The Log of Severance (1986 Tartan 34-2)

A Pictorial of Jim's Visit to the Islands of Trinidad, Grenada, Carriacou, and St. Lucia

2009-05-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sunset off Trinidad

Chaquaramas, Trinidad

Customs Dock in Trinidad

Chef from South Park

Fishing Village - Trinidad

Severance in Grenada

Annie, Scott & Friend on Annie's Deck

The $1,000,000 View from Annie's Deck

Grenada Beach

Georgetown, Grenada

Leaving Grenada - passing by Annie's House

Carriacou

Severance in Carriacou

Captain Scott waiting for lunch

Scott's Lunch

Jim's Lunch

View of Carriacou

Leaving Carriacou for St. Lucia

Update

2009-05-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

Just to bring everyone up to date. Danny, Rhonda, and Madeline stayed on in Brazil for an additional 2.5 weeks after I left. They had a wonderful time and Madeline has some incredible pictures which I intend to share, even though it was sans Severance. Rhonda has promised to write the blog for the additional adventures of Brazil. Think lily pads as big as a house!!

I left Brazil on April 5th. After staying on an additional 2 and a half weeks, Danny & Rhonda returned home and Madeline joined me in Treasure Island. We have had a wonderful time. Madeline has passed the test by bonding with Harpo whom she describes as a very naughty dog, but she loves him anyway. She is teaching him to dance.

In the two weeks Madeline has been here we have come to know Anna, a Brazilian neighbor of mine, very well. She has taken Madeline shopping at the "Brazilian Store" and has taught us how to get into a hammock without flipping out and has cooked us a traditional Brazilian meal.

Now Madeline and I are preparing to leave tomorrow (actually today since it is 2am Saturday, May 9th now) for St. Lucia. In the time since I left Brazil, Scott & Bill sailed to Trinidad, Jim Sexton met them in Trinidad and as Bill returned to Michigan, Jim, Armando & Scott sailed to Grenada where they visited Robyn's cousin and dearest friend Annie who recently accepted a position as a professor at the university there.

Armando is staying in Grenada where he is hoping to find another boat to sail on.

Scott & Jim left Grenada a few days ago heading to St. Lucia where Jim returned home and Scott met up with Eduardo. Eduardo (I know it is getting hard to keep up with the cast here) is married to Scott's cousin Janice. They are Canadians from Toronto. Eduardo and Janice flew to St. Lucia to meet up with Scott, where Eduardo will finish the journey with Scott. Scott was late meeting up with them, but at least Scott got a chance to see Janice and Jim made his flight.

Madeline and I leave tomorrow for St. Lucia. It is 2am and I decided that nearly a month after returning from Brazil it was time to finish my story before the next one begins. Scott will be home by early to mid June and the adventure is nearing an end. It was incredible, but I do believe he is ready to come home.

Good-bye Brazil

2009-05-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

The next day was devoted to business. Madeline had decided to stay on in Brazil and travel with Danny and Rhonda. They wanted to go back to the island nature preserve that the guys had briefly stopped at on their way in. They also wanted to see some of the Amazon. Danny, Rhonda, and Madeline met with Armando’s travel agent friend Cecilia to plan the rest of their trip.

Armando had a number of things to take care of, doctor and dentist appointments.

Armando had also arranged for a doctor to treat Scott’s back. Actually Scott’s back had been in very bad shape since they left the Canaries. Armando’s parents had a doctor arranged to see Scott the minute they arrived in Fortaleza. Scott was treated and was now going for a follow up. Armando also had a job interview, so it was a very full day.

At 5:00 Armando’s parents had invited the women (Rhonda, Madeline, Sonia, and myself) to tea. The guys were going to hang out and meet up with us after the tea. Armando was going to pick up Bill and me at 4:30 and take me to the tea and Bill to join Scott & Danny. As Bill and I sat in the lobby at 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, I started to worry. My concern was nothing compared to the others who were in various locations waiting to be picked up. The doctor appointments ran over , etc .. you know how it is, and Armando never did make it to his job interview.

Anyway we did eventually make it to the tea, which was lovely. Armando’s parents have a lovely condo on the 14th floor with a wonderful view. They showed us pictures of their family and after the tea we enjoyed liquors on their balcony. Armando’s mother is an artist and she showed us some of her lovely paintings.

After that we met up with the guys at a local restaurant that boasted the best green beans in Brazil. Armando kept talking about the green beans. We were rather unimpressed, how much can you do with green beans? Well, these green beans were more like black beans (except they were green) and they were served in a cheese sauce in a cast iron pot, with the cheese boiling away. They were very good.

The next night, my last night in Brazil, we went clubbing! Armando and Sonnia took us to one of their favorite clubs in the city. Sonia’s mission was to teach us how to dance in the Brazilian style. Good luck with that!!!!

Of course Rhonda and Danny already knew all about Brazilian dancing.

The Group!!

Saturday – my last day in Brazil, we took Armando’s parents sailing. Armando’s mother, Eloisa, father – Armando Sr., his uncle, Eloisa’s brother, and Armando’s 2 year old daughter Linda (Linda means beautiful in Spanish, and she was).

It was a lovely sail and Armando was so proud of Linda – she was a natural sailor, at ease with the boat and wanting to steer!

It was a wonderful visit and we were so fortunate to have Armando, Sonia, Eloisa, and Armando Sr. to show us the real Brazil.

The Mountains

2009-05-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

The next day Bill arrived. Bill is a friend from our college days. He is a commercial real estate agent with his own agency in Traverse City, Michigan. The economy being what it is, this seemed like a good time to get away from it all. He was replacing Danny and doing the leg from Brazil to Trinidad.

Once again we hired Gladstone’s services and this time headed for the mountains. Scott had been suffering back pains and decided to forego this trip.

We wound through beautiful scenery with quaint sights such as children playing in streams along side the road, a man riding a donkey with handmade baskets hanging off the saddle, and huge fields of banana trees. As we drove endlessly through these sites there seemed to be an animated conversation in Portuguese going on in the front seat between Gladstone and Armando. We learn later that Gladstone’s short cut added some time to our journey, but … so what!
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Sights along the route.

A small bar we stopped at to get some water and take a break. It was here that Rhonda and Danny (wine connoisseur’s extraordinaire) purchased a bottle of cashew wine. (Cashew wine??? How do they do that?)

Same town. You tell me what it says?

Refreshed, we continued on to our ultimate destination … the top of the mountain.
Left to right – Danny, Rhonda, Madeline, Diane, Bill.

Madeline & Bill getting a closer look. It was very overcast and we were above the clouds in spots.

We started back down the mountain going through a number of lovely towns. We had a pretty full car. We came to a town that had some very steep roads. Gladstone, for whatever reason, tried to power up the hills, slipping and not quite making it on the mossy wet cobblestone. People were coming out of their houses and scowling at us.

With much discussion between Armando & Gladstone, we headed to our next destination.

A waterfall. Everyone changed into swimsuits and took a dip.

It was agreed, the water was very cold.

Madeline was the first to make the dive.

Danny, Madeline and Bill all swam underneath the waterfall. Rhonda chose to enjoy it from a warmer place.

Brazilian plant life.

Seeds from a palm.

Bird of Paradise.

We headed home. On the way Armando had one more treat he wanted us to experience. He was looking for a place to get something called (and I may not spell it right, but this is what I thought it was) Tapioca. It is not the pudding we know. We made a few U-Turns as we came into the city, but we ended up in a little bakery where we got these pastries that were like little crepes with cheese on the outside. Hard to explain how they got the cheese on the outside and normally they have the cheese on the inside, so these were unique even to Armando.

As we were eating and talking and laughing, the young son of the proprietor was very interested in these exotic English speaking people. He ran away and brought back a whole group of friends to show them the strange people. We saw them peeking through the window at us!

Our last and final adventure before arriving back at the hotel was when we were actually back in Fortaleza. We were on a 3 lane divided highway and as we are all slightly dozing in the car, Gladstone suddenly swerves to the right. As we look up we see what he swerved to miss, a donkey walked off the side of the road right in to traffic. As Rhonda looked back she saw other cars swerving and braking. Only in Brazil!

The Beach and the Barbeque

2009-04-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Armando made arrangements for us to go to Lagoinha, a beautiful beach with sand dunes about 100 kilometers outside Fortaleza.

He found a cab driver named Gladstone who had a vehicle big enough to hold 6 passengers. We were able to hire Gladstone’s services for the full day for 120 reals, which is about $70 US. We ended up using Gladstone as our driver for the rest of the week.

This beach was not crowded and much safer than the city beaches. We ordered large bottles of beer which they brought in insulated containers. As we finished a bottle, we removed it from the insulated container and put it under the table. At the end of the day, the beer bottles were tallied and we paid based upon the bottle count.

Rhonda and Madeline playing in the surf.

Armando arranged for us to take a dune buggy ride. The driver asked Armando – “With emotion or without emotion?” Armando said “With emotion, of course.” I sat up front with the driver. Rhonda, Danny, & Madeline sat perched on the back hanging on to the roll bar.

Goats in the sand dunes.

View from the top of one of the sand dunes.

Donkeys were roaming free and grazing in the dunes.

The driver took us to a little waterfall that we had to cross to get over to a fresh water lagoon. I was concerned about crossing the falls with my camera, so Danny volunteered to hold it. Halfway across the current became very strong and I felt bad about the responsibility I put on Danny. Just then the current swept Rhonda off her feet. As she grabbed for her husband to save her, he backed away and said “Don’t touch me! I have the camera.” Poor Rhonda! She was able to regain her footing and we had a good laugh.

The other side of the falls.

The falls from the top.

On the way back we crossed over the top of the falls. There was no current there and it was an easy, calm crossing. If I had lost my camera – and then learned about this easy crossing ….. then you would seen the real meaning of emotion!

At the start of the trip we came over the top of this huge dune and plunged straight down. It was unexpected (part of the “with emotion” version of the tour), and like a roller coaster. There were screams from the back as they grabbed hold of the roll bar. And Rhonda’s hat went flying.

On our way back to the beach we passed the roller coaster hill and there was Rhonda’s hat. Danny raced up the hill to get it (probably trying to make up for not saving her at the waterfall!!). You can barely see on the left side of the hill, just across from Danny, a blue jacket or sweater. Apparently this is an area where items often go flying.

Danny redeemed himself!!

This beach had a lot of fishermen, all fishing from these traditional, very old style boats. The mast and boom were made from branches, as was the helm man’s seat. The rudders were carved everything was lashed down with cheap blue nylon twine.

These boats are still built as they were in the old days. The sail is just cotton and they throw dippers of water on it to tighten the fabric to perform better as a sail. The mast is a series of tree trunks lashed together to taper it and also to give it shape and flexibility.

Launching these boats is a major effort. The crews from several boats all work together to get the boats past the waves that are breaking. They roll the boat down to the water on logs, very low tech. They then, run, push, shove, angle and maneuver until they get the boat past the breaking waves. They then anchor the boat out past the breakers and go in to work on the next man’s boat.

These fishermen were going out overnight. See the bend in the mast.

Portuguese Man O’ War.

After leaving the beach Armando took us to a Barbeque restaurant called Gaucho, at the little village of Cumbuco. Look at the size of those ribs!! And they were incredible, juicy and crisp and a great flavor.

Bones picked clean.

Group shot with the owner (middle) and Gladstone (back row, left).

What a wonderful day.

Mercado Central

2009-04-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

The next day Armando and his mother, Eloisa, took us (the girls) shopping at the Mercado Central ( the Central Market)..

When I was researching Fortaleza on the internet this was one thing that was talked about as a must do. I expected native craftsmanship, what I did not expect was a market that was the size of a city block and 6 levels high connected by circular ramps.

Within this area were many hundreds of small kiosks with shoes, clothing, linens, and jewelry, all managed by individual vendors with everything you can imagine for sale.

There are certain things that Brazil is famous for – cashews, hammocks (beautiful hammocks), linens – hand woven and hand embroidered, beautifully woven blouses, crinkled dresses, beads made from palm seeds and shells, if I could have prepared for this experience I would have completed all of my Christmas shopping with unique, beautiful gifts. As it was, it was overwhelming.

Eloisa helped keep us focused, pointing out especially interesting or worthwhile items. One of my first purchases was a crinkled dress of very thin cotton rolled into a twist to keep the wrinkles. Eloisa encouraged me to buy it and it has turned out to be my favorite thing to relax in when evening comes, cool and unrestricting. I don’t even bother to crinkle it, I just love the feel of the light cotton on my skin.

Armando helped Madeline barter a good deal on a hammock. Madeline also stocked up on some beautiful beads to take home to friends.

Armando was a saint, putting up with four women shopping. Eloisa was there to find the good deals, Armando was there to translate and help barter. Notice Rhonda’s purse, made out of pieces of polished coconut shells. It was beautiful.

I was not sure if Brazilians bartered until I was literally pulled into a shoe store, a pair of (I will admit) very comfortable sandals put on my feet and encouraged to make an offer. While I anxiously eyed my own shoes, the vendor offered me the sandals for $45 rialys (about $25 US). They were comfortable, but I was not thinking of new shoes. As I fought my way out of the store, he reduced the price to $40,… $30…, $25…, $15…, at that point I just wanted my own shoes back.

That gave me a false sense of the Brazilian barter game. Armando tells us that they expect you to barter for 5 or 10%. The deep discount that the shoe vendor tried to thrust on me was not typical.

We ended the afternoon with a stop at a juice bar. The drinks were made strictly from the fruits, no additives. Most of the fruits were unfamiliar to us, so Armando got the juice vendor to give us samples of the different fruits. There was one that was Armando’s favorite that he strongly recommended. It had a white flesh and was a little slimy, but very tasty. We all went with that. The fruit was blended into a smoothie consistency and was probably the most refreshing thing I have every tasted.

The green cactus-y looking fruit in the foreground is what we drank. It is called Graviola and it is only grown in a limited climate in Mexico, Central America, parts of the Caribbean and northern South America. It is not a common fruit, even in Brazil. If you ever get the chance to try it – do so!

Sunday at the Beach

2009-04-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Scott had left a wake up call for 8am the next day. He is not one to miss breakfast. We woke with the sun streaming through the window. I was sure the desk forgot and we had missed breakfast. The sun was so high, it felt like it was close to noon. We checked the time and learned that it was only 6:30. That is something I never got used to. Being only 3 degrees from the equator, the sun rose very early and set early also, about 6pm. It made it easy to get up in the morning and surprisingly enough, you did not mind the sun setting so early. It was so hot that the early darkness brought much needed relief from the heat.

We left the hotel shortly after 11:00 with the name of the beach restaurant in our hands. We assumed the cab driver would know where it was. What we didn’t know was that there was 15 miles of beach where we were going and it was packed with hundreds of restaurants that had very similar names. (I think the Portuguese word for Restaurant was the significant part of the name we were looking for - we saw it everywhere) The cabbie stopped and consulted with other cabbies and finally we found it, only half an hour late.

Everything you imagine about the beaches in Brazil is true. The most striking thing was their beach culture. On the weekend everyone near the coast was at the beach, rich, poor, and in between. All of the women wore string bikinis (and looked great in them) and all of the men wore speedos (and looked great in them also!!).

The restaurant we met in had a good solid roof and tile floor, but the sides were open to the beach. Families sat at the tables and ate and drank while children ran in and out of the water and played in the sand. You could sit there all day. There was no feeling that you had to make way for other customers.

Armando’s parents were charming and his mother is very beautiful. With the help of the Portuguese/English dictionary and, of course, Armando’s translating skills, we shared stories and laughed and had a wonderful time.

Left to right back row– Eloisa and Armando, Sr, Danny, Rhonda, Scott.
Front row – Armando, Sonia, and Madeline.

Armando Sr. showing Danny how to crack a crab.

We ordered a number of dishes and shared. The soup in the right top corner is ray stew – yes, as in stingrays.

Although this was a restaurant with menus and waiters, if you wanted something that was not on the menu, the waiter was happy to go out on the beach and bring in a beach vendor that had it. Scott wanted raw oysters, which were not on the menu, so the waiter brought in a kid from the beach who sat on a bucket next to our table and shucked a dozen oysters.

After a long and luxurious lunch, Eloisa and Armando Sr left for home and we started down the beach headed to our next destination.

The beach was beautiful, but parts were not safe. Brazil is a country that has so much natural beauty, but it is also a land of extreme poverty. The lack of opportunity has made it one of the world’s most dangerous countries. As we were warned to not leave the hotel area on our own, the beach also had its dangers. At first we did not notice anything. We were laughing and talking (in English) and generally making ourselves very conspicuous. At one point Rhonda pointed out that a shot of Scott and Danny walking ahead of us would make a nice picture. As I started to pull my camera out of my backpack, Armando was on me in an instance and told me to put it back.

Later down the beach a guard from one of the restaurants approached Armando and told him that we were attracting too much attention. We moved up to where the guards were and continued the walk away from the beach. At that point Madeline mentioned that she had started noticing passing the same people, in other words they were circling us.

It was a sobering thought, made more so since Armando had been robbed at gunpoint just two nights earlier. It is a real danger and so sad.

Eventually we arrived at our destination. It was another beach bar, but this one had a stage and band. The band was excellent, playing modern songs with a strong latin beat. Besides looking good in swimwear, Brazilians are natural dancers. Scott and I were the only ones in our party who did not dance, but I loved just watching.

The table we sat at was the table where Armando first met Sonia two years earlier. How romantic!!

Danny & Rhonda were fearless dancers, as was Madeline.

Danny & Rhonda, Armando & Sonia

But it was Rhonda who won the heart of Roger, one of the best dancers on the floor. Danny had a hard time competing, Roger monopolized Rhonda the rest of the evening and gave her lessons in how to dance like a Brazilian.

Roger, Rhonda, and an unknown cowgirl in golden platform boots! When we left Roger bowed and told Rhonda “You are my Queen!”. Rhonda replied – “No, you are my Queen!”.

Fortaleza, Brazil – March 28

2009-04-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Back during their days in the Mediterranean Armando talked Scott into adding a couple thousand extra miles to the journey and stopping in Brazil. Forteleza, a beautiful coastal city in Brazil, is Armando’s home town and he wanted Scott to see it. And Scott wanted me to see it. So plans were made to meet in Brazil.

This was also the end of the line for Danny. Danny’s wife Rhonda was also joining us in Forteleza. After a week in Fortaleza Danny and Rhonda were going on to see the rest of Brazil, including the Amazon.

And because it wouldn’t be a party without her, Madeline, the dear, crazy Cornish woman that Scott and Armando met in England, was between jobs and looking for an adventure. Scott had no trouble convincing her to meet us in Brazil.

Scott and Armando also picked up a new crew member, a friend of ours from college days, Bill Sage. Bill is a commercial real estate agent in Traverse City, Michigan and real estate being as it is, it seemed like a good time for him to get out of town and forget about the economy for awhile. Bill would be replacing Danny as crew and will be doing the leg from Fortaleza to Trinidad.

So we had a pretty lively group gathering. Saturday, March 28 was arrival day for most of us. My flight arrived at 2:45pm Saturday afternoon after a 17 hour journey. I arrived carrying a boat transmission in my suitcase. It got a lot of chuckles and I believe I will finally get that wife of the year award.

Rhonda arrived at 4:30 having traveled the longest – Vancouver, BC to Toronto, to New York, to Sao Paulo, to Natal, to Fortaleza, over 24 hours of travel time. I may have gotten the names of the stops wrong, but not the number. She left 8 hours before I did and arrived 2 hours after.

And finally, Madeline had the shortest and easiest journey of all, London to Lisbon to Fortaleza arriving at around 8pm. At one time during the planning Madeline actually suggested that I fly to London and go from there. It would have been shorter.

After a couple of trips to the airport we all gathered at the Marina Park Hotel where Severance was docked. A lovely 5 star hotel situated right in the middle of one of the most dangerous parts of town. The hotel was well guarded, but even short trips required a taxi.

We had all booked rooms at the hotel. After checking in we gathered in the cockpit of Severance, we had a lot of catching up to do. As we sipped wine and ate cheese and sausage we made plans for tomorrow. We travelers were exhausted so there were no early plans. At noon we were meeting Armando and Sonia and Armando's parents at the beach for lunch.

The Marina from inside the hotel lobby.

The view of Severance from our hotel room.

March 20 Natal

2009-04-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

We arrive and anchor at the Natal Yacht Club and actually tie up to a dock to take on water and fuel. This is so much easier than transporting large full containers to Severance through wave break. A comment: I'm not sure what it is about Brazil and sailboats but there seems to be no effort spared to ensnare us in multi levels of bureaucracy every landfall we make.

The first day in Natal is similar to Naronha. A visit to 4 separate Ministries in various parts of the city, having documentation stamped yet again bearing in mind that we are repeating the same process as in Naronha. Among the detailed questions to be answered is...”Did anybody die in transit?” Well... no, we all sort of got along. At certain Ministries there is even a dress code. Try wearing shoes, shirt, and long pants in 35 degree C temperature and near 100% humidity. I guess the natural reaction to all of this love of Brazilian bureaucracy was the thong bathing suit for the ladies and the speedo for the men.

Armando, with his insatiable desire for shrimp and more fresh shrimp taps into the local market. He is up early in the morning bargaining at the local market returning usually with a couple of kilos of ...guess what and the appetite to take care of it. Listening to tunes on the aft deck, eating shrimp and sipping a cold one is a great way to start a day- every day in Natal.

March 24 Fortaleza
We leave Natal on March 22 and it is an uneventful run to my final destination, Fortaleza, except for the addition of another crew member, Armando’s girlfriend, the beautiful Sonia.

I say uneventful, except for the spike in night ship traffic. Not everything can be picked up by radar or AIS, especially small fishing boats. We go through a fleet of 50 or so plus larger vessels, and I leave my last watch exhausted but relieved there have been no close calls. A 34 ft. sailboat is going to lose to just about everybody out there.

We arrive in Fortaleza on March 24, tie up Mediterranean style in the hotel marina and my sailing odyssey is over. I crossed the Atlantic on a small sailboat, didn't get seasick, and completed an adventure of a lifetime in the company of very fine sailors. It is a wonderful life!

Posted by Danny McJannet

March 17 Landfall Brazil

2009-04-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Severance arrives at Fernando Naronha, an island within Brazilian territorial waters, having crossed the Atlantic. We made it!

We came to this island for a particular reason though. This island, as beautiful as it is, is also a protected habitat for sea turtles in particular but also other marine animals and birds.

Here, an effort is being made to accommodate a certain level of ecotourism, the interests of the locals, controlled development, and at the same time create a refuge for protected and endangered marine life.

A tall order. The island, a former prison (1750's +) bustles with activity as we visit a few historic sites and walk on some designated beaches where surfers are plying their skills on some very rad waves.

March 18 Fernando Naronha
In the morning a yell summons me to the deck. A sea turtle is casually swimming by Severance. A little later, a school of baby dolphins race by as if on a mission followed by 2 large parrot fish 4 or 5 feet long who have come near the surface to check us out. Amazing!

We provision, talk to some locals, hit the water-again and then in the early evening pull anchor and head for Natal, our first stop on the Brazilian mainland. What a magical place!

Posted by Danny McJannet

Half Way There

2009-04-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

March 14
Early in the morning a large sailfish takes 1 line, spools it off, breaks it with almost dismissive contempt and we are only able to witness the fury of this being as it jumps and turns trying to release the embedded hook that is now all that is left of our ambition.

Later in the day a school of large mahi-mahi do the same. Concurrent strikes on our 2 rods come to nothing as these fish spool the line breaking them without effort. I have fished salmon but have never experienced this kind of power. After they have freed themselves, they both do a series of turning jumps as if to mock our efforts to make dinner of them.

Clearly, our rods and line are over matched so the solution is 150 pound test line run off Severance- no rod. We'll see.

March 15
A break from routine. Scott's birthday and the celebration begins shortly after my midnight watch.

But there is more. Later in the morning (approximately 5am) we cross the equator. In the darkness, Scott climbs to the swim grid, hits the water and swims across the line. Armando and I jump the line on board. As we pay our respects to Poseidon, the champagne flows and there is music.

Louis Armstrong sings “It's a wonderful world”, Bob Marley sings “Don't worry, everything is going to be alright” our ship mantra, John Lennon sings “Imagine” and then the blues takes over with John Lee Hooker.

A night for celebration and congratulations especially for Scott and Armando, who have been challenged at various legs of the journey that readers of previous entries can easily attest.

Next morning the wind collapses as ominous clouds surround Severance and out of the heavens a tropical storm unleashes a torrent of warm, fresh water. We all head for the fore deck, grab hold of a shroud and hold on through the deluge.

As it intensifies over the next half hour or so, I hear myself yelling with joy as the sensation of this ultra shower pressure washes the accumulated dirt, grime and sweat away. As quickly as it comes it goes, the winds pick up and Severance is underway again. What a sensation!

Suddenly there is a shout from Armando, our persistent fisherman. A very large mahi-mahi has taken the lure on the 150 pound test line and the battle is on.

It takes all 3 of us but the magnificent fish is landed. A brief celebration then the knives and beer come out and once again we eat sushimi with ginger, wasabi and soy until we can't. Later, the remainder is carefully cut up, bagged and refrigerated and we eat in bliss until there is no more.

Postscript: March 15th, Treasure Island, Florida

As the guys celebrate Scott’s birthday on the equator, Scott’s parents Bob & Marion, neighbors Kevin & Laurel and Harpo and I were also toasting the Birthday Boy.

Actually Birthday boys, since Scott and his older brother Lewis share the same birthday. My nephew Christopher was also born on March 15th (my apologies, Chris, for leaving you off the cake), so now you know the true meaning of “Beware the Ides of March!!”.

Happy Birthday Scott, Lewis, and Christopher!!

Posted by Danny

P.s. by Diane

The Crossing

2009-04-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

As we head out, life on Severance goes on as you might expect with each of us falling into the rhythm of our watches, sharing the deck during the day but on a 4 hour watch rotation through the night and early morning.

On watch at night often times there is phosphorous lighting up around the keel wave, breaking in unusual but dramatic patterns. The moon follows us to it's fullest so light shimmers across the ocean surface to the edge of the horizon.

Three days out of the sight of land we spot our first vessel, a tanker heading for the Congo with a load of oil. We know this because of a ship identification system installed on Severance.

Identity, speed, draught, destination and most important, course are revealed. One afternoon, a super container ship with the same heading as ours came barreling past us at 21 knots. Sobering, because we know that regardless of radar small vessels aren't always picked up electronically or visually.

As we progress from the Verdes the colour of the ocean changes from an indigo blue/black to a brilliant royal blue. Now I understand the term “blue water sailing”.

Everything is warming up including the water which registers 83 degrees F.-beautiful. A surprise to me is the abundance of sea life. Every morning at the beginning of my watch I clear all the the flying fish that have died on our deck during the night.

At different times of the day fish are jumping, the rods are out and we are catching smaller mahi-mahi . Sail fish are hitting our lines hard but they are difficult to land as we have light line and we are under sail and they just generally break it off. Our specialty is mahi-mahi sushimi about 15 minutes after it has been landed. We are well equipped with wasabi and ginger and for that matter beer too. Eating this treasure on the aft deck will be an enduring memory for me.

As the temperature steadily mounts and the sun beats directly on us, our relief has been to tie a life line to the stern of Severance, dive off and quickly head for the line. The depth here is 5,000 metres, very deep, so it is a thrill to be out there separated from our vessel. We only do this below 4 knots because the life line is not long and it would be easy to miss it but also because at higher speeds it is difficult to work your way back and the thought of a shark attack, however remote, occasionally intrudes .

The winds have been very predictable so far and we have the mainsail and genoa “wing on wing” with Severance running towards Brazil. The spinnaker came out and worked well but tangled one night which was a real hassle. We are making steady progress without the extreme wind conditions as experienced on the run from Praia to Fogo.

Posted by Danny McJannet

Destination Fogo

2009-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Having limited sailing experience many years in the past, the run from Praia to Fogo was eye-opening. The winds picked up quickly to an estimated force 7 which Severance handled superbly. A group of dolphins appeared and steadied my nerves with their exuberant runs and jumps as we surf/side slip off the crest of a very large wave into the valley of the next one coming. So far my stomach is holding-just.

In time we find Fogo, dominated by a large volcano that sweeps right out of the ocean and gets lost in the overhanging cloud cover.

Fogo March 6
Early in the morning we awake to the solicitation of a local entrepreneur/rip off artist (Claudio) who swims out to offer his services to guard Severance. The vibe doesn't seem quite right so the decision is to pull anchor, get close to town and complete provisioning.

Breaking surf at this spot and difficult access to the provisions force the decision to return to our original anchorage to complete the task.

On return, the supplies are loaded and then the difficulties begin. It revolves around the value of the services rendered by Claudio. There is a very spirited discussion. Claudio brings reinforcements to the bargaining session and our situation starts feeling a little tenuous.

Money must be passed but we don't have any and they have control of our stern line on shore. So Scott stays on board to guard Severance while Armando and I go to town with Claudio and a truck load of his henchmen. All rests on the money run. My card doesn't work but Armando's does and after money passes hands, we are all friends again.

That's enough. After a long hard day and under the cover of darkness we pull anchor, depart and begin the crossing but not without the feeling that the pirates, unlike the past have moved ashore.

Posted by Danny McJannet

The Log of Severance: Atlantic Crossing Cabo Verdes to Brazil

2009-04-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm Danny McJannet from Vancouver Canada and this is my account of the Atlantic crossing of the good ship Severance.

February 28
I arrive at Praia in the Verdes almost on schedule to run the usual gauntlet of airport cabbies, succeeding in finding one whose overcharge button was stuck on turbo. I check into the the hotel I had previously booked and cancelled. For this bad behaviour on my part, the desk staff decide to charge me 120 euros extra for the 2 day stay. Welcome to the Verdes!

March 1
I spend the day tracking Severance on the hotel internet and walking to the boat harbour checking if the vessel had arrived. Later in the evening, sitting in the lobby waiting to check their progress yet again, an unexpected commotion erupts at the front entrance. The crew of Severance had arrived, Captain Scott and Yacht Master Armando and they are very thirsty as all good sailors are with lots of stories to tell. The thirst was dealt with but it took a while that evening and still not all the stories were told.

March 2-5
The next 3 days were a whirlwind securing Brazilian visas, reporting to Maritime police and other local authorities formalizing Severance's arrival, imminent departure and then provisioning for the crossing.

The trickiest task was hiring the right local port thief to provide security for Severance while we were away on our business. Seems like a contradiction, but with the right choice thanks to Armando's skilled negotiating, it worked out. Nothing missing from Severance when we departed.

Official business went surprisingly smoothly while our collective basket of currency including escudos, euros and american took a big hit.

Praia. The town is a vibrant mix of 3rd world reality, new world sophistication complete with internet cafes, people sipping espressos while listening to the African beat.

The people, mainly friendly, do not consider themselves African although the influence is overwhelming. What is evident is the result of the many generations of the local people co-mingling with the Portugese

Danny at the local barber shop getting a haircut.

We managed to visit a historical fort further along the coast that was linked to the slave trade.

During this day trip we witnessed the environmental degradation of parts of the island due to the introduction of European domestic animals many generations before.

Much vegetation has been lost and dust storms swirl through much of the day. A sobering sight.

Okay, time to raise the anchor and head for Fogo, the last Cabo Verdes island to finish off our provisioning for the crossing(ie beer, lots of beer)

Posted by Danny McJannet

Equatorial Crossing and my 57th Birthday (3/15)

2009-03-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry to any and all readers of the blog, but too much fun is being had to do a proper job on it.

But I did have one thing that I really wanted to relay, and that was the equatorial crossing.

For sailors throughout the ages, crossing the equator for the 1st time is a big deal, typically involving ceremonies that were eventful and (not fondly) remembered by the initiants.

We had some other ideas, and had 2 good bottles of Spanish Cava (method de champagnois) chilled.

As we got closer, it dawned on me that the event might even occur on March 15th, which is a birthday that Lewis (my brother) and I share).

It turned out, we did cross at around 5am on the 15th.

As we approached, I decided to play my favorite tune on the stereo, but then realized that I had never established what that was...a good time to put some thought into it.

The artist came 1st, no doubt, Louis Armstrong, the tune was harder, but I came up with it. A search on my MP3 player failed to turn it up, but Armando came through with it on his Ipod and we played "What a Wonderful Life" as we approached 0 degrees Lat.

After that, I played John Lennon's Imagine, then put on a John Lee Hooker album, let the swim ladder down and dragged myself (now 57 years old) across the equator.

Popped the corks on the Cava, drank toasts and smiled like 5 year olds without a care in the world!

What a Wonderful Life!

Heading Towards the Equator

2009-03-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Since Scott has been away from Internet for awhile (no MacDonald's at 4.6N, 28.9W), I thought I would fill you in with what I know.

Scott, Armando and Danny departed terra firma last Thursday, March 5. They had a bit of an adventure departing - angry natives waving spears, etc. I will save that story for Scott and Danny to tell!

Many have asked who Danny is, but anyone who was at our new Years Eve party last year does not have to ask! Danny is related to Scott in some obscure way (Scott's grandfather and Danny's grandmother were siblings, their fathers were cousins, that makes Danny & Scott second, third cousins?? cousins once removed, twice removed?? something like that.) The families have always been close. Scott and Danny have known each other from childhood and they have recently renewed their friendship including Danny's wife Rhonda and myself. Danny & Rhonda are from White Rock, British Columbia, a beautiful seaside community near Vancouver.

Danny & Rhonda were visiting Florida over the holidays and perhaps Danny had had too much wine but somehow the idea of crossing the Atlantic Ocean with Scott appealed to him. Danny & Rhonda are both adventurers so the idea planted itself and quickly took root.

So Danny made plans to meet Scott & Armando in Praia in the Cape Verde Islands. Casting his lot with Scott, Danny, like Scott, chose to wait until they were in the Cape Verde islands to attempt to obtain a visa to Brazil. Unlike most of Europe, travel to the South American countries is not so easy. Luckily having Armando (a well respected Brazilian citizen) vouch for them (and translate for them) seemed to help. They got their visas and were on their way. I hope they don’t do anything to hurt Armando's reputation or prevent him from ever returning to Brazil.

After checking out with customs in Praia, they made an unauthorized stop at the next island over. That is where they had their little adventure. (I hope Danny got pictures!)

They left the Cape Verde Island on Thursday March 5.

Since then they are having the most beautiful sailing of the whole trip. The trip across the Atlantic in the northern latitudes was marked by big storms and rough weather.

In the south things have been nothing but pleasant and tranquil. As you can see on the satellite tracking they have been making great headway. They have had gentle following winds, warm weather, ocean temperature in the 80’s, and catching fish like crazy. They have been enjoying mahi mahi and sashimi tuna everyday. They have also been swimming off the boat and dragging through the water on a line off the stern. I sure hope Danny is getting some pictures!

Sounds like Scott and Armando are making up for their dreadful winter in the Meditterean.

They are now about 200 miles or less off the equator. Their destination is an island called Iha Fernando de Noronha which is about 200 miles east of the easternmost point of Brazil. Here is a Google Earth map of the island. The island is the little square in the ocean.

You can see Fortaleza (Armando’s home and their ultimate destination) up the coast a bit.

More tomorrow about the party that will be there to meet them in Fortaleza.

Losing Track of the Dot - a Note from Home

2009-02-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that the transponder has been skipping a few hours, which reminded me of the satellite coverage map that iBoatTrack gave me when we started this journey. I dug up the map they gave me and took a look. Good thing Rhonda didn't know that they would be outside of satellite tracking range or she might not have let Danny go!

You can see on this coverage map that after they leave the Cape Verde Islands they will be out of range for the rest of the crossing. I know that our knowing exactly where they are does not make them any safer, but it makes me feel better.

The plan is for Scott & Armando to meet up with Danny in Praia, which is the main city in the Cape Verde Islands. It is the only city that has a Brazilian Consulate and Danny & Scott need a visa to enter Brazil. Danny will arrive in Praia tonight. Scott and Armando were supposed to be there to meet him, but they are running a little late due to the trouble getting out of Gilbralter.

Severance will leave the Cape Verdes as soon as they get the visas. Armando thinks they should be able to get it same day, which would be Monday, March 2. They will provision and then leave as soon as possible because Scott and Danny will have hot dates waiting for them in Brazil. (I imagine that Armando does also!!!).

Rhonda and I will meet them in Fortaleza, Armando's home town. We are also hoping that Madeline, the good friend that Scott and Armando made in Plymoth, will come also. She was all set to come, but is trying to decide now that it turns out they only plan on staying in Brazil for a week. It's a long way to go for a week.

Rhonda and I both have our flights. I will arrive Saturday March 28 and leave April 5. Rhonda arrives on Sunday, March 29 and will stay until April 20th. Danny plans to jump ship in Fortaleza and he and Rhonda will spend some time exploring Brazil, including a boat trip down the Amazon.

Scott assures us they will be there before we arrive. He'd better be there! He can pull that "We've got no plans and we're sticking to them" with Danny and Jim, but with me - he'd better have a plan and stick to it!!

Canaries

2009-02-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

No time for a proper post, but I know if I don't write something now it won't get done...

Anyway, we reached the Canaries. Beautiful weather, sunshine, people on the beach, fantastic places here (we've been on two of the islands).

We're leaving in a few hours for the Verdes and will pick up Danny McJannet for the leg to Brazil.

I have a funny Armando story to relate (I feel Ok as I've ratted myself out on many of my dumber moments).

Anyway, we cruising along (flying actually, 20 knots dead downwind) wing on wing (main on one side, whisker pole on the other holding the genny out on the other side).

Armando had the worst of the night shift (wonder how that happened...don't recall even flipping a coin on that one) and our batteries were getting low, he didn't want to start the engine and wake me (kind guy that his is, which is why I shouldn't tell this story), so he comes below and flips the breaker for the fridge.

He returns to the cockpit and the wind starts to shift, which is really weird as it has been blowing in the same direction for days (and it always blows that way in this part of the world), and it continues to shift, which has him starting to make some sail adjustments and then it totally shifts, comes around on the nose and folds the whisker pole (the ultimate fate of all poles).

About this time it dawns on him that the autopilot has "failed", the wind didn't shift, the boat turned around!!!!

So, he gets us back on course and then realizes that the autopilot didn't just go nuts on it's own, but he had flipped the breaker off when he turned off the fridge (it is the next one up)....he'd "fat fingered it!.

Anyway, the next day I got all my tools out and was able to cut off the section of the pole that had folded (it is an extending pole) and there was plenty of pole left to extend, so some cutting, drilling and a refit of the pole end and I was back in business....pretty smug and proud of myself!!!!

All that was left to do was to put a big ribbon on the bent piece and tie it to Armando's cabin door, a present from Santa! He doesn't admit it, but when I do something like a total rebuild of a pole at sea he has to reevaluate his opinion of the old sailing fool he's had to put up with for so many sea miles!!!

P.S. While I sit here nursing a beer Armando is drinking coke, I lost him last night somewhere on the street during the Carnival float parade and he didn't make it back to the boat until quite early, something about sleeping in a park...apparently he's not able to keep pace with his captain when it comes to imbibing fine Cuban rum....I can't wait to get him to sea today and see how rolling around on a downwind run helps his condition!!!

Gibraltar Misc

2009-02-22T04:02:00.000-08:00

Morrisons grocery store, just like the UK (not meant as flattery) apparently they actually ship horrid British food out of that country! We moved our boat to a Spanish marina 2 days before departure just so we could provision...

Talking to a guy that has lived there for 40 years, said it was the worst winter since he's been there, figures it is on a 50 year cycle....recurring theme of the trip...

We were tied up along a wall with some decent protection. Boats on the inside were subject to a swell that lifted and dropped their boat ends around 4', really tough to get on and off and worse to live like that, in a supposed protected harbor to boot!

I have yet to chronicle my French canal experiences, some of which resulted in scrapes and bruises to the boat and my ego. I met a sailor here that was doing (many) of the canals alone, he would put on his autopilot as he approached a lock and get things squared away. As he was on the bow making preparations, charging down the canal at 6 knots with his autopilot engaged, the self steerer decided to make a 90 degree turn to starboard, within 20 feet (as he scrambled back to the cockpit) the boat had driven itself up a low concrete wall and put a huge hole in his bow. I plan to get the rest of the story when I see him in the Canaries, but suffice to say I felt a bit better about my experiences after that chat...

Gibraltar was the 1st time, since leaving the UK in November, that we met other sailors! People to share stories with, commiserate over boat problems, talk about where we've been and where we're going. Actually being part of a community (weird cause sailors are non-joiner independent types). Different from our journeys so far, I think we're starting to fit into the bigger picture and becoming part of the flow (except that we're really talking about the stragglers, everyone now is in the Carib planning to depart for hurricane season just as we plan to arrive).

We're so close to being out of the Med we can taste it! You can see Africa from here. Hope springs eternal. Soon we'll be headed towards the Equator, nothing but high barometric pressure, warmer water, current going our way, winds the same....you can see it from here!

Gibraltar Arrival

2009-02-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

Pics to follow.....

Our last Spanish port was just 35NM from Gibraltar, but we were pinned down for a day waiting for some minimum reduction in the wind strength (which of course was coming directly from the Straits of Gibraltar).

The decision to leave that port into building winds (projected to reach 25) was made based on the projection over the next week....nothing better for days and some options get out of Gibraltar if we could just make it that far.

Our fuel situation wasn't ideal, both tanks showing about ½ and the marina we stayed in only sold gas.

¼ mile back there was a marina that sold diesel, but (being a man) I never backtrack, plus there were other marinas along the coast we could stop and refuel at.

The wind was just off the nose, so we motor sailed (main up) and I debated whether to stop for fuel or not...I decided against it as I wanted to reach Gibraltar in good daylight.

I think you can probably see where this is going....

As we got within 10 miles of the Rock, the winds continued to build, until they topped out at what we later learned was 50NMPH.

Which slowed us to a crawl and made me start to think about just how much fuel I had.

The fuel equation is not just how many gallons one has in a tank, it is how many gallons are required to keep the fuel line submerged, given things like sloshing (JTR builds fine tanks and these are well baffled, but there is only so much baffling can do) and the angle of heel of the boat (the main tank likes the boat heeled to port).

I was contemplating switching from the aux tank, which is smaller and less affected by heel and yaw, and was watching the gauge closely, it was reading ¼ so I knew I was pushing it a bit.

A short primer on diesels for the uninitiated....running out of fuel introduces air into the system, which requires a procedure called “bleeding”, not that big a deal, unless one is trying to enter one of the busiest ports in the world in 50 knot winds and high sea conditions.

Ok....I think you've all guessed that the engine (of course) sucked in some air, sputtered and my switch to the main tank was a day late and a dollar short.

We hadn't rounded the point into the harbour (even though we'd been very close for several hours) so we now fell off the wind, gave up the fight and started sailing through the scores of anchored ships trying to stay out of the winds and waves just to the East of the big Rock.

We put out some genoa for better control and I decided to sail up as close to the Rock's cliff as possible, which should have put me in calm, protected waters.

However, as I looked along the shore I was trying to tack up to I saw the water equivalent of “dust devils” swirls of winds that pick water up from a flat spot where the winds whipped the water and foam out....really cool thing to see except for the circumstances.

When we got as close to the Windward shore as possible the water was calm, but somehow the SW winds, which should have been blocked by the 1000' cliff, actually were blowing right out of the North and right down the rock beach!

Wow, and island with more than one windward side, that's a new one to me, but then again I seem to discover things like that.

Time to furl the headsail and drop the hook...except that the headsail took three turns and the furler jammed!

Damn, throw the hook anyway and we can sort it all out at anchor.

The anchor held (1st thing that went our way) and we figured out the furling problem (spinnaker halyard tied in the wrong spot so the top furling gear hooked on it of course).

Next, down the main, set the anchor drag alarm, take a few deep breaths and crack open a cold one!

We're still being buffeted by strong gusts and it turned out a flailing genoa sheet (that had gone out as far as the stopper knot allowed it) managed to shatter the large starboard section of “glass” (actually a stiff plastic that must have been extra hard due to the extreme cold temperature at the time....I did mention it was colder than Hell didn't I?).

Time for a plan.

1st things 1st, transfer the remaining fuel in the main tank to the smaller aux tank (where it would pose no potential for sucking air as the boat rocked).

Easy deal, except that I never put in any tank to tank transfer capabilities, so off with the inspection port and in with a pump hose for transfer to our (empty of course) spare diesel container, then the transfer to a smaller jug and into the aux tank.

We pulled about 8 gallons out of the main tank, so the aux tank was almost full...no problemo with that anymore.

Bled the diesel (at which I now rank as an expert) and let it run for 1 hour to ensure all the air was purged, which of course it never is and you inevitably experience some residual effects often at inconvenient times.

The wind continued to howl and I was resolved to wait for a respite or for the sun to come back in 12 hours before attempting the point rounding and bashing up the harbor.

However, the wind decided to clock and our windward shore became a lee shore (meaning if our anchor dragged we'd be on the rocks), so that “helped” me make the decision to complete the journey.

Pitch black, dozens of anchored ships, some ship traffic and the wind on the nose as we rounded the point and went up the harbor (I still can't figure out how a place can have winds from so many directions simultaneously.

Anyway, as we approached the marina suggested by my pilot guide we were lit up by a police boat that informed us that marina was now closed, but gave us a name of an open one and, within an hour, we were tied up alongside a cement pier....destination achieved!!!

I sometimes marvel at how easy I can make all this stuff seem!

Laziness and Procrastination - Sometimes the Best Strategy

2009-02-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Last night we gave up the battle to get to Gibraltar and proceeded to a nearby marina.

Which, it turned out, had no berths (a 1st since we are so out of season this just hasn't been an issue), so we worked our way back out through the surf line (yep....less than 50 yards from the beach and big breaking waves) and went 2NM to the next marina.

Today was supposed to be more of the same, strong winds on the nose and large waves, which means burning fuel and bashing against it at 3-4 knots (basically, we could walk out of the Med faster).

I gave it some thought and just didn't have a great feeling about things, so I decided to park it here for the day.

The rain and overcast skies helped the decision, but also a look out the hatch at waves sending spray over a 15' sea wall reinforced the thought of bagging it for today (or more...).

So, late in the afternoon (when the rain abated) we clamber off the boat and do the look for internet bit and end up in a nice bar.

Watching TV (but only being able to catch the images) showed that Gibraltar got nailed today, the marinas were a mess, flooding had wrecked part of the town, etc., etc.

Wow, sometimes not being where you really think you want to be works out in your favor!

Gibraltar is a "mere" 35nm from here, but it may as well be on the moon the way things are going.

We may poke our nose out of the marina tomorrow, or may not, but I'm really glad I took the lazy route today!

The Med reminds me of the Roach Motel commercials, "You can check in but can't check out!"

We'll be out of it, maybe later than sooner, but Severance will prevail!!!

P.S. I just finished a book about Shackleton's adventures (Google him)...makes one feel like a real whimp when we're whining about bashing around in Med in relative comfort and plugging in a heater most nights in a marina

Latest on The Plan

2009-02-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here the latest version.

Basically 6500 miles and 4 months, requiring an avg of 55nm per day.

Given some long legs we should be able to “earn” days to enjoy things in some of the really great spots that are coming up.

Loosely.....(all NM are approx as with everything else!)
Depart Gibraltar Feb 8th for Casablanca (assuming my insurance covers Morocco) 300NM
Depart Casablanca Feb 13th for Canaries 425NM
Depart Canaries Feb 20th for Verdes 800NM
Depart Verdes for Fortaleza, Brazil March 5th 3000NM
Depart Fortaleza April 5th for Trinidad 1600NM
Depart Trinidad April 25th for Key West 1500NM

I don't yet know anything about the crossing to Brazil, my books only cover the typical North of the equator trade wind route, so that's a blank slate right now (I know people do it though).

Armando and I both need visas for the Verde islands, plus I need a visa for Brazil and he needs one for the US....which really complicates things and could involve some sitting around, or skipping someplace or illegal landings.

But all these places are the best spots, the proverbial icing on the cake, the great destinations of sailing that we all hope to get to “someday”.

Now....we just need to get the hell out of the Med (which seems to have become the motto of Severance)!!!!!

“Passenger Pigeon” or More?

2009-02-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

We're working our way down the coast of Spain (and I mean working as the wind and waves are conspiring against us and we're hugging the shore as close as is “safe” given the total state of darkness) and I'm being tossed around in my bunk (somehow Armando always seems to be on watch for the worst of it) and then take over at some point under only rainy, cold conditions.

Dawn arrives (one would think Sun, but apparently it isn't a requirement) and I'm on watch when a bird descends from the heavens and takes a spot behind the wheel!

Immediately I think of what Lori Wickman would think (she's one of the “bless their heart” women that keeps me in their prayers) and take a few snapshots.

When Armando awakes, I point out the bird (who appears to be steering and may actually be...after all, maybe Lori is more tuned in to those things than I am!).

And, Armando points his hands skyward and says (something like) “Thank God, we finally have an intelligent and competent captain at the wheel!” and I break out laughing (as the sign of a good humored person is to be able to take a joke at their expense).

I'm almost in tears and look over at Armando, who does a great job of “pretending” to have made a serious comment, what a comedian, only a highly skilled humorist can hold back the laughter at their own best jokes and he's just holding a stone face.

I'm thinking, these Brazilians have the most incredible sense of “dry” humor, even besting the Brits.

Then the bird flies off, Armando plays it to the hilt, gets a tear in his eye and returns below to sleep.

Balearic Island of Ibiza to Spain

2009-02-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Leaving a Marina
Coast of Spain
Natural Rock Formation

The next step involved making the 50NM (minimum) jump to Cabo de le Nao....I use the word “minimum” as land falls away to the Southwest very quickly, so if you can't make that point you end sailing merrily down the coast basically forever.

Of course, the wind was blowing a typical 20+ from the NW (too close to being on the nose to sail), but we were able to motorsail (mainsail up for some help) and bash our way through the steep waves for 12 hours to just catch the heaThere is a shipping separation zone off the point, which we managed to cross the NE bound lane with no problem, but some math on getting (slowly) across the SW lane with the speed and progress of a downbound tanker would have put us squarely in the middle of that lane entrance (I was staying just outside the zone) which would have put the captain of that ship in charge of deciding which side to cross us on.

I like to be the one making that decision (I hate looking at the bow of a ship traveling at 18 knots when I'm slugging it out against the winds and waves at 4)...so I took a hard right and burned 20 minutes to sail past him and then ducked behind his stern.

Which turned out to be a good move as 2 other freighters came from the North and passed far ahead of us.

We hit land at 10:30 pm (literally as I clunked the keel and had to back off a reef in what I thought was an open beach area marked as a good anchorage on my pilot guide...so much for that drawing!).

From there we've been able to work our way (mostly motorsailing) against high winds by hugging the coastline.

At one of our stops the marina manager told us he'd been blown out of a boat (same storm from my earlier blog post with all the boats on the beach) by 120kmph winds when he went out to chase down a boat that had broken free from its mooring.

He told me his theory was that boats come to the Med to sink...relating a story about a “successful” 5 year round the world cruise by someone that lost their boat off Barcelona.

I told him I didn't want to hear any more stories!

On this leg there's been 1 severe low pressure center that has given us fits (they come charging in from the Atlantic, dissipate a bit if they go over the mainland but typically just come full bore through the gap at Gibraltar causing gale force winds in various directions as they move into the Med).

We've managed now to work our way to a NW “corner” were we'll be able to work down the coast to Gibraltar, our next (and main) destination before we get into the Atlantic and head South for Casablanca (and beyond!)

Ok....here's more about why we're trying to get the Hell of of the Med!!!

2009-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, medical malady of one of the crew members (Ok....me) caused us to take some time out in our bid to put the Med in our rear view mirror.

So, we end up in a port in Ibiza, just 60nm short of getting to the coast of Spain, which we can run down in the worst of the westerlies.

But, we need to make the jump.

While we were waiting a typical Med gale hit, 50nmph + and over 30 boats got dragged ashore!

We were tied up to a huge catamaran that was directly upwind from us, but we still heeled at over 20 degrees....you could not sleep in a bunk without a lee cloth (used typically offshore) as you would get tossed to the floor.

It howled for at least 20 hours, before subsiding to the normal 24nm wind.

We're waiting on a weather window to make the jump, Armando is in a foul mood, he hates to be stuck somewhere.

But, this is actually a nice town with lots of internet access (that never happens!!!).

Anyway, we're pinned down, it's not as bad as when these boats were driven ashore but when it blows it blows for days.

Scott's Back! (Ouch!)

2009-01-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I've had the misfortune to have had some back problems, first on the starboard side (corrected with a small surgical procedure) and then on the port side (temporarily....as it turns out...corrected via some well placed shots of some good stuff).

I'd recently started to be reminded of my port side problems and was not too happy to be visited by my old friend, but I really did a number on myself when I tried to roll\jump out of bed to respond to an anchor drag alarm....I believe the phrase is I went down like a sack of potatoes.

And this one was really bad, I couldn't sit, try to sit or even try to stand up.

So, Armando had a non-functioning, heap of plasma on his hands that was strongly suggesting that medical professionals were going to be required at some point in the very near future.

I do have a bag of prescription drugs that my physician was good enough to help me put together for the trip, unfortunately I lack a medical dictionary and attempts to alleviate pain might end up with a desperate need to visit the head, exactly the opposite of what was required (someday I need to figure out just what the heck I have in those bottles).

So, Armando weighed anchor and proceeded to the nearest port....some 10nm away.

Now, I could feel sorry for myself, but he's the one with the real problem. He's got to get the boat into port, tie up and engage whatever port authorities he can find to get things sorted out, all without doing any (more) damage to the boat, which has had a tough go of things on this trip.

He handles this beautifully and pulls alongside a pier, a rare thing in the world of Med mooring (which typically involves backing in, tying off to a line on the bow that goes to the seabed and trying to get the stern close enough to the seawall that one can climb off....sometime I'll do a whole posting on this).

I'm thinking...ok, medical 1st responders can probably extract me from the boat (very optimistic thinking if you've ever been down below on Severance and know how small the companionway is) and lift me over the side and get me on the pier.!

And so, he gets assigned a spot (after they told him to leave but he said he wouldn't as we were declaring a medical emergency....which unfortunately for me was me)....and has no real option but to go bow in, which is a feat in and of itself as he's single handling things.

So, now he goes back to the office and inquires about medical assistance....calls go out and an ambulance is sent.

At this point I'm doing the typical American thing about making sure my insurance will cover all this, so I'm on the sat phone trying to get a hold of Diane, who can't answer as she's busy making a living and keeping us covered with health insurance.

So, the ambulance attendants show up, the woman takes one look at how the boat is tied up and stays on the dock, the guy follows Armando onboard and comes down to look at what they are dealing with.

He calls the doctor and explains that he can't even get his assistant on the boat and that it's not going to be possible to get me off and into the clinic and tells the doctor they need to come to the boat.

The only way I know this is that Armando, besides speaking Italian, English, Portugese and a smattering of French, is fluent in Spanish (yes....God looks after atheists!).

So, everyone retreats and within 45 minutes the doctor and her assistant show up, clamber on the boat (along with the ambulance guy but his assistant is still too smart to climb onboard) and she checks me out, we discuss things (she thinks she speaks bad English but I don't) and she orders and injection of a painkiller and cordison(sp?), then gives me an oral antiinflamatory\painkiller, plus a painkiller and Diazapam (to help me sleep and as a muscle relaxer).

She tells me to stay put (no problem there) and to come and see her in two days, which she figures it will take to get me back in condition to stand up and put one foot in front of the other.

As the entire medical contingency leaves I ask Armando to ask for the bill and to try to figure out how to handle all this.

They look back at us with suprise....no bill, they are a public health service!

But I'm not a citizen.....but they say "you had an emergency....you needed help!"

Ok folks.....think about trying this at home.

No Dr would ever be able to come to you, they would have extracted me one way or another, doctors can only see someone in a hospital or clinic.

Anyway, 2 days later I did make my way off the boat and went to the public clinic.

There were maybe 20 people there.

I was asked for a medical card and proudly produced my Blue Cross-Blue Shield, which supposedly pays for things.

They handed it back, some discussions took place and I was instructed to sit in the waiting room.

When my time came (less than 20 minutes) the same doctor and her assistant saw me, we discussed things, she explained her diagnosis and how important it was to continue with the anti-inflammatory meds (and gave me another handful) and I told her about my problems in the past (basically the underlying problems), we talked about therapy and she warned me to not lift anything heavy and to take it easy (typical concerned health professional).....and I again asked about the bill.

And she explained that this was a public health facility. I told her that they had really saved my ass (ok, back) and could I donate what should have been the bill amount....she said they had no way for that to happen.

And then she said, you're going to Brazil.....they have more needs that we do, why don't you wait and donate to something there?

Anyway, read this anyway you want, but (to paraphrase John Lennon), Imagine health care professionals that aren't forced to run a business, not bled dry by lawyers (and those of us that sue) and that get to care for people and that the people (government) just think that health care is something that people should have....

Every health care exchange in the US starts out with "what's your health insurance coverage"....Imagine if it started out with "What's the problem and how can we help you get through this?".

I'm back on my feet, when I get back to the States I'll get out my medical insurance card and work out all the stuff to get more precisely placed injections to get at the root of my problem, but I have to say that I'm really glad that, when I was laid low in a bunk, I landed in a Spanish port....

As good as it gets!

2009-01-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

This video was taken by Armando as we sailed between Sardinia and Menorica (probably the 1st night as the 2nd had much higher winds and waves).

We're on a beam to broad reach (wind over the side of the boat), the waves are low and not slowing us down at all, Armando has the boat dialed in and we're flying along!

The knotmeter reads 8, but it is about .5 off, but we're getting an honest 7.5 SOG on the GPS (which is really a tad higher than hull speed).

Note the job the autopilot is doing and that I'm nowhere to be seen (snoring comfortably away on the low side down below!).

This is the kind of sailing you always wish for, and sometimes get!

Enjoy the video!

The Jump to the Balearic Islands

2009-01-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

I had left Armando on Severance in the beautiful Sardinian town of Arbatax.

Originally, the plan had been to get to Caglaria, but we fell 100 nm short.

How Armando survived in that town for 3 weeks without going totally insane it beyond me, but he was thrilled when I arrived (not really to see me, but it meant we could get the hell out of there!).

I was totally exhausted and looked forward to sleeping for 2 days, based on my experience the chances were good we'd be trapped by weather for at least that long.

In my absence, Armando had tackled a long list of problems and issues we had on the boat.

The biggest was that he repaired our underdeck, hydraulic autopilot, which had not worked since Plymouth.

There was no way we were going to make the next big leg without it, we hadn't needed it in the canals, but had done some long cold passages being forced to steer across the English channel and during our Med travels.

This was huge.

He also cleaned up a lot of wiring, getting us past some “emergency” stuff Eric and I had done after leaving the Azores.

Plus, the boat was all cleaned up, organized, tidy, just the way the house had been when I arrived!

I knew it wouldn't last and started to get a sense that there was a common thread in the disarray that seems to surround me, but I quickly dismissed that notion and proceeded to tear open and strew around all the packages I had proudly brought back with me as Armando rolled his eyes back in some kind of expression of resignation.

Armando informed me that he had good and bad news, which did I want to hear first?

I was never good at that game, but the deal was that we had a short window that we could use to sail to the Belearic islands but that we needed to leave at 4:00 am the next morning!

And, the “good” weather window meant we shouldn't experience more that 30 knot gusts, which counts as great weather around these parts!

So, before the crack of dawn, off we went.

However, when I say we I have to admit that I never heard the engine start, which is only 1' from my head and I didn't awake until 2:00 pm, at which point I took a look around and went down for a 6 hour nap.

It turned out to be a great trip, Armando and usual had figured out the weather correctly.

We screamed along on a broad reach in 20-30 knot winds, the seas built a bit given the length of time the wind was in the same direction (waves typically aren't a big problem in the Med, compared to the Atlantic or English channel).

From Arbatax the trip was about 300 nm and we arrived in Puerto de Mahon, Menorca mid-day after 2 nights out on the water.

This really felt like a big turning point as we had passed the waters affected by the Mistral (the Belearics are on the West edge of it) and could now run behind islands to a jump off point of only 60 nm from Spain.

And damn if it wasn't sunny and almost warm, much nicer than anything we'd experienced in months.

After 2 days in Mahon we left for Mallorca, anchored overnight in a cala and motorsailed in calm waters and sunshine around the coast to Palma.

For the 1^st time we're starting to come across pleasure boats out on the water, feels like we might be onto something here!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2009-01-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

2 planes, a taxi, a train, a hotel, a taxi, 2 planes, one rental car and 3 hour mountain road trip and I was back on Severance!

Rested and refreshed after days with no sleep.

Homeward Bound

2009-01-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

At some point, I bowed to pressure from abroad (mostly James Heathfield's common sense urging) as everyone was wondering about our New Year's party.

I had booked a cheap flight from Nice as Armando and I had signed up to take a class near there in late November....when that fell through we decided to make as much East\South progress as possible, so we were in Sardinia when it came time for me to take the flight.

So, one 15 hour ferry, 3 trains, 1 French train strike, one hotel, 1 taxi and 2 planes later I arrived rested and refreshed in Tampa!

And I thought winter boat travel in the Med was tiring!

Diane's dog seemed to remember me, Diane was happy to have me home (I think she got over that quickly) there were some clothes I didn't recognize on my side of the closet, but they turned out to be women's clothing (Diane was claiming more space in my absence) and the house was wonderfully clean and tidy (which it wasn't when I left 3 weeks later....hmmmh).

You could take a shower without sliding a token into a slot and pressing a spring loaded faucet every 1 minute and you could control the water temperature and the whole thing didn't time out on you!

What a wonderful, wonderful place, very strangely unreal.

Anyway, 3 weeks and I left all the important stuff until the last day (of course).

Great New Years party (thanks Jimmy Sexton....I hope you come back and I promise we won't work you to death again!) as those of you in attendance know.

It was very strange to look at my empty boat lift and realize where Severance was, and had been, got a new perspective on this whole thing.

The weeks went quickly and it was soon time to get back to my reality....the trip is about ½ done at this point and there are a lot of miles yet to put on the keel.

The “Plan” Changes!

2009-01-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

Pictures are in and around Bonifacio (South coast of Corsica).

Ok, no laughing, there really was a kinda, sorta plan, which involved going East in the Med, at least as far as Greece.

But, reality being non-negotiable, (even though I've never quite been able to accept that) it turns out that the Med is no place to be in the dead of winter in any kind of “pleasure” craft.

We now know that the surprise expressed by fellow sailors (upon hearing our plans to sail the Med in winter ) was really just a way to politely avoid openly calling us “fools”.

The tip off should have come in when, in our 1^st Med port (where our mast had been delivered) we had a 5 day SE gale (atypical as the worst ones generally are the Mistrals that come down the Rhone valley from the North).

Since that time we've been so many gales that I've lost count.

The worst one generated 90 knot winds, we were on the West coast of Corsica and it came from the East, breaking up a marina on that coast and knocking out power to large parts of NE Corsica.

It was so bad in the marina we were in we could not climb from our boat onto the sea wall.

Leading through a series of misadventures that involved inflating the dinghy to give us a way to get 6 feet from the boat to the dock, towing the dinghy when we left there in a hurry, losing the dinghy (the rule is you never tow....this was the 1^st time on the trip I did that) in a 50-70 knot storm we got trapped out in when it finally broke it's lines....it took us 3 hours to fight our way into a cove where we were trapped for 3 nights and 2 days...worst high sustained winds I've ever experienced....I don't even want to talk about it, which is why I'm just burying this in a paragraph I'm hopeful people don't read....

Proceeding down the coast of Corsica, which I admit was very beautiful and the 1^st time I've ever sailed a boat and looked up at snow capped mountains (did I mention it was cold as hell???) , we experienced sleet and sailed within 2 miles of a huge waterspout, (read gigantic tornado!!!!) and watched as 4 more spouts came down from that cloud.

On the South coast of Corsica we stayed in Bonifacio, where the docks are at the narrow end of a long cut in the rocks.

The wind was blowing it's typical 25 knots (which it always does when it isn't blowing 50+) straight down the cut, docking required turning the boat up wind in a wide spot and then blowing down the cut bow to the wind, allowing me to land Armando on a pier from the bow with a bit of forward maneuvering.

Just trying to paint a picture here....the Aussie I met in Bonifacio commented that everyone in the Bahamas was avidly watching the weather trying to avoid anything above 18 knots, when we never see anything less than that and typically have days of 30-50 (he also thought that, had the Bahamas been hit with a sustained 90+ it would have made CNN, but the Corsican gale probably didn't make the news anywhere in Europe).

After Bonifacio we jumped down to Sardinia and traveled the East coast, providing protection from the inevitable Mistrals that circles counter clockwise and thus typically hit the West coast.

One night found us in a small “protected” spot (which we surfed into, not the way you want to enter a small cut) where the locals advised us to tie up to the largest fishing boat as that night's expected swell would make the visitors' dock totally untenable.

Which worked out well for us as there was no charge, the fisherman gave us glasses of homemade clear “brandy” and ensured that we would get an early start if the weather cleared, as they would fire up their engines and charge out at 4:00 am (which they and we did).

Anyway, back to The Plan Changes.....at some point going down the coast of Sardinia and contemplating the next logical Eastward jump (Sardinia to Sicily – 170nm) I started to do some (uncharacteristic) thinking and planning.

I had known I was short on time and had briefly broached the idea to Diane of coming home after the hurricane season, which would give me the 6 more months I needed to sail the Med, get to Brazil and home.

I don't recall exactly what Diane's response was, but it was something about my stuff and the driveway, so that idea was a non-starter.

The problem with going East (which was fairly easy as the Mistral turns to the East and will blow you as far as you want to go that way), is that you have to claw your way back West if your intention is to exit the Med at that end.

The Aussie in Bonifacio told me the cheapest place to buy sailboats was Turkey in the winter, as no one wanted to sail them back out!

Going to Sicily started to look like a bad idea. Even getting West (to the Balearic Islands off Spain) from Sardinia was going to take 2 days of “good” weather, of which we had not experienced in our time in this pond.

If we turned West and managed to get the Balearics, then a trip to Brazil could be envisioned, along with more time in warm places, swimming and the whole deal one envisions when thinking about sailing.

And, thus the new plan....Eastward Med sailing was abandoned, the new plan was to get as far West and South as fast as possible and Brazil was back in the picture!

More or what you never want to see!!!!

2009-01-23T05:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some photo's taken by Armando while we were heading down the West coast of Corsica.

It's hard to tell just how close this are to us, but I would say less than 3 nm, which is waaayyyy too close!

I would have to say that this is one of the 10 (or 5) worst things I've seen in my years on boats, I was very pleased that we managed to maintain some distance as I had visions of ending up with a stripped down fiberglass shell as everything that wasn't metal or part of the hull spiralling skyward to the heavens and beyond....

Things you hope you never see!

2009-01-23T05:53:00.000-08:00

The Blog

2009-01-23T05:52:00.000-08:00

There is some saying about “Good Intentions” but I can't think of it now....but my best intentions have not resulted in any verbiage for the blog.

I'm so far behind that I've decided to try to start up again with the current stuff, and maybe fill in earlier parts down the road (there I go again with good intentions).

Anyway, here's the “latest” (which is already stale!).

Isla de Porquerolles

2009-01-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

This is the approach to the first island of the Hyeres Island group, Isla de Porquerolles. It was beautiful, but completely deserted.

For those of you from Wisconsin – think Door County in the winter (but without the snow). For those of you from Michigan, think Mackinaw Island in the winter (but without the snow). Now that I think of it – why is the Mediterranean ever deserted?? In any season it is better than Michigan or Wisconsin! (My apologies to our loyal mid-westerner friends.)

We arrived very late in the afternoon, after the Captainery (Harbor House) had closed. We considered our options. There was a long pier that we could tie up to without having to do the “Mediterranean Mooring” – backing into a “parking slip” tied stern to with mooring lines holding the bow out. This form of docking (which is how they do it everywhere in Europe because there is not enough dock space for everyone to tie up to a pier) was uncomfortable for me because you somehow had to get from the stern of your boat to land. It often was a longer distance than my short legs were comfortable with. Most boats in the Med carry planks that they use to get to the dock, but we did not. It was not as bad as I expected, but I did have some embarrassing moments where Scott had to half drag me onto the dock.

Luckily good sense overrode my desire for easy debarkation. There were many slips available for doing the Med Mooring and so we did that. Next morning we woke and saw huge barges, ferries, and work ships tied to the pier that had so tempted us the night before.

As I said, it was very deserted. Most of the cafés and hotels were closed. Very few people. Some minor construction under way…

An example of a tree tortured and twisted by the Mistral.

An olive tree.

We only stayed one full day at Isla de Porquerolles and then we were off. We had planned on continuing east to St. Tropez, but learned that it would be very difficult for Armando to get to St. Tropez from Marseille where he would be returning in 2 days. Looking at train schedules it was obvious that the best place to meet him would be Toulon.

The next day we left for Toulon.

Sanary

2009-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

We didn’t go too far. Just down the coast from Cassis was Sanary. The German couple suggested it was a nice place to go if you wanted to do a little shopping.

Lighthouse at the entrance to the Sanary harbor.

Coming in to Sanary. The big homes are said to be the homes of the “Marseille Mafia”, as featured in the film ‘The French Connection”.

Sanary was very similar to Cassis, but a bit bigger. Bigger, but not big enough to spoil the ambiance. It had the same well kept fishing dinghies and the harbor was surrounded by small cafés.

And as our friends had told us, many more shops. But it was not commercial; they were all very unique little boutique shops.

The bakeries had exquisite little cakes.

And big cakes!

Scott tried to talk me into buying one. Anyone who knows Scott knows that he does not eat sweets, so I would have been on my own if I had chosen one. It didn’t seem prudent at the time, but after the fact, I wish that I had. Where will I ever see anything like this again? If I could do it over, I would choose the one on the right, loaded with fruit like Carmen Miranda’s hat!! Or the chocolate log in the middle. Or the cherry tart to the left. Oh such sweet regrets!

Rows of boats from a sailing club.

The streets were lined with Palms.

All French towns have regular days for the farmer’s market. It is generally one day a week and it varies from town to town. We stayed in Sanary for 3 days and they had the market twice while we were there. The produce looked as if it were arranged by a professional stylist for a food magazine.

Bulk spices. Scott bought some peppercorns and a Provencal mix.

Cheeses.

This was the wrapping from a sausage vendor at the market. We bought a couple different sausages, something that looked like a jelly roll with sausage and cheese rolled up inside puff pastry, and some ‘mousse canard’ (duck pate’). The proprietor was appreciating Scott’s appreciation of his products and kept throwing in additional items, including a loaf of crusty rustic bread.

We also picked up some perfect strawberries, fully red and shiny – again like a prop for a food magazine, a pound of shrimp, and some regional wine to round it out.

After leaving the market we left Sanary for our next destination – the Hyeres Islands. Hyeres is a well know destination in the South of France. Just off the coast of Hyeres is a group of 3 Islands, one of which is a protected nature preserve.

As we sailed towards the largest of the islands, le Porquerolles, we enjoyed our purchases from the market. The strawberries were the sweetest that I have ever tasted, as sweet as wild strawberries, but bigger. The shrimp, the sausage, cheese, even the ‘mousse canard’ on the fresh bread was a treat. A gourmet meal enjoyed on a bright sunlit day under sail, with a little of the region’s well known rose’ wine to wash it down - it really doesn’t get any better than this.

Cassis

2009-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day makes!! Whatever was happening in Marseille, it was gorgeous in Cassis. We awoke to bright sunshine and blue sky.

Cassis was absolutely the most charming little fishing village you could ever imagine. The pilot guide said that it was a favorite for many of the famous French artists. Even Virginia Wolfe, the famously depressed author, found solace here.

The town was picture book perfect – exactly what you would expect on the Mediterranean in the south of France. The pilot guide said that the town was bustling in the summer with every square inch of the small beach covered with blankets and oiled bodies. In November, no oiled bodies, but the cafés were bustling.

We docked across from the town.

I cannot get enough of the architecture. It looks like every French painting of the Mediterranean that I have ever seen. There are certain things that you have seen all your life in books, paintings, movies, but you never realised were real.

Examples from my life – the thatched roofed cottages with stucco and timber in Denmark that looked like they came straight out of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale (they did), Cowboys and Indians (I was 16 before I realized they were real), New York City the first time I visited it – Brownstones, Central Park Reservoir, Washington Square Park, Rockefeller Center skating rink - so many images you saw so often in movies but never really believed existed. My Danish sister Birgit’s big moment was seeing our country mailboxes – she called them ‘Donald Duck mailboxes’ because they were in Donald Duck comic books, but she never knew they really existed!

That is what is so amazing and satisfying about travel – to see all these things that are both familiar and exotic!

A street we passed through searching for …. what else …. Internet!!
(Known as Wii Fii – pronounced in France as Wee Fee)

The town at dusk.

The harbor was full of quaint fishing boats, and these were all working boats. We saw them as we came in the night before and we saw them going in and out in the morning.

The cafés along the waterfront featured seafood, all of it freshly caught that morning. When we ordered oysters, the gills were still fluttering. I must admit – maybe a little too fresh for me.

The harbor was surrounded by cafés and as we wandered around Scott was especially intrigued by the people we saw eating sea urchins. We came to this café which had a seafood platter that included all of the most interesting little sea critters. Scott decided this was worth splurging on. It had a wide array of local sea life. He is consulting with the proprietress as to the freshness!

Stone crab, mussels, oysters, shrimp, bulots (snail-like creatures, but not escargot), and sea urchins! Yum?

We compromised. I got the best of the crab and in return I let him have the sea urchins!

Shrimp is always served with the head on to show that it is fresh. No one would think of eating a headless shrimp. Who knows how old it was?

This is the edible part of sea urchins. Little tiny slivers of flesh, surprising sweet and delicate.

While we were in Cassis they had some kind of car rally. All I know is that they were vintage Citrons.

More old cars – this generated a lot of interest from others. To me – big deal, old cars…

(Sorry Kevin, it's how I feel!)

I took this picture for Robyn. She has a friend that likes the Michelon Man. This one’s for you Robyn!! (Who knows who Paul Ricard is? Obviously not as well known as the Mich-Man!)

The view of the fabulous cliffs from the beach at Cassis.

The beach that is, according to the pilot guide, covered with oiled bodies in the summer. Scott has been searching for the famous nude beaches of the French Riviera – here’s one! It appears to be completely denuded.

The beach at dusk.

Scott contemplating the ‘Nude Beach’. Do you think maybe you scared them off, Scott?

And the highlight of every stay – the Supermarche’! We provisioned well as this time we really were heading for the island.

This cliff is a very distinctive landmark of Cassis.

Leaving Cassis.

Leaving Marseille

2009-01-12T16:48:00.001-08:00

Tuesday night Scott checked the grib files and saw that a Mistral was coming our way and if we did not leave Marseille the next day we would be trapped until the winds let up.

Mistral is the name of a vicious wind that comes down from the Alps following the valley of the Rhone River. It is very strong and cold and dry. It occurs mostly in the winter and spring and is the main cause for the trees that you see bent to the south along the coast. Because it follows the Rhone Valley, Marseille is frequently affected.

Scott and Armando suffered much from the Mistral as they came down the Rhone.

We could see it on the grib map, coming down and filling in, but if we got out of Marseille that afternoon we could duck around the corner and be protected from it.

As I said before, the boat was not really in sailing order. So Tuesday morning Scott worked on rigging while I made use of those cleaning products we purchased earlier.

We took off shortly after noon. You can see by these pictures that it was very stormy.

That huge ugly condominium looking thing is a cruise ship. Behind it you see the beautiful church in the center of Marseille.

The castle that was looming over us when we were in the harbor. This is the castle from outside of the harbor.

The coast was very rocky – gorgeous in the sunlight, threatening in the storm clouds.

When we arrived at the spot the Germans had recommended it looked very forbidding and we decided to keep on going.

About an hour later we arrived in Cassius.

Marseille

2009-01-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

I left Tampa in the evening of November 8. The flight from Tampa to Detroit to Paris to Marseille went without a hitch, but I was anxious about arriving. Scott had promised to meet me at the airport, but we had a backup plan in case anything went wrong. Who knows – maybe after 6 months I would not recognize him.

As it turns out I would have known him anywhere and it was so wonderful to see him.

Scott got a late start leaving to meet me and when he checked on a taxi found out it would cost over 100 Euros (about $150). The airport was not near the town. With no idea of how to get there he started following a man carrying a suitcase – figuring he must be going to the airport. After following him down into the subway, Scott finally confessed what he was doing. The man spoke English and was indeed going to the airport. The subway took him to the train station, from the train station - a long bus ride brought him to the airport.

Backtracking – bus to train to subway, we ended up back at the boat. The beautiful thing about traveling by boat is that you end up in the best part of the city. You can see Severance above, right in the center of the city with medieval castles on all sides.

I was exhausted so we went back to the boat and I fell fast asleep. When I woke up Scott had made a beautiful meal which we enjoyed. The weather was rainy and cool so it was nice to just nestle into the boat for the evening.

I should mention here that after suffering and freezing all the way down the Rhone with the Mistral screaming down the valley, after Armando left, Scott finally broke down and bought a heater. They had resisted buying one, hoping the weather would warm up when they reached the Med, and not wanting to have something that big take up precious space on the boat. Since this was only the beginning of November, the warming up part did not seem likely and Scott knew what I would think. It turned out to be a very wise purchase that nobody regretted!

We wanted to spend a day or so in Marseille and then head east down the coast (the Cote’ de Azure). We met a German couple on a boat next to us. They gave us recommendations on places to visit and even marked Scott’s charts for him.

Before we could leave the boat needed some work. Scott and Armando had barely gotten to Port Saint Louis in time to have the mast stepped before they had to leave to get to Marseille in time for Armando’s flight to Brazil. Armando left for a visit home just before I arrive. The boat was a mess and needed additional rigging as well as a good cleaning.

Monday morning we headed into town. I believe that our mission was to find a hardware store and get cleaning supplies so I did not take my camera. On our way back from the hardware store we passed the open air fish market which is set up on the waterfront daily.

The fishermen go out very early and catch fish and then sell it on the quay until noon. I wish I had my camera because I saw some of the ugliest sea creatures you could ever imagine. After that I always had my camera, but we were not to see anything quite as ugly again!!

We decided that cleaning could wait, so I grabbed my camera and we took off sightseeing.

Viva le Collins!!

This fort was opposite of where our boat was docked. It was at the mouth of the harbor and there was another fort on the opposite side. This was a very important seaport at one time and was well protected.

A museum.

Like the Azores, the cities in the south of France are built into the sides of mountains. Streets are irregular and very narrow, especially in the old parts of town. These streets were built well before the advent of the automobile.

This isn’t a very good picture, but I wanted to show the number of people that were out shopping that day. It was a national holiday (something to do with the end of WWII). It must have been like our Friday after Thanksgiving. The streets were crowded with shoppers.

We stopped at a street café. They are everywhere in France. It could be 45 degrees and people would be sitting outside drinking coffee or wine. As it was, it was a pleasant (if dreary) day in the mid 60’s.

Next to the café was a fish market which inspired Scott for that night’s dinner – molle and frites!! Molle is mussels and frites – French Fries!!

Note the Bulots above. I’m not sure what they are, but they figured into a meal we had a few days later. Scott says they are not the classic escargot, but they sure look like some kind of snail to me. By the way, they are not bad.

As we headed back to the boat with the mussels, we saw a large department store/ grocery store (a rarity in the downtown of a large city). Based upon our German friends’ advice, our next stop was an island that may not have provisions. We needed to stock up on enough food for at least 3 days.

Scott was very excited to see a sign that seemed to indicate free delivery (as best we could make out not speaking or reading French!). That would be perfect for us because we needed a lot of supplies and there was only so much we could carry. We entered the store and asked the manager about the free delivery.

Yes, Yes!” he said, “we have free delivery.” “Do you deliver to boats?” asked Scott. “Oui, oui, we deliver to boats!” he replied. “Great!” says Scott, “we would like to have our groceries delivered to our boat.”. “We have free delivery - but not today.” he replied. What can I say – they are French!!

That night we had beautiful steamed mussels and crispy French fries with a beautiful Rose. Roses are the wines that the Provencal and Cote regions are known for and they were all very lovely.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

2009-01-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

I am going to join Jim in jumping ahead of the time line.

Scott did write some blogs on his journey from Rouen to Paris where he was meeting his parents. I had every intention of wresting them from him while he was home, but I seemed to have missed my opportunity. I know he wrote them (Jim saw him typing!!).

He made it to Paris and met his parents (again I will steal his thunder by including this picture in Paris, taken by a friend of Jean Yves).

Scott, Jean Yves, Bob & Marion Collins

The three weeks Scott was home passed in a blur and now he is gone. He left yesterday (Jan 8) to return to Severance. The blogs he wrote remain on his computer – perhaps lost to posterity forever.

To bring you up to date - he left the boat in Sardinia (an Italian island in the Med, just south of the French island Corsica). He left Armando to guard it, giving you a good idea of his complete trust in Armando.

Despite Scott’s trust - Armando joked about giving the transponder to a German friend to take to Germany while going back for the holidays. He thought Scott might wonder when he saw Severance crossing the Mediterranean into Germany. He didn’t do it, too bad, I think it would have been very funny. Apparently Scott is rubbing off on Armando (poor guy).

Scott’s plan (he has no plan and he’s sticking to it – so if this turns out to be wrong don’t blame me!) is to leave the Mediterranean as soon as he returns to Sardinia. Winter in the Med is brutal. Something he was told, but I guess you have to experience to believe. The Mistral’s can cause winds in the 70 – 90 MPH range which is hurricane strength, and which Scott and Armando experienced. Madeline wished him luck when she heard his plans to spend the winter in the Med. She said it would be like sailing in a washing machine. This is true and I hope Scott will tell some of their storm stories; however I can tell you, they are not ones he wishes to remember.

So as soon as he returns they will be headed to Mallorca, a Spanish island west of Sardina, then on to continental Spain, stopping in Gibraltar to regroup and then down the coast of Africa to the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are off the southern tip of Morocco. Continuing down the west coast of Africa they head for the Cape Verde Islands. (I may join them there for a week or two – who knows? I have no plan and I’m sticking to it.). From the Cape Verde Island they do “the cross” – to Brazil.

Brazil is Armando’s home and he wants to share it with Scott. Like meeting Tim and Madeline in England or Jean Yves in France, (or sister Lynn in New York) there is nothing like experiencing a place with a local.

Scott’s cousin, Danny McJannet, from British Columbia is planning to join him in March for the cross.

So now you are caught up and I am ready to tell my story.

One more from Jim

2009-01-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

Scott is home, in Florida, now for 3 weeks. He left the boat in Sardinia with Armando. On January 8th he will return to Italy and they will leave the Mediterranean and head south.

Jim and Pat Sexton came down from Michigan to attend our New Year’s Eve party, along with their son Jimmy – chef extraordinaire! Jim brought with him a video he took when he was on Severance in the canals of France. The video was too big for him to email, so I am sharing it with you now.

This is their strategy for going under low bridges. I wonder if they learned this in Yacht Master class!!

Throw me the line

2008-12-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

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

Preparing to depart

Departing

Posted by Jim

We all have jobs

2008-12-05T19:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

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 . . . .

2008-11-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-11-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

You should see what they name their tunnels!!!

Pictures of Gipsy Moth

2008-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Madeline's Tale of Woe – A Gesture of Empathy

2008-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-08-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-28T14:21:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-22T14:54:00.001-07:00

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!

Next up...crossing the English Channel and we take on an additional crew member

2008-08-21T17:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, next up is the white knuckle part, the crossing of the channel.

We've been joined by Bill Lowe, a British friend that I met on Treasure Island (he has a condo there).

He's an experienced sailor with many crossings under his belt and he's generously offered to join us for a bit of our sail on the English side of things.

I would add that he's an absolutely charming, quick witted fellow with a superb British sense of humor...walking into an establishment becomes an experience not to be missed (one dockmaster sent everyone behind us away, telling them to return and settle later, as our simple transaction had become a comedy show) but I won't say anything of the sort as Bill may actually read this and I do not want to either encourage him or let him know I've anything nice to say about him!

It is a good thing that I'm rather quick witted myself and was able to best him at every turn (hey...it's my blog)!

How to Cross the English Channel

2008-08-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Making an English Channel cross is on my short list of things I want to have done in my sailing years.

The main considerations are weather, currents and shipping.

The trick is to cross at either the Isle of Wight or Dover, where you have 2 advantages.

One, the distances are the shortest, making it possible to make the cross in the daylight.

Second at those two places there are shipping separation zones, where there the ships are constrained to defined narrow lanes, causing them to go through single file (in a straight line). Crossing at a right angle (required) allows you to slip between two ships, enter a safe zone in the middle and then repeat the maneuver on the next lane.

While you will cross a ship's bow it will only occur twice (once in each lane) and you know the ship will not turn.

Once through you only encounter ships that are en route to local ports.

The last advantage is that the trip takes about 12 hours, which means that you don't have to take into consideration the tidal current change...just point at a compass heading and let the ebb take you one way and flow the other.

To sum up, start at the right place, start at the crack of dawn cross at a right angle, it's a tough cross even then but you've made it as easy as possible.

How Not to Cross the English Channel:

2008-08-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Cross on a diagonal, outside of the shipping separation zone at night.

Once you are outside the separation zone you enter a cone of ships that are all turning to line up with the separation zone and are jockeying for position or are leaving the separation zone and turning to get on course.

Faster ships overtake the slower ones, so you often have ships that are alongside each other and it is inevitable that you will have a ship on either side of you.

Crossing that on a diagonal, when the ships are not following a straight line, makes you guess at whether the ship will go in front of you or behind you (read you will cross in front of it!).

At night, your ability to judge distance is really challenged.

Ships do have “range” lights, with the forward one being lower that the stern light.

When they line up (lower in front) it is cause for alarm. If they stay lined up you've got a bit of an issue.

The worst thing, however, is when the lights are converging at a slow rate, meaning the ship is turning in your direction and you have no idea if they will go in front or behind you.

If you know where they are going you could guess their turn

This can become a great guessing game and one that all on board take an interest in “playing”.

Of course, taking the diagonal also means you are sailing a greater distance, decreasing your chances of making a daylight passage.

To sum up, do not cross at night, outside the shipping separation zones at a diagonal!

AIS – Universal Automatic Identification System (a Godsend!) and dealing with LARGE ships

2008-08-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Most ocean sailors list ships as their biggest concern, above equipment breakage and seas and weather.

They are fast and, on the open ocean, often “sneak” up on you. You always keep a standing watch, but a 10 minute lapse can result in being overtaken by a ship (you would be lucky to spot a high bridge on a ship beyond 8nm and they can do about 20).

We use radar, with 2 alarm zones, which really helps.

However, visibility is not always good and rain reduces the effectiveness of spotting a ship via radar.

The sighting of a vessel requires a determination of whether you are on a collision course (constant bearing, decreasing range.

At sea, you expect the ship to stay on a constant bearing.

In a coastal or channel situation, there are a lot of ships in near proximity and you can't assume they are on a straight course.

The other big point is that your boat is small and thus harder to spot, you have to assume they don't know you are there.

All ships monitor channel 16 on the VHF, so it should be possible to contact them to sort things out.

However, in reality (my experience) hailed ships seldom respond, even when they have to know you are calling them (remember...you don't know their name). After all, if you're 800nm out and the range of a VHF is about 16nm, who the hell do they think is being hailed?

I have, on the rare occasion, been able to establish radio contact on the open seas.

One was with a huge US container ship and another was with a French ship (they hailed me just to see how things were going, where I was headed, etc....they are big sailing buffs).

Here's one “successful” exchange.

Eric and I were crossing from the Azores and the seas were running quite large.

We picked up a ship on radar and (it was daylight) sighted it on about every 5 wave (remember you both are going up and down quite a distance).

I was confident that they would cross, but I do like to know if they are aware that I'm around (it doesn't hurt), so I hailed the ship at such and such lat\lon.

After a few attempts, a voice came on saying that they didn't speak much English.

I asked if they had me on radar. The response was: No.

I asked if they could see me. Again – No.

Which confirms my general feeling that most ships really don't have any awareness of your presence.

Anyway, I informed him that we were both on a fine course (he probably didn't understand a word I said) and got off the radio.

I often call just in the hopes they hear a voice on their radio and perhaps take a look out the window or check their radar.

I've been told that some of the delay on replies must be from someone trying to find someone that speaks your language, but you have no idea what is going on...again only about 2 in 10 even respond.

But, I've digressed and probably have already covered this in the blog.

We first heard about AIS in Bermuda and I was determined to get one installed and working prior to my English Channel cross.

AIS is used by all ships (above some level) to transmit information.

This information displays on the GPS chartplotter.

The ship shows up as a red triangle.

If the ship is turning, a line appears showing the direction of the turn.

If you select a triangle a text box appears that tells the ship's name, the type of ship, the destination, speed and rate of turn!!!!

First thing....you now have their name and a ship is required to respond when hailed by name!

Note that the name UnKnown is displayed on about 25% of the ships...got to find out what that is all about!

So now you can hail them, you know where they are going (that breaks down when you have no idea where a city is), how fast, how big they are, if they are turning and in what direction and rate...

Eric got this working in the Azores, but then we had problems with it and made the entire cross without it.

However, we got it going again and I have it for the Channel Cross (more to come on that), I can't tell you how nice it is to have information like this when you need it!

Guernsey

2008-08-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Just off the West coast of Normandy there are some good size islands (the Channel Islands) that somehow became British possessions (some back and forth between the Brits and the French, with a temporary German intercession in WII).

We sailed from St Malo to Guersney, where we've spent 2 days plotting our assault on the English Channel.

Very interesting place, again with a marina right in the heart of a town.

Took a bus tour, no pictures as I've misplaced the memory card.

Arrival and departure occur twice a day, governed by when you can get over the 4.4 meter sill.

Currently that window is 3 hours. Boats raft up outside the sill awaiting direction from the harbor master (who runs around in a dinghy) and the outbound boats break out of their rafts (typically the inside boats are the ones leaving...which involves all kinds of trickery).

Last night a boat got stuck on the sill (on a rising tide) and provided a bit of entertainment for everyone for about 10 minutes as he worked to extricate himself. He ended up backing out and giving it a bit of a wait before he made his 2nd try!

We're planning on leaving on the noon tide for the channel crossing, the ideal time to do that would have been at daybreak, which (of course) is dead low tide...instead our departure will be at 12:45 pm.

Which means we will be sailing in one of the trickiest places in the world at night (for the last part).

Ideally we would have sailed to Alderny (just North of here) and left the next morning for a daylight crossing, but (as luck would have it) there is a low that is approaching and we had to rule out that option.

Note: Free WiFi!!!...wasted several hours on that getting an entirely new and novel messages saying I was logged in too many times (same old, same old but always with a new twist)!

Off to the free WiFi spot at the tourist center, which (of course) has no place to sit down or plug the laptop into.

St Malo

2008-08-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

St Malo was perhaps the highlight of the French side of the channel.

A walled city, with the marina right along side.

It is one of the top destinations of Parisians fleeing the heat of that city.

Beaches on the North side and hundreds of small cafes and shops inside the walls, with throngs of people wandering about.

It was bombed out in WWII, but (unlike Brest) restored to its original using rubble (when possible).

A veritable treasure of France, a wonderful place to just wander around in.

I'm glad we hit the cities in the order we did, as it was the jewel.

I easily could have spent a week or more there, but time is running short and we have to move on toward the English part of the trip.

I will not go into detail on our night departure, what we learned about locking through with a large ship (that sneaked up behind me and gave me a good fright) and a useless transmission that would not provide any forward power, no lock people to throw us lines to tie to, etc., it ain't all roses!

Transat Quebec to St Malo

2008-08-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

We continue to be in the right place at the right time, with no planning (of course).

When we entered the marina at St Malo there were 5 racing catamarans in port, boats that I've only seen in magazines.

Over the next several days, we watched all kinds of high tech boats arrive, all greeted by horn blowing and a crowd of their family, friends and supporters.

It turns out we were at the finish of a the Quebec – St Malo Transat!

The official tents were set up on the pier and they were providing media support (sail racing in France is hugely popular).

Great luck on our part...wonder what we will stumble on next!

Blog Posting

2008-08-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank everyone for their comments and words of encouragement...and apologize for the untimeliness of my updates.

It's tough to get everything done and internet access has been a challenge.

I'm taking some “time off” in Plymouth to finally resolve my transmission problems (it is out of the boat in a mechanic's shop as I write this) and work on obtaining Yachtmaster certification.

So, I'm getting caught up on the blog and will tackle some of the boat issues that have been vexing me.

Here are some updates and thanks again for your interest and support!!!

-Scott

(Note from Diane - Scott sent about 3 weeks worth of blogs. I am going to publish them one or two a day so that I don't overwhelm everyone and also to stretch them out in case he ends up with another long stretch of writer's block).

St Michel & Jean-Yves

2008-08-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

I met Jean-Yves Rivier in Morlaix (he's the one that awoke me when I was snagged on the lock wall on a rising tide and later introduced me to Bretagne food).

He had left his car in Cherburg and suggested that he could visit us in St Malo (when he retrieved it) and take us around.

After spending a few days with him, I have to say that he is the special kind of person that you meet only a few times in your life...

Jumping ahead (just so you get an idea of the man) we came across a car in a parking lot at St Michel with a dog inside and windows just slightly lowered., the heat here is not the same as Florida, but no place to leave a dog (with the owner obviously gone on a several hour tour). We where aghast and determined to do something.

Jean-Yves made some calls and got the local town fire department (and later the gendarmes) to come to the car to free the dog.

St Malo, our current marina, turns out to be about 30 miles South of (one of) the most famous spots in France, St Michel (please google it and check it out).

In the back of my mind, I knew of it and thought it might be around here.

Jean-Yves suggested that we drive there and off we went.

Amazing, no way to properly describe the place. And, Jean-Yves (a very discerning individual) said it was among the top two places in all of France.

We climbed up (following Jean-Yves who trailed a bread vendor) and got to a set of stairs...the entry to the cathedral and everything above the town, the real treasures of the place.

I would have been quite happy to have taken the (long) line up and paid the 8 Ero to go in.

But, Jean-Yves is from here and I will always defer to local knowledge.

Jean-Yves took the group stairs, went up to the gatekeepers and procured 3 green stickers that had a time written on them.

We were given a warm smile and ushered past the waiting throngs wearing bright green stickers that said En Masse 11:45.

Jean-Yves had a sly smile (Ok, remember the part about the dog before you judge harshly)...it turns out he had explained that I was a devout Roman Catholic from the US there to attend Mass!!!!!

I was starting to sweat a bit as I thought I may have to fake my way through a religious ceremony, but we quickly took off the stickers and wandered around the place with the other pagans (the Mass would have taken an hour...might have saved my soul but I wasn't going to gamble 1 hour in a church against eternity in Hell).

By the way, if you are really a Catholic and do visit, take the line on the left...hey, it's a Catholic deal and why not play that card?

Absolutely one of the most fabulous places that I've ever been. Jean-Yves said it is one of his favorite places in France (not to take him to task, but it apparently is still considered a part of Bretagne...had it been considered Normandy I'm not so sure if he would feel that way).

St Michel....Thanks Jean-Yves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baie du Mont Saint-Michel

2008-08-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

Returning from Mont St Michel Jean-Yves took the coastal road.

The bay is home to mussel cultivation and also some oyster farming (most oystering is done west of here...visa versa for mussel production).

Check out the pictures of Cancal (where there are oyster beds right off the city jetty).

Oyster Farm

Oyster Boat

Oyster Market

Jean-Yves

I know everyone must be sick of hearing about the tides, but bear with me as (if I'm understanding this correctly) this bay claims to have tides second only to the Bay of Fundy!

The large careened boat beached on a spring tide (highest...neaps is lowest). The spring tides will return in about 2 weeks, giving him that much time to work on the bottom.

Tricky business as springs have high and low, so if you were to run aground on the high spring you may have to wait 6 months for a high spring to return!

Time To Hear From You

2008-08-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

I agree with Jim - someone had to say it.

I get emails, calls, hear about it on the street, lots of people are reading this, and yet Scott gets no feedback. He is publishing in a void. I try to tell him that he is educating people - on Kafkaism, flags, tides, the French, the fact that some French don't even like the French, etc. And yet, as far as he knows, only Jim is listening.

I get phone calls and emails, not to mention people on the street in our neighborhood, that comment on the blog and how much they are enjoying it. I really heard a lot after Eric left and there was a great void as Scott attempted to find his voice.

My family, and most importantly, my Aunts (thank you Aunt June, Aunt Verna, & Aunt Mert), have followed it religiously. Scott's parents have shared it with their friends , our neighbors who ask after him on a regular basis and have shared it with their friends, some of whom were in the Azores during the war and had fond memories or love northern France, friends of mine from work, some of who know Scott, many who don't, Scott's friends from work(who all know him too well), our friends from Florida, from Michigan, from Portland, from Boston, from Denver, from San Antonio, from California, from Tennesee, and of course from Wisconsin, (you all know who you are!!!). We would be interested to hear from everyone this blog has touched.

I think it is time that Scott heard from his readership. (If no one responds we will know that Jim really is the only one still reading). If you don't know Scott personally, tell how you found him - friend of Diane, parents, neighbor, stumbled on it accidently, whatever.

Now - giving some of you (not you Les, no excuse for you) the benefit of the doubt. It is very confusing to figure out how to post a comment for the very first time. I myself (an I.T. professional of 25 years) posted my first blog comment twice and could not figure out how to delete it.

I have prepared a tutorial for you. In doing so I posted a couple of test comments before I got it right. Once you are set up it is easy, it either knows you automatically or you enter your email address and your password and it knows you.

First time you enter a comment it will ask you for your user id and password. You have to set yourself up with a blogger name. My is Diane, but for this tutorial I am going to set up a blogger account named 'Severance Groupie'. When it asks for your id and password it also says : "No Google Account? Sign up Here".

Click the "Sign Up Here" link and you will get this screen:

It will ask you for your email id. It does not have to be a Google email address, any email address will work, but it does have to be a valid email address.

The reason for this is accountability. No one will be able to see or access your email address, but it prevents spammers or hackers from spreading viruses. When we first set up this blog we said anyone could contribute without signing in. The first day we got a comment that said 'Click Here" for something and it was a virus. By ensuring that everyone who responds to this blog has a legitimate email address it prevents hackers from getting control of the site.

After you enter a legitimate email address, it asks you for a password. Do not use the password for your email account. It is a password only used for this account. Use something easy like Severance, or Scott (or WeLoveDiane!!!). The password does not have to match your email address, it is for the blogger account only.

Finally, enter the name you want to appear when you post your comment. I chose 'Severance Groupie'. So you can see that I entered my email address, gave it a password that was not related to my email account (only valid for google blogging), and gave myself a blogger name. Now type in the funny letters (keeps people from hacking by using computer programs - requires the human eye), and click the acceptance of terms disclaimer - and voila!!! You can now publish as much bad poetry and good commentary as you want.

Next time you come in it will show that you are signed in as ?????. In my case it will be 'Severance Groupie'.

If it does not show that you are signed in, then it will prompt you to sign in. It will ask you for user name and password. Enter your email address for User Id (not your Blogger name) and the password you chose for the blog, then type in the funny letters and hit publish.

For people born after 1980 it is so easy, completely intuitive, but for the rest of us it takes a little experimenting - note my 3 test comments in order to document this.

So please whoever you are, where ever you're at, if you are enjoying these posting - leave Scott a comment. Doesn't have to be funny - just let him know you are there.

Severance Flag attracts interest of fellow boaters and the French Maritime Gendarmes

2008-08-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in France our flag (a standard boating ensign with an anchor and 13 stars in a circle) has aroused a lot of interest.

The armed officials that searched our boat (after we'd been in Brest for 10 days...nice of them to provide plenty of time for a criminal to offload anything illegal) asked me about the flag and I shrugged them off in the best French fashion.

But I continued to get inquiries from fellow boaters, particularly those from the UK.

They fly a red flag unless they belong to the Royal Yacht Club (yep...that's the one the Prince of Wales is a member) in which case they fly a blue flag. Note the question I have a bit later on that.

Anyway, I did a bit of research (google american boating flag and see all the facts and opinions...wikipedia is quite good) and it turns out Severance is breaking international (and perhaps US) law!!!

I was aware that the law requires the vessel to display the flag of registry from the stern, with courtesy flags flying on the starboard side of the country you are visiting (higher than your flag and above the yellow quarantine flag declaring that you've just arrive). The yellow quaratine flag must be raised when you first enter a new country and you must leave it up until you have cleared customs.

I'm flying a US Yacht ensign, which is accepted by the US navy (they will not fire at you) and was designed to avoid paying taxes that commercial ships had to pay (that flew the US ensign)...so there you have another part of US history related to tax evasion.

Apparently, a law was passed in the 80's that exempted boats (US) operating in US waters to display any flag (ok...unless it is documented and Severance is).

The US Yacht ensign (good to avoid being fired upon) is widely used by pleasure boats in US waters, within which there is no requirement to fly any flag (unless you ain't from there!!!).

When I bought around $300 of courtesy flags for just the countries prior to the Med (can't use the Euro flag...there is one but it doesn't absolve you of the international boating requirements) I didn't buy a US ensign.

In St Augustine (West Marine) I purchased 2 US flags that I thought would get me there and back.

I could have bought a US ensign, but I'm not the flag waving type (Ok, I'm a liberal....but shouldn't that be a good thing in Europe???) and thought I would do better making friends (again not being fired upon given the current occupant of the White House) if I flew a less (in your face) American flag...for which the US Yachting Ensign fits the bill quite nicely!

Instead, my flag has caused a bit of a stir and turns out to be a violation of international law!

Oh Mon Dieu (which is French for I can't win for losing...don't look that up as I'm taking some liberties here)!!!

Now, for a moment, back to the Brits who fly a different color (colour???) ensign based on whether the Prince of Wales might drop in for a drink (got to be careful here...they take the Royal stuff very seriously...I'm safely across the Channel in France but will be in their neck of the woods soon).

If you are a member of the Royal Yacht club, can you really fly a blue British flag internationally?
And, if so, why can't I fly my US (tax exempt) yachting ensign???
And so I continue to muddle my way through, depending on the kindness of strangers (new friends in my book) and always hopeful to bluff my way through!

P.S.
A brief mention of Roger and Sylvia Squire (Sylvia is a reformed American), whom I met by using my normal bad docking maneuvers (try it, you get to meet all your neighbors), I rudely informed Roger that (as an American under the Bush administration) I was not bound by international law and then went on to put a serious dent in their liquor supply....wonderful people, not sure if I should be going around representing our (young) country!

-Scott

Paimpol to St Malo – Navigation Calculations

2008-08-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would expand on some earlier notes about navigation and the tide.

Here's a sample nav plan.

1st, we've picked our next port (based on talking with others)...St Malo is a must see and we're running out of time for the French side of the channel.

So, the trick is to get to St Malo using the tidal current, which runs West to East starting 4 hours before high tide, turning back to East to West 2 hours after high tide.

Including the hour of high tide, that gives about 6 hours when the tide is running at up to 3 knots in our favor and not going against us at any point.

St Malo is 44km from Paimpol, so we need to make about 7.3 knots to make it. Which is beyond the theoretical hull speed of the boat, but the (up to) 3 knot current + a normal cruising speed of 5.5 under sail makes that quite “doable”.

So, 6 hours prior to high tide at St Malo, plus 1 hour to clear the lock here and get to the channel.
Note the gate (lock) that keeps the water high at all times within the harbor. You can see in this picture water leaking through. At low tide the gates are closed keeping the water high inside the harbor. At high tide the gates are left open so boats can come and go at will. In between the gates work as a lock, lifting and lowering the boats to match the water level on each side to allow the boats in and out of the harbor.

Next step is to determine what time that would be, so you consult a tide book (or your trusty chart plotter), find that high tide is at 10am, which puts your departure time in Paimpol at 3am (a bit early in this example...but we'll still go with that).

Then you check the state of the tide at Paimpol at 3am and find it is dead low tide, which means the only way to leave the port in the channel is via foot (see the low tide pictures of Paimpol)!

Ok, so that doesn't work

You can only leave Paimpol during the 5 hour period around high tide (the lockmaster does work nights)...so that's twice a day. During high tide, the lock doors are left open.

So, leaving at the 1st lock opening prior to high tide, you could get 3 hours of favorable tide, once you fight your way out of the water flowing into Paimpol and get into La Manche.

Then you have a few options. One, favored by someone we met, is to go against the tidal current and use the low speed over ground (SOG) to do a bit of fishing! Another is to find a port within range that you can enter 3 hours after high tide (good luck but sometimes possible) and the last option is to anchor somewhere, which can be a tricky proposition on this coast.

Armando found a good anchorage just 10 miles from Paimpol, so we left on the high tide (no lock skills required there) and made our way there.

I've left out one other step, which is to download a weather (grib) file and make sure the least bad thing that will happen is just wet, cold weather...

Which is, of course, what we're experiencing on this leg.

Then we go back to the original calculations and depart at dead low tide (we've gained 10nm on the original route), which (unfortunately) is at 5am.

If you get to St Malo outside of the lock operating times (I've read the paragraph on that 6 times and still don't get it...but we'll be fine arriving on high tide in the morning), you go to a mooring buoy in a basin and wait for the water to hit the necessary level (no big deal on a rising tide, but on a falling one you better have a good stock of beer aboard!).

And that's how it is done here. So far, we only sailed (most) of the Brest to L'Aber W'rach leg, winds haven't been favorable and the consequences of late arrival are sometimes quite severe.

We also do take note of other harbors en route, so we do have some options if things don't work out.

We're still West of Cherburg (our probable starting point for the Channel crossing), so we haven't yet hit the highest tides or fastest currents yet...hard to believe that given our experiences so far!

-Scott

Internet Woes – The Search for the Holy Grail (Wireless on the Boat)

2008-08-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

Getting on the internet whilst aboard is turning into a standing joke.

It started in St Augustine, FL and continues to be a Kafkaesque experience no matter what country\city Severance goes to.

Our latest attempt to get WiFi were thwarted by my ever alert credit card company, which refused to authorize my attempt to purchase minutes.

In L'Aber W'rach, the marina had free WiFi, all you needed to do was to provide your cell phone number and the code\password would be provided! Simple, unless you don't have a cell phone.

In Brest, free WiFi, unless you were on the furthest dock (guess where we were!). If we stood up and held the laptop over our heads, we could sometime initiate a connection, which would be lost once you sat down to type. Of course, the service had to be “up” and couldn't be fixed on a weekend (which seemed to include Fridays). If it was down, you could get on-line by going to the city center, which was only 5 miles (or so) away)

In the Azores, WiFi was always just up the hill (everything there is up the hill)...I could never find the right hill.

In one Azores island, the WiFi for the marina was provide by a restaurant and was going to be fixed soon. It was available at the library, except that someone had shut down the computer and the librarian was on a different island. The cyber cafe offered connections, but wasn't open on weekends, or weekdays as far as we could tell.

My Sat phone email stopped working the day after we left St Augustine and took several hundred dollars in minutes from me until I got wise and gave up (all the other boats with Iridium had similar stories...one boat got it working again after 200 minutes, but wouldn't take any plugs out for me to test with my phone, which I thoroughly understood!).

And, Norton loves to block access to the WiFi login pages...I think I figured out how to get past that just yesterday.

Most of the marina offices do have a computer with easy access, however Portugese and French keyboards are just enough different to make answering an email tre difficult (but they do offer the key to put the weird character over the “e” in tre!).

Anyway, if I'm not getting back to anyone on an email, it might not just be my (famous)
tendency for procrastination!

P.S.
I'm actually finishing this posting from my nav station on the boat on my own computer!
Too bad we're leaving here soon...

-Scott

Boat Woes and Some Bright Spots

2008-08-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Severance now has a modern working toilet that doesn't have some of the woes that kept the last one from being the least bit endearing.

A small job (that of course turned into a major project)...but a big step forward!

And, we can now empty the holding tank (what the heck was a piece of glass doing in the macerator pump...hope some crew member doesn't have a lacerated intestinal tract!). Of course, France fully supports pump out stations and I actually saw one in the smallest marina we visited to date (which was of course later than I needed it).

That puts France one pump ahead of the Azores!

By the way, for the curious, it is true that the best marine head is a bucket...

As I write this, we are attempting to address a vexing drive line vibration problem that goes away after a period of time.

I lucked out and found an English speaking mechanic and the yard worked me into their schedule. We decided to tweak the angle of the strut to improve the alignment, the shaft was binding in the cutlass bearing. The alteration did allow the shaft to rotate much more freely,but the vibration problem was not solved, so we've ruled that out but have no idea what is causing the problem. I'm still convinced it is the transmission, but supposedly they work or don't and never cause vibration problems.

So, we plan to just live with the problem (it goes away after a bit of running and things warm up) until we find someone that can determine what the problem is.

I really did leave before a proper break in of many new things, but I did feel pretty good when another long term cruise told me you just need to leave and deal with things as you go. Many people never do push off and I'm really glad to be over here, even if the boat has some “A” list things I need to work out.

Anyway, enough about boat problems...we finally pulled things together and got out of Brest, so we're moving along (even though the boat is on the hard as I write this)!

-Scott

Tides – Timing is Everything

2008-08-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

The English Channel (Le (la?) Manche on this side of it) has a reputation as a tough place for boating and I'm learning why.

Brest was my 1st introduction to major tides...Eric and I went for a walk (2am after many days at sea) and he marked a spot on a piling when we left the boat. When we came back within the hour, the spot was about 3' “lower”!

We watched the depth sounder for a bit and watched in amazement as it changed!

The marina had a wide ramp which was used for “careening”, boats would tie up at high tide and do a complete bottom paint job on the low tide and sail off on the next high.

Very impressive, but it turns out that the tides in Brest (about 17' now) pale in comparison to those I was yet to experience.

In Paimpol, the tides now are running 25' right now!

And, time of the month (moon phases) have up to a 15' difference!

Neeps have the least tides and spring have the most (we're in spring tides right now).

So, arrival and departure times from ports becomes quite significant.

Aside from the depth issue, currents run anywhere from 2-5 knots, changing direction every 6 hours.

Beside the obvious inflow\outflow from the bays and rivers of ports, it turns out the entire English Channel changes direction every 6 hours!!!!!!

So, planning a port change turns into a bit of a math problem.

Not only do you need to take into account the departure and arrival times, you need to determine which direction the current is flowing between the ports.

It may well turn out that the best time to depart for the correct current just happens to be at low tide, when there is (literally) no water to get from the marina to the ocean!

Some plans end up requiring a departure to an anchorage for a wait. Or, arrival at a destination with an anchorage wait.

Ports are either on “natural” rivers or bays or are only accessible for a few hours twice a day.

Brest and L'Aber W'rach were natural harbors, but Morlaix, Ploumanac'h and Paimpol are not.

Ploumanac'h has a wall that dries at around 6'. Which means you need to arrive on a tide with 11' to get over the wall.

Morlaix and Paimpol have locks and you need to know when they operate.

Paimpol leaves its locks open for about 2 hours around high tide, and then it operates them for 2 ½ hours on both sides of the high tide (24 hours a day).

In Morlaix, we arrived on a high tide around 10pm, expecting that the lock would operate at each high tide. It is 3 miles up a river that dries up and it turned out the lock only operates if the high tide is during “normal” working hours!

We had 2 choices, one was to cut and run back out the river for an anchorage or tie up next to the lock and await the next high tide.

We choice the later, even though we thought the spot might dry out (we prepared the boat to lean against the wall if that happened).

We were stuck there with one other unhappy person (who we became great friends with over the next few days).

So, we went down and back up (had a close call with getting a lifeline snagged on the way up) and locked through in the morning.

The lockmaster explained that he doesn't work at night....except that the next night he opened for boats to come in!

The other (French) boater was furious and apparently has contacts...he kept saying he wasn't “done” with this!

Anyway, we're learning a great deal about boating in high tides.

We will cross the Channel from Cherburg, which has the greatest tidal currents.

Interestingly enough, a yachtsman that has made the crossing many times and has done all sorts of calculations says you just keep a constant bearing and let the tide carry you one way and then the next.

He related a story about someone that corrected for currents on both sets and ended up taking 28 hours to do a crossing that should only be half that!

I'll let you know how it all turns out...unless it goes badly!

-Scott

Bretagne (Brittony)

2008-08-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

I came here in total ignorance of France and the different provinces, but I'm getting a real education on the Bretagne region.

First, don't call them French!

The French coast guard sometimes decides to enforce the requirement that ships fly their national flag on the stern...many of the boats here fly the flag of Bretagne from the stern!

For years, the French government banned the teaching of their language and has tried to make them French. From what I can see it isn't working!

The food is excellent and the region has a lot of things like sausages and cheeses that are made only here.

They can't make wine here but do make very good whiskey.

We made a good friend in Morlaix who introduced us to the delicacies of the region along with wines from Bordeaux. Tremendous good fortune on our part as the variety of choices is really overwhelming.

I was really pleased to have him rate my cooking at 2 Michelin stars after having him to dinner on the boat twice. He was amazed at how well we ate on the boat.

The weather has finally turned and we're getting sunny days and warmth. It is always cool here ( a nice break for a Floridian) and tends to lack sunshine, but our rain\cold experience in Brest was unusual for the region.

Nights require a jacket and the water is quite cold but we do see people at the beach with some swimming. We're typically bundled up when sailing. But it really is very pleasant when the sun shines, and it has been the last week.

We're in the season of festivals. Last night a Bretagne band played and it was very interesting to see all the young people singing and dancing to the traditional music. I've never experienced anything like that in the US. Perhaps because they are (defiantly) maintaining their independence and heritage, it appeals to all ages.

And there is virtually no police presence. Whether it is sensitivity to peoples desires not to have authoritarian visibility or just that people here can manage their own affairs without authoritarion intervention, it is noticeably different. You feel really safe and not seeing the police makes you feel safer.

Another positive observation is that they seem to accept personable responsibility for things like falling off a high sea wall onto a dock. There are no railings on any of the dock areas. In the US, it would be inconceivable to have a huge city center with a 20ft high ledge that someone could easily fall over (and there is nothing to prevent cars from going over the edge either).

Children are present, but I haven't seen one take the plunge yet (smarter or more attentive parents?).

I've asked a few people about it (really trying to find out if they lack lawyers or their courts are just more reasonable)...the response typically is that you should just not fall off the wall!

-Scott