Having arrived back from Italy just a few weeks ago, I find myself jet setting off again to another country- this time, France!
I have been longing to get out to France with the Figaros since I first joined the Academy, and although I wasn't to be sailing, I was excited by the prospect of going to Les Sables dO'lonne, the home port of the prestigious Vendee Globe race. I had been here before, last summer, for a 320 nm delivery in the Mini back to the UK; but this time was down to help prepare the Academy's three Figaros entered for the Solo Arrimer race.
Catching the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, I was pleased to have a bunk to sleep in for a change, rather than the reclining chairs. However with just a short crossing it wasn't long before the tannoy was calling 'breakfast time', and then we were off for the four hour drive to Les Sables, stopping of course on the way for a second pan au chocolate.
Pulling up in Les Sables, we were greeted with grey skies and drizzle- not the pictuerquese holiday destination I had experienced last time! We were soon into sorting the boats though, a long process of first unpacking and removing bubble wrap, cling film and string so that we could assemble all the various parts of the boat together.
First on the list was the rigs, which we went through one by one- cleaning the parts with acetone and a toothbrush, to ensure that they didn't seize up once put together. There was a lot of tufgel being passed around, which you apply to parts of the rig where metal touches metal, again to stop the compartments from seizing up and getting stuck together. Once that was done we could attach the shrouds, sort out the halyards and finally put the wind vane, VHF arierial on the top of the mast.
Getting the masts up on the boats proved to be a painless process, with the yard staff excelling in professionalism- even though we had to communicate with Franglais (my french still needs a lot of work), it wasn't long before the first mast was in the sling and being hoisted onto the boat. It took three of us to man each rig, guiding it into place, and then to screw the shroud plates in. It took a bit more effort to get the last two rigs in, as we had to find and cut down a few screws and order a new part in- but by thursday all three boats were ready to be launched into the water.
The tide was going on friday morning, so by 9.30 we had Ed's boat hoisted up into the slings. After a bit of a misunderstanding in the dock (should learn the french word for putting the engine into 'neutral') we were able to motor out onto the tiny pontoons, which jet out like children's fingers...there is not a lot to stand on! Here I met Xavier's preperateur, who was busy rigging up the boat. All of the boats were prepared by the weekend for the boys to get out for a 'shake down' sail, ahead of five full on days training. Meanwhile, Nikki Curwen finished her 1000 nm qualification passage, to be met by her Mum in Genoa, who very kindly drove the van and trailer up for us!