La Hirondelle 54

 

I am invited aboard a, very red, RM 1070+. Fresh in from a four month cruise to the Azores, via Madeira, Lisbon, Porto and A Coruna. Average speed six point seven knots. Mercifully completed without orca interference (having stayed far offshore south of Lisbon).

Her decks are wide, stable and uncluttered. The deep toe rail giving a sense of security. Added to by the 'walk-through' shrouds. Like Stargazer's, the lowers come down to the inboard side of the deck, the caps to the outboard. Providing security when walking forward, or tending to the mast.

The boat is cutter rigged, for flexibility in higher winds. Instead of holding on to an oversized jib, in order to maintain an acceptable upwind angle, (as we are forced to aboard Stargazer); this boat simply furls the genoa and unfurls the smaller staysail. Maintaining comfort and performance aboard.

The owner reckons that, on the wind, twenty knots is the transition point. For switching to staysail and taking the first reef, in the main. The second reef going in at around twenty five knots.

Down below, the seagoing, wedge-in, U-shaped galley was in the midst of a clean down. Its many lockers still full of ship's stores, provisions and utensils. Saving a mental struggle to imagine whether all the domestic paraphernalia, of a boat on passage, would fit.

The answer being, yes. The all important nest of drawers, is to hand at the foot of the companionway. (Stargazer has the top drawer for cutlery, second for rigging tools and spares, third for electrical cables / chargers / adapters and fourth for frequently used hand tools). These units solidly made, sliding smoothly and closing with a satisfying 'clunk,' on robust-feeling latches.

The heads demonstrates conclusively that this boat was designed by people that sail offshore. Sat down, you are wedged in, with a bulkhead within bracing distance before you. Stood up, with full headroom, a handhold is provided. (Picture from factory visit boat).

Aft of the heads, is the 'technical room.' In the French style, there is no cockpit bench locker. (Although there are two lazarettes, which provide stowage for mooring lines and the like, accessible from the cockpit). The technical room, is a purpose made version of Stargazer's 'stow cabin.' My name for the aft cabin, once the mattress has been removed. To be replaced by boxes of spares and stores. Plus, when on passage, the fenders. Leaving the aft cabin, to starboard, in the case of the RM, available for its designed purpose.

Forward of the heads is the chart table. A rare sight on a modern boat of any length, let alone a thirty five footer. A welcome one none the less. Not so much for navigation, but more for stowage of navigation related oddments; and to provide a dedicated station at which to 'work' at a screen. Without taking over the saloon table. Which, in any case, is usually too low for comfortable keyboard operation.

Another RM 'neat touch' lies beneath the two saloon settees (both over two metres long, as are all berths on the boat, and provided with seaman-like lee cloths). The bunk boards are perforated, to prevent condensation; and hinged. Which I have not seen before. A simple solution, which instantly removes the perceived (to my mind anyway) inconvenience, of removing a cushion and then a large board. With nowhere to conveniently place it, whilst accessing the stowage below.

Historically, the one thing missing from an RM interior was visible wood grain. In Cesar's words, chuckling at the memory, "we laughed about that quite a lot, when Grand Large Group first took over this business. A wooden boat, with no wood!" A source of mirth which the new management team took action to remove. The saloon table now a visual centrepiece. Its grain, and substantial capping strips, on view to warm the ambiance. (Yard boat picture).

Accentuated by the exposed wood surrounding the hull ports, both in the saloon and forward, in the owner’s cabin. (Owner's boat picture).

With their painted hull finishes, all colours are possible. The more vibrant hues having become something of an RM trade mark.

La Hirondelle 53

 

The tallship Santa Maria Manuel is in town. Gracing the La Rochelle quayside, with the two mediaeval towers as her backdrop.

Whilst tourists and townsfolk alike, stream past the most picturesque of port offices.

Which administers the glassy waters of the inner harbour. Busy with water taxis and vedettes.

The red topped electric light, by the Capitainerie, together with a green topped twin, on the front, replace the duties of the brazier lit lighthouse, beside the channel. Its needle headed stone tower lives on.

Waterfront homes and shops cluster around the city gates. From which the city clock strikes the hour, with a deep chested resonance.

Welcoming visitors to the cool of the colonnaded walkways within.

Where hollyhocks slumber in sunlit doorways.

La Hirondelle 52

 

Cesar scowls quizzically, as he runs a practiced eye over the latest boat to leave the yard. In Perigny, a suburb of sprawling La Rochelle. The transport crew are waiting to hoist the RM 1070+ onto a waiting flatbed trailer. Cesar is wanting to be sure that no detail has been missed, before they do.

RM come at the modern fast cruiser design conundrum from the cruiser end. 

As opposed to JPK (pictured above), Pogo and Django, who tackle it from the race boat end.

Interiors are spartan on the Pogos. Becoming minimalist with homely touches, aboard the JPK’s (above).

The RM’s feel one step more inviting. Aided by their spacious, off shore friendly galleys (U shaped, as opposed to linear) and office desk style navigation stations.

Where RM are unique is in their construction. For RM’s have plywood hulls. The sheets bound together with glass fibre tape.

In a modern progression of the Mirror Dinghy’s stitch-and-glue construction. Using the Gougeon brothers’ Wood Epoxy Saturation Technique (WEST). 

Ply bulkheads are offered up against templates.

With the hull ‘planking’ then laid over these. All joints made with epoxy fillets and glass tape. No mechanical fixings are used. The ply is then ‘embalmed’ in four coats of thin, penetrating WEST epoxy. Which seals it, from moisture ingress.

Once filled and faired, the hull is turned and primed.

Whilst the finer details, of the interior, continue to be worked on. Including the addition of reinforcing layers of glass fibre tape.

The decks and cockpit are a foam sandwich moulding. Their shape too complex for wooden construction. GRP also offering advantages, in its resistance to the inevitable knocks and spills, to which those surfaces are subject.

The deck head liner is formed of ply panels. Providing the insulation benefits of wood. And granting maintenance access to all deck furniture as well as the wiring loom.

Completed decks and hulls are firmly laminated together. The one blending into the other imperceptibly, once out of the paint shop. With a seaworthy and secure one and a half inch (four centimetre) toe rail, to keep the crew secure on deck.

Although there seems to be an RM in every French port and anchorage, they are a relatively low volume yard. Building twenty five boats a year.

Leaving them scope to offer layout customisation. Such as a tiller, so beneficial to single handed sailors, instead of the ubiquitous twin wheels, which are standard.

A thoughtfully designed and (more) ecologically friendly (than carbon or all GRP) range of craft. Built in accessible sizes (8.9m, 9.8m, 10.7m, 11.8m and 13.7m), in an age of forty to fifty footers.  Which keep sailing simple, fast and fun. . . . . with a uniquely French style.

Photo Credits

RM under sail courtesy of Parkestone Bay Yachts

JPK 39FC courtesy of JPK

RM 1070+ interior courtesy of Boat24.com

RM 1070+ cockpit layouts courtesy of RM Yachts

RM at anchor courtesy courtesy of RM Blog

 

La Hirondelle 51

 

In a classic pincer movement, the two trawlers overhaul Stargazer. One from the port quarter, a net down. The other to starboard, unencumbered. So far as I can tell.

Once past, they halt. The white boat laying alongside the red. Stemming the tide, whilst the net, and two marker buoys, are strung between the two vessels.

Before, with a great blowing of klaxons and belching of black smoke, the pair set off at speed. Leaving Stargazer bobbing, bemused, upon the swell.

Stargazer left the Ile d'Yeu at dawn. Beating out, on a zephyr of southerly breeze.

Lured by a passage-making forecast. Amid the settled summer days, best suited to the languid exploration of ports and anchorages. 

Southerly eight to ten knots, veering westerly eighteen, veering north west twenty five. Is too good to squander.

By mid morning, Stargazer is off Les Sables d'Olonne, making five knots. Still hard on the building southerly breeze.

The westerly veer arrives at midday. Enabling Stargazer to hoist the cruising chute. Giving an extra knot.

Or two. . . .as the wind speed increases.

By mid afternoon, Stargazer's bow wave roars it’s mirth, rather than chuckles.

The southern tip of Ile de Re is abeam.

Local boats, are out for a Sunday sail, bouncing across a rising swell. 

I furl the cruising chute in seventeen knots true (eleven apparent). Gybing Stargazer, onto port. Reaching, as broad as we can, along the low sandy shoreline of Ile de Re. Skimming its outer reefs. Taking the opportunity to rig fenders, whilst the navigation is straight-line simple. 

Stargazer is surfing at eight knots, as we scud past the Ile de Re bridge. The breeze up to twenty five knots. Jib furled. Full main set. Thundering along.

 A part laden merchantman, which I had taken for anchored (and is not transmitting on AIS) looms to starboard. Moving very slowly. Bound for the cargo port at La Pallice, beneath the arches of the bridge. We cross ahead.

Romping into the harbour channel. A roadway of red and green markers, exuberantly crisscrossed by foil borne windsurfers. Which leads between La Rochelle's ancient stone towers; Saint Nicolas and La Chaine.