London - Belgian Family Vaffels - Arrive France

20th August 2005
I vividly remember what I was doing the previous phase of the moon like we have at the moment. Val, Gayle and I were climbing mount north the night of Nick and my farewell from KDC on site. Wow I cant believe the things that have occurred since then. We spent a night in Hong Kong (should have shopped a LOT more – that place is so cheap!!) And then arrived in London late at night and met Karen and Boyd on board Pina Colada. The boat is a Young 43 design, fiberglass fractional rig sloop- a great cruising vessel and Karen and Boyd are the most easy going people I have ever met. We spent six nights in London on board getting to know Karren and Boyd and the boat, and waiting for our gear to arrive. We bought a mountain bike through a questionable black dude who had lots of bikes but betcha he didn’t know how to ride one (specialized rock hopper with LX gear and rock shock judys) and another off a Japanese guy who said he liked Mile End because he felt he belonged there with all the other ethnic people – bizarre!!(Giant escaper with LX and XT gear).

The 2nd round of London bombings that tore through the commuters two days before we arrived were still rocking the populous, so much so that a rubbish truck making a loud boom as it dropped off a curb caused an Auldgate yuppie to just about drop his mobile (plus other droppings). Nick and I were walking by, searching for an internet café. London should not be considered first world anymore, the whole place smells of raw sewage and everything is broken, stopped, late, unavailable or unheard of. We found it difficult to find someone who spoke English. But we did catch up with Nicks mate from school days; Graeme Douglas; for a meal on Monday night. He’s loving it and obviously finding a vibe that we never did. Of course it takes a while, especially if you require a very specialized groovy groove like Graeme who is seriously into tributary music as opposed to main stream.

We had decided to take the boat to Neiupoort to prepare it for the big trip home because it is cheaper and has all services we require to get the boat ready (although we told the Belgian people that we came because of their beer and they understood completely).

Before leaving London, Karen and Boyd Turner, who own Pina Colada, collected their campervan that is to be their home away form home until they can make it to Auzzie to live in Chancellor St, and we took a trip in the campervan to the county to visit fellow yachtsmen Chris and Shiela. Chris and Sheila live in St Lawrence, Essex. We were shown some warm English hospitality, warm beer, and a bit of the area such as the Ferryman 600 year old pub, and a Saxon church of similar age. Chis and Sheila have recently completed a six year circumnavigation and were good enough to sell us heaps of useful cruising guides.

On the 4th of August Pina Colada left St Katherine’s dock tucked right next to the Tower of London, its home for the last two years. We motor sailed past Greenwich Mean Time and the majestic and beautiful buildings of the Royal naval College that Henry the Eighth used as his summer home on the Thames. The GPS flicked through 00O 00.000 and the reality of the half circumnavigation prickled.

London is pretty industrial from the water; occasionally a traditional Thames barge went past with tan sails and a gaff rig. The millennium dome, the Thames barrier too. That evening we tied up to a rusty iron hulk at Queensbourough between the Isle of Grain and the Isle of Sheppy. Beautiful twilight after an interesting 8 hour motor sail down the Thames.

Crossing the ditch was a bit windy, rough and rainy but in Pina Colada the trip was fast and comfortable. There were heaps of ships that would appear out of the gloom as the boat got shoved high on a wave. One required us to take an evasive course. We were glad to be out of the shipping lanes and into the shallower and surprisingly calmer waters of Belgium. Nieupoort was still blowy and rainy so there were not very many other boats in the long channel flanked by two piers of tall wooden white pylons. The Belgian coastline was very obvious from sea as it is wall to wall with multiple story brick seaside apartments (There is an expression that the Belgians are born with a brick in their stomach!)

The facilities are amazingly clean, new and easy at Neiuwpoort. There is room for over 2000 yachts, each with a wooden floating pontoon, ablutions that are white spacious and well lit, a marina shop, and very good information. The adjoining ship yard has a fiberglasser, carpenter, painter, rigger etc (except the rigger was on holidays and we did the antifouling painting ourselves). The list of jobs we got done is phenomenal, partly made possible by the fact that there were four of us, Karen, Boyd, Nick and I all working 12 hours a day and also that the guys were given unlimited access to a full workshop with lathe, drill press, welders, stainless steel, etc. Miracle, we would never have guessed we would land in the hands of such friendly helpful people.

The local sail maker mended three sails and the cockpit cover and allowed me into his huge loft with a view of the river to make bike bags, caruba seats and other small mending jobs on covers etc. Because Nick and I had our bikes we were able to explore from one townlet to the next, through fields of maize and two massive wind turbines with 58m diameter prop spans, church spire to church spire. Pina Colada was lifted out onto the hard on the third day, and we spent nine days living on board whilst various tradespersons worked around all our “stuff”.

Early on we met a young Belgian cruising couple on a Belgian built Etap 38 who are planning a circumnavigation next year. They gave us charts to help us get to Honfluer, car rides, a nautical atlas, heaps of sandwiches etc etc. Great people who we hope to catch up with again on route somewhere.

We were put back in the water job done on the 17th. Karen and Boyd flew back to London on the 18th after a ceremonious last night’s “feed of cheese” as we came to call eating out at the local. It must be hard for Karen and Boyd to have worked so hard on getting the boat ready and then leave her in our care. (K&BT: if you are reading this we will take utmost care of your baby!).

We had one day to wait for the dinghy outboard to be fixed and for the first aid shop to open which we productively spent by motoring out of the harbor to test the newly fitted Monitor wind steering gear (taking advantage of the solitude by jumping in the frigid sea and getting goose bumps all over, then getting rid of them by entering the world of bare bottom land on board in the Belgian summer sun) Crazy. Then on the 19th of August, at 1115 hrs, we set off on our own on Pina Colada, which I’m sure will feel like our home in a very short time.

The passage from Neiuwpoort to Honfluer, France, took just under 29 hours, reaching peak speeds of 9.5 knots with the tide and punching painfully slowly at 2.5 knots against it. The tides fairly ripped to and fro as we made our way down the English Channel. For a large duration of the passage we had a deep reefed main and a triple reef in the headsail because rain squalls kept moving over. We did cover about 156 nautical miles in 24 hours though, so it was pretty good going.

Couldn’t have timed it better getting to the incredibly quaint and old French town of Honfluer. The lock opened just as we arrived and the tidal stream that can be so dangerous was still one hour from peaking. There is just no way of describing the town of Honfluer and the surrounding clearings with farm chateaus, orchards and occasional spire of woodsmoke drifting up the forested valleys. Piano accordions, carousels, harbor side cafes neatly arranged on either side of the narrow cobbled streets. The language barrier is a huge difficulty, but we are slowly getting the bare essentials down pat.

We are both absolutely weary and wobbly from the passage and I’m writing this from the comfy warm saloon as Nick has a hot shower in the aft cabin head (sounds big but he’s going solo for a reason). We have tied up against the stone wall that borders the happening little French town. Of coarse its built around the water so we are central and whilst the numerous other tourists have to book hotels, eat out and pay through the nose we can crawl into the cozy warm cubby house, Pina Colada, make a big delicious dinner and crash out big time after our first great, wondrous and successful cruising passage on PC.