Next Leg…
We were away from the dock at 0900 in order to catch the 0915 bridge opening. There were two boats ahead of us as we made our out. The breeze was fresh at 10-12 knot from the WSW. We sailed fairly close to our rum line. Our course put us at Fort Boyard, an interesting structure in the strait of Pertius d’Antioche off of Ile d’Oleron. The Fort was under construction from 1801 to 1857, began under Napoléon Bonaparte. It served until 1913. More recently it has been renovateed and used for filming movies and TV shows.
We tacked north and worked our way around the shellfish farm. We dropped anchor at Anse de Maleconche off Ile d’Oleron. It was good to get out of the marina and on an anchor. We picked a spot as shallow as we dared since the tide was still falling. It was a relaxing afternoon, calm and partly sunny. Suzette seized the opportunity to wash clothes.
I spent a lot of time planning our route for the next few
days. There are not many good anchorages or marinas for the next 200 miles, so
I am looking at all my options and the weather. This anchorage brought us
closer to our next destination in an attempt to not make the day of transit to
long.
We did finally make our homemade pizza for dinner tonight.
Not bad for a first try!
Tuesday 8/16
The Admiral was up early, had the boat ready for departure
and made coffee before rousting me out of bed. We planned a 54-mile run down
the coast to the La Gironde Estuary. The weather report was partly cloudy,
light wind from the south and a slight chance of some rain. I wanted to time
our departure such that we arrived on the flood tide around 1500.
We departed at 0800, earlier than we should have, but
anxious to go. It started to rain as we got underway, but wind and seas were
calm. As we rounded the north end of Ile d’Oleron we started to feel the west
swell that was running about 2m with a fairly short period, we did a bit of
pounding before turning south. We put up the main to get a bit of stability as
we were taking the swell on our beam, Raffaellesco handled it quite comfortably.
The sky had brightened and the rain stopped for awhile…
About 1030 the rain came down in biblical proportions. The was not terrible as there was very light wind, no squall. The unnerving part is that we were seeing lightning about 5 to 10 miles out. I can assure you that we were the tallest thing in a 4-mile radius! The rain and clouds again abated as we continued on. There is nowhere to hide on this coast until we reach the Estuary. We were making good time so I slowed the boat a bit so we could arrive on the flood tide. After another bout of rain and lightning, I put the peddle to the metal, screw the flood tide.
Suzette had made soup as we motor sailed along, so we quaffed down a few hot bites to
maintain our energy. It was delicious, but a real bowl would have to wait.
As we made the markers for the approach to La Gironde Estuary the
rain was falling and the thunder clapped close by. To top it off a tanker was
coming out of the entrance so we slowed to let him pass. As soon as we made the
turn east into the entrance the skies cleared, the swell pushed us east and we
surfed into a calm and clearing bay. It continued to brighten, but the last of
the ebb tide had my 8 knots through the water down to 4 knots over ground. We
were quite happy to be out of the storm and headed to an anchorage. La Gironde is the mouth of the river that leads south to Bordeaux.
We dropped the hook in 3.5m of water just east of Port
Madoc off of a beach full of Hobie cats, jet skis and floats being towed by
speed boats. Happy to be safely tucked in it was time for a beer and a power nap in the
warm sunshine. It was fun watching all the water activity and taking in our new
neighborhood. Dinner and sundowners knowing we had more rain and lightning
tomorrow. We plan to stay here until the weather clears on Thursday.
Sending a few yachts across the pond
Comments
Post a Comment