Rafting and Racing

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Le Vieux Port
La Rochelle

The tower on the right of the picture is the 'Chain Tower', so called because a chain was stretched across the harbour mouth to keep the English out. Now Easy Jet has engineered a more permanent invasion.

Rafting & Racing

Well, Snork Maiden is getting restless and I think we are off tomorrow. There are a lot of English in La Rochelle and several English boats on our pontoon. When there is not enough space for all the visiting boats to go alongside – parallel to the pontoon, they have to go alongside each other. That means a sort of floating caravan park, where you have only about 6 inches between your caravan and the next, and your neighbours have to climb over your roof to get out. It also means that you might be sleeping closer to someone else’s spouse than you are to your own. Boats are more soundproof than tents so it’s rare to hear snoring. There is a kind of etiquette by which you always walk around your neighbour’s bow, and try not to look nosy, comment on what they are having for supper etc.
(Pontoon = a floating platform that goes up and down with the tide, so that you are looking out almost at road level and then six hours later you are 5 metres lower looking at a slimy wall.)

Went to see a movie yesterday – documentary about Eric Taberly – French sailor extraordinaire - boats mostly named Pen Duick. There was some amazing ocean footage. In the 1970s no-one wore life jackets or harnesses, or any fancy sailing gear - just old jumpers and oilies like the fishermen wear. He was very matter-of-fact, didn’t say much but broke all the records and won all the races in sight. He died falling into the sea off Ireland in 1998 whilst doing a tour with Pen D 1 for her 100th birthday. Those old racing boats looked so dramatic - acres of sail and a rail in the water going to windward. No chance of a UK distribution but I’ll try to get a DVD. Some shots of other sailing hero, Moitessier.

The cinema was well worth the visit - all rococo gold and black with very comfortable seats.

For those of you following our property adventures, we have completed our cooling off period and should complete the deal on our ‘fermette’ at the end of September. That may get a blog of its own.