French Connections

 ONE

A fine drizzle glosses the pavements, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. As I step off the train, on my annual mission to seek a French Visa. That vital ingredient in the heady 'Asterix' potion, which will fuel Stargazer's summer plans.

Back home in Kent, the silhouettes of bare-branched, skeletal trees stand sentry on the horizon. Colours are muted. Sunlight winter-thin and palid. Soon, though, it will be time to perform the first rite of spring. The bringing of Stargazer ashore, to prepare her for a summer at sea.

TWO

Last May, whilst Stargazer was in Concarneau, the one hundred foot, foiling, Ultim (short for Ultimate) class trimaran 'SVR' was in port. Readying for a single handed, round the world race, against five sister ships. The first time that such a feat has been attempted.

On the seventh of January, the fleet left Brest. Making thirty five to forty knots, as they smoked south, toward the Cape of Good Hope. There SVR struck a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object). The violence of the impact driving her dagger board aft. Slicing open the hull. Watertight bulkheads averted a sinking. But her race was ended. Five competitors fought on in the ‘Big South.' Gitana building a commanding lead, through the windswept wilds of the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties.

Sufficient to enable her skipper, Charles Caudrelier, to back off for thirty six hours, whilst a storm blew through. Before tackling Cape Horn in more benign conditions. Now on the homeward leg, he is nearing Recife. The only one, of the 'flying boats,' not have to pitted to repair damage (predominantly to foils). Now he ekes out his remaining six days' provisions. With the doldrums between him and the finish line.

THREE

The company behind Passeport-Escales is based within the city walls of Vannes. This is a scheme which Stargazer makes extensive use of. It grants five 'free' nights, in each of one hundred and fifty French marinas. In return for allowing others to use the vacant berth, of a boat away on passage, from a participating home marina.

Stargazer, the Passeport-Escales team inform me, has benefitted from more 'free' nights, since my retirement, than any other British boat. They therefore wish to conduct a short interview, for their house magazine 'Pass-Ports.' Its purpose is to publicise the scheme and, as Jean my interviewer explains, "to help people to dream." An endeavour which Stargazer wholeheartedly supports.

Picture Credits:

4.Gitana in flight                        courtesy of  Yann Riou polaRYSE  Gitana SA

5.Gitana rounding Cape Horn   courtesy of  Yann Riou polaRYSE  Gitana SA

Foredeck Physics

 

Rich, marine engineer extraordinaire, makes short work of removing Stargazer's failed windlass. (See New Year’s Morn post).

The cause, of its demise is quickly clear. Electrolysis has been at work. The aluminium casting, of the chassis, has nobly sacrificed itself upon the altar of the Periodic Table. All that remains is a fine dust, surrounding a few skeletal 'fingers' of solid metal. It is one of these which has jammed the gypsy. To which the motor was connected only by the steel drive spindle. The housing crumbled to a powder.

A vacuum removes the debris and a wipe down, with methylated spirit, prepares Stargazer's foredeck to receive her new windlass. Bolt and hawse pipe holes align perfectly, as promised by the brochure.

Below decks we hit a snag. This is a 'boat job'  after all! The motor has grown in diameter, in the fourteen years since the original was fitted. The new one fouls both the locker front and the deck camber. Rotating it through one hundred and eighty degrees improves, but does not fully resolve, matters. Rich and I pause for coffee, cake and contemplation.

A plan is hatched. I glue and wire the pin of a new anchor shackle, on the dock. Whilst Rich returns to the his workshop, to fashion a structural plastic spacer. Our idea is to lower the motor. Simultaneously creating a clearance between its top and the deckhead; as well as its circumference and the locker door jamb.

Shadows stealthily lengthen across the foredeck. Until the windlass installation is complete and the anchor sits back on the bow roller. Stargazer is ready to sail, in search of secluded anchorages, once more.