First Impressions

I arrived on Friday the 27 February and checked into the hotel (rooms at the Port). I didn't know what to expect, in terms of documents etc.. I received notification from the broker that they had received the funds an I was given the keys.  I went aboard and took a look around and not much more. I was relieved that the transaction had gone through and I wasn't taught a lesson (like in the Harley sale)..

Immediately apparent was that there was no public transport and to get into town was going to be a 1/2 an hour walk..  There is a bus stop, but no looked into that. There are no shops at the marina at all, only a restaurant and lodging. So I decided to get a rental car for a few days as I needed to buy tools provision the boat etc..

Later in the morning, I booked a rental car in Martrigues (about 40Km away) and I booked a taxi to go and pick up the car. I went at 13h00 to pick up the car as per instructions on the confirmation email... When I got there, I was informed that they didn't have any cars till 18h30 as they were a small branch.  They did try to call me, but since the number I provided was an international number, they were unable to call it... So I opted to wait around as the main purpose of the trip was to get a car, to go an buy tools so I could start taking a look at the boat.

So I went shopping and bought all the tools I thought I would need.. I was done by 15h30, so I had to hang around and I walked around, I couldn't go to far as I had just bought a tool bag full of tools, which weren't particularly light.. Martrigues is on a big lake, however there is a canal linking the E'tang de Berre to the Mediterranean. I took this picture someone working their dream..

These are just pictures taken of the canal lining the E'tang to the med.

 One has to drive over this bridge, on one's way from Marseille to Port Napoleon

So at 18h30, with all the tools I needed an a rental car, the plan was to go home and get an early start the following day do some grocery shopping and buy bedding etc for the boat.

On Sunday decided to go into Martrigues to do some shopping as I had seen a big Carrefour. So I set off and I noticed that there din't seem to be much open, but I continued... I got to the store and it was closed - DOH!!! Only thing open was a Macky D's.. So in France, I had the burger Royal an it still tasted the same *CRAP* as it does anywhere else on the planet, still it was that or go hungry.. 

I got back, I went to the boat and plugged it into shore power as the batteries were dead and I figured I would try to charge them before I replaced them. I did notice that the electrolyte was a bit low so I topped it up. I also had a bit of a challenge getting the shore power hooked up, I immediately noticed that the cable was not properly insulated so I fixed that and managed to get the shore power connected, it was however a bit of a fiddly process.. 

I took a picture of cable that was in better state than mine(as I had already fixed it)

After properly installing the cable

Unpacking..

I got back to the boat and I decided to start pulling things apart and this is what it looked like..

I started from the front of the boat and immediately I noticed that there were an awful lot on loose screws on the boat(and owner), so I had to wait till Monday morning to get some from the chandler.. The Sunday was the last day I had booked at the hotel so I decided to make use of the room as this was going to be the last time in a while that I had a bathroom/shower to myself..

The consumption of the crop

Once the offer had been accepted, I returned to Canada o Feb 1 I put down a deposit and things were put in motion... I booked a first aid and saftey training course in Fort Luaderdale. Before I knew it it was time to put the remainder of the money down - this caused me some concern as I had never met the broker and it was a considerable amount of money to wire to an individual..  Still I went ahead and prepared myself and packed my belongings.. So, end of February, after saying my see you later - I left this... 

for the prospect of blue skies, warm weather and adventure.... 

Reaping the Harvest

After fdeiciding on the boat and discussing my thoughts I opted to hang onto my Condo and worldly belongings as going big was a bit of a drastic step (even for me).. Next step was to get in touch with the brokers and see which boats I could look at and the understand the buying process... As I had promised Derek, I would go and visit and since he had been doing most of the visiting, at the end of January, I set off to visit Derek and look at the boat. Initially there were two candidates, one was located in La Rochelle and the other in Port Napoleon.  The boat in La Rochelle, I would not be able to fit into my travel plans (and turns out that an offer had been made) so that only left was in Port Napoleon. I landed in Marseille airport at 10h45 and had organised to meet the owner of the boat at Port Napoleon at 12h30.  It was quite windy when I landed and I din't think much of it.... I met the owner took some pictures asked some questions and liked what I saw and headed back to the UK. I made an offer the next day, the initial offer was rejected, but a counter offer was made and I accepted.

The Seeds

In early December, I started to toy with what to do next.. As one does, I started looking at boats... After much searching, having some time on my hands, I narrowed my search to the Dufour line of boats. From my search the interiors looked good and I'd heard good things of their sailing abilities. I narrowed my search to a couple of candidates and I forwarded them to more knowledgable sailing folk(hanks for the advice and help). I was given some sound advice as to what my options were - I could buy a fixer upper or buy something newer. the logic here was that an older fixer upper, the only money that would be recovered would be the hull price, any subsequent amounts spent would be non-recoverable..  I decided against a fixer upper as I wanted to spend more of my time sailing as opposed to fixing something up..