Portsmouth to Paris

[Guest]

In order to appease the childrens desire to visit Disneyland and still get a summer cruise in I am planning to take my boat to Paris this summer. A couple of years ago I posted a similar message regarding the Rance and had a deluge of useful posts which resulted in one of the finest holidays I can remember.
If anyone can help by way of tips, good place to drop the mast, point me at articles etc I would be grateful.
If anyone else has kids (mine are 7 and 9) who would like to go in tandem , why not come along too?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Bear in mind that Eurodisney is only in Paris in the Mandelsonian sense. It's a long way from the Seine and is much nearer the Marne.

http://www.paradiseconnections.com/about-info.html is a goodish place to start.

http://www.bargecompany.com/wpe21.gif gives a map of the Marne which leaves the Seine upstream of Paris, so you could do Gay Paris and then trundle up to Marne la Valee for Mucky Mouse and fiends.

 

[kimhollamby]

Regarding Disney, no need to go along the Marne for that...if you are prepared to stay in the Arsenal marina (the most family-friendly venue in Paris for a boat) then the rail station with the RER line to Disney is 10 minutes walk away. Easy!

Cannot help with mast but simple truths include make sure you plan the trip over on a weekend with a low tide in the morning...that way you'll have the necessary travelator to take you up to Rouen (worth knowing that early as by definition that closes down your options for dates in school hols time). Honfleur is prettier but you really cannot get out of there to make the best of the tide so a night in Le Havre is easier; the yacht club there serves good food.

Arm yourself with the French Navicarte 1: Seine Le Havre to Paris (haven't checked but you should find we are selling it in our books section). Detailed charts all the way.

Allow a day stopover at the pleasure moorings in Rouen to visit the city. That also gives you a chance to wander up the road to get your VNF licence (office not open on Sundays). And allow at least three days to get to Paris from there. The only current fuelling place on the Seine between Le Havre/Paris that sells the white diesel leisure boats must legally use is the barge Sargasse, on the port-hand side going upstream just above Rouen. Loads of other fuel barges but they all sell red and are unlikely to supply and they can lose licence and there are checks being made these days.

Six locks only, but big ones. You don't need tyres but at least one fender plank is a good idea as they have corrugated sides. Bollards set at several heights so it can help to have two lines to each cleat and transfer one whilst keeping the other secure. Don't wear best clothes for this! You might only get one line on, such is spacing, although ladders make handy extra places to secure as long as you don't get the rope caught on them.

Seine to Paris not everyones' cup of tea but I love the trip. Could say much more but I guess it is someone else's turn!

kim_hollamby@ipcmedia.com

 

[Peter_the_Grate]

We went to Paris last year, a round trip from Hamble via Calais and Le Havre. We took three weeks. I suggest:

1. Consider how long you want to take - going up the Seine can take a long time unless your boat has a good turn of speed. Ours is good for six knots, but I would not risk trying to go upstream. You are not permitted to stop between Le-Havre and Rouen, indeed there is nowhere to stop, so you must do it in one hop. Most of the time when we were going down from Rouen to Le Havre last year, the flow was in excess of 10 knots downstream and only two or three going up.

2. If you have a mast, raising/lowering facilities at Rouen are almost non-existent, despite what the guide books say - only dockside cranes (the big ones, hundreds of feet high) are available. We were quoted 800FF. We did ours ourselves. Several other boats who were travelling along with us, went on down to Honfleur and did it there. The bridges on the Seine are quite high so you might not need to lower your mast, but if you go anywhere else, you must. Air draft can be as low as 3.5 metres and very few bridges lift.

3. Above Rouen, the flow is slower (no tide) but is still substantial.

4. Check for closures before you go. The French are very good at planning closures and do keep to the schedules.

5. We went into the canal system at Calais. Mast lowering at the Town marina was 60FF (yes sixty). We had intended to go in via the Bai de la Somme, but it (Canal de la Somme) was closed.

6. The lady at VNF office in Calais speaks very good English and is very helpful (strangely, she appears to think that "donc" means the same in English as in French and uses it liberally). You will need a VNF Carnet, they check paperwork at a number of locks and you won't get through without all the correct stuff. The VNF website is quite useful - www.vnf.fr.

7. There are some facilities on the canal system but some are private and you will be turned away, despite what the guide books say. Prepare to be self-contained.

8. Take a good plank, as Kim suggests, and plenty of fenders. You might consider buying some in France as Chandlery is (in general) cheaper there. We bought half a dozen extra, as well as some extra long warps. Some of the locks are quite deep. The biggest lock that we encountered had a rise of 13 metres. I also made up a very long boathook.

9. Consider taking a short ladder, 10 or 12 feet. We used one as a passerelle, a second mooring plank, a route out of a deep(ish) lock that had no ladders, a prop during emergency raising of the mast and all sorts of other things. It was invaluable.

10. Be prepared for wash from large commercial boats. One of the boats we travelled with sustained considerable damage (hull/deck joint split) as a result of a large wash crashing them onto the canal wall. Theres no policing of speed and wash - think of lorries on Motorways with no police about.

11. Fully understand the available depth and your draft. Once into the lock-controlled canal system, there's no tide to lift you off if you run aground.

12. If you travel along the Seine, especially near the mouth, get a tidal flow map. The tides are strong and mad - the tide flowing out of the mouth whilst rising, and for hours longer than you'd expect.

Notwithstanding all of that, we had a ball. I saw my first Otter and Kingfisher, several of each, and had a completely different view of France.

 

[LadyInBed]

To get the full benefit of the flood on the Seine, you need to time it so the flood startes at first light. This means going up around spring tides.