Smell the Sea

The sailing season is coming… Snork Maiden smells the sea! Current plan is that I go over to La Rochelle (Marans) with the car, tins of antifouling, engine spares, ship’s stores (weeveley biscuits and salt pork, or maybe quinoa & tins of tomatoes) and anything else that seems useful. I will cross via the Plymouth-Roscoff ferry - have yet to settle on a date, but somewhere between 5 and 9th May. If I have a willing crew, I’ll try to leave sooner rather than later, to make sure we get some sailing time (weather permitting).
Travelling on the night ferry, I usually arrive at Marans mid-afternoon or so (picnic on the way).
It should take about a week to get the boat ready to go into the water - depends on how hard I work, and how many problems come up! (An how many scurvy dogs are helping me!) As you all know by now, nothing to do with the sea and ships is at all predictable
So once in the water, will go for a little test cruise, depending on the weather. Could go round to La Rochelle, Ile de Re, usual suspects, then back into Marans. Or if it’s just me and the auto-pilot, I could nip down to the lock and back!
I need to get back to London by night of May 23rd. If there were 2 or 3 of us, car & ferry might be economic. Otherwise trains look good.
Then Al & I will head back down on June 2 via EasyJet from Bristol to La R, and cruise until approximately the end of June, when we head back to Bristol. Snork Maiden will (hopefully) wait patiently in the water at Marans until we return in September to do a bit more sailing and then lift her for the winter.
As some of you might know, the major plan for next year is to take 6 months and go down to Greece, but this will depend on things looking good economically (har har) around the end of January. I’ll keep y’all posted. If we decide to go, we will be looking for some nice people to rent / take care of our house.
So, all you adventurers, sharpen your cutlasses and swash your buckles.