French Canals - Mast thoughts

binch said:
On the other hand watch out for German charter boats nipping in ahead of you. If you arrive at a lock after the closure, pleasure boats should moor as far back as they can to allow any barges coming up to moor ahead. We usually moor close up to start with because of Germans, and move back after an interval long enough to be sure nobody else has left the last lock
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The closest we have ever come to losing our boat was caused by an incident involving a German charter boat. We left Narbonne heading north towards the series of six or so automatic locks before picking up the Canal du Midi. We reached the first lock in company with a hire boat carrying four or five Germans. They went in first and left it before us. As we approached the next lock the light was red but the gate was open, so they went in anyway. By the time we arrived the light was green, we went in and the gate closed. The water level rose and the upstream gates opened. The other boat left immediately but we were a little slower, as we had decided to put Jill ashore to cycle to the next lock, making the process a little easier. Presumably, having counted one boat into the lock after the green light came on, the mechanism had now counted one out, and the gates began to close as I approached them. The only thing I could do was to accelerate as much as possible but the gates did close on the boat. One fender was ripped off and a small amount of damage was done to the wooden toerail.

I have no idea whether the gates would have stopped moving when they 'felt' our boat between them but I suspect they would have continued until we were well crushed.
 
vyv_cox said:
The closest we have ever come to losing our boat was caused by an incident involving a German charter boat. We left Narbonne heading north towards the series of six or so automatic locks before picking up the Canal du Midi. We reached the first lock in company with a hire boat carrying four or five Germans. They went in first and left it before us. As we approached the next lock the light was red but the gate was open, so they went in anyway. By the time we arrived the light was green, we went in and the gate closed. The water level rose and the upstream gates opened. The other boat left immediately but we were a little slower, as we had decided to put Jill ashore to cycle to the next lock, making the process a little easier. Presumably, having counted one boat into the lock after the green light came on, the mechanism had now counted one out, and the gates began to close as I approached them. The only thing I could do was to accelerate as much as possible but the gates did close on the boat. One fender was ripped off and a small amount of damage was done to the wooden toerail.

I have no idea whether the gates would have stopped moving when they 'felt' our boat between them but I suspect they would have continued until we were well crushed.
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A good point to remember on the automated locks!
 
I'm not sure if this is invariably the rule but my impression is that all smaller automated locks sound a warning alarm for an appreciable period before the gates actually (start to) close. To state the blindingly obvious, it's safer to stay where one is (outside or inside) than to dice with the gates.
FWIW we always wait; wait for the boat ahead going in to sort itself out, wait for the boat (esp. peniches) ahead going out to sort itself out. This is, we think, the seamanlike way.
 
Grehan said:
I'm not sure if this is invariably the rule but my impression is that all smaller automated locks sound a warning alarm for an appreciable period before the gates actually (start to) close. To state the blindingly obvious, it's safer to stay where one is (outside or inside) than to dice with the gates.
FWIW we always wait; wait for the boat ahead going in to sort itself out, wait for the boat (esp. peniches) ahead going out to sort itself out. This is, we think, the seamanlike way.
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Easy with hindsight! It never occurred to me for one moment that this might happen. Other than the fact that the other boat had gone in on red nothing was out of the ordinary. No alarms of any description, indeed I don't remember hearing one anywhere. I had no opportunity to stay where I was as I had begun to move slowly, singlehanded, and my bow was probably between the gates when I first realised they were closing.
 
vyv_cox said:
Easy with hindsight! It never occurred to me for one moment that this might happen. Other than the fact that the other boat had gone in on red nothing was out of the ordinary. No alarms of any description, indeed I don't remember hearing one anywhere. I had no opportunity to stay where I was as I had begun to move slowly, singlehanded, and my bow was probably between the gates when I first realised they were closing.
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Vyv, but foresite for us is great! will watch for that one!
 
Canal du Midi

For what its worth I have always done the canals with the mast on a A frame or similar and never had any problems.

I have written 'logs' of my experiences of canal trips from Amsterdam, Canal du Midi and various times via the Seine and Paris. If you are interested then
http://www.michaelbriant.com/canal_du_midi.htm is a place to start browsing the site...

Royan is a good place to dis-mast particularly if you are putting it on a lorry - cheaper than the other places across the estuary because of access. You can also dis-mast at Pauliac half way up or in the Bordeaux Marina opposite the U-boat submarine pens.. It is a DIY crane which you rent for half a day from the Chandlers for around €30... In that basin area there are a couple of chandlers, huge supermarket, sail-makers etc etc..
You have to lock in from the river and head for the inner basin. when you leave at HW you then need to tie up to the Waiting pontoon in the river for low water before setting out on the last 30 miles or so to the Canal du Midi entrance - where there is also an excellent modern waiting pontoon - but you will not be waiting long because you have arrived towards HW... there is a little marina with cafe etc on the other side..

The canal du midi is certainly the most beautiful of them all - I think but the St Valery route is also interesting and quite special and of course there is nothing in the world like motoring your boat through Paris...
 
Can anyone shed any light on prices for both having the mast lifted and laid as well as the cost for having it trasported.

Any help is very helpful, coming into Le Harve so looking to demast there and canalling to the Med.

Thankyou
 
JordanBoon said:
Can anyone shed any light on prices for both having the mast lifted and laid as well as the cost for having it trasported.

Any help is very helpful, coming into Le Harve so looking to demast there and canalling to the Med.

Thankyou
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You can get your mast taken out at Le Havre, Honfleur or Rouen. Grehan's site will give you details of the yards. In fact if you read the whole of this thread all your questions will be answered. Most people carry their mast on deck in a wooden frame, but if you do want it (expensively) transported try wolfgang on www.masttransporte.de

It is the same at the other end, there are cranes in the popular exit points to the Med such as Sete to put your mast back in.
 
Hi there, this is all great infomation on the canals just been looking at this book of

French Canal Routes to the Med by Michael E Briant

think i may buy it too lots of great information:

Just trying to find the best in terms of price to have the mast demasted in Le Harve. Thankyou
 
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We plan to leave Port St Louis in a couple of weeks for the canal du Midi. Have arranged to transport 15 metre mast with AlteAd Augizeau, based in St Gilles Croix de Vie. Their quote was 350E, compared with 880E from Masttransporte! We had another quote at 2000E !!!!!! We will remast at Royan.

We called in to check on them when in France, they are a huge company who transport general goods plus all the French yachts from West France around Europe. Our mast will be part of a load as they have 4 weeks leeway to move it.

They have a website with impressive photos of boats tipped on their side to get down small lanes! We hope we have made the right decision..only time will tell.
 
Thankyou very much, I am demasting in Le Harve and hoping to put the mast back up at port st louis. If you would be able to keep me updated on the progress and how much just demasting costs that would be great.

I also have a mooring at southsea marina if you would like to take it on a annual contract. Just a thought
 
Thanks for offer ofberth......but we have a swinging mooring at home on the Yealm. Its why we are coming back, nowhere we have been is as beautiful its just a shame that the weather is rarely as perfect as down south!

Remasting at Royan, we have been quoted 37.20 E for 30 mins crane use. At Navy service its about 110E for the same time, can't remember exactly. Believe its cheaper at Grau d'Agde, but Navy Service is a very secure yard to store the mast, and they seem well organised. Plus thats where the boat is, so its easier to do there.

Our only worry is will the Rhone be likely to be in spate 2nd week in May?....perhaps Grehan can reply? If so we will go to Agde.
 
Rhone

Well, I'm hoping it won't be too bad - I'm also planning to bring a boat up round about that time. If it's too strong I'll just wait, if moderate maybe I'll just be patient with some slow progress.
There's not been a great deal of rain here recently, not sure about the current Alpine snow melt state - anyone know?
The Rhone Authority website is the thing to keep an eye on.
Current flow rates -
  • Beaucaire 778 m3/sec 1.5 Kn
  • Viviers 650 m3/sec 1.3 Kn
  • Valence 372 m3/sec 1.4 Kn
  • Lyon Ternay 330 m3/sec 1.3Kn
**Nigel Orr’s extremely useful rule-of-thumb is to multiply the cu.m/sec flow under normal (non-flood) conditions (as referenced from the CNR website) by 0.0072 at the northernmost points of measurement (Lyon region) and by 0.0036 lower down (from Valence to Beaucaire). The result is in km/hr. Divide by 1.85 to get the current in knots. (which I have done above)
I can see that there are a few plaisance boats on the upstream move today.
Rhone conditions information
 
I played safe and did the scenic route - my mast is 3.98m longer than the boat.

The last straw ( I was looking at doing the Canal du Midi) was having to dismantle the cockpit arch for the 3.3m clearances.

I'm glad I did it - 2 trips up and down Spanish N coast and a fantastic 6 weeks in the Rias Biaxas made me pity the canallers.
Missing so much and getting so over-pressure... ;-)
 
Ional said:
Remasting at Royan, we have been quoted 37.20 E for 30 mins crane use. At Navy service its about 110E for the same time, can't remember exactly. Believe its cheaper at Grau d'Agde, but Navy Service is a very secure yard to store the mast, and they seem well organised. Plus thats where the boat is, so its easier to do there.
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We demasted at Royan where their method was the best we have used anywhere, bar none. They use a device similar to what is used for cut trees and telephone poles, gripping the mast below the spreaders and placing it in position. No risk of breaking masthead instruments or the mast swinging around uncontrollably.

We remasted at Grau d'Agde, who also did a very good job.
 
my mast goes in 2 weeks time - port st louis to le havre - 500 euros plus tax as part-load!

to those heading north up the Rhone - grateful if you are able to post here for any progress reports - abnormal conditions etc.

Have agood trip - see you all on the way!

ps. anyone know a realiable place to leave the boat around Lyon for about 10 days - need to dash of home for a bit of family business before reverting to "slow" mode to enjoy the canals in summer!
 
Andy and Lyn said:
my mast goes in 2 weeks time - port st louis to le havre - 500 euros plus tax as part-load!

to those heading north up the Rhone - grateful if you are able to post here for any progress reports - abnormal conditions etc.

Have agood trip - see you all on the way!

ps. anyone know a realiable place to leave the boat around Lyon for about 10 days - need to dash of home for a bit of family business before reverting to "slow" mode to enjoy the canals in summer!
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What company are you using for the mast seams very reasonable, I am also looking for some place to stop in Lyon whilst i come back to UK for a wedding. If you hear of anything please let me know.
Also i have had the thought of asking an individual or couple if they could stay with the boat on a walkway somewhere near lyon, are the canals full of people living on them as the UK is.

Thanks.

Jordan
 
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