CREW CHANGE AT LA ROCHELLE - AU REVOIR TO HESTER AND TOM

Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Sat 14 Jun 2014 17:38
Saturday 14 June. A very sad day as we took Hester and Tom to the airport for their return to the UK. It was absolutely wonderful having them both onboard, even if it was only 4 nights. Hester truly ‘manned-up’; when you are not used to small boats, all-sensory overload can easily take hold, as everything is so novel. But Hester got properly stuck in, and is now mainsail halyard and genoa furler controller extraordinaire; she also proved a dab hand at the wheel, taking us confidently out of St Martin’s tight confines, and holding a steady course on the wind at 30˚heel. BZ indeed! For Tom, despite his lack of recent time aboard, it was though he’d never stepped ashore after the pond crossing. A couple of phots of last night’s dinner and ice cream purchasing to round off our memories of your stay.

After we’d said goodbye, the skipper and mate returned to Aquila and spent the afternoon doing various chores and maintenance. The outboard is now back in service, complete with an easily accessible, integral ‘replace the sheer pin kit’. The dinghy rowlock has been repaired, and is now much stronger than the original.

Our plan is to spend a couple more nights at La Rochelle, then move on to St Martin de Re and thence towards Les Sables d’Ollone where we will RV with Coggins et al in about 10 days time. In the interim, blogs will only be sent when we move port – so if it all goes quiet for a few days, worry not!

JPEG image

JPEG image

Blog Entries

2017
Aug 2017 Jul 2017 Jun 2017 May 2017
2016
Jul 2016 Jun 2016 May 2016
2015
Jul 2015 Jun 2015 May 2015 Apr 2015
2014
Jul 2014 Jun 2014 May 2014
2008
Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Mar 2008