Bull taking a break from the annoying people..
Gonna get me one of these annoying B*$#!
Run buddy..
He got away, shit!
Oh, yeah,gonna gets me some!
Argh crap, he got away!
The last bull of the evening was apparently the star of the show - as none of the taunters attempted to get the rosetta for a good 10 minutes. There were some half hearted attempts, but nothing serious...
After a good afternoon in the sun (and relative warmth for Ryan), we went to a hidden gem at Port Nap - *HAPPY HOUR*.. This is advertised nowhere but we managed to discover it. It is only on Thursdays and Saturdays, between 6 and 7. We met up with Mike, Michelle (MnM). We powered through happy hour and Ryan was still alive and kicking at 22h00, not bad considering he flew in that morning.
The next day Ryan gave me a hand to complete the 5 minute job of fitting the automatic bilge pump controller (finished at 5 in the afternoon). His luggage arrived that day too, which was nice..
On the Monday, the power quadrant arrived so we fitted that. Weather, we had the power quadrant or not - there was going to be no sailing, the wind picked up again and boy was it blowing!
On the Tuesday, the batten cars had arrived, now we were ready. One minor detail the winds were consistently above the 25knots... So we had the batten cars, the power quadrant and no main-sail and a healthy helping of wind!
Rutgerson batten cars
One the first things I noticed when I was checking out the boat, was that one of the batten cars looked as though they needed some attention, it wasn't till I took of the main sail, that I noticed that one was quite damaged and another had also seen some action. I ordered these from a sail maker in the UK, they were quite reasonable priced at 50 pound per car - so I ordered the complete set, that way I would have spares and peace of mind..
Ryan and I discussed our options as he was only here for 10 days and every day that went by withe a Mistral blowing, meant one less day... By Tuesday we were discussing our options and we decided that we would motor to Marseille should the wind die down sufficiently.. I also asked them to take a look at the radio as after the work I had done (fixed the cables etc), I was still unable receive any communication on the radio. Finaly tracked the problem down to a malfunctioning radio - I could either have white noise interspersed with radio traffic, or with the squelch correctly adjust, no reception. So I ordered a new radio..
On the Wednesday we went for a walk to the beach as Ryan wanted to confirm that although the wind was howling like a banshee, the waves were small as they had not had an opportunity to build up.. So we went for a walk to the beach.. I took Ryan for a walk along the canal (as opposed to walk on the road), that was quite enjoyable, till Ryan almost fell into the bog... The way there was pretty pleasant as the wind was nudging us in that direction, the return journey, proved to be a source of physical exertion and some comedy.. We saw seagulls (boatcrappers) opt to walk as this flying thing against the wind not a smart idea... Also noticed a swan nesting on a little lagoon, close to the river..
BFDs nesting on their lagoon
Notice the wind lines, off the dock.
The forecast for Thursday was for a 25kts wind, gusting 35. That and the fact that the further east you go, the more the effect of the Mistral is felt.. So at 11 o'clock we set off, under power.. It felt good, to leave Port Napoleon as I had been there for some time and it was beginning to feel as though we would not leave... We cast off, with Ryan's advice and guidance, I left the dock, despite a 25 knot wind blowing me onto it.. I was a little bit slow in applying reverse as I rounded the pontoon and it felt as though i got within 3 ft of the boat in front of me, but Ryan said there was a bit more space than that and agreed with my assessment..
Leaving Port Nap
For all those out there, who like me believed the Med is a warm place - *WRONG*.. Those are full foulies and a windstopper touque..
Pink Chikins (aka Flamingos)
Those birds are about 3-4 boat lengths away from the boat - the exit channel from Port Nap is dredged to 4m for about 20m width, stray outside the channel at your peril...
Leaving Port Napoleon was pretty uneventful (which is good). With about 10 miles to go, we were in the gulf of Marseilles and the wind picked up... And the swell picked up.. I was starting to get a bit uncomfortable as I had not been in those conditions before but with assurance from Ryan we continued. By the time we were 5 miles from marseille, the wind was consistenly over the 40 kts and as high as 50. The sea was also pretty excited and was blowing us onto the Isle de Friol, so we turned and drove into the swell... That was going fine, till I missed two waves meeting, which resulted in the boat being washed... Not a nice feeling to have a river of water wash over the boat.... I asked Ryan to take control of the boat as we approached the harbour mouth as I was trying to call the harbour master. After a couple of circuits in the Vieux Port, the Capitanerie did respond and told us there was one place available - stern to docking close to the entrance.. By then the wind was howling into the harbour, Ryan had to put the boat in reverse to stop it going forward, the wind would blow us up to 4 kts. Ryan docked the boat - there was *NO* way I was going to do it, well not with mine and other boats intact. When Ryan made the attempt, the wind was gusting 40kts off the port side. Ryan docked it in one attempt, however on the way in our keel clipped another small boats stern line (we had been blown straight across the docking space, had the divers out, I went an checked with the skipper, fortunately no damage was done). The Capitanery were extremely helpful, they had an inflatable with a 50HP engine trying to pull the bow against the wind, it was making the inflatable feel good, but not much progress was made in moving our bow. Not till we ran a line to shore and muscled it across and drove off the stern lines were we able to dock her satisfactorily.
All in all a very good day's outing, I got to discover what my boat could do and what I shouldn't be doing. The experience was bit unnerving, but extremely educational, it confirmed why people told me to buy the boat - it's extremely capable and responsive (in a competent skippers hands) - I have some work to do.
The reason for their only being one spot available, was there was a huge regatta that weekend, so we were fortunate that there was a spot, otherwise we would have to run the gauntlet to Friol, which would not have been nice! Having snugged the boat for the night and showered, we went and discovered Vieux Port, Marseille.. It is extremely nice and highly recommended. We noticed that a number of bars ran happy hours, so we explored... Later in the evening, we went for dinner. There was however one snag - the specialty of Marseille is Boulibaise - Ryan is allergic to seafod, so we wend to a pub and I think Ryan was pleased with the fare...
Meal fit for a docking king!
The following day the winds died down we got up early and after another 5 minute boat job, of putting up the main sail, it was close on 15h00. So we stayed another night in Marseille. We wanted to see the two forts at the entrance of the harbour, but by the time we were done, they were closed. So we walked around a bit and then we went to the bar with the longest lasting happy hour.. Strange custom there - if you left a tip, they rang a bell. The bell didnt' ring very often, despite the service being good and the servers friendly.
Marseille Old harbour looking from Port Saint-Jean
Marseille Cathedral and harbout entrance(did not look like that when we entered)
Saturday we left Marseille to go to La Ciotat, the forecast for the day was 25 gusting 35kts. The moment we left the harbour, the boat was bobbing quite well, I was strapped to the jacklines and I was running forward to stow the fenders, and I got wet a couple of times. I successfully managed to hoist my main, Ryan filled in for Otto and was offering advice, where needed. Once I had the main up, we were sailing with the second reef in place. Leaving was quite a handfull on top of having to hoist the main in those conditions, the fleet was out racing, so we had to avoid them. Ryan suggested a course where we would not disturb the race. The wind was consistently above 25, and more like 30... The leader of the fleet had his kite up and he was going like stink, surfing and then his kite popped... He was the only one brave enough to attempt that... We rounded Cap Croisette and Ille Riou and shortly there after, the wind was consistently above 30 and gusting into the 40's. We were fortunate as the waves were coming of our port quarter, we were doing a healthy 9.5kts. having never been out in these conditions, I was a bit concerned and asked if it was worthwhile turning around as one moment one would see a wave waaaay below the port side closely followed by a wave waaaaaaaaaaay above the starboard side.. Again, out of my experiece/comfort zone, Ryan pointed out that we could run with those conditions or we could beat into them.. So we continued.. The wind continued to build up and it peaked at 4*..
Monkee.
Skipper
Monkee
We arrived at La Ciotat as the wind was quite strong and beyond my skill level I asked Ryan if he could dock the boat. The wind was blowing us off the dock from the port bow quarter.. Ryan docked without incident and we went for a walk around.. La Ciotat is pretty coastal town - there is a market all around the harbour.
La Ciotat
Night at La Ciotat
Wollombi II at La Ciotat
We overnighted at dock and the next day we opted to anchor in the harbour as this would be my first attempt at anchoring. We practiced once and I managed to set the anchor successfully and then we went sailing, I had my jib out with 3 reefs, and second on main, winds were 17-25 and the boat was doing comfortable 8.5kts and I was entirely comfortable in those conditions. After a couple of hours of sailing we went and anchored for the night. Ryan mostly observed and acted as the second windlass remote. We were all set for the night, sun downers and all.. Nice and calm..
Looking aft
Looking at La Ciotat
We went to sleep after the first real day of enjoyable sailing.. At 02h30, we were both awakened by the boat rocking like crazy, the winds had turned, they had turned the boat in such a way that the swell was directly off our side. Our first concern was to check if our anchor was holding. Fortunately it did, so we went back to bed... We didn't get much sleep for the rest of that night, between the creaking of the boom, rattling of a paint can and rolling around in our beds.. We were both up early had breakfast, swore to move the paint can into the gas locker, look at the creaking boom. We set off to Ille'd Friol, so I could get more docking practice and more sailing practice as Ryan was leaving on Wednesday and due to the weather, we had both not sailed enough, however, I had learnt a hell of a lot and Ryan continued to try and impart more knowledge to me.
We did attempt to sail, I had the sails up, however Mother nature was not going to play ball, between throwing a tizzy the previous bunch of days, she had opted for nothing that day.. Understand, this is not a complaint, merely an observation, mother nature will do her thing - deal with it! We motored back to Friol, along the calanques, we explored potential anchoring spots for me to return and only identified 2 that would meet my skill level and boat dimensions.
Sorrymoo - or in French Sormiou
Strange Colin type people(climbers)
We motored to the south of Friol, the wind had picked up so we had a bite and then we sailed a bit, Ryan had me jibe a bunch of times and tack some more. He also demonstrated what an accidental jibe would look like with 2 reefs in 15 knots of wind.. Which was comforting as I did not want to discover what damage I could inflict by myself.. More importantly we went through how to recognise it's onset and how to deal with it.. The wind had changed and it was now a SE, which was exactly opposite the direction we had to go, so I became re-acquainted with the joy of slow downwind sailing..... After 15 minutes or so, turned on the motor, stowed the sails and motored to Friol. For this docking Ryan just inquired what I was planning on doing, as we had tried to radio the Capitanerie with no success. I opted to approach the Capitanerie and they instructed me to med moor, reversing into the dock. Friol was quite easy to dock, there is a high wall which provided excellent protection and made it look as though I knew what I was doing :-).. I managed to dock it successfully. We snugged the boat and went exploring. The island used to be a military base but has now been converted to a park, we did a bit of exploring.
Looking SW on the wall
Looking N from one of the forts(red tower picture above)
Potential anchorage spot on the E side
Another potential anchorage spot on the W side
Sunset looking at Marseille
Sunset on the wall looking W
Chateaux d If, foreground Marseilles further back
On the Tuesday, we left Friol, Ryan got me to practice some picking up mooring balls and we went out to do more sailing. After a few hours of enjoyable sailing and beating into the wind, we went back to Vieux Port Marseille and after a successful dock, for a send off for Ryan. Being familiar with the place we made tracks for the happiest bar and after some drinks and a meal we called it a night..
The following morning we after breakfast, and some last minute shopping it was time for Ryan to head back.
A big thank you Ryan for taking the time to come and sail with me, it was sincerely appreciated. Come back any time you wish, it should be warmer - yes we have been told it does get warm, but our combined experience says otherwise..
After seeing Ryan off I went for walk about in Marseilles (other that pubs). I walked around Fort Saint-Jean. This for had been around in various guises back to Greek times, it has been used as headquarters by the knights hospitaliers. There used to be a big chain across the harbour entrance, but the Aragonese sacked the city and took the chain as a trophy - it is in a cathedral in Barcelona.. During the second world war, under Nazi occupation, it was used to house the military and there was an explosion (ammunition, I believe), which caused some damage to the fort. It is now a museum complex.
Looking S toward Friol
Looking E towards For Saint-Nocolas
The oldest original structure can be seen bottom left
Looking into the old port at Marseille
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