South of France here we come!!!

[dpb]

Well thats the plan anyway, boat all ready on trailer ready to hitch up and go on Thursday night, Portsmouth to Le Harve ferry, route picked, bearings and breaks checked, accomodation booked en route and water side ground floor flat with garden and mooring reserved for two weeks at Port Grimaud. Not our first trip to the region but first with this format as we have always stayed on board previous boats.
All documentation in place so what can go wrong?!!?
Well as a boat is involved, probably plenty!!

 

[B175Chris]

You'll have a great time!

Enjoy yourself while us lot are stuck in summery old England, please bring back some pictures to post /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[AIDY]

And a stick of rock ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[gerbil]

Sounds great !

Have been busy planning our trip in July (Friday 13th - doh !) to a lakeside gite in France with our bowrider - perhaps over cautious but have spare prop, two spare hubs with bearings, set of new brake pads, drivebelt and all the little used old ones as spares to take - figured I'd be kicking myself if we lose half the hols waiting for spares etc.

Still not resoved breakdown cover for the trailer itself - seems only by joining the Caravan Club and getting Mayday / red Pennant cover can I get cover for the trailer breaking down as opposed to the car.

Oh yes, also got one of those data tag boxes for the autoroutes to save dashing round the other side of the car or waking the wife at the tolls !

Would love to see some pics of your set up in Port Grimaud as that destination may be in our plans next year !

Enjoy !
Dave

 

[jfm]

Wehey you'll have a great time. Try not to miss Porquerolles islands. Lovely anchorages in Porq itself (furthest island from you - about an hour from PG) and West side of Levant for an all-over tan

Pics below are anchorage NE side of Porquerolles island, then Port Grimaud

 

[Whitelighter]

Blimey, that is some seriously shiney GRP you have in the first pic!!!!!

 

[B175Chris]

[ QUOTE ]
And a stick of rock ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Well i assumed that went without saying! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[DavidJ]

I'm sure you have a trailor spare wheel, but maybe take a spare tyre as well. When I used to trailor to the Med I found that Avon Europa tyres were not available in France nor any equivalent.

 

[B175Chris]

Before you set out make sure your trailer board is working as well, ours was fine and then the morning we were supposed to go the indicators went which meant a rush to buy a new trailer board!

Also another thing to check is the electrical connection cable for the trailer board which connects to the towbar, ours fell out going down the motorway due to the vibration, plus we hadnt considered it, hence the shell fell off and we were left with a barely-fitting connection, we were really lucky /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Have a good trip

Chris

 

[dpb]

Thanks for the thoughts all of you, hope we get as good weather as in the posted pics! Having seen them I cannot wait to get there. I hear your views on spares and have a complete set of new bearings spare as well as a dedicated tool kit for changing them. I do not have a spare wheel however as previous experience with four wheel trailers have shown that I can travel on three wheels, albeit slowly, to a tyre shop which to me is a better option than fiddling around on the hard shoulder or waiting for recovery!
Anyway, I will post an illustrated report on my return.

 

[tcm]

Have fun.

Ruleswise, the french med has loads of boats...and boat cops too! These have usual vast powers of hauling you over, spoiling your day.

In the bay of st tropez the speed limit is 5knots landside of the big yellow markers all round the bay and this is quite serious limit they will enforce.

If you see an inner run of smaller yellow buoys near beaches - no powered boats allowed inside that cos it is for swimmers.

The official speed limit in whole bay of st trop is 20 or er mebber 25 knots and no waterskiing allowed but these regulations seemto be completely disregarded, evident by the fact that er i'm not that sure of the max speed. aterskiing v popular early morning and late at night when the cops aren't around.

One rule that is widely observed and enforced is the need for an orange long flag ("flamme") if towing anyone on skis or donut stuff.

If you *are* stopped by boaty gendaremes then your best option by far is to be nice and polite: they just have to stop and question a certain number of boats each day and it does not mean (eg like uk traffic cops ) that you have done anything wrong -they can stop whoever they like.

If you have done anything wrong then you can grovellingly apologise and all will usually be fine.
All is less likely to be fine if you you give them a load of jip, and tellem how you're an excellent skipper and they're a bunch of green-eyed know-nowts - cos then the arbitrary fines and day-spoiling trips into harbour and even seizing the boat are all at their disposal.

Oh dear, it does seem a it of a killjoy post, but knowing better than not knowing i spose...

Hope this helps

 

[dpb]

Thanks TCM, we actually got pulled for speeding some years ago on way to Pampelone, like you say, big slice of humble pie and ' je suis desole, je n'avais acune idea!' (I am devestated, I had no idea!) did the trick. The fact that they almost swamped us with their wash seemed to have totally passed them by!
The reason waterskiing is popular in the early morn and late evening is that it is actually permitted before 10am and after 7pm according to my chart and whist you ski the speed limit beyond the 300m mark does not apply!
Thinking about it the chart is a few years old so better check the rules have not changed!
I did not know about the orange flag though!

 

[tcm]

Your french is fab! However, I hear you have to use "monsieur" a bit to show respect, and perhaps "desolée" is the way of saying sorry when you aren't at all sorry really, like when a restuarant manager says "desolée" if there's no table for you. It may also be that claiming that you have no idea whatsoever is also a bit much seeing as the french have to all pass an exam before taking the helm - but if all said with a smile it must be okay! A donf!

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I'm already there! This is the view out of my (temporary) office earlier this evening...

... and very nice it is too. Spent a pleasant hour in Monaco yesterday evening eating ice cream and watching the big boats jostling for position and mooring up. Quite a spectacle, compared to my previous experiences in Brighton marina ... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Cheers
Jimmy

 

[captainalex]

just to add, that with a trailer it's best to avoid the Le Luc junction off the A8(signposted St Tropez) , it's better to go further towards Nice and get off at Le Muy ( 25km further along the A8). The road is much better for towing and will bring you through Ste Maxime to reach Port Grimaud.
This may be something you're already aware of..Good Luck with the trip!.

 

[mjf]

Brighton Rocks

Blimey! I thought that photo WAS of Brighton