AT JOINVILLE, ISLE D'YEU

Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Tue 27 May 2014 17:19
After the very early Tuesday morning (0320) arrival here, we enjoyed a 'well earned wee dram' before turning in just as it was getting light! Needless to say, 5 minutes later all you could hear were four souls steadily snoring - Stuart being the the leader of the orchestra! A beautiful sunny morning saw us up and about at a reasonable time, and after a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon we set about progressing a number of fairly major husbandry tasks. Ken led on the task of taking the aft cabin to bits, and emptying the starboard cockpit locker to gain access to the rudder post so that both bearings could be greased. This was a major task, but Ken had it sorted within an hour - BZ. The skipper then relieved Ken 'down the hole' to tackle the associated task of tightening the steering cables, as a little play had crept into the linkage. Needless to say the lock nuts were in a most inaccessible place on the steering quadrant, but perseverance prevailed and this task was also successfully completed.

Meanwhile Peter and Stuart applied jiff and elbow grease to the cabin upperworks, removing the accumulation of stains that had build up over the past years. The result makes Aquila look like a new boat! Thank you chaps - BZ to you too. The skipper and Ken also attended to one of the plastic through-sail guides for the Dutchman mainsail stowing system, effecting a more permanent repair on a perennial troublesome guide. Hopefully that repair will now last for at least this season - Holland is a long way to go for a replacement guide!

By the time we had finished it was 1330, and it was time for a stroll ashore to refresh ourselves. We found a delightful waterfront cafe, and enjoyed some more fruits de mer and a good Burgandy. This took us to the time that the shops opened after the obligatory French lunch hours, and we thus replenished some galley stores - and, most importantly, found a shop that provided a wireless mouse for the navigation computer, as it's predecessor had finally given up the ghost after umpteen rough weather jumps to the cabin sole....Postcards were also duly purchased.

The plan is to eat ashore tonight, and continue progress SE towards La Rochelle tomorrow (only c.65nm away now). The forecast winds for tomorrow are N2-3, so it should be an easy sail; we may anchor off Isle de Re, but there might not be much shelter given the forecast, so equally we might tuck up alongside the mole Saint Martin de Re.....as ever with boating, we will see!

Refreshing ourselves at Joinville...

JPEG image

Blog Entries

2017
Aug 2017 Jul 2017 Jun 2017 May 2017
2016
Jul 2016 Jun 2016 May 2016
2015
Jul 2015 Jun 2015 May 2015 Apr 2015
2014
Jul 2014 Jun 2014 May 2014
2008
Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Mar 2008