La Rochelle - Update No. 3 - Sailing!

Midnight Sun III

We have been watching the weather closely and trying to understand the local conditions.  Its quite different than back home with 15-20 ft tides every 6 hours - actually its very much more like my "old" home town of Blackpool, England.

We have a nice "side tie" spot outside the Capitainerie here in La Rochelle, which so far nobody has asked us to pay for (even better!).

I am sure DYC will ask us to vacate as soon as we work through our punchlist.  But until then - here we are with a couple of other delivery crews headed to the Virgin Islands and Croatia.

This morning, as forecast we had rain and gusty winds, but just before noon we were able to get out for our first sail on the new boat.  Immediately before that, we gave our friends Annie Dike and Phillip Warren a hand letting off dock lines as they set out on almost the same  journey as we have

Farewell  and Fair Winds - Annie, Phillip, Syrus and Kate!

planned.  Annie and Phillip are also from Pensacola (Annie of "Have Wind Will Travel" fame).  Annie and Phillip are crewing for new friends and fellow Dream Yacht clients, Kate and Syrus who took delivery of their Lagoon 42 a week ahead of us.

But finally, we got a break in the weather this afternoon and took the boat out for its first sail.  Conditions were near perfect.  We left the harbor and went out into the bay with about 12 kts of breeze and 2-3 ft seas.  We traveled south along the coast approximately 7-8 miles on a beam reach making 7.5 kts. 

The boat performed flawlessly and the ride was so comfortable.  In fact after a glass of celebratory champagne, the girls made a great lunch of toasted sandwiches.  Soon we found ourselves racing a monohull, and flew by it without effort.  With its self-tacking jib, Midnight Sun III tacked effortlessly for the return leg back to the marina.  With the ease-up in weather conditions, many other small craft were taking the opportunity to enjoy a Friday afternoon sail - so there was a fair amount of boat traffic on the way back into the marina.  But with over 5,000 boats in this marina, that was no big surprise.  It is apparently the largest marina in Europe.

So Midnight Sun III had a very successful maiden sea trial.  So far our punch-list is relatively short and most items are minor.  Certainly nothing that would delay departure.  What is delaying our departure however, is the pallet of equipment we shipped from the US - which is still stuck in customs in Le Havre.  Hopefully we can resolve this early next week and get our stuff delivered to us. 

Unfortunately weather conditions next week are forecast to deteriorate even more.....so although we are anxious to get moving, we don't have a good sense of when that will be.  With predicted seas of 5-7 m (yes metres not feet!), next week is not looking good.   Especially since local sailors tell us it typically takes at least 2-3 days for seas to subside once weather like that has gone through

But still, there are far worse places to be holed up!  Of course, we may not be saying that next week.

Now if we could just have a little more luck dealing with French Customs - life would be really good. 

Tonight we headed to a small French Bistro for dinner adjacent to the marina which turned out to be good and reasonably priced.  We had hoped to stop in at the local Yacht Club for a drink - but at 7pm on a Friday night it was closed.....now what type of a yacht club is that!

La Rochelle - Update No. 2

Late Breaking News - Sneak Peak!

We found her!

After several miles of walking the docks - yes there are over 4,000 boats in the large marina in La Rochelle......we found our boat.  Hull # 45, Midnight Sun III.  Just before sunset.  So we climbed on board and had a bottle of champagne! - thank you Larry and Tracy.

our agent emailed us to say she is being cleaned and we will meet Monday morning.  In actual fact, we convinced they guy cleaning the boat to give us the keys and we have had a look around.  Here's a quick sneak peak

its the one on the outside!

La Rochelle - Update

Friday November 23, 2018

Today (Friday) has been a rainy day.  We have now been in France just over a week.  No boat as yet - we were warned of this and it is true - things simply happen at their own pace.

We are loving the town and location, but communication from our broker and commissioning team has been awful at best....well actually, more like "non-existent" from our local agent.

The boat has apparently been in the "commercial boatyard" which cannot be accessed by the public.  Yes, we tried, but it is a gated industrial area with no access through the security gates.  Our commissioning agent with Dream Yacht Charters has been elusive at best.  His office is a lockbox in a storage facility.  Maybe he has another physical location, but we have not found it, nor been given that location.  He seems to return phone calls after 2-3 days.  He did tell us when we arrived that we were delayed until Nov 26, but could not provide a reason (today is Nov 23, and we were promised the boat 7-10 days after it exited the factory; we understand it came out of the factory Nov 12).  Needless to say, I have made calls and emails back to our broker in the US and and to our local agent, but it has to date made no difference.   I've just been told its not reasonable to expect a boat to be ready within the range of dates promised.  Seriously!  I did talk with a person from the company that is commissioning the boat and they have apparently installed through hulls that I need for my water maker.....and they told me the boat would  launch today.  But then the english/french communication broke down - maybe it was my excitement!.....and I could not figure out if it would be launched at the commercial yard or here in La Rochelle.  Its amazing that we are getting the best info on the QT from a guy we should probably not be speaking with!

We have been watching all the other Lagoon 40s being commissioned in among the plethora of boats here, I can tell you where Hull No 41, 42,43, and 44 are - and that's where the track goes cold as we have not found Midnight Sun III - Hull no 45 as of writing this.  We spent a couple of hours checking on all likely locations today in the rain - but to no avail.  This IS just like waiting for your first-born to enter the world.......and (Helen), this one is as stubborn as you were!

So we wait.  And if that's not enough we have been wrestling with our shipping agent to get the pallet of equipment we shipped from the US released from customs.  It is apparently in Le Havre where the container ship was unloaded.  So I have spent the last 24 hours trying to  research EU regulations on "ships supplies for a vessel in transit", as they relate to import tax, VAT, etc.  Our shipping agent says that there are only 3 conditions for being tax exempt, adn these are: I am accepting a job in France; relocating to France; or a union with a French person.........so after several drinks last night I proposed to our barmaid (it turns out she was from Wales but speaks French).  She accepted subject to me buying her a new dress and shoes.  So that may prove to be the solution!  Our shipping agent is at least trying - he returns my emails within a couple hours and takes my phone calls.

La Rochelle by night

So that's my update!  We will see what happens Monday as it is now 5pm on Friday, and I don't expect anything to happen of significance over the weekend.  Its a rainy day today - but at least the bars and Irish Pub are open.

Update - Saturday, Nov 24

There was a late-breaking update on the pallet last night.  I did get an email saying "confirmation of Discharge".......but this was not from customs.

The plan today is to go for another walk around the docks and see if there's any sign.  Leave a message for our commissioning agent - but I expect no reply.  He didn't reply yesterday.  On  a brighter note, we met friends from Pensacola the other day (Annie Dike of "Have wind Will Travel").  the sailing community is a small one!  Annie and Phil are crewing on a 42 Lagoon that is also going into charter with Dream Yacht and alo in the BVI.  So we have been able to compare notes with them.  It seems their new boat owner Syrus and Kate have had a similar experience with delays and limited to no communication.  They just got their  boat - about a week after it was promised.  Hopefully we will find them in the marina today so we can compare notes!

La Rochelle, France

La Rochelle

We have arrived in La Rochelle, France which is the location that we will pick up the new boat.  We have now been here a couple of days.  The trip over was a bit gruelling, but about what we expected. Our travel was on American Airlines and TAP Portugal: Pensacola to Miami; Miami to Lisbon; Lisbon to Nantes and a rental car to La Rochelle.  We almost missed our flight to Lisbon as it turned at that changing terminals in Miami is a nightmare!.....about a  mile long treck with the need to exit and re-enter security.   So, of course one of our checked bags went missing - it is supposed to be delivered to us today.

La Rochelle -- Old Harbor

We spent some time yesterday exploring the town - which is magnificent!  Small streets, old buildings, street cafes,  and literally thousands of sailboats.  I am sure my photos will not do it justice.  We are staying close to the old harbor, but there is a new harbor/marina that we estimate has over 3,000 boats within it - most are sailboats.

This is clearly a "nautical town".  We saw several new boats being commissioned, including boats by Lagoon, Fontaine Pajot, Nautitech, Bavaria, and Amel.

Old Harbor

The new harbor/marina was quite a spectacular sight.  I don't think I have ever seen such a collection of sailboats in one place.  The  French certainly take their sailing seriously.

New Harbor - Note masts in background

From old square riggers, to new boats, to fast racing boats - we saw it all here in La Rochelle.  We spotted a Nautical Museum, which we have not visited as yet, but intend to do so.  

We are loving this town!  The locals are friendly, the restaurants are good (some a little pricey), baars and street cafes are really good.  Latest word on the boat is a "slight delay"......so we are waiting on more info on that one.  The one disturbing thing is that we just witnessed a protest by the "yellow jackets" or "Gilets Jaunes".  Apparently its a  protest organized entirely on social media with no identified leaders, no political connections, but a protest by the French people about increases in fuel prices - particularly diesel.  We hear there's a threat that this could cause major disruptions in France..........we are hoping this will not be the case!

Maitre Coq - Ocean Race Boat

Anyway - we are here and it doesn't suck!  The next challenge will be to track down our pallet of equipment that we shipped and hopefully no no further disruptions from those pesky "Gilets Jaunes".

I did just activate my inReach tracker - so if you click on the link below or the one ar the right side of this page, you should see our current location.

More updates to follow!

Our Location:
https://share.garmin.com/Midnightsunii 

Headed to France for the New Boat

Well the time has finally come after months of preparations.  We leave tomorrow for France to pick up Midnight Sun II.  Its now been about 5 months since we committed to this, and somehow it seems like I have been working on some aspect of the planning every day. 

Whether its been figuring out what tools, spares and emergency equipment we need; routes, ports to stay in; weather planning; software purchases and upgrades.........the list goes on!

Packing the Pallet to ship to France

But its finally time to go.  We leave tomorrow morning, flying Pensacola-Miami-Lisbon-Nantes, then a 2 hour drive to La Rochelle.  Sounds like an exhausting day just typing it out.

We have a tentative plan on our itinerary - but wow, so many variables!  Will the pallet get there? Will the boat be on schedule?  will everything work?  What will the sea trials show as issues?

And of course there is weather - I think the most challenging part of the trip could be the crossing of the Bay of Biscay - not the most pleasant od seas at this time of year.

So we have spent a couple of days packing, re-packing.......trying to get 3 months of stuff into limited baggage.

........and there's more to get into something!


Well time for rest - we leave tomorrow.........or maybe a scotch......just one more!


Watch this space for more updates as we head out on our way!