Le Havre to the Med by canal in an Oceanis 45

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Captain Greg

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I am contemplating buying a new Oceanis 45 with shallow draught (1.75m) and having it delivered to Le Havre. Then traversing the French canals to the med. As a very inexperienced sailor I figure this will be a great way to get to know the boat before I actually have to contemplate sailing her.

My initial concern though, is the Oceanis 45 too big to be taken down the main canals of France? Are there any other negatives I should be aware of with this size boat. Note, I would have the mast sent ahead.
 
My view is your boat would be struggling with that size and draft.
Also the canals are probably not a good environment to become familiar with your boat. For instance going down the Rhone the river was in flood and we had over-the-ground speeds of up to 13 knots - quite scary through narrow bridges (exciting though!) and dodging logs. I enjoyed it but SWMBO was very worried :(

We reckoned ourselves lucky to get away with a few scrapes and bumps, as I've heard of more serious damage.

Why not buy a new boat in the Med if that's where you intend to sail ?
 
No doubt Grehan will soon be along to tell all about it, but...The Briel Voies Navigables de France maps you'll find on Amazon tell you the critical height, depth and widths of the various canals but I think you'd manage on the right route. Your draft is no problem - the critical one may be width but I doubt it is that tight, Grehan will say for sure. French canals aren't built like the pokey little rat-holes we have here.

I'm not sure you're going to learn much about your boat by doing this though, apart from a rather specific sort of handling under power which is hardly an issue anyway - and burning enough diesel to know your bank balance intimately. I studied the trip in the opposite direction this summer and concluded that it is very time consuming and frankly bloody hard work, several hundred locks and a great deal of planning too. The overall cost in time and $ is comparable with a sea delivery too.
Its a sailing boat, and a capable one. Why not hire a delivery skipper and go with him to learn the boat properly, a thousand times the value of canals regardless of their scenic and gastronomic attractions.

That is superb experience that will stand you in good stead - very good stead, it would be a shame to miss out on it. Quite apart from being damn good fun.

Hang on - a Benny delivered to Le Harvre? Surely they're made in La Rochelle or nearby? That's already well on the way to the Med by sea, seems daft to be going backwards to Le Harvre and making all that extra work - unless you really like flogging down canals of course. Not sure what all that bumping and grinding in locks (and with badly driven hire boats too if you do this in season) are going to do for your shiny new gel-coat either.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

I am now having a slight re think about my posted plan.

Originally I had planned to pick the 45 up in the UK and sail with a delivery skipper to the Med and as suggested, learn the ropes that way. Until I started reading all the fabulous tales about the French Canals.

It has been suggested that a trip thru the canals is similar to berthing at well over 100 marinas and that to me seemed like an upside, as far as gaining valuable experience goes. My wife and I had intended to spread the journey over 5 to 6 months. But now I am beginning to see the light and realise the boat would take a bit of a battering.

I still have a bee in my bonnet about doing the canals now so I think it would be more prudent to buy a second hand (motor launch?) and do the canals that way. Then sell the boat at the other end. Return to Australia and earn a bit more money before returning the following season and pick up the "new" Oceanis 45 - the boat I eventually would like to have back here in the Whitsundays etc., once finished with the Med.

Any more thoughts worth tossing about?
 
You should have no problem, other than damage to your topsides in the locks. Many barges are much longer than your boat and the draught is just about manageable, with a little ploughing. We traversed the canals in the opposite direction in a 35 footer with a draught of 1.7 m. See our web site http://yachtvalhalla.wordpress.com/
Gehan is the guru on all matters to do with the French waterways and will no doubt advise you further.
 
If you just want to sample the joys of the French canals you can hire a boat, particularly in the Canal du Midi.

While many people use the canals as a route to the Med, it is usually in smaller boats which do have the lower draft that is needed. A 45 footer is big, but what kills it is that you need the shallow draft keel which compromises performance significantly if you are also going bluewater sailing with the same boat. One solution is having a lifting keel, but those of similar size (such as a Southerly) are twice the price of a Beneteau.

So, you have to compromise somewhere. We had the same issue in choosing our boat as we planned the Canal du Midi, so we have a shallow (1.4m) Bavaria 37 which we kept in the Med for years. Not a big sacrifice for relatively gentle sailing in the summer there, but you notice the loss of performance when you get into higher winds and bigger seas. Would not be my choice if most of my passage making was in open waters.
 
We have a motor boat and our initial thought was to enjoy the French canals while gaining experience. Then we thought that most of the experience was going to be locks, and we´d done them.

So we spent five months coast hopping from London round France, Spain and Portugal to the Med instead, and had a whale of a time. I´m sure we got more out of it than we would have done going through the canals.
 
Hi and Welcome
There are plenty of bigger boats transiting the canal network. Frankly, it is not size (length, breadth) that's the problem, more like your depth, which is pretty close to the maximum. Which is 1.8m.

http://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/medroutes.html
and
http://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/dimensions.html
will show you the options, and out of the options you should choose the 'Champagne' route (basically the Marne east of Paris and then south to the River Saone). It's more reliably provided with water and its depth is more reliably kept clear.

So far as 'damage' and 'inexperience' is concerned I'd strongly recommend that you get to know your craft before commencing even a relatively benign inland voyage. You will need to control your boat in 'close quarters' coming into locks, against rough lock walls, dealing with water movement, etc. Of course, the potential for serious calamity is much less than being at sea, but as Vyv notes, unnecessary bumps and scratches are disquieting. (By the way, you won't be going along the Midi - not a chance!). Many people enter the canals without any canal experience, very soon learn the ropes and have a truly delightful trip, without serious incident or indeed, damage. That was our own experience, 10 years ago. But perhaps they do have the necessary basic boat handling skills in the first place.

I don't think your boat would necessarily "get a bit of a battering" but you'll enjoy it more with some experience under your belt, particularly since you might encounter a few (not insurmountable) depth-related problems along the way.

[edit]
You will, of course, need your ICC and CEVNI qualifications to do the trip.
http://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/regulations.html

[edit 2]
It's not 'all locks' - far from it!
 
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PlanB - I'd love to do the route you took, as well. That was our PlanA.

But the canals do look soooo enticing.

Truth is, I don't have the money or the time to do both so I am right now in a quandary. The yacht I buy (and I do have my heart set on the Oceanis 45, maybe the 41) cos truth be known I will be doing more living on it than sailing. I am 6foot5 so the Bene does it for me comfort wise.

I am 56 yo and I only want to buy the one yacht (that would see my savings pretty much spent) and hopefully it will see me out. And ideally that would be somewhere someday in the South Pacific. So I don't want to spend the first 5 months of the yacht's life battering it to pieces.

Maybe I have to revert to PlanA after all. Question. Could a novice sailor contemplate doing the coastal hop down to the Med?
 
Just to clarify the 'battering' in case posters get the idea that I took a dodgem car ride through the Midi. The engine controls in Straitshooter are on the aft, starboard side of the cockpit, with tiller steering. Setting the crew down immediately before the lock is done in many cases onto a very low wall, only about 2 ft above the water, on the port side. From my position at the engine controls it was impossible to see this wall from some way out, and I collided with a couple of them. A very long horizontal fender would have prevented this but despite hanging five or six vertical ones there was sometimes contact between concrete and grp.
 
French Canals

From my experience once the 'traversing the French canals' seed starts to germinate you will have serious psychological difficulties in destroying it! You therefore have to chose between the 2nd hand mobo route or going through with your 'pride and joy'.
I reckon that with the cash you will lose with the former you do do an excellent buffering job on the latter -quality big ballon fenders,boards,sheet covering etc.I took Seren through when she was 1 year old and only picked up a few grazes - the more obvious bumps to the aluminium hull were inflicted on a buoy in the Helford river and in a yard in Sicily! I would guess the odd gelcoat damage is more easily repaired and certainly worth the fantastic experience you will have especially if you allow 5/6 months - the Rhone was a doodle for us. There have been many previous 'canals or not?' posts on this forum and only the odd poster did not thoroughly enjoy the trip.
Our 42 foot Ovni 395 lift keel still has to have the rudder down for navigation in locks etc so in practice we draw 1.6 mtr and only did a bit of ploughing in the early bits of the Marne after leaving Paris. We did a lot of research (part of the fun) drawing extensively from Grehan and others on the forum.We had many visits from family and friends to help with the locks but when the two of us were on our own we had no difficulties.A superb and memorable time was had by all.
 
Grehan said:
How novice is novice?
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2 weeks bare-boating in the Whitsundays a few years ago and bit of motor boating on the lakes in Gippsland (Southern Australia).

I sail a pacer on Albert Park lake (Melbourne) every second weekend in the warmer months. I'm no natural.

Basically as novice as you can get.

But keen as mustard for what it's worth and I have every intention of being known as the Old man of the Sea when I eventually carck it.
 
Just saw Viv's post about contact btween GRP and concrete despite vertical fendering. I suspect this happens when lock 'overfills' on way down and can be a problem.
We used 'chain link roll-up rubber matting' - the type you see outside public buildings etc.and which do not float We also had on board about a few 3 mtr approx. lengths of roofing 'battens' I suppose about 4 x 2 cms to help push off from lock sides etc. As the lock filled near to the brim we pushed these down to fender between boat and lock wall.
 
Seren said:
Just saw Viv's post about contact btween GRP and concrete despite vertical fendering. I suspect this happens when lock 'overfills' on way down and can be a problem.
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No, it's on the upstream gates on the Garonne canal. Crew steps onto the low wall that is under the bridge before the lock, leading to steps or a slope up to the lock side. In many cases there is a small jetty on the bank before the lock for landing crew but with a draught of 1.4 metres we could often not get anywhere near it, so had to use the wall at the lock. There is often a ladder on the lock gate that could avoid going near the wall but my crew was adamant that she would not use it.
 
CANALS

Having done the the trip last summer via the somme ,and central canal my advice would that you will have problems after Paris until you hit the soane , after that no problems . In my expereience 1.2 metres draft is ok but anything deeper you will be plought the mud despite what the guide books say and also to tell the truth until the soane all you will see on the canals are its bank and trees
 
Captain Greg said:
PlanB - I'd love to do the route you took, as well. That was our PlanA.

But the canals do look soooo enticing.

Truth is, I don't have the money or the time to do both so I am right now in a quandary. The yacht I buy (and I do have my heart set on the Oceanis 45, maybe the 41) cos truth be known I will be doing more living on it than sailing. I am 6foot5 so the Bene does it for me comfort wise.

I am 56 yo and I only want to buy the one yacht (that would see my savings pretty much spent) and hopefully it will see me out. And ideally that would be somewhere someday in the South Pacific. So I don't want to spend the first 5 months of the yacht's life battering it to pieces.

Maybe I have to revert to PlanA after all. Question. Could a novice sailor contemplate doing the coastal hop down to the Med?
Click to expand...

Maybe you could get in touch with these people, fellow Aussies and a few years experience ahead of you.

http://www.kanumbra.com/
 
Well, not a complete novice perhaps, but with a little experience and with care and planning of course.
The answer is to get someone suitably experienced to come along, at least for the 2-3 day Biscay to Vigo or thereabouts if you're not up to longer legs yet - leg as daysailing the French and N Spanish Biscay coast isn't a really feasible. Then I reckon you should be able to daysail the rest of the way, or with very few overnighters. You talk of getting to the Pacific - get the experience early so you can understand what's involved. You'll get all the help and advice you need here - and then some!

Better get enrolled in a course or two before too long!
 
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Captain Greg said:
PlanB - I'd love to do the route you took, as well. That was our PlanA.

But the canals do look soooo enticing.

... ... ...
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You did pick up from Grehan's post#9 that you MUST have an International Certificate of Competence, with the inland waterways CEVNI endorsement to take your own boat through the French canals?

Bizarrely, you can hire a boat (that you're unfamiliar with) without qualifications.
 
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