Ile d'Oleron & wind

Snork Maiden
St Denis d’Oleron
Sunday, June 1, 2008

Seems ages since the last (b)log.

We left Marans (finally) on Thursday 29th, around 1130 to catch the high tide at 1230. I thought it took an hour – I am sure it did when I came in with Carol last year, but then we were probably idling, looking at the birds and making a video (well, Carol did). Anyway we were clearly early for the lock so we idled around and enjoyed the morning – sunny, peaceful.

After the lock, and the lifting road bridge, we got into the wind-ey bit of the river, saw the first channel markers and smelt diesel. I had a look at the engine and saw a big pool of diesel in the bilge under the engine. We moored up on a waiting buoy and I thought it was something to do with the filter I had changed, had a go at tightening it up (probably making it worse), bailed it out, and carried on into La Rochelle. Wind on the nose, so motored around to La Rochelle Minimes, home to 3500 white plastic yachts (and a few more interesting ones).

Spent Friday morning traipsing around borrowing tools and eventually found an available engineer who came and sorted out the knackered copper washers that keep the filter connected to the fuel in and out lines with no leaks. Unfortunately couldn’t replace them with new copper (washer suppliers not open Saturday morning) so now have to keep a note of which washers are fibre, and which one is an ‘O’ ring.I can buy some more copper ones back in the UK.

By lunchtime, we were ready to go, theoretically speaking. Went to get the weather forecast and found that the wind was going up to 25Knots (almost 30mph) by 1800. So it was a race to get ready, practically speaking, and get over to the island before the wind really kicked up. We have a wind indicator but I think it consistently under-reads. I quite like that, it’s less scary that way. We put on the working jib, and went out with 1 reef in the main. The wind was on the beam to start with, and the sun was out, and the Snork Maiden flew along. The balance was a bit off – too much jib for the main, but we didn’t want to stop and lose time with a sail change, giving the wind time to come up more! Great to be sailing again – and on my birthday!
We got into St Denis harbour just as it started to howl. Getting in with the wind was a bit tricky. I got shouted at by a little French motor-boat whilst we had the usual port-starboard discussion in the harbour mouth. Came in next to a Pacific-style catamaran from Milford Haven. They said they are waiting for a weather window for Spain. Since they left 4 years ago, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere much! They have a collie dog, a good sun awning and a tinker tramp dinghy.
I wore my funky black skirt with cup-cakes and we went into the village for supper – the Royal Moule proven to be a great choice – simple but good food and a really nice atmosphere. They have a way of cooking mussels on a hearth with a heap of pine needles that they set on fire. I wasn’t quite brave enough to have them, but that’s a good reason to come back. The 2 chaps next to us were digging into them. I asked if the dish was called ‘moules Jeanne d’Arc’.
Now Sunday and it’s been raining most of the day. I’m watching Six Feet Under Series Two on DVD and Al’s playing guitar. Haven’t been off the boat yet and it’s almost 1430. It’s a bit like playing in a home-made tent on a wet day when you’re a kid.
Seems to be clearing a bit so maybe time to get out of pyjamas and surface. I think the marina has wi-fi so can maybe post this today. Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Tuesday 3 June
Laundrette
Port St Denis d’Oleron

It’s a sad fact that the more you do, the less time there is to write about it! We managed to get out for a walk on Sunday afternoon – there was some sort of aqua-scooter petrol-head race going on around the corner that seemed to have to do with how much planetary resource could be squandered in the shortest amount of time. Or something.
The real experience of sailing is hard to describe – always different but always the same too. You just have to come and experience it – if you haven’t already. There is such a closeness to the outdoors that you are not looking at the landscape (or seascape), you are IN it.
Yesterday hired bikes (at huge expense) and went over to a very windswept beach on the Atlantic side of the island and watched the breaking waves. Saw a bunch of avocets on the way. The island is quite flat with lots of drainage ditches, vineyards, fishing spots, beaches. Today the big howling wind has dropped, it’s not raining and I think we will leave for La Rochelle this afternoon. This port has a sandbar that can be driven across at low tide, so you have to wait until around 2 hours before high water. That means we will try to leave around 3 this afternoon. There’s a F4 from the NW that should get us back nicely.
The plan is to go back to La Rochelle and leave the boat for a couple of days while we go back to Thours to negotiate and hopefully sign up for the fermette. (Sorry, Sally, couldn’t wait to see Spain – there an access issue with Spain – just too far away – although once we have a Eurozone property, we can always sell and trade to another one.)
We have fixed up to see an architect (she’s Columbian so should be a bit of light relief) and a builder, just to check out that we can do the kinds of things we think we might be able to do – if we ever have the money, that is.
This is a funny little place – none of the machines in the laundry work first time and the Capitanerie chap has to come down and fix them every time! There is a kind of French system to most things. The kind of system that can seem unbearably slow. The 12.00 – 15.00 lunch is alive and well at least in some places, and people really do sit down and eat. People rarely eat in the street or at their desks. There is a small market here in St Denis and most of the produce is local – broad beans, peas, strawberries, potatoes, melons…
Now have to go and book hire car – quicker to get one from La Rochelle than to get bac k to Marans by bus. The tourist office here has already spent about 6 person-hours on finding out the times and still hasn’t got there. They are wallowing around in a maze of incorrect faxes (wrong time of day) e-mails sent without attachments etc. But they are very nice.
The Capitanerie guys at La Rochelle are much the same – nice uniforms and completely clueless about how to find anything on their own computer system. Their password seems to be ‘putain’ – at least, they said it a lot.
2235 La Rochelle
Brisk sail this afetrnoon! 1 reef and #2 gave us 6 knots over a bumpy sea. Roll set in about the same time as last year when I asked Sal to throw herswelf in after the boathook.