Drying out walls near La Rochelle

robertager1962

robertager1962

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Hi all. A really long shot here and asking advice for a friend in dire straits.
He has been working his way back to the UK from the Med with a seriously fouled hull and is currently in Royen and making for La Rochelle today.
He has zero cash and cannot afford a lift (he has begged and borrowed to get this far). Caught out by Brexit, he is just trying to get home.
Can anyone with experience of this coast (heading north) remember seeing a harbour wall or drying grid where he could scrape the hull. Unfortunately in the Med, hulls seem to get a coat of, what appears to be limescale that can only really be chiselled off and it this that he has been carrying around with him. Maximum speed at the moment is about 2.5 knots and with a clean hull he would easily be doing 7 knots, but if you have no money, you have no money.
If he can get to a drying wall, it would make such a difference.
 
Hi all. A really long shot here and asking advice for a friend in dire straits.
He has been working his way back to the UK from the Med with a seriously fouled hull. He has zero cash and cannot afford a lift (he has begged and borrowed to get this far). Caught out by Brexit, he is just trying to get home.
Can anyone with experience of this coast (heading north) remember seeing a harbour wall or drying grid where he could scrape the hull. Unfortunately in the Med, hulls seem to get a coat of, what appears to be limescale that can only really be chiselled off and it is this, that he has been carrying around with him. Maximum speed at the moment is about 2.5 knots and with a clean hull he would easily be doing 7 knots, but if you have no money, you have no money.
If he can get to a drying wall, it would make such a difference.
 
Tell him to check beforehand the level of local tolerance about scrubbing while on a drying wall, if any... :( it is officially forbidden; I regularly see people dry for small repairs, anodes, propellers, etc, but no one is scrubbing any more.
As with all environmental matters, fines can be hefty.
 
We had very heavy fouling after leaving our boat afloat unused for 2 months over over the summer- it sounds similar to your friend. We swum & scrapped the top 300-400mm fouling off and it made a huge difference.
 
robertager1962 said:
Hi all. A really long shot here and asking advice for a friend in dire straits.
He has been working his way back to the UK from the Med with a seriously fouled hull and is currently in Royen and making for La Rochelle today.
He has zero cash and cannot afford a lift (he has begged and borrowed to get this far). Caught out by Brexit, he is just trying to get home.
Can anyone with experience of this coast (heading north) remember seeing a harbour wall or drying grid where he could scrape the hull. Unfortunately in the Med, hulls seem to get a coat of, what appears to be limescale that can only really be chiselled off and it this that he has been carrying around with him. Maximum speed at the moment is about 2.5 knots and with a clean hull he would easily be doing 7 knots, but if you have no money, you have no money.
If he can get to a drying wall, it would make such a difference.
Click to expand...


Bearing in mind the aggravation that could ensue if he dries out in the wrong spot and the jobsworths get on the case..............going into the Villaine River could be very handy.

He might spend a very comfortable week there, locking in at Arzal. In the freshwater, lots of his fouling would fall away and he could encourage the rest with a broom. There is tons of free anchoring up there and, with no fear of storms, it could be a great restover. Another two days sailing though.

.
 
Roberto said:
Tell him to check beforehand the level of local tolerance about scrubbing while on a drying wall, if any... :( it is officially forbidden; I regularly see people dry for small repairs, anodes, propellers, etc, but no one is scrubbing any more.
As with all environmental matters, fines can be hefty.
Click to expand...
Yes, many / most places now require the scrubbed off material to be contained and disposed of in a secure way.

Bringing a heavily fouled boat from elsewhere, scrubbing off and dumping a lot of potentially invasive non local species can do a lot of harm.
 
Port Bourgenay, just south of Le Sables has a really nice scrubbing grid and wall, and there is also a chandlery on-site should you need anything for the boat.

You enter the harbour and go right to the end of the visitor pontoon and the scrubbing grid is right in front of you. Very friendly and helpful people in there too.

As a long-shot, you might be able to shove it against the wall at Ile d'Aix free, but there are no facilities there.
 
I believe I saw someone drying up against the wall inside Marina of Kernevel (Port de Plaisance du Kernevel) in Lorient.

I believe it's the wall in front of this streetview: Google Maps
 
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