Snork Maiden redux

Saturday, June 27, 2009 BOYARDVILLE Well, however hard we tried - and that might not have been very hard - we just couldn’t get away from the charms of Oleron this year. The day before yesterday (or was it the day before that? Time passes as easily as water past the keel) we left St Denis and motored out to test the engine (it passed, so far so good). Decided it was such a great day that we would spend the night on one the visitor’s buoys outside Boyardville. We slept that night with the companionway wide open so could feel the breeze and see the stars - almost as good as being on passage, maybe better. It was a quiet night with the smell of pines wafting over from the beach and the sound of distant surf from the Saumonard point. THERE WAS MURDER IN THE AIR. We decided to go into Boyardville the following day for a last hit of pine woods, beach and oysters. We rented bikes and cycled to Le Douet - a tiny port with some very swish villas outside it. It seems as though Oleron was quite...

June 24 Short One Waiting for engineer, running cleaning fluid in engine 50% diesel 50% light engine oil. Will pump it out shortly and resort to voodoo if engineer doesn't arrive 0930 as promised. I intend to put up more pix of the engine. Al points out that I put up more pictures of the toilet. So far the toilet has required more mainmtenance Priorities, priorities. Off for my muslei. HW St Denis 1849 Will we be able to leave?

22 june 2009 Ile d'Oleron Engine progress, slight. Most of day spent up to elbows in grease and diesel - see picture. Swim - yes at 6pm in wetsuit. Food - fish soup out of a jar for lunch, followed by an orange and a chocolate eclair!, Petit pois and mushroom risotto for supper, fresh apricots and melon. Travel - none. Engineer - didn't turn up. Reading - James Lee Burke, Pegasus Rising (Jenny) Serrafyn's European Adventure (Al) Tides - HW 0540 Pix going up now! Racing Internet time limit. Bunk calls.

Monday, June 22, 2009 St Denis d’Oleron OK, so I promised you the list of the most annoying things about sailing. Here they are: • The engine • The crew • The weather • Missing the Archers • Doing laundry by hand • Having to fill the tank with water at almost every stop • Batteries are a dark art • No fridge - veg & fruit live in a basket • Having to find your way into harbours you’ve never seen before with fearsome currents and big tides • Not being able to use the loo in ports (without terrible guilt) Of course, some of these are also the best things about sailing, especially the crew and missing the Archers. (I cheat by downloading Podcasts). This year’s weather has been very different from the last two summers around La Rochelle. They were windy, rainy and not very warm. This year we have had a lot of really summery weather. Winds have been quite strong, and mainly in the wrong direction, so we’ve been majoring on bikes, beaches and swimming. ...

La Rochelle Thursday, June 18, 2009 We are off out again later today - very light winds yesterday, and hot and sunny. We are in the old port - downtown La Rochelle. Went to the market and bought lovely food, supper on board. Also since it was so hot in the afternoon went to cinema (2 minutes from the boat) and saw the latest Almodovar film (name escapes me). In Spanish with French subtitles which was actually OK most of the time. Demonstrates the differences between the 2 languages in emotional tone and expression. Speaking of which, we might have to abandon any ideas of going to Spain in favour of reaching North to the islands. Time passing quickly as is always does on the boat. As soon as we have settled into a rhythm, it’s time to go home! But we are getting increasingly keen on bringing Snork Maiden back to England for the winter so we can re-fit and make some longer trips next year (longer than the 12-mile island hops that are very pleasant in this area.) Yesterday’s drama...

La Rochelle Tuesday, June 16, 2009 I thought you might like to have breakfast with us this morning. The sun is shining and temperature heading toward the mid 20’s. Al has had his toast, I have had my muesli and I am about to make coffee! We are looking at a short hop today to see if the engine has survived its annual maintenance schedule or whether vital bits are about to drop off. I’m also going to upload some pix if I can to Picasa. Can’t seem to get more than one on the blog. Always hard to find the image that really tells the story - but I’ll try. Here’s the link to the photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/wikidrat/SNORKMAIDEN2009#

A bedtime blog, short since late and we're sailing tomorrow for - the fun of it really. Saturday was the perfect summer day in Boyardville - favourite port on the much underestimated Ile d'Oleron. It has a scary channel entrance but we're used to that now. Saturday was so hot that all I managed to do was a trip to the market to buy oysters, mussels and white wine in the morning (lunch and supper), lie around on the boat for most of the afternoon, under the awning, dozing and reading, and then struggle into my wet suit for a late afternoon swim. The water felt so cold when I got in that Al had to hang on to me to stop me running out again. I did manage to enjoy it after a while. The beach was still balmy at 7 or so - a real Mediterranean feel. Sunday morning all the visiting boats had to leave to make way for the 'Voyage of Hope' - a flotilla of boats sailing with kids who have cancer. The coastal French seem to believe that every kid should learn the basics of ...

LA Rochelle Again Friday, June 12, 2009 Quickly - we are trying to leave La Rochelle for Boyardville asap. Boyardville is just 12 miles away on the Ile d’Oleron, and it has a tidal gate that opens according to the water level. Tides for this port are a bit hard to work out and the access channel is quite tight. It’s a pretty port with a market, small shops and bike hire close to the marina. This morning we hired bikes (free from the city of La Rochelle and pedalled into town. We have had a small electrical difficulty - now solved courtesy of an Irish boat crew who kindly donated an adaptor. On the downside, I dropped yet another hose connector into the marina. Not life threatening, not expensive, just annoying. Sorry that the blogstream is a bit more like a chain of puddles this year, nit the torrents of literary excellence you have come to expect (har har). I will try to do better and send more pictures. However, the response has been a bit skimpy too (hem hem) so feel...

PREPARATIONS, PREPARATIONS Well when we got here the weather was fantastic and the winds good for Spain. BUT it takes a while to get sorted out for sailing - all more time-consuming than we ever think it will be! We are moored just past the bend in the harbour and on the outside of 2 boats that look as though they haven’t been anywhere for a while - moss and mould growing on the poor old things. So everything has to be brought down a ramp or a ladder and carried across and onto Snork Maiden. Not much compared with a hard sail in strong winds, of course. There’s also the stocking up on food, camping gaz, diesel, petrol and all the things we seem to need for a 3 week cruise. We’ve evicted as much as we can from the boat and it still feels like we’re carrying excess baggage. The weather for the next couple of days is fairly breezy with heavy rain showers. The wind has turned more West and South, and according to the forecast there will be more fine weather ahead after that. The dire...