Leaving Marseille

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

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!

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

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

Picture the scene.


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

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

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

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

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



Following our new French Friends

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

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

Franco-American toast

Another toast

Another toast

Another toast

Another toast

Preparing to depart

Departing


Posted by Jim

We all have jobs

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

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



Typical lock station. Most do not have sheep.

Armando at the ready.

Inside the lock.

The bow thruster.


Posted by Jim

Time to leave

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

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

Upper Seine with Paris behind at our back

First night up river

Severance all decked out for locks

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

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

Posted by Jim