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forwards’. The result, on occasion, is chaos. With one of
these vessels approaching, veering between canal banks,
both Neil and I would be at the helm discussing whether
it was going to zig or zag at the critical passing moment.
Some of the manoeuvres the charter boats achieved in
the locks is beyond my powers of description.
With Moderato hauled out of the water in Castelssarasin
and ‘winterised’ by opening all seacocks and taps, and
running pure glycol through the engine salt water system
to prevent freezing, it was time to embark on the second
part of our adventure – buying a yacht for me, with the
intention of keeping it in the northern hemisphere.
Having circumnavigated in Beyond, a steel Departure
35 masthead sloop, I learned two things: rust never
sleeps and, if I had a shoal draft vessel I could have
accessed much better anchorages on occasion and been
able to access canals and inland waterways more easily.
With Beyond we had dropped the mast in southern
France and travelled the length of the country by canal
and river eventually arriving in Calais on the English
Channel, and with a 1.7m draft we were right on the
limit, and yes, we did get stuck in the mud a few times.
With this in mind, I had settled on the requirement of
an aluminium centreboard masthead sloop, and France is
the home of this design of vessel.
Again, an extensive amount of internet searching, and
Neil’s ability to do searches in French which turned up
results I could not achieve in English, had narrowed the
task to two boats.
Both were 80s bluewater cruisers, which had been
refitted in recent times so had relatively new sails, rigging,
engine, electronic self-steering and instrumentation.
We travelled to La Rochelle on the Bay of Biscay,
reputedly the home of Europe’s largest marina at 5,000
berths, utilising France’s impressive rail network and had
a look at a Philippe Harle’ designed Carambola 38.
While this was more boat than I needed (being solo),
it was a ‘go-anywhere’ vessel, having been refitted in
2009/10 for a voyage to Patagonia after which the owner
had fulfilled his cruising ambitions. The broker, who spoke
excellent English, having worked in Australia, was very
knowledgeable on the vessel’s equipment and history.
The Carambola had a couple of design features I
was not that comfortable with; a sail-drive because it is
complicated and exposed to damage under the vessel,FAR LEFT Final
approach to
Castelnaudary. The
2.8m air draught was a
bit challenging at times.
MID-LEFT We didn’t
go hungry – or thirsty...
LEFT Carcassonne –
with its 12th century
Chateau Comtal.
BOTTOM The happy
skipper approaching
Castelnaudary.No
more
gas
on board!Ŕ8BTIJOH
Ŕ%SZJOH
Ŕ$IBSHJOH
CBUUFSJFT
Ŕ&MFDUSJD
DPPLJOHAll the comfort
of home...with
you on boardUnit 2, 23B Westhaven Drive, Auckland E-mail [email protected]
WhisperPower LTD. 09 368 4889