We departed Les Sables around 11am after a bit of breakfast. Overall the marina at Port Olona was a little disappointing but the conditions were great for sailing so off we went! We soon had the kite up and we were doing a steady 4-5kn in flat seas with only 7kn on the beam. We did some reading on the deck under uninterrupted blue skies and trailed a fishing line behind. Right on time for lunch we caught a mackerel,which cooked fresh, went well with our baguette which had been delivered fresh to the boat that morning.
As we approached the Ile de Ré bridge and causeway the wind shifted and picked up so we dropped the kite and sailed upwind crossing under the arch of the bridge with plenty of clearance, though it didn’t feel that way especially with Martin and Peter slagging Gareth that he had his calculations wrong and he was going to hit the bridge!
Passing LOTS of sailing boat of all shapes and sizes we approached La Rochelle along the long channel and it was quite an experience to come between Cardinal Richelieu’s towers into the Port de Plaisance. The visitors pontoon was easily found on the left after the ferry pontoons and we rafted outside an English Southerly 110 making the most of the brisk SW wind to bring us alongside. On arrival we saw police riot vehicles,as there had been a demonstration that day, but they soon left and the restaurants and bars opened as normal.
La Rochelle Port de Plaisance is amazing! We were surrounded by cafes and bars and lots of hubbub.
We were settling in for a change of crew the next day and Sipadan wasn’t going anywhere for a while , which was just as well, as the next morning we discovered that the toilet was blocked. Despite Gareth getting his wetsuit on and diving under the boat and running all sorts of drain blockers through we couldn’t fix the problem so we were going to have to call a professional on Monday. C’est La vie! There are worse places to be stuck!
