The call came announcing a good window of weather on the 19th for the passage to Madeira – a day earlier than expected! After weeks of waiting it all went fast and we quickly prepard to leave the next day. After a smooth 900 km and 7 hour drive across France, we arrived in La Rochelle just after sunset. Hotel check-in would have to wait, first stop down to the port to find the Neel and say hello to vessel and our partner for the many days of hopefully safe sailing ahead. Following that, we popped over to briefly meet the rest of the crew with little gifts of Swiss chocolate and for the skipper, a Victorinox Swisstool which he was thrilled about!
Everyone is very relaxed, almost too relaxed considering all that still needs to be done. Spinnaker is stuck somewhere in Paris and can’t be located, the water-maker needs to be installed, life-line fixed along the boat, materials are still being loaded and there’s provisioning to be done. All in 2 days!
Morning in La Rochelle
Day 1. Gorgeous sunny morning in La Rochelle. After checking the menu and everyone’s food preferences, we set off to Carrefour armed with an iPad and the provisioning list (we’d luckily carefully prepared in advance) to stock all the non-perishables. Everything went amazingly smoothly and we’re totally compatible food-wise. No-one drinks milk, not fans of sugar or sweet stuff, for breakfast we’re all müesli-eaters, like spicy food, and all looking forward to sashimi with the fish we’re going to catch en route! (Wasabi and soy sauce? Have.)
Install watermaker. Check.
Day 2. By midday, water-maker is half-installed, gas bottles bought, stove tested, cabins assigned and food stowed. Still no spinnaker in sight, tanks not filled and decision is made to set off a day later – so as originally planned on 20th November. A pity as would have had perfect wind to follow a direct route, catching a north wind after La Coruna to sail us down south nicely.
We’ll work on getting everything done tomorrow and finally be able to set off.
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