymouth Sailing School. I would not have gotten the certification had I not had their assistance.

I would highly recommend the Plymouth Sailing School to anyone that is pursuing any of the RYA certifications.

Posted by Diane For Scott

A Word of Explanation from Diane

Many of you have noted that Severance seems to be plowing through land right now. I have received many emails and calls from curious people about why Severance seems to be land bound.

That will all be explained in time, but right now I just received a new batch of blogs from the "Traveler" and they do not even take us out of England. All in good time!!

I will release them one at a time and hopefully when they are all published Scott will come up with an explanation of how he came to be in the center of France. Visiting the famous vineyards, no doubt.

EarthRace – I Continue to Stumble Upon Things

You really can't plan this stuff...

I'd read about some weird ass boat out to set a new world record (no one ever wants to set a family or town record) for the fastest round the world time in a boat that is painted grey or something like that.

Anyway, I came across it in Plymouth.



Something about bio-diesel, apparently from NZ, Maori art...the design is all about “wave piercing”, the plan is for it to spend a lot of time below wave crests (read underwater!).

But check out the forward deck hatch! Hopefully they will fiberglass over that before putting the bow under (been there, done that and it always leaks....imagine tearing that off at 30 knots 5 meters deep!).

Crazy Kiwis.

Anyway, here are some shots...for several thousand pounds you can travel aboard (and they had posted a listing for a skipper!), something tells me this plan is a tad short in the cash department!

Integer 1 – We Hang out on a Large Yacht!

Tim Glass (see prior postings) was contracted for a weekend charter for a woman's 30th birthday (more on that later!).

This was for a party of 10, so he required a large vessel.

Which he found in Integer 1, a yacht in the Plymouth Yacht Harbor Marina (yep...that's the one I stayed 3 days in and couldn't afford), where he lives on his boat.

Since the boat needed some advance prep work, he got access to it mid-week, and it became our hangout!


Armando volunteered to crew for the charter and I offerred to help set things up (drink beer while they worked and do a bit of cooking...I didn't dare go on the weekend given the gender and age of the participants and my current marital status, which it is important that I keep!).

So, from Wed – Friday we made the boat our evening clubhouse.

It is a bit past its prime, but what a boat!

2 masts, a gazilllion hatches, full pilot house, spiral staircase, master double bed suite, 3 heads, what can only be described as a living room (a large salon), big galley and separate crew living quarters!


I took a nap one evening (on a 15' corner rounding couch) while Armando and Tim worked out the navigation for the weekend. When Armando awakened me I first looked at him (Ok...I think I know who that Brazilian is), then around the boat (trying to sort out where I was, whoa....this ain't Severance), then determined what country I was in...then off in the dinghy and back to reality (which is pretty odd as it is these days).

I took some pictures as the boat went by Sat morning (with all the waving women and Armando on deck) before descending the 4 short steps into my humble ship to spend the weekend writing blog articles for the folks back home, pretty sad (Ok...I had fresh duck from a local farm store, nice mushrooms and a wild rice mix, ½ bottle of Plymouth rum, some good wines, a solid internet wireless connection and the sun was shining...”I can't complain but sometimes I still do”!).

As I write this it is Sunday and the charter has not yet returned...so I have yet to learn the fate of my crew in the hands of the 10 young females, but I have prepared for a dinner aboard Integer 1 (after the guests have departed) and may again take a nap on that long couch!

Mount Batten Sailing Center

In Brest we encountered a “sailing center” where youngsters were being instructed on all kinds of sailing craft, from windsurfers to catermarans (all modern, very new equipment).

Mount Batten has one as well and it is really great to see all the young people out experiencing sailing activities...undaunted by whatever the weather might be that day.

Full instruction, chase boats, wet suits (de rigor!) and really enthusiatic “kids”, out chasing each other around, flipping boats and getting experience in high tech, very fast sailboats.

I've not seen anything like it in the US.

Yacht Clubs have junior sailing programs, generally with prams (the St Pete club has some pretty impressive equipment, but still doesn't compare), but they pale in comparison to these centers.

Apparently they get some government funding (in the UK the lottery funds are available for “worthwhile” activities).

In the US, boating is associated with wealth, here it doesn't appear to be (imagine US gov funds going to buy boats to train young people with?).

Whatever the differences are, thousands of young Europeans are being introduced to the sport and it is very heartening to someone like me (that has a love of boats and the sea) to watch the enthusiasm of the young knock around in small boats!

Transmission Goes Back In – Albeit Not as Easily as it Came out!

Merv the Magician at the Mountbatten Boat House found 2 bad bearings in the transmission, found them locally (he says that never happens...possibly 1 but never everything you need) and put the tranny back together on Monday!

We put it back in Tuesday, a trick envolving lines, winches, block and tackle and stolen lumber...you get the picture.

I'm no mechanic, but desparation is the best motivator and I got the son-of-a-bitch back in (hey, that's tame compared to what Armando was exposed to), aligned the shaft as best I could and things appeared to test out (we were limited by the mooring ball).

One of these days we will go off the mooring for a day trip and hopefully prove out the fix, but I've great confidence that the issue is now behind us!!!

Things Continue to go Our Way

Mount Batten also has an acclaimed Yachtmaster sailing school (Plymouth Sailing School).

We will be able to obtain any coursework we feel we need and also set up the (on the water) RYA exam through them.

I discussed our situation with the owner, Richard and his son (shares the same name) and they were very helpful in laying out our options for obtaining the certification.

I also mentioned my need to find an affordable place to keep the boat (the marina was running $60 per night) and he offered the use of a buoy (not usual for them to do this) for a very reasonable $50 per week.

So, taking Bill's advice to do this at slack tide, we tied the dinghy to the side of our transmission-less boat and motored out to the mooring using the 5 horse outboard.

We're right in the path of the ferries, so we can flag one down if we wish, and within easy dinghy range of both sides of the harbor.

The weather has been very cooperative in providing us with gale force winds providing as much as 17 amps of wind gen power.

Solar is another story, however (they don't do very well in fog and rain).

The boat has a great sea motion now as we are battered by tidal current and rain, it gives us a feeling that we are making great progress as we bob and weave around the mooring, even though the scenery looks the same when we peer out a rain covered port.

No need for air conditioning, so we're saving on power there.

Customs came by for an extended visit yesterday morning; they explained it was too rough to work in the channel so they elected to work the harbor...great luck for us!

Ok....time to put on the foulies for a dinghy ride to the shore, we're out of coffee, food and alcohol, we both need to go as the dinghy might blow over with the weight of only one person!

Way Over the Top...Not to be Believe with One's Own Eyes!

While I was in the shop explaining my tales of woe, finally to sympathetic and competent people, a fellow marina inhabitant (Pam) took my hand and led me next door to introduce me to people at Dicky B Marine, a true shipwright facility.

As we entered the large building, she pointed to a boat being refitted and casually mentioned that it had been owned by Chichester....I went completely limp, stuttered something as, lo and behold, my eyes took in the Gypsy Moth!

I'm not making this up...there it was, perhaps the most famous yacht of all time and I was standing right next to it!

If I had known how to properly genuflect I certainly would have, my God what a thing to just stumble upon!

http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=19251&RequestTimeOut=180

We Make a New Friend and Things Keep Going our Way!

Whilst discussing the required repairs to Severance, we met Tim Glass (currently working part-time at Mount Batten Boathouse).

We mentioned our interest in obtaining Yachtmaster certification and it turns out he's an accomplished sailor (years of experience here, in the Med and Caribbean) and a Yachtmaster instructor!

We had hoped to get individual instruction prior to taking the exam so great possibilities there.

One of the prerequisites for getting the certification is a 1 day First Aid course, which aren't held that often.

As it turned out, Tim's First Aid certificate had expired and he had arraigned for a private course the next day (he needed it pronto for insurance purposes given a charter job he had accepted)....would we be interested in taking that with him?

So, the next day we set off in Tim's car for a town in Cornwall, Newquay (interestingly enough pronounced knookie...however that is actually spelled!).

Tim is very interested and knowledgeable in the history of this area, so we learned a great deal during the 2 hour trip there.

Tim took a scenic route, got pretty well lost which was fine with me, and we got a great tour of the countryside...not an easy thing to accomplish when you are there via boat.

The instructor held the course in his parents living room (for just the 3 of us), which had a gorgeous panoramic view of the ocean.

The fee was ½ of what the schools typically charge and we will have obtained the certificates we need for the following steps!

One of Tim's interests is photography and he shared some of his work with us. I hope to obtain a CD of his works, I was really taken by some of them and I'm sure Steve (Diane's brother) would enjoy his photos.

Tim took us to his favorite pub, pronounced us regulars from here on out and we had him to dinner on the boat (he's into food...just my type of fellow!).

One nice thing he pointed out (Bill had made a similar point) is that we're receiving very good treatment as we're true sailors (having crossed the Atlantic to come sailing here), something people hold in high regard.

I will try to explain the English and French regard for yachtsmen in a later blog...suffice to say the term has significance to them.

A Word from Bill

Hi There Scott and Armando.

It is now a week since I left you both in Plymouth and I feel I have had sufficient time to reflect, and recover, from my experiences aboard the good ship 'Severance'. I felt I would be marking time had I stayed aboard as the transmission had been removed, quite rightly as a priority, and you were preparing for a diploma in 'yachtmastering'! Junketing around the coves and hostelries, my forte, was on the back burner.

I must just say that after a career of flying and navigating around the world I am unable to navigate into your 'blogspot' to post this. No geek me! So....

To join Scott and Severance involved a flight from Southampton to Guernsey aboard a 'light twin'. The Captain did the refuelling, baggage loading, collected our tickets, briefed us on safety and emergencies and actually flew the plane (no coffee or biscuits). My arrival at the marina in St Peter Port coincided with that of Severance and Scott's face was a picture when I hailed him to throw a line. He threw many lines after that, but of the verbal variety!

Made to feel most welcome I found a corner, small, to stow my gear and became acquainted with my bunk mate, an outboard engine.

We toured the Island by bus, visited Beaucette, a marina that was an old quarry with the access blasted to the sea by British sappers and ate in the fine restaurant there. Nautical tales were exchanged later with the landlord in 'The Albion', a fine watering hole for mariners! .

Plans were made for the sail to Blighty. Tides, winds, possible destinations and the crossing of the Channel traffic lanes all went into the pot. Options limited, we saddled up and set off as soon as we could clear the cill.

An interesting 21 hours followed with some short, steep seas and winds varying from light to force 7. The electronic displays aboard Severance are impressive, all the more so that they work despite the apparent tangle of wires. One can interrogate contacts and find all manner of information regarding a vessel. It was then that Scott's gregarious nature came to the fore as he hailed, by radio, every ship in our immediate vicinity. But we had one success and it clarified who would do what vis a vis altering course. Falmouth was a welcome sight after some tacking with main double reefed. It almost woke Armando!

Our man set foot in England and we celebrated with a small libation. Somehow the bottle had been broached previously for another noteworthy occasion!

Leaving the dockmaster in gales of laughter, 'tiddy oggies' (meat pies) were consumed and then washed down with local ales. Later Scott was in fine form sounding off about flags, ensigns and how he kept being ripped off for web contact that didn't, and the like, to anyone who would listen. The late night with Michael Collins, a single hander, (look the name up in Irish history), of Irish descent, sorted out most of the worlds afflictions. Happily I am a deep sleeper.

Rather than walk the streets of Falmouth in the rain, a popular past time with the tourists, we departed for Plymouth with large following seas and a handkerchief of headsail. Armando had been there recently and so, on his advice, we berthed at The Haven' marina. This was an inspired choice as once again Scott fell on his feet. His charm and outgoing nature soon had a fix for the engine, coaching and examinations for the yachtmaster ticket and a 'cheap' buoy to moor on!

Celebrations were obviously in order so, after a short ferry ride, we discovered the home of Plymouth Gin and were entertained, not only by the mixers of the drinks, but also by a remarkable firework display. We had stumbled upon a firework competition that went on for 3 days (nights).

Thus it was time for me to depart. I would miss the 2 Michelin star cooking and the fast, verbal repartee. 7 hours fighting the British transport system saw me safely home with memories that I will dine out on for some time to come.

Thank you Scott. May you continue safely.

Bill

A Solution to my Vexing Vibration problems?

I apologize to my readers about my fixation with my drive line issues, but it is severe enough to cause contemplation of throwing in the towel...were that possible!

I've tried to find a proper mechanic facility that could deal with this, first in Brest, then in Paimpol (where we lifted the boat and did some shaft alignment work)...but to no avail.

But I've now found a facility that has taken this problem on.

I was very reassured when I learned that their term for mechanic is Engineer!

The owner of the facility (Mount Batten Boathouse) Gaven got on board and agreed that my diagnosis was correct (the transmission needs repair) and that they had the expertise to rebuild it.

So, Armando, Bill and I pulled it and I walked it over the following day for a tear down.

Merv (the Engineer) found several bearings that were bad, which he was able to obtain locally and the repair is well underway as I write this.

I'm much less stressed out now as I'm dealing with real professionals that have given me every assurance that they will correct this problem....no if ands or buts.

Scott finds Heaven on Earth

The marina is on a peninsula and the town center is across the way, serviced by small ferries that run on the ½ hour (1 pound each way).

The ferry lands in an old area of downtown called the Barbicon, which turns out to be where a certain ship (the Mayflower) left for America.

The departure point is marked with an arch and some nice stainless steel work, every American that visits here will have had a photo taken of them standing there with an awed expression on their face.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the commemorative spot was underwater during that period in history (later backfilled)...my guess is they are still a bit pissed off that we stole an entire country from them and this is a nasty inside joke that they are playing on unsuspecting patriotic Americans!

Glad I learned that bit before I put a picture of myself standing there on this blog...I hate being taken for a fool by foreigners in their own country!

Since this was a major naval base during WWII (as it is in the present), the Germans bombed much of it flat, I'm not sure if the Barbicon has been reconstructed, just missed or had no military significance.

But I digress...

As we went looking about the town (read seeking a pub) we stumbled on the Plymouth Gin factory!!!!!!!

They had a bar upstairs and Bill and Armando watched in awe as I took the stairs 3 steps at a time at a dead run!

I reached the top, not even out of breath and came into a beautiful old church like (to me anyway) arch roofed room with original beams and the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on (besides Diane) standing behind the bar ready to make me a perfect dry martini...in clear sight of the gin vats!

I knew right then the tide had turned and things were starting to go my way.

I inquired about lodging there and they are checking that out with management.

Plymouth

The next logical port East of Falmouth is Plymouth.

The weather forecast called for rain and gale force (up to Force 8) West winds....perfect day to get out in the channel and blow on down the coast.

I called for the main to be raised and Bill Lowe asked whether I planned to put it all up, actually he asked that a few times.

Having a bit of a racer background and knowing it was a downwind sail, I said yes.

It's taken me a while to learn about “British Understatement” (a downpour in a gale might be referred to as a “spot of inclement weather”!).

And it took me a bit to understand that Bill was really saying “only a bloody fool would put up a full main under these conditions!” (he's from a background that precludes the use of “wanker”).

I think Americans have had some success because they actually “say” what they are saying, over here apparently that's considered rude.

Anyway, we pulled the main and put out a bit of genny, then reduced that to a handkerchief and shot down the coast at 7 knots.

Had I had my wits about me (I was still getting over being over served the prior evening by my own hand) it was a perfect day to run the storm jib...oh well, I'm sure I will have the same circumstances before I leave these waters to make the correct call.

We rolled (literally) into Plymouth in the late afternoon and pulled into a marina that Armando had stayed at previously.

Beautiful spot, with a set of yacht building and service facilities (maybe time to get the tranny fixed?), a sailing center (more on that later) and a sailing school.

Armando and I were looking for a spot to spend up to 2 weeks, to sort things out on the boat, recoup (lick our wounds?) and obtain Yachtmaster certification...perhaps we'd found the spot!

Passing myself off as a Native

While I had no hopes of doing this in France, I figured I could affect an accent and start using words and phrases such as: whilst (turns out I was mispronouncing that), dear boy, cheerio, be so kind as to, I say there, may I, and you bloody wanker.

I was convinced it was going quite well, but apparently I have a bit of work to do on the accent as I've disappointingly been (repeatedly) asked where I'm from?

At first I thought they meant which of the 50 States but my curiosity on how I had been compromised (why would they ask if I were pulling it off?) has lead me to ask “where do you think I'm from” (which may be rude but I'm typically upset that they don't think I'm one of them).

Their guess has been (100%) Canada!!!

To which I (being kind to them) say that they are “quite right” (a proper British term that one!) and leave it at that.

This could take me another few days before I work out the bugs....worst case I will resort to a Cockney accent, give off a surly manner and dress in black leathers, at which point I think they will stop enquiring as to my nationality!

Flagged Again!!!

Whilst working down my scotch supply (I had to do the job myself as others failed to help) the discussion again turned to flags.

First, apparently these countries (France\England\Spain) don't actually exist as they have provinces\counties whatever that were included in national borders without consultation (and they refuse to let go of that)!

So, it turns out that there is a Cornish flag that the locals really want to see you fly.

Ok, I understand that but I've already spent $300 on flags and I'm not even in Croatia yet!

But there was worse to come...

Bill apparently had been politely biting his tongue (although it never seemed to slow it down) as a guest on the boat (Mike Collins if I remember correctly) asked me why I was flying the Union Jack as a courtesy flag and not the English Yacht Ensign (they have 1 primary one and dozens of variations based on things like sexual preference...although I may have misunderstood that one).

Which turned out not to be a good subject to bring up with a bit of a stressed out American after his 1st channel crossing, who had ingested a large quantity of a neighboring country's finest product!

The flag was then lowered (some may have felt it went down a bit quickly), was gently placed below (ok...perhaps flung down the companionway might be more descriptive) to the awe and admiration (make that shock) of the guests onboard!

Problem solved...and I did mention that I would not attempt to show courtesy again until I reach the shores of a country that properly uses their national flag as an ensign (which is about 100% of the world thank God!).

A few days later I did look into purchasing a British Yacht ensign, but my courtesy has some dollar limits and $25 is about $15 dollars past that (given my $30 original investment in the UK flag).

Moving ahead a few days....I was boarded by Customs in Plymouth. I was a bit embarrassed not to be displaying a courtesy flag so I told them (my version of) the story.

They informed me the only foreign yachts they encounter that fly the UK flag are Russian!

A fellow yachtsman (Tim) gave me a solution. He goes to a toy store and buys a child’s toy flag, problem solved for under $5.

So, now I have a new shopping mission, I just need to find a place where they outfit flag (yacht ensign to boot) waving children!

Falmouth - 1st Landing in England

I've already mentioned that my original goal was Falmouth, but due to some basic lack of knowledge that almost didn't happen.

So I was really thrilled that we were able to work our way to Falmouth (the last few miles involved a number of tacks and our arrival was later than we had expected, but we did properly sail in).

I immediately poured glasses of the last of Pam Meyer's rum (I believe that famous bottle has appeared previously in this very blog) and we each had 2 sips (the bottle apparently had a leak in it as there was very little left for the English landing).

We walked off the dock and set foot on the motherland!

Lots of people milling around, apparently tourists and we had a real Cornish pasty (those people from Green Bay and the UP know what I'm talking about).

Bill Lowe delivered as promised and guided us to a proper English pub where we procured a local bitter....none finer!

Nice place, but we decided to depart the next day...bad weather was predicted (you first have to understand what they consider good weather before that has any meaning) and we figured we may as well get some sea miles done instead of trudging around town in the rain.

The Channel Cross

My original trip plans were to sail to the Scilly Isles, then to Falmouth, cruise the English side of the channel (as far as the Isle of Wright at least) and cross at a narrow spot to France.

From there I would go West down the channel, turn the corner and head South for the Med.

Essential, one channel cross (quite enough to satisfy my desire to do that).

But, I heard about the Brest festival and figured I would just do the channel loop the other way (West to East on the French side, cross at a narrow spot to the Isle of Wright and then sail as far as Falmouth, on to the Scilly and then off to the Med).

This would require 2 crosses, but Scilly Isles are pretty far West so that's not really a cross.

A fine plan that we were putting into action when Bill Lowe hooked up with us in Guernsey (for a week or so of sailing).

When I told him of my East to West plan on the English coast he said “Fine, let me out when you get to the Isle of Wright and I'll head home”!

Hmmh...I think Lassie is trying to tell us something (someone tell Bill what that means when he gets back to Florida)!

It turns out that the plan had a minor (ok...perhaps a fatal) flaw...going East to West in the English Channel involves sailing in high winds from the West in strong currents going West (called wind over tide).

In my defense, I had no idea the channel changed directions when I made the plan.

So, discussing this with our new source of local knowledge (where was he when I made the Brest decision?) he suggested we shift up one island that allowed departure in any tide (hope you recall earlier posts) and that we go on the diagonal (outside the shipping separation zone of course) and get as West as possible on the cross.

This put our likely destination at Plymouth, meaning I would miss my goal of sailing to Falmouth, but I would have some coastal cruising going East prior to arrival at the Isle of Wright.

Bummer, if I had known that I would not have gone to Brest to start with.

So, now we would cross on the diagonal, add distance (85nm vs 55), but at least we could do that all in daylight with an early start from Alderney.

Plan made, now to work the weather window.

Oops, if we went to Alderney it would take an additional day, and the weather was favorable for our cross if we left the next day from Guernsey (we would get a rare Southerly backing wind at about 15nm).

New plan, we would depart early in the am from Guernsey for Plymouth....so now check the tide.

Oh oh, we're trapped in by a sill until 12:45pm, meaning that we will only cross part of the channel in the daylight!



Getting the picture?

Nighttime cross (for over half), diagonal, outside the shipping separation zone...seems like I do everything the hard way!

As it went, the winds diminished, causing us to motor for several hours.

I figured out that Falmouth was only an additional 24nm from the position we were at and we changed course for it (of course, that put us on a greater diagonal, but I'd given up on that a long time prior).

We came across the East bound shipping traffic 1st, it reminded me of inbound air traffic at O'Hare.

I wish I had screen shots of all the red arrows (AIS symbols) that were moving across our GPS display!

The further West we went, the more the ships were spread out as they funneled into the separation zone behind us.

Not too bad on the Eastbound traffic, we then encountered the West bound, of course in the dark.

The most worrisome encounter was a ship coming behind us...I was determined to stay on his port side no matter what, but you do want to maintain a steady, predictable course in case they do see you and are planning to take your course into account.

I was able to contact the ship (got his name from AIS...what a great thing!) and he told me he would alter course and cross our stern....not sure how things would have gone had I not gotten in radio contact.

Anyway, the winds came up during the cross, backed and allowed us to make Falmouth under sail, achieving my long time goal of reaching the English shores in my own sailboat!