15th to 22nd September

Sealion
Richard Martin
Wed 22 Sep 2010 21:10
Since the arrival of Bob we have been quite busy and not really been anywhere with good WIFI so updating the blog has gone to the back burner.
 
With the exception of yesterday we have had some good sailing. Mainly 8 to 15 knots of wind. As always on the nose, but as we haven't been trying to go far we have had some good up wind sailing. Alison slowly getting used to living at a twenty degree angle. The new/larger Genoa seems to be performing well in these low/medium winds, the boat seeming to reach 6/7knots speed quite easily.
 
From Nice airport we sailed pass the Islands off Cannes to the bay of Agay for lunch and then on to St Raphael were we got a spot in the old Port. Behind us on the harbour wall was another boat from Lymington - A Linsen 50 'Sequel'. The owner being the sister of some people we sailed with on Rally Portugal - what a small world. We had a chance to visit the 'Templar' church which had great views of the town and bay.
 
The following day we had a good beat up to St Tropez where we spent two nights exploring the town and doing some of the coastal walks - in front of some very smart Villas etc.
 
From St Tropez we had a good sail pass Cap Camaret and onward to the Island of Porquerolle. Whilst the wind was good we did have some rain - the first we have really suffered during the day this summer. We again decided to stay two nights so we could do some more of the lovely walks on the Island. We went over to the South side of the Island and the north along the rocky cliff paths with their wonderful views across to the Island of Cros. The second night we were joined by three other boas from Lymington. Roanda, Mystic Dragon & Solanje. We knew Bob & Mandy from Roanda were going to be in the area and had tentatively agreed to meet but didn't realize he had arranged with others to be in the area. We ended up with 9 of us in a local restaurant after numerous aperitifs first.
 
Monday we all set off for another great sail pulling into a very sheltered bay below the Island on Bregacon - upon which sits the French President's official summer Palace. David Cameron was a guest here two weeks ago when his Father was taken ill/died while on holiday in Toulon. After a lunch and a swim we set sail again for the relatively short trip to Port Cros. Having arrived late afternoon we went ashore in the tender and climbed to the castle right at the top of the hill. The views were stunning - The mountains of Provence in the West (past Toulon) and all the coastline stretching towards St Tropez in the East.
 
Tuesday we had planned to go to Hyeres marina so Bob could walk to the airport just down the road but they had a regatta on and no room for visitors. We duly headed to Toulon instead. The weather was again rather rainy but still warm.
 
We decided as we were in Toulon to hire a car today. With the car we dropped Bob off at the airport then headed off to Marseille and Port Napoleon to pick up our car. Having got our car we then went in convoy to Port Bormes were we are going to leave the boat for the winter. Having dropped our car off we headed back to the boat in Toulon. (450 kilometres of driving today). Anyway we are set up now to put the boat to bed in a few days time for the winter.
 
Pictures;
 
43  Bob & alison with St Raphael in background
50  Bob our cabin boy happy in his cabin
57 St Tropez from the sea
58  Porquerolle on the South side
65  The Lymington Team
68  Bregancon - Sarkosy's Presidential Palace
69  Royal Lymingtons South of France Branch 

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