Lots of work to do….

Friday was a full court press. We moved just about everything out of the apartment. We had bought one of those folding wagons a couple days ago and it paid off for lugging stuff back and forth. Next on the list was to pick up all of the stuff that had arrived for us at AD; passerelle, stainless steel anchor, rode and chain for the spare anchor, the list goes on. In spite of their promise to have everything I ordered ready, we were still waiting for some critical items. We spent a lot of time simply placing things on the boat to decide how to store them and what we needed to purchase for lashing.

We stopped at the port captain’s office to secure a slip for the next two weeks while we finished outfitting the boat. $900.00 later we were set, that was a shocker! This was also the last day with a car so we did as much shopping and stocking as we could. We stopped back at the apartment to make some dinner and then worked on the boat into the wee hours.

Saturday felt like the weekend for what ever reason, but there was lots to do. We cleaned up the Airbnb and turned over the keys to our very helpful host Nadia. Then we drove the car back to Nantes Airport to return it. We caught the bus to the train station, this time with confidence as we had made this trip before. Made the train with time to spare. The train ride back to Les Sables was a pleasant, one and a half hours enjoying the country side from the second deck on the train in comfortable seats. From the Les Sables train station we could walk to the boat, but we stopped to explore a few shops for more necessities.

Arriving at the boat the reality of being a cruiser set in, no car and everything you own is contained in a 51’ hull floating in the water; it is the feeling of freedom.

The bimini and dodger were installed over the last couple days so I could now think about placing solar panels, but only think about it as I was still waiting on a few parts from AD. It was one of those days where every project was incomplete for lack of one more part or a tool. Making lists and more lists for more shopping.

It was a day of firsts; first meal on the boat, first shower on the boat and first night on the boat. All the comforts of home, great ventilation in the cool nights (there is air conditioning if we need it), well stocked bar and ice! My power boat friend, Jan, loves to tease that sailors never have ice on board while she throws the old ice overboard to start fresh each day.

Sunday was just another work day, but we made some good progress on a number of small projects and properly stowing things. Since Sunday is pizza day at home we decided to get cleaned up and find an Italian restaurant for pizza dinner. We walked to the south basin of the marina and found Mona Lisa, a great spot to people watch, see the boats and enjoy a great pizza with some Italian wine. It is high season so the streets are teaming with tourists and the boats are coming and going constantly.

Monday to Friday was a blur. We finished putting on the boat name and christened the boat with some good French champagne, a tot to Neptune and a hope that Raffaellesco will carry us home safely. Everyday someone was coming on the boat to fix this or install that. We worked hard in between visitors and accomplished a lot. Tuesday was shopping day so we broke out the bikes and rode all over town with our oversized shopping bags. These bags were actually the bags that the bikes are stored in. We rewarded our efforts with an occasional glace on the strand. It was fun to walk the strand in the evening as it is high season and there was lots of activity.

Thursday was a big day, the radio arrived and was going in. By Friday the systems were all in good order, the weather report was good, everything was properly stowed. We spent Friday pouring over the manuals for the instruments and preparing to make our first real departure. Tomorrow we planned to sail north and anchor off a small Island in southern part of Britany!… 

The Ile d'Yeu....