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.