Escaping the Throngs and enbracing the Vendee Globe!!!!!
The Voyages of Richard and Amanda
Mon 28 Jun 2010 14:44
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POS: 46:30.10N 001:47.70
Well hi guys it's me Amanda, at long last I am
mellow enough to contribute to the blog!!
Our last blog entry saw us well and truly wedged
into the small moat like harbour in St Martin - I have stood in the throng of a
mass crowd before, wedged in so tight that the only movement permitted is when
the whole mass moves but never in my life experienced the same in a boat -
it was awesome!
As we finalised our mooring a tall man standing on
the jetty called down to me "I hope you are a member of the Moody Association",
luckily I was able to say "but of course", to which this very English gent
with hands on hips proudly announced he was the ex Treasurer of the said
Association. He was moored second along to us on our right in, would
you believe it .....a Malo!!! Bet you thought I was going to say
Moody. We never did establish why he changed his allegiance, but hey
ho, each unto their own. We also met our immediate neighbours on our right
a French couple who came from St Gilles Sur-Vie which is further up the coast.
She spoke very good English, made a good interpreter and gave us some good tips
on other marinas.
Well as Richard has already explained we did a tour
on foot of St Martin. It is a charming place and must have been a
wonderfully secure fortress all those years ago when they were trying to avoid
the invasion of those pesky English, mind you I think it still is doing a pretty
good job - it's quite a challenge getting into this 'marina' and I must tell you
my Master and Commander has been elevated to even greater heights after bringing
Justine Gabrielle all the way down this narrow channel, performing what was
virtually a 360 degree turn on the spot with boats all around him just a nose
breath away, on a sharp right hand bend, then reversing to a stop within 1metre
of a tall solid brick wall. Enough to put the bravest seadog off
entering - but oh no not Captain Custforth!
After taking in the atmosphere of St Martin we
went out for a meal in a charming restaurant overlooking the moat then
tired but exhilarated we went to our beds.
The rest of the night in St Martin was what
you would expect amongst so many people, noisy most of the night and extremely
humid, Richard managed to sleep but I did not, however, it was a small
price for such a unique experience.
Richard woke at 6.45, went to pay the Capitainaire
for our berth and prepared the lines for the off. I poked my
head up around 7.30 and already the air was filled with the buzz of anxious
sailors on a mission - another race day begins!! The lock gate was
opened at 8.00am and instantly you were aware the throng was
moving. One by one the boats started to move off big ocean cruisers,
day trippers and tiny little sailing race boats with no engines just oars!
We cast of and followed in the wake of one such tiny little boat. It was
admirable to watch them hoist their sail and then paddle with the oars but their
slow speed made our progress, which was already harrowing as we squeezed between
the stationary boats on either side, even harder as you need a
certain amount of speed to propel Justine G. Anyway we made it safely
through, it was au revoir St Martin and bonjour Atlantic ocean.
The sea reflected the deep blue sky and with a
gentle Atlantic swell, winds north easterly F2 to 3 we made good progress to our
next destination which was to be Bourgenay 12 miles further up the coast on
the mainland. However, the sailing was so perfect we decided to continue
on a further 6 miles to Les Sables-D'Olonne home to the Vendee Globe.
Sadly having made our decision and sailed past Bourgenay the winds died
- typical!!
We slopped around for some time on flat calm seas,
sails flapping in Richards favourite rhythm watching the world go by and staring
into the depths of the ocean looking for those elusive dolphins when lo and
behold a strange pale cream undulating mass floated by. (Richard has
just told me to say "no it was not Amanda going for a swim" cheeky boy!!!)
Anyway, we both leapt to the side of the boat and their floating by
in waves of two or three every few minutes were the largest jelly fishes I have
ever seen. At least a metre long and about 2ft wide these strange blubbery
masses undulated against the tide heading who knows where, nor I think do
they! Some were deeper than others and just appeared as pale cream
shadows but those closest to the surface made excellent candidates
for a photoshoot. Eventually the excitement died down and
although we knew the winds would be filling in soon we decided to motor for
awhile.
Sure enough the winds built up to a F3 (13/14
knots of wind) from would you believe it, the North West, just where we
wanted to go. But it really was such fabulous weather an afternoon of
tacking in such perfect conditions was hardly a burden, besides it was only 4
or 5 miles to harbour.
About a mile off Les Sables-D'Olonne we came across
one of the big open 60 Vendee Globe style race boats - probably entertaining
some of its sponsors - they really are magnificent vessels. For me it was quite
something to be coming into the home of the great round the world ocean
race. But Richard keeps jibbing me about how does it feel to be walking in
the footsteps of the great Alex Thompson, now he is more than a cheeky
boy!!
We finally reached the harbour around
3pm. We came sailing in with great high sea walls on our
port beam and tied up to the fuel dock area just outside the marina to
check with the Captainaire where we should moor. I find it nerve racking
coming into ports as I am the one that is expected to lithely jump ashore and
tie up. Luckily in the majority of marinas there have been people on hand
to throw a line to and once again a friendly member of the public came to my
rescue and took the bow line. Whilst Richard went ashore to sort our the
paper work I stayed on deck. I must say I am not sure I like being the
subject of the general publics interest, its all a bit embarrassing - funny that
considering I have spent a lifetime performing (in every sense of the
word!).
Anyway it was not long before we were off again and
heading for our pontoon, B12. This time sadly there was no one to grab our
lines and I had to jump! The fairways in this marina are wonderfully wide
which as least gave Richard plenty of space within which to manoeuvre and as
usual he brought us in perfectly. I had my first encounter with the common
French bar on the end of the pontoon - they don't seem to go in for cleats at
the end of the pontoon, most frustrating - which I found difficult to tie my
rope around quick enough to stop the boat lurching on into the front of the
berth. Now I can just hear all of you snickering about this useless crew
poor Richard has got himself stuck with but let me tell you apart from the
language coming out of my mouth, I reckon I did pretty good!!!! We were
tied down and secured before you could say Jack Robinson.
We had not eaten since breakfast so I fried up some
onions and we had ourselves a big treat of hot dogs and beer US style, it
may not be doing our waist lines much good but it was a perfect end to a perfect
day! Well not quite, just as I was getting stuck into the washing up the
owners of berth B12 arrived and were most upset we had taken their space.
However, the upset did not last long and Richard was able to lend a hand mooring
them a couple of spaces further along, just for the night - this meant another
move, oh nooooo!
We didn't go out to eat, it had been a long day, we
had had two early morning starts one after the other and little or no sleep the
previous night so it was early to bed after a refreshing shower in not bad
facilities (nothing remotely as good as home).
Woke up around 8.30am had breakfast, bacon
baguettes tea and coffee a la Justine Gabrielle cuisine and then cast off to
move the small distance to the other side of the fairway onto pontoon A25.
Another brilliant piece of crew rope handling saw us tied up safely oh and it
goes without saying brilliant skippering by Captain Cutsforth now we just hope
we can stay here safely for one day and a night without another
move.
I might add Les Sables D'Olonne was one of the
ports badly damaged by the February storm this year that caused
the total devastation and destruction of many pontoons and sadly boats and
even more sadly around 60 deaths. Let's just hope we have no big storm
surges while we are here there is little room at the top of
the pontoon piles at high water to accommodate more than 1.5metres of storm
surge.
We have stocked up with food - loads of
gorgeous French cheese - ready for the off tomorrow. Will be eating on
board a little something chef Manda will knock up (don't groan all you who
know my cooking it will be fabulous cos I have Richard at the
helm!)
Well I better stop now, perhaps its best Richard
comes back to writing the blog I have verbal diarrhoea I know! Hey ho
love to you all and the sea has not broken me yet! I will conquer the
fear!!!!!!
We plan to sail on the tide tomorrow morning
weather permitting and will report progress in due course.
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