Rigging, again

The crane has been fixed,  huraaaaah!

The new, new rigging is too short!  Boooooo!

How hard can this be?

This company is supposed to be one of the best in the U.K. I just despair.  We even sent them our original rig for them to copy.

The weather is now closing in and even if the rig goes up early next week it'll be weekend before the weather is fit for us to sail off!

The 50% discount we have negotiated so far will have to grow.

Rigging - part whatever

Rigging, so simple, bits of wire joined by bits and bobs to the boat and the mast......

The new, new rig 's arrived, and it fits,  horaaah!

The bits and bobs have arrived, and they fit, horaaaah!

The riggers are working on the boat, it's all coming together now!

The boat yard's crane has broken - Booooooooo!

Still here.

Weather looking absolutely rubbish to sail off over after the weekend, big winds until next Thursday....

Marseille

Got a bus and a train to Marseille and found the Adagio Aparthotel we’d booked on line - good old booking.com - great location, great facilities and reasonably priced too.

We walked miles and miles around the city found all sorts of different areas around the edges of the Vieux Port.

The port has a really dramatic entrance - going to have to sail in one day - it’s packed with all sorts of boats and one section was just lined with beautiful classic wooden yachts - the one from 1874 was my favourite, the boom and bowsprit were so long they doubled the length of the boat. Must have been the race boat of its day.

Dave's favourite wooden racing boat, from 1874

We found big areas of Arabic, north African and Asian communities close to the centre.  We ended up eating in Lebanese, Armenian, Tunisian and Vietnamese restaurants.  Great food and stuff we’d not had before.

Interesting artists quarter

We also wandered into the Intercontinental 5 star hotel overlooking the Vieux Port to see the view - had to have a pastiche to soak up the ambiance - only the one as price made my eyes water!

View from the posh hotel

One morning was raining so we ended in in a new dockside shopping complex, built in the old warehouses - full of hip and trendy shops - not sure if we fitted in that well! All fascinating and expensive.  Ended up getting haircuts here - most expensive I’ve ever had at €27, and Carole said she’d never had her hair cut by a man before, very trendy staff - tattoos and beards and beanie hats - have to concede it was a good haircut too.

The shopping centre was a great building

Dave with newly shorn look

Turned into an expensive trip but well worth it as a treat.

Great reflections

Large Armenian population with great food

This bandstand couldn't take the heat

M for Marseille

More train and bus back to the boat.

Still no sign of the rigging from the UK.

Will be discussing a large discount on the price!

Rigging!

The new rigging has arrived  Hurrah!

It's got the wrong fittings on it!!  BOOOOOOOO!

Now decided that this is the only way forward !

Testing Pastis

The whole rig saga is like some Ealing comedy.

Going to Marseille tomorrow - on holiday - will worry about the rig when we get back. 

Still in Port Napoleon

Well, progress on the rigging is going slowly - its proved cheaper to have the Beneteau agents in the UK build the rig and then ship it out here rather than get a local rigger - it was supposed to be quicker as well….  After confirming they had all the parts in stock the riggers at the last moment said they were missing a part - the somewhat crucial bits that join the bottom of the wire rigging to the boat hull and now we’ve got to source that bit from Beneteau’s main riggers in France - frustrating but at least the weather has been good and we are able to get out and about and the rest of the rigging is now on its way to us.

So we’ve had trips to Grand Mot, Beaux en Provence and back to Arles as well as Les Saintes Maries de la Mer for the horse riding.

This plaque and doors below brought home the horrors of the Nazis

Carole loved the riding - on a white Camargue horse through the marshes and galloping along the beaches.  She initially went with a couple of other paying riders but the rest of the stable hands joined them and they ended up riding out for nearly 5 hours - 60€, very, very cheap compared to the UK.  Good, responsive horses that looked liked they’d had a good time after the ride too.

The stables round here are very basic compared to home

The drive out to Grand Mot meant that we could meet up with some friends and have a seafood lunch overlooking the harbour.

We went to Beaux en Provence after dropping Megan off at the airport so she could fly back to Aus to see her new grand-daughter.  Hubbie Steve came with us, he’s stopping here as they are in the middle of selling their boat.  The art exhibition is based inside a limestone mine and they project the paintings onto the walls and create images detailing various parts of the art works - the current artist is Marc Chagall.  Amazing images - he’s described as a colourist and you can see why.  The mine also showed a homage to Lewis Carole.  All very atmospheric and with a thumping good sound track too!  Not to be missed if you get to the Provence area.

Beaux en Provence

Chagall sound and light exhibition the tunnels - fabulous

Full surround senses

We took the car back on Friday, had another day wandering around Arles - great  place, famous for its links with Van Gogh. We went to the Van Gogh Foundation but were a little disappointed to find they only had one of his paintings - suspect they couldn’t afford any more, but the rest of the centre was filled with works by a modern artist - Urs Fischer, that was well worth seeing.

Urs fisher exhibition - intriguing 

All made of bronze, but looked like clay!

Rooftop reflections

Its all got quite busy on our pontoon - for a while we were the only ones living there, but in the last few days a lot of boats have come and gone - most to be lifted out for the winter or to have their masts taken down so they can go up the canals back to Northern Europe.  I always thought the French were fantastic sailors but having seen quiet a few try and park their boats I’m not sure now!  Still keeps us amused.  The English speaking group of sailors keeps changing and we’ve had quite a few good nights out meeting them.  The bar and restaurant at the harbour is pretty good.

low-flying planes have been spraying for mosquitoes

Black rice - locally grown (very good)

Fat boat in the Med?

Since arriving here, the wind hasn’t stopped and some days the rain has been torrential, so it doesn’t yet feel like we’ve arrived!  Waiting for the rigging is a inconvenience but at least we’re getting stuff done that would otherwise have been put off to go sailing.

Around Port Napoleon

Horizontal washing! But it dried super quick

We picked up a car today that we’re going to share for a few days with our Aussie friends Megan and Steve - they’re selling their boat in Port Napoleon so need a car for a couple of days to empty it to a flat they’ve rented. We took the bus to Arles to pick up the car - fascinating place, large ancient centre complete with a Roman theatre and a 20,000 capacity roman amphitheatre - used for bull fights nowadays.  Plan to go back next week for the market and a proper look around.

Arles market - a while stall of just different onions and garlic

The famous black fighting bulls are raised near here

Now we’ve got a car we’ll take a look around the area, a great French couple invited onto their boat last night and have given us loads of tips on where to go, we’ve also got boatie friends in this area so should be able to meet up with them too.

On Herve and Chantelle's boat

We’ve been out and about in the car as well as spending the time to sort out a lot of little jobs on the boat.

Martigues - coastal town nearby

We visited Aigues-Mortes in the heart of the Carmargue as well another intact medieval town and met up with Graham and Bridgid and Sue and Robin - more boatie friends we met on the trip through France.

lots of flamingos around

Jasmine bushes grow wild everywhere - smell amazing

We went back to Arles, this time with Steve and Megan - great place, fab market and a large “old town” area that looked pretty much untouched.  This is where Vincent Van Gogh spent the last part of his life, creating lots of paintings, but also going insane and eventually killing himself. Steve and Megan have spent 5 years living full time on their Bowman 40 yacht, bringing it to Port Napoleon to sell before they head back home to Australia - anyone want a beautiful, classic, ocean going yacht then their boat is for you!

When it rains it really hammers down

Steve buying herbs at the market

Megan sporting her new French beret (looks like Steve is not too sure)

Carole going riding on Carmargue horses on Monday so that should be fun - will try and get some good photos.

Carole's Interesting Facts:

No. 21:  The Camargue is famous for its Guardians who are the cowboys of the area.

No 22:  The fighting bulls are exported to Spain for their bullfights.  

No 23:  The Camargue is also famous for its salt production which has taken place since pre-historic times.

Port Napoleon

Port Napoleon is where our mast was shipped to; we’ve arranged for the boat to be lifted as well so we can check the hull and the antifouling.

Up she comes

As ever you can always tell who the boats owner is by the nervous look on their faces when the boat is suspended in mid air - its just not a good moment.

Boats are just not meant to fly

Having her bottom power washed

Then came hull polishing and finally titivating the antifouling up - it had survived remarkably well, but the bottom of the keel needed re doing where the weed and silt had scoured the antifouling off, and we gave it some extra coats along the waterline too.  This should help keep it weed free until next year when we think we’ll haul the boat out again and leave it on a hard somewhere for a while, we’ll then have all the old antifouling stripped off and some fancy new copper coating applied.

Not a Greek Tragedy, just Dave 'dressed' in an old sheet for anti=fouling.

Planning to be back in the water tomorrow and then it’s time for the mast and an engine service before we set off long the coast.

Have just got some bad news from the riggers, the standing rigging has some corrosion in the upper parts of the rig and they won’t step it unless we sign a disclosure to say its not their fault if it comes down!! - Great stuff. 

We’ve examined the rig closely and have decided to replace the whole of the standing rigging (the wire bits holding the mast up) - no question really as it has got to be safe, but it means we’ve got to wait for the new rig to be made before we can step the mast.  Somewhat irritating as if they’d identified the problem when we first arrived we’d already be a week into the two it’ll take for the new rig to come.  We always knew we’d have to replace the rig fairly soon due to its age but it’s just come sooner than expected.

Our mast waiting now for new rigging

It also means we’re stuck in Port Napoleon for another couple of weeks - but storms are forecast for the next few days and this has got to be the safest place to be with the forecasted Force 9 winds and heavy rain. We've also met some new friends here, so our social life isn't too quiet either.

Plenty of fenders for the approaching storm!

Think we’ll look into hiring a car to have a look around the area and to visit some friends.


And then the storms came!

There's always one!

Best place for us is tucked up in Port Napoleon!