6th July La Sable to La Rochelle. (Decisions, Decisions)

Well weather coming in over the next few days looked unpleasant to say the least. Forecast for Wednesday good with lowish houle and 12 to 14 Knots in the morning diminishing to 8 to 10 in the afternoon further south where we were going and a little light rain. So do we stay or do we go now? Next chance to move would be Sunday with possible big seas after stormy conditions. We needed to leave about 10 O'clock to get out of the bay on a highish tide as bouncy otherwise but that would mean fighting some tide to La Rochelle to arrive on a rising tide. Is nothing simple.
Crew sat in bed as long as possible and then got up and out on deck just as we had a rain shower. ( Rain later then.)
Helped neighbours off the pontoon next door. They are going South and in full wet weather gear. Boat is only about 28 foot long. Very nice people.
Made a really good exit backwards and motored out to the end of the first channel avoiding the waterbus and turning the corner we had Cassim ( the Isle de Yeu supply boat) and an Arab or Turkish gunboat coming towards us. Really glad it is high tide.)
Bouncing merrily across the swell which was bigger than forecast, a piece of metal fell on my head1!!!!!! It was a hole and looked a bit worse for wear. Phil said it couldn't have fallen from a rope or a shroud as it was detached and was probably something a bird had dropped on my head. Ho Hum.
We started to get the main up and the main halyard with all the rocking and rolling managed to wrap itself round the shroud and the spreader and get stuck in a groove. So head to wind and me demanding the skipper hang on for dear life and bouncing up and down on 2 to 3 metre swell, the crockery chattering to itself irritably and a few loud bumps from below, Phil had to take the halyard off the main and untangle it and put it back on again after going backwards and forwards across the deck several times. All this time just yelling at me to shut up and do what I was told to do. (Slacken the rope , tighten the rope , slacken the rope, pull it in etc etc.) Me saying big wave coming ,hang on etc. Where was this point 8 metre houle. (Swell) It seemed giant size. Is it because the bay is shallow? Shallow, a good job its high tide.
Any way once we were sorted we could pull up the main again, turn in the right direction and get the genoa out. Guess what? The wind dropped. We had to motor. But we left out the genoa and decided to motor sail. Sea still pitching us about and I was glad lunch had been prepared earlier as this was a long trip by standards down here. (35 miles).
Soon across the bay towards the Isle de Re. Then the wind got up. Engine off and we were doing 9.5 knots (but only through the water says the skipper) I actually saw 10 knots at one point and decided it was all too fast so whinged a bit and was ignored until Skipper decided the genoa should be reefed in a bit.( Not as much a screw would have liked) We now had 23 knots of wind and rising which is OK except if something should happen. Skipper loving it and I realise he thinks I am a wimp and this is how we should always sail. Why was wind still rising. How wrong can all the forecasts be together? And no rain which was nice but a huge black fleet of clouds did track behind us but that was OK. Glad we were not going north in to it.
I thought the Isle de Re would give us a bit of shelter but it is so low lying it was pathetic. And the water was very very shallow so plenty of bounce. ( Lowest seen was point 4 of a metre below our keel.) I suppose in better weather I could have paddled off the boat!
Decision made not to sail under the Re bridge as very shallow and wind pushing hard so rolled in genoa and motored through and round the corner in to La Minimes marina La Rochelle. It was so shallow even on a rising tide with big surf and we saw a man peddling a canoe? This marina is huge. You have to tie up to the acceuil (reception) pontoon to be allocated a berth and directed to it by the small boat. All crew details and boat details are required including registration number and insurance details and they needed to see the documents. Otherwise they were very efficient.

St. Martin de Re

A bit of TiGrA and the Re Bridge

Brown shallow water. A bit like the QE2 Bridge without the nose to tail traffic!! 

This weekend it is the 505 international championships and next week the Laser championship. So very busy here. About one mile into La Rochelle proper and we have an electric water bus to do the trip in every half hour. So we are in the Charente Maritime and have left the Vendee.

In to La Rochelle yesterday but forgot my camera so pictures of the twin towers and the oldest lighthouse in the world will need to wait for our next trip.
Weather has got worse as expected so last night was a cinema night with the Jordans. ( Quiet in the one and nines please). Heavy rain and high winds this morning so 505's will have fun.
I was Mrs grumpy sailing here so have decided to mend my ways and be nice and kind to the skipper. No caustic comments or sarcasm for 24 hours. Unfortunately I am now 3 days in to this and the clock keeps starting again. I must try harder as Skipper says he will be nice to me for 24 hours if I make it. (Pigs can fly)