Swift 18 En Charante-Maritime - 3
Tides were now flowing northward in the morning and so it was time to
visit the Ile de Ré. There is a very convenient daytime anchorage
close to the beach at the south east end of the island. A mile north
of this spot is the magnificent Ile de Ré road bridge - it stretches
in a gentle curve for nearly 3 kilometres. Yachts can sail through
most of the many arches. Our destination was the capital of the
island, St Martin. Although the harbour is locked, the lock gates are
normally open when the water is above mean tidal level (within 3hrs of
HW). As it was Bastille Day, the French national holiday, the harbour
was very crowded, but we managed to squeeze in at the far end. It was
a lovely warm evening with many people promenading along the quay or
sitting at the numerous pavement restaurants. Many french harbours
have a firework display on Bastille Day, and St Martin was no
exception. Although not up to the standard of the fireworks display at
the end of Cowes week, it did liven up the evening giving some people
the opportunity to illegally let off red parachute flares.
A few miles down the coast is the drying harbour of La Flotte. We took
the precaution of walking there from St Martin, in order to inspect it
at low water. Having checked it and the approach channel, we sailed
there later on that day at high water. La Flotte is a little fishing
community, but visiting yachtsmen are welcome as long as they do not
mind drying out in the soft mud. The ten visitors berths were full,
but the friendly harbour master soon found us a suitable spot. A major
attraction on the quay was bungey jumping from a tall crane, but this
activity was not for us!
Before sailing back to La Rochelle we decided on a long detour via La Tranche-sur-Mer on the mainland. The passage skirts a fish farming area packed with nets and buoys covering 2km by 1km. It is not advisable to sail through this area, whose corners are clearly marked by cardinal buoys. La Tranche offers a good sandy beach and a number of mooring buoys, but little else. As the wind was rising when we got there, we decided to make an early return trip to La Rochelle. The northwest wind began to create quite a lumpy following sea. However, with 2 reefs set, Tiger Lily was never pooped and we slid under the Ile de Ré bridge into calmer waters on the lee side of the island. It was then only a short passage back to Port des Minimes were we were welcomed by the harbour staff on the visitors pontoon. By now they had come to recognize Tiger Lily and had their control card all ready by the time we tied up.
Our last day was spent gathering souvenirs and generally making ready for the trail home. The slipway was busy throughout the day with people scrubbing the hulls of dried out boats. However by high water they had all gone making it easy to recover Tiger Lily onto the trailer. Tiger Lily is not antifouled and there is always some marine growth after 2 weeks afloat. The task of cleaning the weed from the bottom of the hull was made easier by the presence of a convenient water tap. That night we slept aboard the boat parked on the quay by the slipway. By 7am next morning we were leaving La Rochelle bound for the overnight cross channel ferry at Cherbourg and 24 hours later she was safely parked outside our front door at home.
This was Tiger Lily's seventh continental trailing holiday. A look at the statistics shows that it was one of the cheapest - marina fees were about £4 per night, and food was about £7.50 per person per day. The 'one-off' expenses of getting Tiger Lily and two crew to and from La Rochelle worked out at £290. We had 10 days afloat, sailed an average of 12 miles per day and visited 12 different harbours or anchorages. There were a number of occasions when we needed to set an early morning alarm in order to catch a particular tide or lock gate. but we never had to change our plans due to bad weather. Comparisons with earlier holidays are difficult to make, as each area offers it own unique blend of sailing, culture and scenery - suffice it to say that we left La Rochelle 'En Charanted'.
page 1 | page 2 | page 3
Many thanks to Alan Murphy for letting us re-produce this article. Please click here to visit his website for more of his trailer sailing experiences in Tiger Lily, a Swift 18.
A few miles down the coast is the drying harbour of La Flotte. We took
the precaution of walking there from St Martin, in order to inspect it
at low water. Having checked it and the approach channel, we sailed
there later on that day at high water. La Flotte is a little fishing
community, but visiting yachtsmen are welcome as long as they do not
mind drying out in the soft mud. The ten visitors berths were full,
but the friendly harbour master soon found us a suitable spot. A major
attraction on the quay was bungey jumping from a tall crane, but this
activity was not for us!
Before sailing back to La Rochelle we decided on a long detour via La Tranche-sur-Mer on the mainland. The passage skirts a fish farming area packed with nets and buoys covering 2km by 1km. It is not advisable to sail through this area, whose corners are clearly marked by cardinal buoys. La Tranche offers a good sandy beach and a number of mooring buoys, but little else. As the wind was rising when we got there, we decided to make an early return trip to La Rochelle. The northwest wind began to create quite a lumpy following sea. However, with 2 reefs set, Tiger Lily was never pooped and we slid under the Ile de Ré bridge into calmer waters on the lee side of the island. It was then only a short passage back to Port des Minimes were we were welcomed by the harbour staff on the visitors pontoon. By now they had come to recognize Tiger Lily and had their control card all ready by the time we tied up.
Our last day was spent gathering souvenirs and generally making ready for the trail home. The slipway was busy throughout the day with people scrubbing the hulls of dried out boats. However by high water they had all gone making it easy to recover Tiger Lily onto the trailer. Tiger Lily is not antifouled and there is always some marine growth after 2 weeks afloat. The task of cleaning the weed from the bottom of the hull was made easier by the presence of a convenient water tap. That night we slept aboard the boat parked on the quay by the slipway. By 7am next morning we were leaving La Rochelle bound for the overnight cross channel ferry at Cherbourg and 24 hours later she was safely parked outside our front door at home.
This was Tiger Lily's seventh continental trailing holiday. A look at the statistics shows that it was one of the cheapest - marina fees were about £4 per night, and food was about £7.50 per person per day. The 'one-off' expenses of getting Tiger Lily and two crew to and from La Rochelle worked out at £290. We had 10 days afloat, sailed an average of 12 miles per day and visited 12 different harbours or anchorages. There were a number of occasions when we needed to set an early morning alarm in order to catch a particular tide or lock gate. but we never had to change our plans due to bad weather. Comparisons with earlier holidays are difficult to make, as each area offers it own unique blend of sailing, culture and scenery - suffice it to say that we left La Rochelle 'En Charanted'.
page 1 | page 2 | page 3
Many thanks to Alan Murphy for letting us re-produce this article. Please click here to visit his website for more of his trailer sailing experiences in Tiger Lily, a Swift 18.
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