GETTING THERE

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July 7 ARS-EN-RE

GETTING THERE

Well, we left La Rochelle with the usual (for this year) NE 3 – 4. Number 2 foresail & full main, and a lovely tack under the Re bridge. We made good time – in fact, too good since we sailed past our waypoint with a good 90 minutes in hand.  Now the problem was how to ‘park’ the boat – well too deep to anchor.  Made a couple of attempts to heave-to, nether very successful as the number 2 pulled too hard – also a fairly strong incoming tide.  In the event we made a couple of reaches under the mainsail only – and, of course, had lunch.  We then raced for the waypoint – 2 reasons for this (1) to have enough depth when we reached our target marina (LA CREE) and (2) to make sure we got a place, it being on the run-up week to Bastille day, and sunny with it.  

     The approach to Ars can be a bit tricky for the first time.  This was our second but apart from remembering our ‘aground in the channel’ experience, we couldn’t remember too much about it.  Now, for you landlubbers, here’s a digression on GPS navigation that the tars amongst you won’t need. (Look away now – drop back in at the net paragraph). Since there aren’t any nice landmarks on the sea like roundabouts, traffic lights or shops, we work by co-ordinates – latitude and longitude.  Enter the numbers into the GPS and it will tell you when you get there.  Fine.  BUT – as we may have observed before – every bit of water looks a lot like another bit of water, so… the GPS alarm sound around 200 feet away – so we’ll carry on a bit, and we must be there NOW.  ‘How far off are we?’ ‘Oh, it’s behind us now, how far behind?’ ‘Not sure?’ ‘Oh well, we must be somewhere near it…’ Now turn the boat into the wind, take the mainsail down and…  where was that waypoint? Get the idea?

     We took the approach from the assumed-to-be waypoint and soon the depths began to plummet alarmingly.  No, we weren’t exactly where we were meant to be.  Al said ‘We’re going back to La Rochelle’ and I thought ‘Not likely – I want to be in a lovely, quiet marina tonight’ and suggested we had a look at the cockpit plotter to see where the green bits were so we could sail away from them.  Thanks to Al’s quick observation that the deep water had to be some way to Starboard, off we went and up went the depths.  Phew!  Cockpit plotter is ace!  Now we headed for the land on the prescribed course, past what we thought MUST be the green buoy mentioned in the pilot book.  Until we met the next one! (Neither pilot book nor charts are completely up to date through careful cost-benefit assessment.)

 By this time it was clear that we were in the right place, but I still found myself looking for a land based pair of leading marks that I knew (from previous experience) just are not visible and in any case belonged to the next course.  My point is – navigation is not easy, even with GPS, and it’s important not to take anything for granted.  We used to write out a list of key points on a waterproof pad (or bit of paper, depending on conditions) and keep it in the cockpit for quick reference.  Also I now have a strong preference for REEDS loose-leaf almanac – can take out a leaf, put it in a plastic thingy and tuck it into my pocket. While I am on waypoint issues – we had another one on the approach to St Denis d’Oleron where I eventually realized that the waypoint given for the approach is not necessarily going to place us on the leading line.  The approach line itself, as specified in the S Biscay pilot has never made much sense to me!  Again a quick confab with the chart plotter sorted out the problem, showing clearly the shallows that we needed to avoid. After that it was only a question of waiting until we could clear the bar into the harbour (dries at low water springs).

     St Denis itself is a good base from which to see Oleron – I may have mentioned before that it has a really good shower block – warm with plenty hot water and space in the shower cubicles. There’s bike hire nearby (try bargaining), and a daily market in the village.  The nearby campsite has a shop and a couple of modest eateries & takeaways.  Beaches on either side of the marina are swimmable at high tide, but much better beaches are to be had on the opposite side of the island at Les Huttes.

Apologies for the L-O-N-G gap!  We decided to take off for a week or so camping on the Isles of Scilly - a sort of recce for sailing there.  Not sure whether I feel more or less confident of the navigation but there are certainly beautiful anchorages and clear, cold waters.

And - please do sign up to follow the blog if you find our travels in any way interesting.  Comments welcome too - it all encourages me to carry on.

GETTING THERE

-->

July 7 ARS-EN-RE

GETTING THERE

Well, we left La Rochelle with the usual (for this year) NE 3 – 4. Number 2 foresail & full main, and a lovely tack under the Re bridge. We made good time – in fact, too good since we sailed past our waypoint with a good 90 minutes in hand.  Now the problem was how to ‘park’ the boat – well too deep to anchor.  Made a couple of attempts to heave-to, nether very successful as the number 2 pulled too hard – also a fairly strong incoming tide.  In the event we made a couple of reaches under the mainsail only – and, of course, had lunch.  We then raced for the waypoint – 2 reasons for this (1) to have enough depth when we reached our target marina (LA CREE) and (2) to make sure we got a place, it being on the run-up week to Bastille day, and sunny with it.  

     The approach to Ars can be a bit tricky for the first time.  This was our second but apart from remembering our ‘aground in the channel’ experience, we couldn’t remember too much about it.  Now, for you landlubbers, here’s a digression on GPS navigation that the tars amongst you won’t need. (Look away now – drop back in at the net paragraph). Since there aren’t any nice landmarks on the sea like roundabouts, traffic lights or shops, we work by co-ordinates – latitude and longitude.  Enter the numbers into the GPS and it will tell you when you get there.  Fine.  BUT – as we may have observed before – every bit of water looks a lot like another bit of water, so… the GPS alarm sound around 200 feet away – so we’ll carry on a bit, and we must be there NOW.  ‘How far off are we?’ ‘Oh, it’s behind us now, how far behind?’ ‘Not sure?’ ‘Oh well, we must be somewhere near it…’ Now turn the boat into the wind, take the mainsail down and…  where was that waypoint? Get the idea?

     We took the approach from the assumed-to-be waypoint and soon the depths began to plummet alarmingly.  No, we weren’t exactly where we were meant to be.  Al said ‘We’re going back to La Rochelle’ and I thought ‘Not likely – I want to be in a lovely, quiet marina tonight’ and suggested we had a look at the cockpit plotter to see where the green bits were so we could sail away from them.  Thanks to Al’s quick observation that the deep water had to be some way to Starboard, off we went and up went the depths.  Phew!  Cockpit plotter is ace!  Now we headed for the land on the prescribed course, past what we thought MUST be the green buoy mentioned in the pilot book.  Until we met the next one! (Neither pilot book nor charts are completely up to date through careful cost-benefit assessment.)

 By this time it was clear that we were in the right place, but I still found myself looking for a land based pair of leading marks that I knew (from previous experience) just are not visible and in any case belonged to the next course.  My point is – navigation is not easy, even with GPS, and it’s important not to take anything for granted.  We used to write out a list of key points on a waterproof pad (or bit of paper, depending on conditions) and keep it in the cockpit for quick reference.  Also I now have a strong preference for REEDS loose-leaf almanac – can take out a leaf, put it in a plastic thingy and tuck it into my pocket. While I am on waypoint issues – we had another one on the approach to St Denis d’Oleron where I eventually realized that the waypoint given for the approach is not necessarily going to place us on the leading line.  The approach line itself, as specified in the S Biscay pilot has never made much sense to me!  Again a quick confab with the chart plotter sorted out the problem, showing clearly the shallows that we needed to avoid. After that it was only a question of waiting until we could clear the bar into the harbour (dries at low water springs).

     St Denis itself is a good base from which to see Oleron – I may have mentioned before that it has a really good shower block – warm with plenty hot water and space in the shower cubicles. There’s bike hire nearby (try bargaining), and a daily market in the village.  The nearby campsite has a shop and a couple of modest eateries & takeaways.  Beaches on either side of the marina are swimmable at high tide, but much better beaches are to be had on the opposite side of the island at Les Huttes.

Apologies for the L-O-N-G gap!  We decided to take off for a week or so camping on the Isles of Scilly - a sort of recce for sailing there.  Not sure whether I feel more or less confident of the navigation but there are certainly beautiful anchorages and clear, cold waters.

And - please do sign up to follow the blog if you find our travels in any way interesting.  Comments welcome too - it all encourages me to carry on.