We spent close to a week in Port Napoleon checking out the warranty work performed by Allures and prepping the boat. Unfortunately, Charlie badly dislocated his middle right finger which delayed our departure. We were only a 3 handed crew for the first part of our trip. Charlie joked he could no longer give the proper British naval salute to deserving French sailors.
Launch Day in Port Napoleon
Setting sail with a 3 handed crew
We got away on September 2 and within a day we noticed salt water leaking in and around our engine. We decided to head back to the Volvo mechanic at Port Napoleon after spending the night in Port Gardian. Fortunately, it was a quick repair. We again cast off and headed down the French coast.
Our first stop was an anchorage at Saintes des Maries. The anchorage was deserted, and we enjoyed a quiet, calm first night at sea. A spectacular sunrise greeted us in the morning. It felt great to be back on Chinook.
Sunrise at Saintes des Maries
Happy to be back on Chinook
Next stop was La Grande Motte, France which is a marina geared towards the elite boaters. We provisioned the boat with food knowing we’d be eating more meals onboard this trip. We left the next day making our way through the busy waters around this marina.
Next, we arrived in Sete, France. Skipper did a great job docking the boat in some heavy wind. There are a few canals running through the town. Sete is sometimes referred to as the Venice of France. We toured the town, tasted the famous Tielle and visited the market for some fresh fish and veggies. Alain from Delta Voiles met us here with our new Code D sail (designed for light wind days) and gave us a demonstration on the use of the sail and other useful tips.
Sete Canals
Sete Canal System
Slicing cured meat
Fresh fish at Sete Market
Tasting the famous Tielle
Unveiling our new Code D sail – Pink Panther
Heading further down the France coast our next stop was Port Gruissan. There was no wind, so we motored the entire way. It was a long entrance into port, and we docked alongside a wall lined with restaurants and bars. Most places were closed with ‘Vente’ signs which was a cruel reminder of the Covid times.
Our next stop was Spain! Chinook will finally be leaving France.
Our plan for Spring 2020 was to sail down the coast of Spain from our wintering location at Port Napoleon in southern France and cross the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier, Morocco.
This plan was abruptly halted as the Covid 19 pandemic traveled worldwide. About 2 weeks prior to our departure, a global lockdown halted travel and self isolation was encouraged as we watched the cases/deaths increase in France and Spain and start in Canada. Uncertainty set in.
Calgary had an unseasonably cold spring – the snow would not let up. We tried to make the best of this unusual situation but longed for the warm Mediterranean and a good sail on Chinook. We settled for Baby Chinook on our mountain lake Windermere but just not the same.
Now into July, we watched closely as Europe started to open up the borders to nonEU countries. Canada was on the list! It’s looked promising for continuing our travels later this summer. Stay tuned…
Chinook spent the summer in La Grande Motte. We arrived on October 8, splashed on the 9th, spent several days taking inventory of the warranty work done (and not done) and worked through the long checklist prepping Chinook for the trip.
Splash Day
La Grande Motte – getting Chinook ready.
Marseille
October 14 – 17, 2019
Winds were strong and seas were high as we left La Grande Motte. We spent the first night in Port Napoleon and met up with friends Bob and Joanna (Flying Fox). Weather the next day was again very sporty as we made our way to Marseille where we spent 3 nights in the Vieux Port Marseille (SNM docks).
We enjoyed Marseille – the fish market, another grand Notre Dame Cathedral, Le Panier, a great restaurant La Boite a Sardine and the France/Turkey soccer game made for good entertainment one evening at the bar across from our boat.
Sporty day travelling to Marseille
En route to Marseille
Chinook in Vieux Port Marseille
Marseille – Notre Dame
Port Marseille
View from Notre Dame in Marseille
Port Miou and Cassis
October 17 – 21, 2019
We fueled up at Marseille and made our way to Port Miou which is in a long calanque close to Cassis. The strong SE winds prevented us from entering other calanques close by. We used 2 mooring balls due to the strong wind and stern tied to the rock. Beautiful spot but the rolling waves made for a very uncomfortable stay.
Strong winds continued as we left the next day for Cassis (just around the bend). We spent 3 nights (one longer than expected) due to the weather. Chinook was close to the harbour entrance which made for rolling waves. It was a challenge maneuvering the narrow passerelle (made from old canal fender boards) from Chinook to the dock.
The small town of Cassis is a gem with buff and rose coloured houses crammed onto the waterfront overlooking the harbour and a restored 14th century castle on a rocky bluff overlooking the town.
Port Miou
Port Miou
Port Cassis
Chinook in Port Cassis
Cassis
CFD hose to the rescue
Narrow streets in Cassis
Port de Porquerolles
October 21 – 24, 2019
We had a one day window in between the strong winds to reach our next destination. We decided to sail to Port de Porquerolles (one of the Iles d’Hyeres). We arrived in calm water and chose a spot along the quai before many other boats arrived to wait out the storm. We spent 3 nights in Porquerolles with constant wind and gusts up to 54 knots. The whistling wind through all the rigging on the boats was deafening.
We did not explore the island, apart from the small town near the harbour, since we did not want to leave the boat too long in the strong winds. The island had a Caribbean look with palm trees, one story buildings and open air bars and restaurants. Once in town the wind was not noticeable but a stark contrast when you went back to the port. Only late on the 3rd night did the wind die and the next morning we made an early departure onto the calm seas to Saint-Tropez.
Wind Speed/Direction Graph – max 54 knots
Town of Porquerolles
Fashion statement in Porquerolles
Saint-Tropez
October 24 – 26, 2019
We had light winds all the way to Saint-Tropez but the large spread out rolling waves were not to Charlie’s liking. We docked in the new part of the harbour for only $95E per night. The old part of the harbour was $250E per night and you had to pay for showers. Mon dieu!
Little did we know our arrival coincided with the ‘Grande Braderie de Saint-Tropez’. This is the French version of Black Friday. Hordes of people filled the narrow streets as stores were clearing their stock for the season. Despite this, we found Saint-Tropez to be a wonderful quaint town. We walked up to the Citadel (great views), visited the Marine museum, tasted the famous La Tarte Tropezieme, ice cream at Barbarac and dined at La Port des Anges on a narrow street a step away from Notre Dame d’Assumption.
Docked in Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez
Citadel
The passerelle challenge
Sunset in Saint-Tropez
Dinner in Saint-Tropez
Cannes
October 26 – 28, 2019
A great day sailing to Cannes. Warm, sunny and close-hauled. The port was full – we lucked out with one of the last spots on the floating dock. Capitainerie was very helpful and only $47E for 2 nights! Big change from Saint-Tropez.
In port was another ‘Chinook’ – a beautiful classic 18 meter sailboat from NYYC. She was docked next to Manitou used by JFK (and Marilyn Monroe) during his presidency.
We enjoyed Cannes – the daily market was plentiful, we toured the old town, strolled the beach, walked up to the castle (great views) and walked the promenade with high end shops. Charlie was thankful it was Sunday so the shops were closed.
Arriving in Cannes
Oysters and white wine in Cannes
Cannes Market – great produce
Port de Cannes
Another Chinook – a beautiful classic sailboat in Cannes
Nice
October 28 – 31, 2019
Nice is the capital of the Riviera and the second largest city on the French Mediterranean coast. We spent 3 days exploring this great city.
We arrived to find only a few visitor spots available in the old harbour. An octopus greeted us on the rock wall where we stern tied. Another passerelle challenge! Our dock neighbour was born and raised in Edmonton – small world.
We had fun exploring the old town, castle hill, Musee de Chagall, walking the Pomenade des Anglais and rocky beach, stopping for oysters and wine along the way.
Trip to Monaco was overcast with wind on our nose. We kept close to shore due to heavy offshore wind. Torrential rain started shortly after our arrival and lasted for several hours. Found some new warranty issues after the rain 🙂
Visited the usual – casino, opera house, walked up to the old town to see the Prince’s palace, Oceangraphic Museum and cathedral. Overall not impressed with Monaco – too many tourists and bad weather put a damper on this stopover.
Chinook docked in Monaco
Monte Carlo Casino
Port de Monaco
Climbing up Castle hill to the old town
Monaco Opera House
Oceanographic Museum
Villefranche
November 2 – 3, 2019
Sailed most of the way to Villefranche – an overcast day. Once in the Rade de Villefranche we set anchor and enjoyed a great view of the town. We toyed with staying the night on the hook but due to the overnight forecast of high winds we moved into port. We’ve been plagued with high wind this entire trip. There seems to be no middle ground.
It was a tight squeeze into our slip but we nailed it.
Villefranche is a quaint town rising from the harbour with narrow streets up and down joined by paths. We had a great dinner (and house wine) at Le Serre. A favourite dish of ours on a cool rainy night is the Daube de Maison. The showers at the capitainerie are the best in all Cote d’Azur!
We left the next morning in order to make some headway and beat the bad weather coming our way.
Tight quarters in Villefranche
Great dinner at Le Serre
Enroute to Villefranche
Antibes
November 3 – 4, 2019
It was a short but very unpleasant trip to Antibes. The storm arrived earlier than forecasted and we motored for 2 hours in torrential rain, thunder, lightning and poor visibility. It was a good test of our radar settings (sea and rain clutter).
Fall has definitely arrived and we are having to break out the long underwear and foul weather gear to keep warm.
Antibes is a very large port filled with huge yachts. From a distance we could see Dilbar – a 157m yacht, the largest (by volume) in the world.
We docked in the rain but waters were calm. We toured the town and had dinner at La Casa di Luciano. We made it an early night for an early departure next morning.
Antibes – view from Chinook
Antibes Harbour – Dilbar in the background 157m yacht
Saint-Raphael
November 4 – 6, 2019
Finally a sunny day and lots of wind. We had a good sail down (with our usual 2 reefs) until we rounded the corner to St. Raphael with wind on our nose.
We docked just inside the harbour entrance next to a dive boat which fortunately was not active during our stay.
Next day was overcast with rain and lots of waves inside the harbour. The capitainerie assisted us (with their dinghy) to straighten out our bow laid lines.
We walked into town to get some supplies at the small market and picked up dinner for onboard dining.
30 knot winds to St Raphael
Enroute to St. Raphael
Market time
Saint-Raphael
Le Lavandou
November 6 – 7, 2019
Heavy wind in the morning made for a difficult exit from St. Raphael. We got the sails up right away and had a good sail down the coast (15 – 20 knot winds). Once we turned west, bigger waves with 30 knot winds made it more sporty. At one point a French fighter jet screamed over at a very low level – cool!
After a long day, we stopped at Le Kilt for a pint and had the best dinner yet at a cozy french restaurant L’Auberge Provencal. Perfect ending to a great day.
Only one night in Le Lavandou to take advantage of a good travel day in between days of bad weather.
Enroute to Le Lavandou
Enroute to Le Lavandou
Docked in Le Lavandou – sail wash day
Le Lavandou
Our vote for best restaurant
Toulon
November 7 – 11, 2019
We motored all the way to Toulon and along the way saw 2 French naval ships (one with its water cannons spraying) and 2 military helicopters. There was a strong military presence as you entered the Toulon harbour. The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was in port and could be seen at a distance.
The visitor’s dock at Darse Vielle was damaged due to a bad storm but we were lucky to get a spot on a floating pontoon at the harbour wall right beside the statue of the Sailing Genius. Water was available only a few hours each day due to the storm damage.
We spent 4 nights at Toulon and enjoyed touring the town – market, naval museum, beautiful cathedral, opera house, happy hour at Le Neptunia with the French sailors and we took in a Rugby game watching Toulon tie Montpellier.
Docked in Toulon in front of the Sailing Genius statue
Docked in Toulon
Toulon opera house
Toulon rugby game
Bandol
November 11 – 15, 2019
It was a good exit from Toulon on November 11, 2019 on an overcast day. We saw the rest of the French Toulon fleet including Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. Weather was calm until we turned at Cap Cepet and then the sea got rough at Cap Sicie with large waves in all directions. There was not enough wind to sail but we still managed 6-7 knots.
We stern tied at Bandol. The wind at our stern was favourable for our moorage however our neighboring boats were moving wildly so we put on some extra protection.
During our 4 night stay the wind and rain continued. Gusting and changing wind caused additional concern with the neighbouring boats and the setup with our bow line.
We had our first visit from the Doanes (customs). Four officers boarded and checked registration, passports and logs. Fortunately all was in order and they seemed to be more interested in tobacco and large sums of euros.
There was a great flea market at the end of our docks. We cycled to Sanay sur Mer where we found a boucherie providing some great dinner options (Canard l’orange and Daube Maison).
Church beside the Bandol square
Bikes off the stern – cycle to Sanay
Please stop raining!
Waves crashing over the break water
Chinook moored in Bandol
Cassis
November 15 – 16, 2019
We motored all the way to Cassis and stopped at La Ciotat harbour to check out the 143m Sailing Yacht ‘A’ which could be seen from a long way off. West of Ciotat were great rock cliffs at Ile Vert.
The surge was too much to enter the nearby Calanques and there was a huge surge at the entrance to Cassis. Skipper did a great job timing the entrance in between surges. On the way into the harbour we passed a sunken boat that was not so lucky.
We had a nice dinner at Vielle Auberge which was dry and warm as it was cold and pouring rain outside (again). We prepared for departure the next day to Marseille. Calm weather was in the forecast.
To reach our Mediterranean destination from Normandy, we sailed from Cherbourg along the English Channel to Honfleur near Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine River. We entered the Seine River and traveled the interior French rivers and canal/lock system to Port St. Louis on the Mediterranean.
We had our mast taken down in Tancarville and transported to the Mediterranean by FastMast. This lower clearance and our shallow draft (with the centerboard up) allowed us to navigate these canals and locks.
We put Chinook into an uncomfortable position of being a motorboat in narrow canals and locks (only 0.25 metres to spare on each side in most locks) but she preformed admirably. It was a very interesting trip seeing the “back alleys” of France through beautiful countryside and into the heart of French cities and towns such as Rouen, Paris, Melun, Moret sur Loing, Nemours, Nevers, Sancerre, Montargis, Digoin, Paray le Monial, Santenay, Tournus, Macon, Lyon, Viviers, Avignon and Arles. Below is a summary of the journey. Our route is marked in red.
This journey took 6 weeks – a total of 1,344 km and 190 locks.
From Honfleur to Paris
Along La Seine a total of 218km and 6 locks.
From
Paris to Chalon-sur-Saone along the ‘Bourbonnais’ Loire-Centre route
Southeast on La Seine, the Canal de Loing, the Canal de Briare, the Canal Lateral a la Loire and the Canal du Centre
On June 23 we traveled through our last lock and entered the Mediterranean at Port St. Louis. Our first task was to get the mast stepped at Port Napoleon so Chinook could become a sailboat again.
The heatwave in France was getting intense so we were looking forward to the clear waters of the Mediterranean for some relief.
Several days were spent in 45 degree heat getting the mast prepped and stepped. On June 27, Chinook was ready to set sail!
We traveled east along the southern coast of France enjoying our first anchorage in Saintes-Maries. We stopped at Port Camargue where we cycled into Aigues-Mortes before arriving at our final destination La Grande Motte.
Preparing the mastStepping the mastA sailboat again!Port CamargueEnding our journey – La Grand Motte
On June 12 we left the canals and traveled south on La Saone and Le Rhone rivers. We were ecstatic to see depths of over 5 meters as we left the canals. This section was 453 km and 16 larger locks.
Along these rivers we stopped in Tournus, Macon, Lyon, Viviers, Avignon and Arles before reaching the Mediterranean on June 23rd.
There were few places for mooring along this route but it was possible to reserve in advance. Our most unique mooring was in Arles (along the Rhone) where we tied up to a restaurant barge La Peniche.
After Paris we traveled southeast on La Seine, the Canal de Loing, the Canal de Briare, the Canal Lateral a la Loire and the Canal du Centre. This section was a total of 496 km and 155 locks.
This was the most challenging part of our trip with the width of these locks only .5 meters wider than Chinook. One day we traveled 19 locks, an equal number of narrow bridges and an aqueduct (water bridge over a river). The narrow canals made the passing of boats a challenge with Chinook’s twin rudders and sloping shorelines.
Despite travelling off season with light traffic there were many evenings where we found it difficult to find a mooring spot for Chinook.
Our timetable only allowed one night in most places along the canals. One exception was Paray-le-Monial where we spent 2 nights due to high winds. Strong wind and narrow locks are not a good combination.
Entering a narrow lockMontargis, FranceMontbouy, France9 meter lockAnother wet day in the locksAqueduct over the LoireTight quartersBest parallel parking jobRogny-les-Sept-EclusesParay-le-MonialMoored at Cours-les-BarresSantaney – wine country Heading upstreamCharlie – eclusier in trainingFragnesBest Eclusier home
We left Cherbourg (May 10 @ 07:30) on our maiden voyage to Honfleur. It was an overcast morning and then turned cold and wet as we traveled along the English channel. A small white parakeet bird flew into our cockpit to keep warm and spent a good part of the trip with us.
We arrived before low tide and passed through our first lock at the entrance to Honfleur without too much difficulty (floating bollards helped). We moored just outside the old harbour.
The next day we explored this beautiful quaint French town. We went to the market – local cheese, fresh pastries, calvados and more. We walked up the hill above Honfleur to the Notre Dame de Grace – a charming chapel, built by locals and sailors, with model boats hung from the rafters.
Maiden voyageSkipper CharlieCold and wetOld harbourChinook Local market Notre Dame Chapel BellsNotre Dame Chapel
We left Tancarville at sunrise to catch the favourable tide and current to reach Rouen (approx, 96 km upstream) before sunset. We had to wait 45 minutes at the Tancarville lock to enter the Seine and we traveled with the freighter Smack in the lock. We clocked up to 10 knots and reached Rouen by 14:00. The marina was full but we were able to snag a spot at the end of a finger dock which worked well for the size of Chinook.
Unfortunately we had only one night in this historical city (in order to make our Paris arrival on the 18th) so we set off (walking of course) with Jamie and Jess to see the sites. Notre Dame Cathedral, the Gros Horloge (a magnificent monumental town clock), the Gothic Law Courts (Palais de Justice) and Joan d’ Arc church were a few of the sites we saw.
Our day started out well and we saw some interesting countryside including Richard the Lionheart’s castle.
We had planned to spend the night in Vernon however upon arrival there was no suitable spot for a boat the size of Chinook. This was soon the theme for other possible stops further down the river. Headlamps, spotlight and flashlights were brought out as darkness set in. Close to midnight we spotted a small vacant commercial dock in Lavacourt – sold! A very long day for the crew.
Country sideRichard the LionHeart castleMidnight Docking
Rueil-Sur-Seine – May 17
We left our ‘restricted’ dock at the crack of dawn. Our day was much shorter due to our extended travel the day before. We arrived in Rueil-Sur-Seine and were relieved to find a long empty dock suitable for Chinook.
We had a great evening with a french dinner not far from the dock. Jamie and Jess were introduced to a taste of Calvados which was well deserved after the long previous day.
