What a difference a week makes

SUN !  For 3 straight days !!  In BRITTANY !!!   And with enough wind to sail, too.  Tears of joy welling up... 

Sunny cockpit lunch on Dumet Island (the pole of the continental hemisphere !)

Unfortunately, by the time the weather changed, we had abandoned the idea of heading north to Groix Island and the Glenans archipelago and instead headed south to the Guerande region, known for its salt marshes and sardine fisheries.  This has never been my favourite region, but having bikes on board changes everything.  We stayed a couple of days in ports that I had always considered to be quite dull, but with the bikes, we were able to ride along some spectacular coastal trails and really enjoyed our visit.  (But in my excitement over a sunny day of biking, I forgot my camera.)  We met up with friends also sailing in the area and spent some fun evenings together.  The recent appearance of the sun has even persuaded us to perhaps head north to the Channel Islands in July, following in the reassuring wake of a more experienced friend who has proposed forming a small flotilla.  But he also says that if the weather isn’t to our liking, we’ll put on the left-hand turn signal and head south instead.  Time (and the weather) will tell…

Now it’s home for three days of repairs (pilot, anemometer, new foot pump for the inflatable annex) and a quick crew change.  Patrick’s daughter will make her sailing debut with us next week, so we’re hoping the good weather continues.  

Sun also means laundry and drying out boat cushions.

Traffic jam:  Two in front, one along side, and 3 perpendicular to the one along side !  Good natured chaos.

Manoeuvering around a regatta.

Ever wonder what the inside of a foot pump looks like ?  Wonder no further...

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One week later...

The first week of our "summer" cruise was spent island hopping between cold raindrops, and now we're hunkered down waiting for a gale to pass over.  It's supposed to clear out by tomorrow morning, leaving cool temperatures behind (it was cool already).  The wind is screeching through the masts here in Port Haliguen with gusts up to 35 knots and 3-4 meter seas on the exposed side of the isthmus.  But we've got a great boat slip close to the port office, good internet and radio reception, great bike paths, a charming town with lots of restaurants, DVDs, two fully loaded kindles, and piping hot showers close by.  As we say, it's better than being at home (but only just).  We're comforting each other with fantasies of selling the boat and moving to Morocco...

Houat Island with visitor.

Low tide on Hoedic Island

Queen of the Citadelle, Belle Isle

Solstice moon, 11pm, still light enough to read outside.

No swimming, indeed...

Lovely bike path along the wild coast (if you remember to head downwind...).

Scene seen along the bike path.

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Count-down to Summer (?) Cruising

With 7 days left before we head off for 3 months (albeit with pit stops back home from time to time), we still have to rescue the ailing anemometer on top of the mast (and then put it back up again if it can be fixed), replace an awol radar reflector, pick up our life raft from its revision and reinstall it, replace the wire boom vang with a new spectra textile one, replace the lower port-side lifeline and stanchion, and load the boat with provisions and gear.  No sweat. 

Because it’s too friggin cold to sweat here !  (Today’s high 15 C / 59 F). Sheesh.

We’ll be sailing French nautical map 6990, from the Pointe de Penmarc’h to La Gironde, which is essentially the Atlantic coast of France, baba cool.  

French nautical chart 6990: Atlantic coast of France from Penmarch point to the Gironde river.

We may spill over the edges of the map a bit if we have good weather and feel motivated, but good ole 6990 is definitely our comfort zone.  We’ll hit all the islands (nine of the ten anyway) and hope for calm weather so we can spend most of our time in quiet moorings at anchor (free !). 

Are we excited?  Nope.  We’re exhausted.  And we’ve sailed the Atlantic coast of France before so the  voyage of discovery will be testing our own seamanship skills, and as always, testing our boat-repairing skills  (Gee, that sounds relaxing, doesn’t it?)  My goal is simply to finish the summer with more things fixed than broken, including ourselves.  I’m sure we’ll see things differently once we’ve tucked Spray away behind one of the islands and had a sunny, calm, relaxing few days.  Okay… it was probably too much throwing the “sunny” bit in to the mix, but one can dream.  Next report from the islands !  (or rather, the next port with an internet connection).

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3s and 8s

Threes and eights look a lot alike, especially when there’s a hole-punch over the number on a sticker telling you when your life raft is due for a revision and inspection.  I thought it was an 8 (August) and decided we should go ahead and send it for its 3 year check up before we head out this summer - ya know… to be ahead of the game.  It was, in fact, a 3 (March) and we have been sailing offshore with a expired inspection sticker for 2 months.  It’s still not clear to me what the penalty for that might be for sailboats, but one article we read suggested that the fine could be around $1000.  Anyhoo… sent the life raft to the shop and they tell us it will be ready before we head on out 16 June.  No offshore sailing for us until then.

In the meantime, we also realized that somewhere along the way our radar reflector tube jumped overboard.  That’s not too expensive to replace but it means yet another trip up the pole.  The weather also finally got above 15 C (barely) so I put 2 coats of anti-condensation paint in the 2 cabins.  So far, so good – a noticeable difference with the areas not painted.  And we painted the anchor to prevent it from leaving rust stains all over the deck.  We need to add a 2^nd coat, but will have to wait for drier weather.

Downpours, but at least without sleet for the return leg.

 We just returned from a very wet and blustery trip to Crouesty to get the refrigerator repaired.  During a gale-force gust with sleet on the way there (well of course it wasn’t forecast… they issued a special weather bulletin 15 minutes before we pulled out of port, and we always think we’re protected in the gulf and never listen to these anyway), our anemometer decided it was time to have a meltdown (or freeze up?).  After it dried out a bit, it seemed to be giving more reasonable results, but another bout of rain on the way home today sent it right around the bend again.  We’ll check all the simple things we can do ourselves, but it’s going to be difficult to find an electrician who deals in that type of anemometer and can test a head unit with our cables to identify where the problem is.  I’m all for doing without, myself.  I know where the wind is coming from and if the boat is healed over more than 25 degrees, it’s time to reduce sail, right?… what more do I need ?

During the rain and gusts, we discovered a great little hideaway behind one of the islands in the Gulf (Long Island, it's pretentiously called).  The water there is too deep for us to anchor but there were some moorings that were available and we nabbed one, following the strong recommendations of a neighbouring sailor in Crouesty who heard of our plans to pick up a mooring ball in another part of the Gulf.  We’re buying that man a drink the next time we see him.  The mooring was dead calm … not even the slightest chop slapping up against the hull during the night, which was a pretty impressive feat given that the winds were still gusty and we are in the period of strong tidal coefficient. 

Tucked away behind Long Island while the gales pass north.

Did I mention that we were barrelling down the Gulf at 9 knots SIDEWAYS on the way to Crouesty ?  (Tidal coefficient 97 out of 120 in an area with some of the strongest currents in Europe.)  Short-tacking across such a conveyor belt is no fun (or, rather, it could be fun in a smaller boat where you are not the owner.)  At one point, to keep wind in the head sail, I realized I would have to turn the boat backwards, so we just rolled it up and managed with the main sail (with 2 reefs). 

Now we’re home for awhile getting some work done on the house (yes, things fall apart with a house, too). The weather forecasters are saying that it’s going to be a cool, wet summer here.  We have (jokingly?) discussed putting the boat in dry dock and heading off to Morocco instead…

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Spring Cruise Report

After a rough and delayed start, we sailed off for our first big cruise on Spray on 3 May.  It was a cruise of firsts and of confidence building, which was sorely needed after a crushing winter and an endless string of repairs. 

Cruise Map

Total distance: 200 nautical miles, longest leg: 40 nM.  (Yes, we took our time…).

Down (red) and Back (blue) ... not the actual route but you get the idea.  Port stops in Houat Island, Piriac, Pornichet, Pornic, Noirmoutier Island, Yeu Island, Crouesty, and Berder Island.

Accomplishments:

Spent 13 days at sea, alone together. Happily !

Escaped the protected confines of the Quiberon Bay, visited some beautiful cruising areas and made it to our target destination of Ile d’Yeu.

Sailed an offshore passage > 15 nautical miles from land / harbour and out of sight of land  (okay, that’s happened before because of fog, but that doesn’t count.) 

Crossed the Loire River Estuary cargo channel, twice.  We scanned the horizon like two nervous meerkats, looking for cargo ships ready to barrel down on us. Thankfully, they were all at anchor in the waiting zone.

Got the AIS working (although it’s still quite finicky.)

Passing behind the cargos: reality to the left, AIS screen to the right (note: Red =  Spray and Blue = Cargos at anchor.  Not to scale !)

Entered 5 ports we’ve never visited with Spray, including one with a somewhat confusing swing gate.

The Piriac swing gate (a barrier to keep the water in the port at low tide.)  You can see the top of the gate just appearing.

Perfected our reefing techniques (because we had to with changing weather conditions).  One day of squalls, one half-day of dead calm, two days of gales.

Managed food and cooking on boat for 2 weeks successfully (only 3 restaurant stops). 

Tested our new folding bikes.  They take up a lot of space on the boat but we appreciated having them for shore visits.

Bikes and laundry drying under the pareo ... boat vacation !

Things that broke:

The refrigerator is dead.  It was on its last legs but we had hoped to keep poking it along for awhile longer. 

The wire cable of the boom vang jumped off its roller in the pulley attached to the boom and got wedged down between the roller and the side of the pulley.  It was easily put back in place but a few wires are now broken and bent.  The ship chandler told us that no one uses these wire cables anymore and suggested we replace it with textile (spectra). 

Boom vang pulley and cable ... to be replaced with spectra.

And we still have to resolve the stanchion and life line problem.

Incivilities:

We were plagued this cruise by several mysterious “incivilities.”  Before we left home port, we filled the refrigerator and plugged into shore power for a couple of hours while we made our final trips back and forth between boat and house.  When we returned, someone had unplugged our shore power cable and thrown it in the water !  It’s hard to imagine how it could be an accident.  We rinsed the cable thoroughly with fresh water and dried it as best we could.

We noticed that a spinnaker pulley has been stolen sometime in the last few weeks. 

And the most bizarre:  in one of the ports we visited, someone unscrewed the metal cap to our heating system exhaust pipe and left the cap sitting on the deck.  ???  Did they think it was the gas tank ?  We’re just thankful the cap didn’t end up in the water. 

  

On the whole:

It was a great experience and we were in no hurry to get home.  The cruise also gave us confidence for heading off for 2-3 months this summer.  But Patrick has begun asking himself if the enjoyment he gets from the boat is enough to compensate the stress and costs.  (My answer is, of course, YES, but then again, I’m not paying the bills.)  Time will tell…

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Parting Gift

Surely you didn’t think we could just sail away without incident? 

The stanchion after being rammed by a visiting boat.

A visiting sailor was surprised by a strong gust of wind as he tried to pull into the slip next to Spray.  His bow snagged one of our port-side stanchions and evidently gave it a pretty good shove before getting free.  Fortunately for us, he was honest about it and left all his coordinates with the harbour master.  

Life line took a bit of a beating as well.

This, coupled with bad weather and bad health have delayed our departure for a few days.  We made all the declarations with the insurance company, but it will take quite awhile before the local boatyard is free to assess the repair costs.  In the meantime, it’s nothing that will keep us from sailing.  No real harm done, but not a great way to start a trip.

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May Day (not MAYDAY !)

We head off on the 1st of May for our first 2 week stint of “spring” sailing (where quotes indicate irony of the word with respect to the forecasted temperatures and weather conditions).

Spray in the port of Vannes.

I hesitate to call it a shakedown cruise for summer sailing since that might tempt the gods to throw lots of nasty repair jobs our way, but the timing and duration will make a nice test run for longer sails coming up soon. 

Goals:  

Leave the Gulf during the Week of the Gulf traditional boat festival madness (6-12 May).

Avoid the Belle-Ile area during the Round Belle-Ile race (4 May).

Swing the compass and carry out the auto-learn calibration for the pilot.

Test the AIS system with MaxSea (now using the serial cable directly from the AIS to the computer instead of the USB connector and its creepy serial-to-USB port conversion).

Expand our navigation zone outside of the Quiberon Bay (plans are to sail between Groix Island and Yeu Island, weather-willing; see red arrows in graph below.)

Convince Patrick that we CAN eat well on the boat after the pre-prepared meals have run out, and that there ARE good food markets in many port areas. 

Learn to enjoy sailing again without squalls every 48 hours or constant breakdowns (equipment and crew). 

Test our new folding bikes: storage on the boat, performance on the road, ability to transfer bikes to shore with the inflatable annex ?

Post my first blog report from sea.

Return to Vannes safe, sound, and happy for a family gathering and bathroom renovations before heading off for longer adventures.

Navigation Zone: Groix Island to the Northwest, Yeu Island to the Southeast (red arrows).

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Motor Maintenance: Last Call

Grilled thermostat anyone ?

Today we changed the zincs on the motor, checked the cooling system and the thermostat.  I’m no expert, but the expert confirmed my suspicions:  this one is thoroughly grilled (but at least it was stuck in the Open position).  The zincs were pretty messy, too, but after liberal bathing in WD-40, they came out without too much of a fight. 

Now our “To Do” list for the motor has been whittled down to:  replacing thermostat, rinsing the motor with fresh water and “no salt” product (or vinegar?), and putting some fuel injection cleaner in the diesel tank.   

We kept pummelling the poor mechanic with “what if” and “what about” questions until he finally cracked, threw his hands up in surrender and said “I don’t know what you want from me… you’re motor’s FINE !” 

And with that, we will now (fingers crossed) be closing this year’s chapter on motor maintenance. 

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Lewmar Wavegrip Winch Maintenance

This week, we attacked the winches.  We didn’t know when they had last been cleaned, so armed with the Lewmar maintenance manual, white spirit, light machine oil, winch grease, and piles of rags and miles of paper towels, we opened up our first winch.

Everyone will tell you that cleaning and remounting a winch is not difficult, and it’s true.  Everyone will also tell you that it is all too easy to lose pieces overboard, so be very careful and keep all parts  inside the cockpit at all times.  And oh, ‘tis true, ‘tis true, but you won’t believe how true it is until it happens to you.

The basic dismounting, cleaning, and remounting is fairly straightforward and is covered in the manual.  Our first surprise was that we didn’t have the right manual, or rather, we didn’t have the winches we thought we had.  Our winches are the older Lewmar Wavegrip series (30ST and 40ST), made between 1983 and 1991, easily identifiable by their 4 cross-head screws on the top cap.  The schematic for these winches is available at: http://www.pyacht.com/lewmar-winch-schematics.htm

The 30STs were pretty clean.  These are the ones that stay under the dodger. 

Before and after cleaning.

But the 40st were full of gunk (dried, clumping grease) and we noticed cracks in the gel coat underneath both of these winches.  We put some silicone over the cracks to prevent creeping and leaking.  But does anyone know why these are there?  Stress fractures?

Dried grease on bearings.

Mystery cracks underneath both 40STs.

We followed instructions in the manual about using winch grease everywhere except the pawls, where we used a light machine oil.  Several boating friends told us they simply used grease everywhere, but that seems to gunk up the pawls after awhile, so we followed the instructions and used only oil there. 

In reading the various nets and blogs, there are a couple of issues not covered in the manuals that can cause problems.  We fell into these traps, too, but figured them out with a little trial and error.

The first one deals with the 2 collets sitting just underneath the top cap and on top of the feeder arm.  The collets support the spindle and keep it at the right height in relation to the gears at the bottom of the winch.  They fit like puzzle pieces into notches cut in the center stem and they must also be aligned with the grove at the top of the spindle when you put them back together.  You have to lift the spindle up a bit to get the grove to align with the notches.  If you don’t get them aligned, you’ll notice that the collets have a gap between them and you won’t be able to line up the screw holes.

Removing and re-seating the collets.  Lift the spindle to align the notch and spindle groove (red arrow).

The second problem we had was in putting together the upper and lower crowns of the self-tailing jaws.  When you place the upper crown on the lower one, with the stripper ring in between, you have to rotate the upper crown until it “clicks” into place on the lower crown and it no longer rotates freely.  If you don’t do this, you’ll notice that your upper crown is wavy when you tighten down the screws (as if it’s not seated correctly, which it isn’t.) 

Place top crown (not shown) over bottom crown and stripper ring and turn until it clicks into place.

In general, our winches were in good shape.  One pawl spring broke and that was a good sign for us to buy a replacement kit and change them out .  The only major kerfuffle was when one of the upper crowns went sliding down the gunwale like a hockey puck before making a big PLOOF sound as it hit the water.  We had been working on our hands and knees in the cockpit floor to avoid losing any pieces overboard, and this happened when one of us stood up to dry the part.  The water in the port is about 2 meters deep with zero visibility and is still very cold.  Diving for it blind is a last-ditch option.  We managed to find a company in the UK (winchspares.com) that still sells parts for these older models, but stocks won’t last forever.  Next time, we’ll have a better appreciation for what “be very careful” really means.    

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The North and the South

It’s a miracle.  I’ve finally met a Breton sailor who says positive things about sailing in the Mediterranean.  (Name withheld for his protection.)  He spent 3 years cruising in the Med and highly recommends it.  Here in France, there is a constant stand-off between devotees of these two major sailing zones, fed regularly by articles in sailing magazines emphasizing the commonly-held prejudices about each.

A dreamy anchorage near Gozo / Malta, and dinner after diving for sea urchins in Tunisia. (They're not so bad with lots of butter and garlic...). 

In Brittany, you will hear the all-too-familiar refrain, “In the Med, there’s either too much wind or not enough.”  You will also hear that the ports are too expensive, too crowded, and that they are full of flashy motor yachts and gigantic catamarans and their obnoxious owners.  Of Brittany, Med sailors will simply point out that it’s cool and rainy, even in the summer.  There are elements of truth to both, but animosity aside, most sailors would eagerly sail both zones if given the chance. However, except for shallow-draft keels (<1.40m) that can pass in the canal system linking the Atlantic coast to the Med, travel between Brittany and the Med means a very long trip across the Biscay Bay and around Spain and Portugal, and a round-trip is usually more than a single sailing season will allow.

But it was the wife of the Breton Med fan (an excellent sailor herself) who posed the critical question for me: the choice all depends on why you sail.  If you sail as a way to explore the world, there is no place better than the Med, birthplace of western civilisation where a simple day sail can take you into a new country with a different language, culture, and cuisine.  Rod Heikell, author of many of the IMRAY guides for the Med, has this to say about the too much wind / not enough wind mantra:  “There is some truth in it but more often than not it is used as an excuse for poor planning”.  He goes on to suggest that many people who complain about the sailing conditions in the Med are those who should have opted for a motor boat rather than a sail boat – those who can’t tolerate the idea of sailing at less than 3 knots or those who feel they need to heave-to when the afternoon breezes reach force 6.     

We have crewed on boats between Corsica and Sardinia, and from Tunisia to Sicily via Lampedusa and Malta, and have known both dead calm and near gale-force winds with short choppy seas.  But we have also known these conditions in Brittany.  What I have never known in Brittany, however, is a hot and sunny day with exotic port stops at World Heritage sites.  Maybe it’s the result of this dark, never-ending winter, but if you ask, that’s what I want. 

In the end, we are firm believers in Jimmy Cornell’s warning that the most dangerous thing on a sailboat is a calendar.  If you have the luxury of taking your time (and we do), you can choose your weather windows to suit your motivation levels wherever you sail.

Alas, for this summer, we need to get some more miles under our keel and get to know the boat a bit better before heading that far away from home, which will mean staying in a zone between Southern Brittany to the Basque country, with fingers crossed for warm weather and mild winds.     

Time to stop dreaming and get back to work: 

Today, we patched a slightly frayed patch on the bottom side of the genoa clew using a sail patch our sail-maker gave to us (we’re good clients already …).

Newly patched Genoa.

After several pseudo-philosophical exchanges with sailing friends, we were made to realize that the rudder angle indicator is an OPTION for the auto-pilot, and one that not everyone thinks is particularly useful.  Since we would need to have a new metal connector made to repair ours and because the assembly takes up much needed space in the cockpit locker, we simply unplugged it.  If we decide we miss it, we can always plug it back in later.  The next time we’re out at slack tide with light winds, I’ll swing the compass and do the auto-learning process again to recalibrate everything and see how it goes.  It will be a relief to have a reliable pilot with just the two of us on board.

Disconnected 4 wires from rudder angle indicator to pilot computer.

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