From Les Sables d'Olonne to La Rochelle

After a morning spent chilling, getting gas and some other chanderly, we depart Les Sables d'Olonne. I am very fond of Les Sables - we kept Otago here for a winter in 2004/5 and find the innner marina quiet with pleasant laid back bars and cafes. The outer Marina is very touristy, lively, a bit "kiss me quick" sort of place, it is bordered by a massive beach full of tourists and has all the trappings of bulk tourism.

The navigation up and down the river is tricky as the silt moves and the transits don't, last time in I took advice from a local who told me to go South of the transit. This time we went in and out at half tide and kept to the transit. depth seemed ok right on the line.
 Moving across onto the transit before the training walls that exit the harbour - the channel only gets shallow then
 Girl riding side saddle!
 We finally got a nice sail - broad reach allowed me to try out the new whisker pole. Over 6 knots for 6 hours!
 Lunch - my rolls are a bit more rustic than John's - but just as tasty.
 We nearly have to gybe so I roll in the genoa - still doing over 5 knots under main alone. The vent Solaire seems to operate reliably here - wind comes up at lunchtime and increases all afternoon and can be quite windy in the eraly evening. Then it dies, sometimes it comes up again at midnight/1 in the morning from the NE for a few hours.  Above is the massive bridge joining the Isle de Re to the mainland. It is a hundred feet high.
 One channel for Westbound and one channel for Eastbound boats - recommended not obligatory
 No matter how high the bridge everyone holds their breath when you go underneath.
 And approaching Les Minimes - the largest marina in Europe I think - over 4,500 boats
 I hope I don't ever need these fellows - though I am sure they are a nice bunch...
 You must call at the reception pontoon - the Welcome (Accuiel) pontoon has no one to welcome us at 7pm so we park there and I walk up to the Captainiere who directs me to berth 3 and gives me a map of the marina so I don't get lost!
 Just a few shots of the marina - hard to give you an impression of the scale, there are several bays, each bigger than most marinas!, the map 6 shots below shows this.








And then John and I walk into the centre - seems to take an hour, we are doing a dry run for John's leaving in the morning from the train station. (In the end he takes a taxi)

 The entrance to the old town is flanked by these towers.
 Once in there is a locked basin a Flotte to Startboard, last time I was in La Rochelle it was only for very big boats, they seem to allow big boats now, Shadowmere is nearly big enough. The old town has shallowish (I beleive) moorings to port and a further locked basin to Starboard. They are doing a lot of work in the town so changes are likely to the shoreside walks, these are already very pretty. They have laid tram tracks too since the last time I was here - though I only see ordinary wheled buses travelling down them. There is a good system of buses in La Rochelle, including a line from the marina. There is also water taxis although they only start at 7:30 in the morning and John has to be away by then.
La Gare - a magnificent building near the centre. I will either use this, or hire a car to pick up Shirley next Wednesday.

The marina has a strange pricing structure, Looks expensive at first glance. over 42 Euro a night - but you get the third night free, so three nights cost 84 Euro, still dear but not too bad. Few marinas have the wealth of chanderly and boat  workshops as La Rochelle, and it is a major city, good airport and train connections. If you stay a week the fee is 254 Euro. If you stay 3 days, go away for a day and come back for another 4 days it is cheaper. You can repeat the 3 days there and one day away forever and save money.

John left on Saturday 24th June, 2017. Shirley arrives in Bordeaux airport Wednesday 28th June, Eileen arrives Bilbao on Sunday 1st July and has an option of a 5 hour bus journey to Brodeaux arriving 5 am Monday 2nd July. It looks like the weather will be bad next Thursday and Friday so Shirley and I are stuck. I could maybe move the boat tomorrow to Royan, though that is a longer train journey to Bordeaux. Weather after Eileen arrives is ok, good day, bad day, good day, bad day.

Figuring out the best option is like solving an operational Maths problem - there must be an app for that...

La Rochelle to Royan is over 55 miles and we need tide to get in, a 3 hour window in every 12.
Royan to Arcachon is 73 miles (65 to the  mouth) This needs very careful tidal planning and alight wind at the mouth of the Arcachon channel, plus good tides to leave Royan. South of Archachon is a massive French firing range that must not be crossed if they are firing. They don't fire at weekends.
Arcachon to Cape Breton is 50 miles (approx - I was losing the will to live at this stage of planning).
La Rochelle straight to Cape Breton is 160 miles, Royan to Cape Breton is 120 miles.

I think I will stay in La Rochelle until Eileen arrives, probably hiring a car to pick up Shirley on Wednesday and using it on Thursday and Friday for holidaying. We will stop at Royan and Archachon and then head to Cape Breton, probably Friday week.

That's sailing for you.

1 comment:

  1. Great blog Ian. An following it with much interest.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.