Slings and Cranes

Monday 30 May

We had a good lunch with Harry at Port Napoleon.  I was able to use the internet connection and posted the previous two blogs.  In the afternoon we removed the boom from the mast and generally got ourselves ready.  At 5pm they came with the travel lift and we were lifted up in the sling.  It was heart breaking to get back to scraping and sanding again, but we did – the six patches around the boat and the bit under the keel - and a good job too.   Then Mike primed and painted with antifouling.  With great delight we have chucked out all the leftover paint and paraphernalia, showered and are taking a light supper.

Here she is in the sling.

We have to be up early tomorrow morning as they are coming at 8 am to put us in the water.  Our dear friend Marc has offered us the use of his car to do our big shopping, but we have already done most of it with Camilla.  People are so kind.

Tuesday 31 May

Ah bliss.  We are back in the water.  It was not without mishap, needless to say though the actual putting into the water went without a hitch.  But when we came to start our motor the external cooling system wouldn’t work – the water had emptied out of the system and created an air lock.  With the help of one of the travel lift men the problem was sorted out so we could get out of the bay and park ourselves out on the wall.  The solution was only temporary, but we kept pouring water into the system until it resolved itself and then let the engine have a good long run.  Whew.  Secondly, our shore power just wasn’t working this morning for no good reason we could find.  Mike took it all apart and put it together again and finally we found a fuse tripped off in the engine room, flipped it back up and everything worked again.  Thirdly, the loo won’t work properly.  It will flush if we pour water into it so it is not a complete disaster, but it won’t draw water in.  That still needs fixing.

We are parked off on a grotty wall outside the marina but near water and electricity outlets which is fine.  No sooner had we arrived than a boat came in with the mast still strapped across the boat.  We got into conversation about the canals – they’d just finished and we are about to start.  They offered us their extremely nice wooden structures which they’d had made at great expense and effort to fit their boat.  We said, Yes Please, and it all fits our boat perfectly.  We are so very pleased.  People are terribly nice.  Here they are, our lovely new structures.

As the afternoon progressed so the wind deteriorated.  We knew bad weather was coming in on Wednesday, but now it is forecast to be Force 7 to 8, sometimes 9, from the North and North West.  Nasty.  News of the weather had travelled and this morning the wall outside Navy Service was absolutely crammed with boats.  Those who have just gone into the water are refusing to leave and newcomers have arrived early.  We only just got our space this morning, waiting for a catamaran to leave and had to hurry to beat another boat trying for it. 

By this afternoon we were two deep all the way along the wall.  With great reluctance we allowed a French boat to tie up alongside us (we couldn’t really say No) and are now banging hard against the wall.  We have eight fenders plus a long wooden plank against the wall so we are well protected – we hope.  The fenders are rubbing against my nice new paint job and are slowing turning blue themselves.  No doubt they will now rub themselves off against the cleaned up gelcoat ( two weeks’ hard work) and turn it pale blue!  The wind is awful and carries with it loads of heavy black grit which is now all over the boat, inside and out.   We couldn’t have picked a worse day to go into the water, but it is very sociable and friendly here on the wall.  The neighbouring French boat, Alauna, skippered by the cute young Olivier, is banging heavily against ours but he also has plenty of fenders out.  There is still no rain and we are also beginning worry about the depths of the canals.  We had planned to take the most common route – the Canaux du Centre – but we will have to see.  We will monitor the depths through the VNF to make sure.

Wednesday 1 June 

The wind remained strong and northerly all night, but our position was fine and we slept very well.  We were pretty exhausted actually.   Phil and Elaine on Le Chatelaine very kindly took us shopping at the market today in their car and then invited us for farewell drinks this evening.  Phil has hurt his back and though it improves daily it looks very much as though they will not be making their trip this year.  This evening the wind seems to be easing.  We do hope so as we are scheduled to have the mast removed tomorrow at 9am.

Thursday 2 June 

The day started miserably cold and overcast and only slightly windy.  The crane arrived at 8.38 am and proceeded to remove our mast. 

Getting the sling on the mast.

Can’t get the base of the mast through the gap at the back.

Finally settled, wrong way round.

It was all done very efficiently by the two crane men, but our mast is particularly heavy as it is a double mast (the in-mast roller furling mast has been bolted onto the original mast).  It took some doing and we ended up with the fragile top of the mast at the back of the boat rather than the front, which is a pity.  One has more control of the front of one’s boat whereas you can be inadvertently rammed by some idiot from the back.   Anyway, it is too heavy to move so we will just have to make the best of it.  We went to the office and paid the bill of €100 to remove the mast.  We were afraid they were going to charge us for live-aboard as well.  Last night we’d mentioned the live aboard costs to Phil and Elaine who said they were never charged for live aboard, so we’d have been offended if they’d charged us.  But they didn’t and we are grateful.

And then, ha ha, just as we are worrying about there being no rain, it rained for the rest of the day!  Not good hard run-off rain, but that slow drizzly sort of stuff that gets you remarkably wet.  We worked anyway in weather-proof jackets and spent hours removing the spreaders from the mast.  It is obviously a long time since Forever’s mast was last un-stepped because all the nuts and bolts were frozen solid.  They took a lot of undoing.  I made another batch of chutney and some tomato sauce for the Bolognese.

Mike is in his element with all this.  He banged around on deck all day working on the mast and then also repaired the toilet (clever chap) and borrowed a pump for our sad, well flattened fenders.  Happily, the wind continued to die and by this evening it is calm and blessedly still, most of the time.  We are in a canal here, but it not an official canal and therefore there is no official speed limit.  Some of the fishing boats that come up the canal go really fast, setting up a huge wake which causes us all to bang against the wall.  As Olivier said, sometimes you wish you had a gun!  The sky has cleared though it remains cool.