Becky
New member
A happy holiday experience; irony at it\'s worst
We left La Rochelle quite early, heading north for Les Sables D'Olonne, with typically te wind from almost dead ahead. We could get a bit of the main drawing, but kept the engine on as we had some 36 miles to cover, and the firtst part was inside of Ile de Re and straight up-wind. The wind freed a bit when we cleared the island and we could get sails drawing, and settled down to an easy sail.
Approaching Les Sables, we noticed thick black smoke from initially one source, then two. Then we saw red flares and rockets being fired off. As we got nearer, two yachts who were ahead of us, stopped in the entrance channel to Les Sables. Something was up. They then both turned around and came out. One crew member on the second yachts indicated that the harbour was closed. I called the marina on VHF and this was confirmed. It appeared that the fishermen had closed several harbours, Les sables being one of them because the EEC had reduced their quotas.
We had no alternative but to go back out to sea. We had two choices; to return to La Rochelle, which wasn't good as we had waited nearly 5 days for suitable weather to leave. Or to go further up the coast to Ile de Yeux. Which we did; a further 28 miles hard on the wind.
Ititially the autohelm managed to sail the boat and things were fine. We were making 7 knots through the water. But the sky got progressively darker, and the wind was increasing. We saw several heavy showers pass over, but at that time none came near us. Ile de Yeux is very low-lying, and it was some time before it was visible, but by now we were sailing quite fast, with just a couple of rolls in the genoa, but full main set. Speed had increased to 8 knots plus, but in the gusts we were being somewhat overpowered. We would then round up into the wind, taking the waves over the bow, the spray coming over the sprayhood into the cockpit. I took over the helm as the autohelm wasn't coping, but to be honest I wasn't very much better. I was about to ask for help in reducing the main when we were hit by a stronger gust and rounded up again. Water sluiced down the decks, came over the sprayhood and gushed down the companionway hatch. Onto the nav table, and the laptop. Which instantly died.
There was an approaching rainstorm that had reduced visibility to around the pulpit, so I couldn't see where I was going. HWMBO shot below to se if there was anything he could do to restore the computer.
I should explain that we have been using the laptop below, with a screen in the cockpit protected by the windscreen and sprayhood, so we had full nav data on deck, as well as the track to steer. Now all this was gone, and we only had the back-up navman chartplotter below. So Richard stayed below and gave me the course to attempt to steer, as viz on deck was hardly anything.
The island wasn't far away, we were sailing at 8-9 knots, mostly under control, and the wind was howling around us; very gusty, maxing out at 32 knots. And we still had full main.
The rainstorm cleared, and the island appeared rather close by now, so while I had visibility, Richard reduced the main (thank heavens for in-mast furling), and we were a bit more under control. We hadn't really slowed down, and were charging along, especially as we were now being in the lee of the island and in smoother water.
The marina is through a narrow entrance, followed by two sharp left turns, and isn't very spacious. Luckily we were met by a lad in a dory, who took us into a berth which we made fairly easily despite the gusting wind.
I was soaked to the skin and had to change all my clothes as I ahdn't had a chance to put on my oilskin overalls; I had on just my jacket which wasn't adequate. Richard had been below with the hatch closed and had called up the course directions, and was feeling sick. My hair was plastered over my face; an improvement perhaps?
The boat was alright. But for us, it was just another incident in this lousy summer weather.
We left La Rochelle quite early, heading north for Les Sables D'Olonne, with typically te wind from almost dead ahead. We could get a bit of the main drawing, but kept the engine on as we had some 36 miles to cover, and the firtst part was inside of Ile de Re and straight up-wind. The wind freed a bit when we cleared the island and we could get sails drawing, and settled down to an easy sail.
Approaching Les Sables, we noticed thick black smoke from initially one source, then two. Then we saw red flares and rockets being fired off. As we got nearer, two yachts who were ahead of us, stopped in the entrance channel to Les Sables. Something was up. They then both turned around and came out. One crew member on the second yachts indicated that the harbour was closed. I called the marina on VHF and this was confirmed. It appeared that the fishermen had closed several harbours, Les sables being one of them because the EEC had reduced their quotas.
We had no alternative but to go back out to sea. We had two choices; to return to La Rochelle, which wasn't good as we had waited nearly 5 days for suitable weather to leave. Or to go further up the coast to Ile de Yeux. Which we did; a further 28 miles hard on the wind.
Ititially the autohelm managed to sail the boat and things were fine. We were making 7 knots through the water. But the sky got progressively darker, and the wind was increasing. We saw several heavy showers pass over, but at that time none came near us. Ile de Yeux is very low-lying, and it was some time before it was visible, but by now we were sailing quite fast, with just a couple of rolls in the genoa, but full main set. Speed had increased to 8 knots plus, but in the gusts we were being somewhat overpowered. We would then round up into the wind, taking the waves over the bow, the spray coming over the sprayhood into the cockpit. I took over the helm as the autohelm wasn't coping, but to be honest I wasn't very much better. I was about to ask for help in reducing the main when we were hit by a stronger gust and rounded up again. Water sluiced down the decks, came over the sprayhood and gushed down the companionway hatch. Onto the nav table, and the laptop. Which instantly died.
There was an approaching rainstorm that had reduced visibility to around the pulpit, so I couldn't see where I was going. HWMBO shot below to se if there was anything he could do to restore the computer.
I should explain that we have been using the laptop below, with a screen in the cockpit protected by the windscreen and sprayhood, so we had full nav data on deck, as well as the track to steer. Now all this was gone, and we only had the back-up navman chartplotter below. So Richard stayed below and gave me the course to attempt to steer, as viz on deck was hardly anything.
The island wasn't far away, we were sailing at 8-9 knots, mostly under control, and the wind was howling around us; very gusty, maxing out at 32 knots. And we still had full main.
The rainstorm cleared, and the island appeared rather close by now, so while I had visibility, Richard reduced the main (thank heavens for in-mast furling), and we were a bit more under control. We hadn't really slowed down, and were charging along, especially as we were now being in the lee of the island and in smoother water.
The marina is through a narrow entrance, followed by two sharp left turns, and isn't very spacious. Luckily we were met by a lad in a dory, who took us into a berth which we made fairly easily despite the gusting wind.
I was soaked to the skin and had to change all my clothes as I ahdn't had a chance to put on my oilskin overalls; I had on just my jacket which wasn't adequate. Richard had been below with the hatch closed and had called up the course directions, and was feeling sick. My hair was plastered over my face; an improvement perhaps?
The boat was alright. But for us, it was just another incident in this lousy summer weather.
