On Monday 12^th September, Elizabeth departed for her conference in Kuala Lumpar.  We caught a taxi to the nearby airport and, after she had checked in, I walked back to the boat via the large shopping centre at Cap 3000.  The shopping centre is beside the River Var (which gives its name to the region).

Sailing friend Richard had agreed to join me as stand-in crew and he arrived on Tuesday morning.  His flight was delayed by two hours so that he was collected, by his brother John, together with friends Michèle and Tony.  We all had a very enjoyable lunch in a restaurant in the marina before they left.  Richard and I then set off for a sail.

Our plan had been to do a little sailing round the bay and then head for Baie des Anges – the other side of the bay.  After tacking to and fro across the bay, we decided it was time to find the marina but were told, on the radio, that it was ‘complet’ and we had to change direction and return to Saint Laurent for a further night.  We then learned that there was a big regatta at Cannes and all the local marinas would also be full. However, Saint Raphael would be far enough west – and also large enough - to have space for us.

After telephoning Saint Raphael on Wednesday morning (14^th) and booking space, we set off for the 20 mile trip. We spend most of the morning sailing but without making much progress into the head wind.  The wind dropped so we turned the motor on and motored the second half of the journey to Porta Santa Lucia at Saint Raphael – a very large marina with north and south entrances and plenty of spaces.   The south entrance is protected by a small rocky island (or a large rock). Unfortunately we were in the first berth in the south marina and the furthest point from the ‘sanitaires’.  We enjoyed a nice meal out – for the second evening.

Eliza B is shown in the first berth, on the left, the capitainerie is in the centre of the photo and the sanitaires are outside the picture (to the left).

Since Richard was leaving on Friday to spend a few days with his brother, we decided we should go for a sail – even though we were booked into our berth for three nights.  We decided we would make a ‘day trip’ down to Sainte Maxime and back.  The winds were very gentle so we motored the two-and-half hours to Ste Maxime in time for lunch.  While there I took advantage and booked for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights in the marina.  After lunch the wind had picked up and we had a superb sail back to St Raphael on a single tack.  We enjoyed a very pleasant Thai meal in town on the Thursday evening.

On Friday morning, brother John and wife Pam came to collect Richard and we all had a farewell coffee together.  While waiting for Elizabeth to return from her foreign travels I made myself useful and completed a number of minor gel-coat repairs to the cockpit.  Elizabeth arrived late afternoon and we went for a walk to explore the town.

On Saturday morning (17^th) we were presented with a sunny day with light winds – in the correct direction.  We enjoyed two hours gentle sailing before arriving at Sainte Maxime in the early afternoon and tying up in our allocated berth (across the end of a pontoon – with lazy lines at both bow and stern). It was a cloudy evening with strong winds (a Mistral) forecast for Sunday and Monday. 

It rained very heavily at breakfast time on Sunday morning but cleared up by lunchtime.  We caught the ferry across the bay to Saint Tropez. Another traditional harbour but full of very large and expensive sailing and motor yachts. 

We walked round the very pretty town – which is crowded with lots of expensive shops and ‘beautiful people’.  We had lunch in the original shop ”La Tarte Tropezienne” – of which there are a number of subsidiaries in the area specialising in a wonderful selection of breads, pastries and tartes.  The photo shows a forgasse (a sort of folded pizza with cheese and bacon) and a slice of Tarte Tropezienne (very light bread filled with custard cream and covered with sugar crystals).

We also discovered that there was convention of pipes and drum bands in the town hall and went to investigate and witnessed their parade round the town.  The bands were from all over the place – mainly France but some from other countries including one from New York.

The above photos of the various bandsmen (each in their own distinctive, ‘traditional’ uniforms), their followers, standard bearers and ‘guards’ were taken outside the hall where all the attendees had attended a fine and noisy lunch.  They were reassembling outside ready to march round the town.

We got back to the boat about 6pm just in time to rescue our cockpit tent cover which was starting to strain in the growing winds. The winds increased throughout the evening and, even though we were in the relatively protected environment of the harbour, we took the precaution of adding extra lines to keep us steady and safe during the night.  We estimated the winds to be up to force 8 at times and not very comfortable.  On Monday morning, Elizabeth discovered that one of her ‘croc’ sailing shoes which had been left on the end of the pontoon had been blown away and had to be ‘presumed lost at sea’. Later that morning she spotted it floating in the harbour and managed to rescue it.    

   Ron.

Ron & Elizabeth HOWARD

Eliza B,  Moody 36 (1998)

+ 44 7768 816 579

+ 33 (0)6 11 66 79 08

http://blog.mailasail.com/elizab