Island Hopping and arriving at Ile d'Yeu
Tillymint.fortescue
Fri 7 Aug 2009 13:44
|
Thursday 6 August - apparently it's only Thursday;
I was sure it was Friday, not that it matters as we only really have two sorts
of days, sailing days and not sailing days. Yesterday was a sailing day, well no
actually it wasn't, it was a wind-less motor in the fog, the forecast gentle
afternoon wind didn't materialise nor did the sunshine. Instead we had slightly
claustrophobic fog all the way from Belle Ile to Ile d'Yeu; not the perfect day
to take to the high seas but we had to reach Ile d'Yeu for whatever
the next day was going to be because we had a hot date planned for the engine's
first service. As you can imagine it was an uneventful journey, we went past the
the Loire apparently - a whole French Department swallowed up in the mist and we
had an ice-cream in the afternoon as it was hot in the fog (as duly recorded by
Immy in the log). The children passed the day
reading a Rick Stein cookbook devising extravagant menus for forthcoming
dinners; our destination at Port Joinvillle is a big fishing port and the
promise of easy hauls in the fish market is very enticing. Again we marked
the day in hourly intervals now known as log o'clock, occassionally punctuality
was sacrificed and this tardy habit is duly attributed to the sixth crew member,
Mister Log.
In a slightly doppy, doldrummy sort of way we
eventually had Ile d'Yeu in sight. I set to with my now ritual cockpit tidying,
airline steward fashion, removing evidence of the inflight snacking and time
filling activities. One day Alex will say "Cabin crew, doors to manual and 10
minutes to landing" and I won't bat an eyelid! We had called ahead in the
morning to check that they could accommodate us in the marina so all we had to
do was confirm our impending arrival and find out where to go. All was bussle
and chaos with many boats in the channel approaching the harbour but we soon
caught sight of the pilot boat that would guide us to our berth. Skipper was
busy minding the traffic, I was busy getting out mooring lines and fenders
and all of a sudden there we where; inside the basin usually occupied by the
trawlers being directed to a berth alongside the quay which was about 6 feet
(pardon, deux metres) longer than Tilly Mint and bounded by boats rafted 3 deep
already. This was going to be rather like trying to park the boat side ways in a
wardrobe. Anyway no pressure, just spin her round on the spot and reverse park
to a wide audience - the quayside was lined and all neighbouring crews were on
deck to watch. The children and I, in record breaking time, fixed on the lines
and every fender we owned. This wasn't going to be the moment to forget how
to tie a fender knot. There was, thankfully, lots of help with shorelines
and lots of yelling of what must have been very useful bits of advice from the
shore party, the French nautical equivalent of "left hand down gov'nor, you're
OK, forward, watch the bumper, OK forward again, OK back a bit, no too far,
BRAKE, OK right hand down, no not that far, BACK BACK, mind the
headlights...............
Goes without saying that Skip rose to the
challenge, a flawless parking manoevre completed to a very generous round of
applause from the neighbouring boats - our first taste of the warmth and
friendliness we experienced in Ile d'Yeu. No sooner had we turned off the engine
and put a glass of beer in the skipper's shaking hand (he'd not felt the
pressure at all, no, hardly at all really) but 8 little french boats rafted
up alongside us, a bit like barnacles on a whale's bum!. The chaos outside in
the channel hadn't gone away, boats rafted 8 deep, the basin stuffed full, this
is a truly extra-ordinary place to park a boat. Not to undertaken by
the feint hearted or anyone with a precious disposition towards their paint
work.
We ended the day with another family sailing
tradition, cooking (for the first time) a piece of fish that is too big for
any of the pans onboard. Skate Wings a la Tilly Mint - Mr Stein you would have
been proud!!
|
