Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 63

Sat 30.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage.




Street performers are drawing in....




....the crowds in the square today.




The boats have left from the other visitors pontoon. A rally is due tomorrow lunchtime. We'll be gone by then too. Forecast is NW 3-4; so we will be able to sail out between the towers.
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Location:Rue du Duc,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 62

Fri 29.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage. The cruise North is going to be fun! "New" ports all the way up.




There's a decision to make at the Rade de Brest: stay and explore the river anchorages; or press on to explore Scilly.




A final sail South before that though - to the fishing village of Boyardville on Ile d'Oleron. Its entrance dries 2m. Sunday looks good: The tides work; Local boats, out for the weekend, should be heading home; And I get to experience a weekend in La Rochelle first.
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Location:Quai du Carénage,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 61

Thr 28.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage. Whilst stocking up on provisions I discover the Bassin des Chalutiers:




It's where La Rochelle's wooden boats are based.




There's a buzz of activity as working boats...




...and yachts are made ready to put to sea.




Its a reminder that I must ready myself and Stargazer to begin our northbound cruise. Planning starts....tomorrow.
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Location:Cours des Dames,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 60

Wed 27.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage. The decks are too hot for bare feet today; my washing dries in no time.




A good morning to walk the shaded backstreets and cool stone colonnades of La Rochelle;




out of the direct sun.




A good afternoon to sit under the trees in the square;




ready to enjoy the cool of the evening.
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Location:Cours des Dames,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 59

Tue 26.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage.



Gave Stargazer a mid cruise clean to the strains of busker music from the square above us: Latin rhythms alternating with soulful French ballads.




Took a preliminary wander: Out to see the battlements (that we came in through yesterday in the mist) under sunnier skies.




Back in via the waterfront.




Over the canal and past the Church.




Then sought out the busker in the square.
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Location:Cours des Dames,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 58

Mon 25.6.12: La Rochelle, Vieux Port, Bassin d'Echouage. I've just brought Stargazer inside the walls of La Rochelle.


Between the stone battlements of St Nicholas and La Chaine. We're tied up in a square in the heart of town. A moment I've long looked forward to; a moment to savour.




The passage down was swift: 72 miles in 13 hours. The forecast W4 gave us a beam reach to Ile de Re and a broad reach right into La Rochelle. The swell was curiously cross grained until we bore off at Ile de Re.


Stargazer shouldered her way through while I wedged myself in the cockpit and rigged a snubber to stop the boom slamming.



Vis was borderline all day; coming and going between 1 and 5 miles. It made the final run up the channel to La Rochelle Vieux Port all the more dramatic.


The mist lifted like a stage curtain to reveal the turrets, domes and spires that now surround us.


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Location:Cours des Dames,La Rochelle,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 57

Sun 24.6.12: Ile d'Yeu, Port Joinville. A community of Hallberg-Rassy crews enjoying L'Ile d'Yeu and waiting out the blow has grown up over the past few days.




Choice of next port is a talking point. The decision depends on whim and wanderlust; on where is left unexplored, on where holds a happy memory that calls us back.




The choice for Stargazer and I is the 70 mile passage south to La Rochelle. Tomorrow's forecast is W4 with 1.5m of swell on the beam. When we leave L'Ile d'Yeu we'll pass the soft dunes and sheltered beaches on which I collected souvenir shells today.




It's exciting to be on the move again; to finally be about to enter La Rochelle. Sad to be leaving L'Ile d'Yeu and the friends that I've made here.
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Location:Place de la Norvège,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 56

Sat 23.6.12: Ile d'Yeu, Port Joinville. There's a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere on this sunny June weekend.




Monday looks like the day to move on. The tides work for an 0600 departure from Ile d'Yeu and an arrival in La Rochelle around 2000 (an hour before high water). The wind is forecast to be WSW 4-5.




First there's more Yeu atmosphere to soak up and provisions to bring aboard.
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Location:Place de la Norvège,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 55

Fri 22.6.12 : Ile d'Yeu, Port Joinville. A good sea still running off Pointe du But (NE tip of the island) today. Wind down to 20-25 knots.



Out there I found myself following in the wake of the builders of the Carnac stone alignments.


Dolmen prominently sited and facing out across the sea towards Carnac.


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Location:Quai de la Chapelle,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 54

30 knots of wind whistled in from the west this morning.




I left Stargazer sheltered in Port Joinville...




.... and walked up over the island to Ile d'Yeu's windward coast;




where the wind sweeps in unobstructed off the Atlantic, the ocean rollers dissolve into spray against the craggy shoreline and....




...rowing boats lie serenely off the beach at Plage des Sabirs sheltered by the rocks.
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Location:Route des Sabias,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 53

Wed 20.6.12: Ile d'Yeu, Port Joinville. A companionably relaxed day. Set off to town for a new Gaz bottle this morning. Met with friendly help,and directions to a shop that might stock Gaz, in the first two shops visited. Found success in the third.




Spent the afternoon aboard Chris and Judy's boat exchanging cruising tales. They too are "out for the summer" from the UK South Coast and nearing that point in the cruise when they'll be turning their bows homeward.
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Location:Place de la Norvège,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 52

Tue 19.6.12: Ile d'Yeu, Port Joinville. Good reach down from Pornichet: some shipping to dodge off the Loire and a 36 footer to race. Cruising chute deployed to advantage!




A grey smudge on the horizon resolves itself into a tricolour: white houses sandwiched between terracotta red pantiles above and blue sea below.




We've arrived off Ile d'Yeu ahead of plan. There should be enough water though. I con Stargazer in slowly. The depth guage counts down steadily from 10 to 3 metres and then holds. We're in. Its as if we've if we've landed on a Mediterranean Island.
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Location:Place de la Norvège,Île d'Yeu,France

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 51

Mon 18.6.12: Pornichet. Combined seeking out Carrefour with exploring the town this morning. The beach between the town and the marina is a peche a pied hot spot.




Conditions are too settled to be in a mainland marina. This is island weather! Just put a passage plan together to take us out to Ile d'Yeu tomorrow.




Now sat admiring the local J boat fleet berth under sail. They're landing on the back of the innermost pontoon. Beautiful to behold.
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Location:Boulevard des Océanides,Pornichet,France