La Rochelle
La Rochelle is such a pain to get to because it is as far south as we are likely to go and it is a long way from our last stop and likely to be a long journey back. On the other hand if we have come this far we ought to make the effort to see La Rochelle, so that was the plan.
There wasn't a lot of wind but it didn't matter because we wanted to get into the inner basin and they only open the swing bridge around high tide so a slow journey was planned. As it happened we had little choice as there was barely 6knts of wind but it was just behind the beam and that means… the pink sail. We carried the pink sail for 6 ½ hours and averaged about 4.8 knots, it was not the most exciting sail but nevertheless were on for the 4:30 bridge opening, First we had to sail between Ile de Re and under the bridge. The bridge has a clearance of 30m so we should be well under that as we are about 24.5m including aerials.
As we entered the harbour some confusion ensued because the bridge opening times were actually 4:15, I think the times I had were for the day before. We almost made it but the harbour master told us we were too late and we would have to wait for the next bridge in an hour. It was no hardship, we were directed to a pontoon to wait out the hour. Soon we were in and it was glorious, this is the nicest marina along this coastline that we have been in. We had some tea and we went for a stroll in the town. There were musicians playing all around the harbours it was lovely. The town is so historic with the imposing twin towers and lights creating a joyful atmosphere.
On Wednesday I said to Linda I am just going to fix a plumbing problem in both heads (bathrooms), we have some build up of calcium in the pipes seizing a joint. It is a horrid smelly job and involves using some powerful descaler. What happened next I will highlight below.
I have had a terrible day today
In our heads there is a diverter so you can direct waste to the holding tank or overboard.
This diverter has seized in both heads so I decide to whip them off and clean them with some descaler
I did the forward heads first no problem.
Then I did the aft heads. I had a bit of a struggle getting the pipes on and off but I had a heat gun so not too hard.
After putting it all back together again I did test flush and I thought one of the pipes was leaking so I filled the bowl with water tipped away the descaler and flushed again
The pipe has a small split under the jubilee clip so I flushed again just to make sure
It was a pain, but I carry some spare pipe so I got that out and a hacksaw got the heat gun out and pulled the end of the pipe off the diverter…
Well have you ever seen someone put Mentos in a bottle of coke…?
I don’t recommend descaler in a poo pipe …..
I can’t tell you how long it went on for, I didn’t think it was ever going to stop!
This morning I was pleased to get up and have another shower. After having hunted for the mosquito that has attacked me two nights running I was short on sleep and I haven't caught him yet so it is Mosquito 2 Paul 0
After breakfast I was filling the water tanks and unwittingly became the marina hero. Along from us a huge motorboat departed and left their power lead plugged into the mains. I dropped the hosepipe and ran to the power supply and whipped the plug out, shouted at the huge boat to stop and then ran to the end of the finger with the power cable still in my hand and eventually managed to pass it over tot he owners wife as they reversed into the berth. It was a close call 3 seconds later and an electrical disaster would have happened. As I returned to the boat a lady said to me you were so fast. Thirty minutes later three Irishmen who were on another motor boat came up to me and said "you were so fast". What a strange thing for two lots of people to use the same words. I just hope that they don't mean "you were so fast for a man of your age".
We decided to go tho the Maritime Museum via the chandlers(more in a minute). The exhibition involves a tour of three types of boat and some halls. It is laid out like IKEA so no short cuts are possible (Sorry Linda). For once I have to say I agreed with Linda you can have too much of a good thing. However within the halls there was a lot of history of the place. La Rochelle was actually part of Great Britain at the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine as of course most of Brittany. The people were protestants. Later Britain traded it and it became part of France. It was ok and the place was a huge economic powerhouse at the tine. However in the 17th Century Cardinal Richelieu put the whole of La Rochelle under siege and as a result 20,000 of the 25,000 population died, fascinating stuff!
For the last four years the washing machine in Sea Crusader has pumped water into the bilge and I have been unable to trace the source of the leak. Well whilst I was dealing with the poo pipe I suddenly saw the anti-siphon valve spurt as the washing machine entered it's pump out stage. Four years it has taken me to find that leak and it was a two minute fix. It's fixed now!
After lunch we had another tour of the town, returned to the boat and had a family from another boat over for pre-dinner drinks.
There wasn't a lot of wind but it didn't matter because we wanted to get into the inner basin and they only open the swing bridge around high tide so a slow journey was planned. As it happened we had little choice as there was barely 6knts of wind but it was just behind the beam and that means… the pink sail. We carried the pink sail for 6 ½ hours and averaged about 4.8 knots, it was not the most exciting sail but nevertheless were on for the 4:30 bridge opening, First we had to sail between Ile de Re and under the bridge. The bridge has a clearance of 30m so we should be well under that as we are about 24.5m including aerials.
As we entered the harbour some confusion ensued because the bridge opening times were actually 4:15, I think the times I had were for the day before. We almost made it but the harbour master told us we were too late and we would have to wait for the next bridge in an hour. It was no hardship, we were directed to a pontoon to wait out the hour. Soon we were in and it was glorious, this is the nicest marina along this coastline that we have been in. We had some tea and we went for a stroll in the town. There were musicians playing all around the harbours it was lovely. The town is so historic with the imposing twin towers and lights creating a joyful atmosphere.
On Wednesday I said to Linda I am just going to fix a plumbing problem in both heads (bathrooms), we have some build up of calcium in the pipes seizing a joint. It is a horrid smelly job and involves using some powerful descaler. What happened next I will highlight below.
I have had a terrible day today
In our heads there is a diverter so you can direct waste to the holding tank or overboard.
This diverter has seized in both heads so I decide to whip them off and clean them with some descaler
I did the forward heads first no problem.
Then I did the aft heads. I had a bit of a struggle getting the pipes on and off but I had a heat gun so not too hard.
After putting it all back together again I did test flush and I thought one of the pipes was leaking so I filled the bowl with water tipped away the descaler and flushed again
The pipe has a small split under the jubilee clip so I flushed again just to make sure
It was a pain, but I carry some spare pipe so I got that out and a hacksaw got the heat gun out and pulled the end of the pipe off the diverter…
Well have you ever seen someone put Mentos in a bottle of coke…?
I don’t recommend descaler in a poo pipe …..
I can’t tell you how long it went on for, I didn’t think it was ever going to stop!
This morning I was pleased to get up and have another shower. After having hunted for the mosquito that has attacked me two nights running I was short on sleep and I haven't caught him yet so it is Mosquito 2 Paul 0
After breakfast I was filling the water tanks and unwittingly became the marina hero. Along from us a huge motorboat departed and left their power lead plugged into the mains. I dropped the hosepipe and ran to the power supply and whipped the plug out, shouted at the huge boat to stop and then ran to the end of the finger with the power cable still in my hand and eventually managed to pass it over tot he owners wife as they reversed into the berth. It was a close call 3 seconds later and an electrical disaster would have happened. As I returned to the boat a lady said to me you were so fast. Thirty minutes later three Irishmen who were on another motor boat came up to me and said "you were so fast". What a strange thing for two lots of people to use the same words. I just hope that they don't mean "you were so fast for a man of your age".
We decided to go tho the Maritime Museum via the chandlers(more in a minute). The exhibition involves a tour of three types of boat and some halls. It is laid out like IKEA so no short cuts are possible (Sorry Linda). For once I have to say I agreed with Linda you can have too much of a good thing. However within the halls there was a lot of history of the place. La Rochelle was actually part of Great Britain at the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine as of course most of Brittany. The people were protestants. Later Britain traded it and it became part of France. It was ok and the place was a huge economic powerhouse at the tine. However in the 17th Century Cardinal Richelieu put the whole of La Rochelle under siege and as a result 20,000 of the 25,000 population died, fascinating stuff!
For the last four years the washing machine in Sea Crusader has pumped water into the bilge and I have been unable to trace the source of the leak. Well whilst I was dealing with the poo pipe I suddenly saw the anti-siphon valve spurt as the washing machine entered it's pump out stage. Four years it has taken me to find that leak and it was a two minute fix. It's fixed now!
After lunch we had another tour of the town, returned to the boat and had a family from another boat over for pre-dinner drinks.
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The joy of saing down wind slowley -
The bridge -
It always looks closer that it is -
Aproachine the harbour -
The swing bridge is open! -
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Dusk approaches -
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The entrance to the inner harbour. -
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What a beautiful day.