Basin St. Gervais, Rouen

Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Tue 12 Jul 2011 18:15

Basin St. Gervais, Rouen 11.07.2011 49:26:88N  01:03:23E
After breakfast we bit the bullet and went and saw the manager of the boat yard and booked the appointment to have the masts put back up tomorrow at 08.00hrs (low tide). We then cycled up to the supermarket and bought provisions and on the way back called back into the boat yard to see the crane manager, Christopher. What a nice guy, easy going, amiable and speaks very good English. He suggested we brought the boat round to the crane immediately and he would lift both masts off, put them on a trolley and take them into the boat shed, so we could get them sorted out ready for tomorrow. Which is what we did after lunch. When untied all the shrouds we had loads of Maureens little spider friends running around everywhere. Why they like coiled up ropes to nest in beats me. Anyway they were all dispatched humanely. We finished sorting everything out by 17:00hrs, just time for a shower and clothing change and over to a large yacht belonging to an American couple for drinks and nibbles. They were unsure whether they were going to go through the canal system to the Med or not. What was putting them off was their boat draws 1.65 metres and very few canals have that depth of water in them. If he was to go aground on mud he would extreme difficulty to get off as he has a wing keel. They were also thinking about shipping the boat back to the States. I suggested it would be lot cheaper to get someone to help crew the boat, and sail it back. They pointedly looked at me and asked if I was interested. I said, yes if there was enough incentive. They took my contact details and said they would let me know. We went back to our boat had a light meal and crashed out for the evening, then an early night, for tomorrow is the big day.
Basin St. Gervaise Rouen 12.07.2011 49:26:88N  01:03:23E
Up at 07:00hrs weather bright but overcast, ideal weather conditions. When we took the masts down last year we nearly died of heat stroke it was so hot. We tied up underneath the crane just before 08:00hrs and got ready. All the stuff that had been cluttering the deck for the last 12 month was removed so that we had an unrestricted area on which to work. The main mast came out of the shed first and hoisted upright and immediately it was obvious that I had got one of the shrouds the wrong side of the spreaders., so down it came again and the problem rectified. The mast was then lowered, bolted in place and all the shrouds attached to the correct fixing points. Then came the mizzen mast and that was lowered onto the boat and secured into place. Crumbs what a fiddle all the shroud fittings were and it was all done against the clock since the tide was coming in quickly and the crane had to be disengaged from the mast before the mast came up too high. Christopher had said all along it would only take an hour to get both masts up. I told him I thought it would take two hours. In the end it only took one and half hours. Christopher (bless him) only charged us for one hour. We pottered back to our berth and we had sooner tied up than down came the rain, continuous heavy rain. Thank goodness it held off long enough to get the masts on. Then the Capitainerie came along and introduced us to the crew of the yacht next to us and told us they were making the sprint down the Seine to Honfleur on Thursday morning and suggested we travelled together. The two French males agreed on the other boat, so we leave here at 09:00hrs Thursday. Now the pressure was on to get everything else done in the time (in the pouring rain!) Ah well we put on all our wet weather gear and started. Disaster struck early on when putting up the genoa (That is the big front sail) with a twisted halyard (a rope that pulls a sail up the mast). When I tried to untangle it, the shackle came undone, leaving one end of the halyard at the top of the mast and the sail unsupported. Maureen did volunteer (very bravely I thought) to get hauled up to the top of the mast and try and fix it. She did try to get into next doors bosuns chair but it was set up for a very small person and she could not use it. The owner of it (a very skinny Frenchman) then offered to go up for us. Amazing! He was up the mast like greased lighting and brought the halyard end back to the deck in no time at all. We then spent the rest of the afternoon putting all the other bits and pieces back on. By the time we finished we were both cold, wet and tired. Thank goodness we had the fan heater on board so we could dry all our wet clothing.  We will both sleep well tonight.