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
Friday, November 7, 2008
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
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
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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
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
Monday, November 3, 2008
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
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
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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.
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
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
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