"We'll Always have Paris!"

The Seine

The Seine River connects the coastal towns of Honfleur and Le Harve to Paris. In fact, if my boat were smaller, shorter and shallower, she could go up the Seine past Paris, through the French canals, into the Rhone River and sail all the way through France into the Mediterranean Sea at Marseille. Amazing!

The passage from Honfleur to Paris is 222 miles and takes 4 days.

The Route to Paris

We left Honfleur early in the morning because it was ebb tide and we needed the rising tide to push us upriver to Rouen. Brrrr... it was butt cold!

So why am I sailing in freezing temperatures at 51 degrees north latitude in the middle of winter? Blame it on Brexit. 

When it was finally time that I could buy the boat, the English Pound had just dropped 30% in value against the dollar. This was right after Britain voted to exit the EU. That meant that I could buy 30% more boat for the same $ US, if I bought her in the UK. It just so happened that it was midwinter. So I'll just gut out the cold winter around the English Channel until the spring, then go north into the Baltic Sea to visit Denmark and Sweden this coming summer, before dropping down into the Med for 7 years. 

The Seine is a tidal river up to Rouen, so the tides have the same effect on our speed across the bottom as in the English Channel. Since there are no stopping or mooring places between us and Rouen, we need to make this 71 mile passage within the 8 hours of daylight.

There was ice in the lock leaving Honfleur, but our bow just pushed it aside. Our technique in the lock was much improved by using only 1 line looped around the lock bollard (cleat) amidships. This was much easier than using two lines, one at each end of the boat. With the midship line holding the side within a foot or two from the lock walls, I could keep us parallel with the bow thruster, and could compensate for the water rushing in or out of the lock with the props. We also used several fenders (bumpers) to hold us away from the sides.

We had about 3 knots of current pushing us inland. It is amazing to see the knot meter reading 9 knots through the water while the Speed Over the Ground (SOG) shows 12 knots! The tide was pushing us up the Seine River! 

It was also strange to have flat water and no waves after ocean sailing in the English Channel. The Seine is salt water up to Rouen, then it is all fresh water after the 1st lock. Rumor has it that the fresh water will kill any barnacles and growth on the bottom?

We skimmed along white chalk cliffs with little towns and castles tucked into the niches. They was not much traffic this morning except for a 500' grain ship which passed us. Rouen is the 5th busiest port in France even though it is 71 miles away from the sea! (Marseille is their busiest harbor, followed by Le Harve). Cereal grains and gravel seemed to be the bulk of the cargos on this part of the Seine.

Rouen 

We arrived in Rouen after dark and when the Harbor Master radioed us about our intensions, I gave him the wrong marina's name, which one guide book had mislabeled. So he directed us back to a dark marina. At least we had water and power. I got a refund on this Dumb Tax though by staying on the Isle de Croix, when coming back down to Rouen.

Rouen

Nance, my girl, needed to take a bus from Rouen to Paris, to make her flight back home. I was sad to see her leave. She has been so supportive of my boating dream. She was with me on the sea trial and survey when I bought "Farragon", and she also shared and contributed on this inaugural voyage. Thank you so very much Nance for your encourgement and support. Even though you get sea sick and cruising on No Regrets is not want you want to do, you have been right there supporting me and saying how proud you are! Most people would be jealous or dragging their feet, but not you girlfriend! 

Merci beaucoup beaucoup Nance!!!

Dave and Anne and I set out the second day toward Paris. The 1st lock upriver changed the Seine from a flat salt water tidal river into a flat fresh water river. All of the vertical height that we needed to gain to get inland to Paris was accomplished by the 8 locks on the river.

Sharing a Lock with a barge.

Note the dingy and car!

This is Gentleman's Cruising. It is flat and the navigation is easy. And we don't need the stabilizer fins. It actually got boring on the 2nd day. River cruising is nice, but I missed the rhythm and challenge of Mother Ocean!

Villages along the Seine

Night sailing for yachts is not allowed on the river, so we had 3 days to get to Paris to make Dave and Anne's 40th anniversary dinner and their air flights out of de Gaulle. There were several pontoons for nightly stops in different towns along the River, but there was no power, nor water. They shut the dock water off in the winter, else the pipes will freeze and burst. So we conserved water and used the generator for heat, as it went below zero most nights.

Free Pontoons

Paris

We entered Paris at dark on the 3rd day. It was snowing enough on the foredeck that we could make snowballs.

Snow

We went as far as we could up the Seine, but were finally defeated by the low Napoleonic bridges from getting to the only marina in Paris. I would have bet money that we could find a place to dock in Paris... In fact I did!   But alas, we never found a real place in Paris for a pleasure yacht, as the shorelines are dedicated to live aboard barges and dinner cruise boats. So we finally tied onto a commercial boat wharf. Cold, tired and hungry, at least we had a place for the night.

Our welcome into Paris!

The Croshere's left on the second morning and it was tough to see them go. Thank you both for your help and support with this inaugural voyage! We sailed 500 miles, used 10 locks and made 13 dockings together. We are all so much more relaxed, confident and competent now. Thank you!!!

That was my toughest day of the journey by far. I was cold and crewless, a stranger in a strange land, tied onto a commercial pier that I needed to leave, and there is was no one to talk to, or help. All of my childhood abandonment issues surfaced, and I was frustrated because I didn't have the answers or solutions yet... And then the generator conked out! 

Escargot, baguettes and beers helped a little.

I found a crew to help me start back down the Seine to Rouen, but that was 2 days away before he could leave. So even though the port control people were coming by the boat each day, they didn't leave a ticket or a notice, and No Regrets was too big for them to tow away, so I just decided be away from the boat from 8 to 5, and play tourist. Killing time before departing by exploring Paris again? That picked my spirits up!

Evading the port people

What a gorgeous City! Tre tre joules!

Gael Couffon, my crew arrived early on the 4th day and we slipped out of Paris. It was nice to be moving again and have the pressure of being an unwanted gypsy off my shoulders. If No Regrets were 5' less tall (Less air draft), we would have fit under the bridges and had a nice safe berth upriver near the Bastille. But as beautiful as each bridge is, they are also fairly low to the water, and thwarted my plan to stay in Paris for a month. 

There was no safe marina between Paris and Rouen to leave the boat in order for me to fly back to LA for 10 days, so back down the Seine we went. We stopped in the little town of Conflans for 3 nights, as Gael was committed for 2 days work back in Paris. Suddenly the pace of cruising slowed and I could relax, look around, talk to more people. This was more like cruising!

Market Day in Conflans

Live aboard barges and castles

Rouen

The mooring in Rouen was so much better this time around. The views from our dock were amazing, and there was little barge traffic or wakes away from the main channel. The tide changed 4 times each day and flowed by the stationary boat at up to 5 knots in both directions. The rowing club next door put out singles, pairs and 4 person sculls, some with coxswain on most days... going slowly in one direction, then flying by when going the other.

Walking distance to Monet's Rouen Cathedral

Total Gothic

This Cathedral is the tallest in France

Rouen, a medieval city with golden arches!

Joan d'arc was burned at the stake here

I stayed in Rouen for a month trying to sort out the generator issue and I left the boat to fly back to LA for Nance's Presient's Award from the American Society of Cinematography. She is the 1st woman ever honored by this male dominated part of the film industry. Proud of you Girl Friend :))

Nance, my daughter Marissa, and Kenny and sister Esther Geller

Up to now, the lack of water, the cold and crew have been my biggest hurdles. A water maker is on the short list of equipment to add. Longer days and warmer weather will make water more available, and will get me out of this long underwear and jumpers (British for sweaters). And since this is a 2 person boat, I'm working on adding to my Crew List. For anyone of you out there looking for a yachting adventure in picturesque European venues, please Email me. You need a Holiday, and I need companions and crew... A true Win Win!

Honfleur

Veronique, a young lady from Paris, helped me with the dock lines for the one day sail from Rouen back down to Honfleur. We touched 15 knots of speed over the bottom at one point, including the 6 knot Seine current helping. I started to get worried about slowing down enough to make the 90 degree left turn into Honfleur's lock. but after hovering in place for 20 minutes, they finally opened the lock, and we were once again in safe water heading to the guest dock!

Claude is the President of the Honfleur Yacht Club and the Harbor Master. He came by the visitor's pontoon the next day and invited No Regrets to a berth in the inner harbor. He and Pierre-Louis helped with the dock lines once the draw bridge into the Vieux Bassin opened at 1:00 pm (They opened the bridge 3 times each day).

Ten days in Honfleur was Heaven!

French living inside a screen saver!

More on life in French Normandy while moving up the English Channel toward the Baltic Sea in the next installment. Suffice it to say, "I now have a baguette per day habit!"

The English Channel

In addition to the wind and the waves, it's the extreme tides that make the English Channel tricky and unruly.

The sea level can vary as much as 30' in height between the high tide and low tide. And this happens every 6 hours (Each day has 2 highs and 2 lows). To move that much water in such a short period of time, strong currents in the ocean are created. This is especially true when the land masses narrow up the water way, such as in the Straits of Dover or the Race of Alderney in the Channel Islands. Tidal currents can be as strong as 6 to 7 knots in one direction, with that flow reversing and going the opposite way just 6 hours later. 

We left Yarmouth, England, through the Needles Channel, 2 hours before the sun came up. At 51 degrees north latitude, the sun is only up for 8 hours in mid January. But we need this early start to get a 3 knot tidal push going out past the west end of the Isle of Wight. And with nine hours of English Channel passage ahead of us, we should arrive at Cherbourg about the end of daylight.

Too bad that it's dark... We missed seeing the rocks on the Isle of Wight's west end known as the Needles:

The Needles

As the sun comes up, we are sailing due south doing 10 knots (About 11 miles an hour). The seas are building as the wind gets up to about 25 knots, but it was blowing on our starboard quarter (Behind us on the right side). It is always a good thing for a power boat to have the wind behind you!

Mapping the Voyage!

First the tidal current pushed us from the east side at 3 knots, then just hours later, it was 3 knots from the other side. I am learning more about navigating the best course overall for the autopilot to steer. Plot the course allowing for the effect of both competing tides, do the math to compensate for the net overall effect, then steer on that compass course! You can't simply steer toward one's destination, otherwise you will always be sailing into the current.

We enter the harbor at Cherbourg, France about 4:30 pm, just as the sun was setting.

St Peter Port, Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands

There are several good reasons to visit Guernsey: 

Of course, there are the cows! 

The Channel Islands are evolutionary similar to the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin observed among other things, several different types of land tortoises, each evolving differently because they were separated on adjacent, but different islands. One breed of tortoise for instance, has a turned up shell by the neck because they need to reach very high to eat the cactus that only grow on that one island.

So how does a Guernsey breed of cow evolve differently right next door to a Jersey cow, even though the 2 islands are within sight of one another? The Monks who have inhabited the islands for the last thousand years, never commingled their herds, so 2 different species evolved... both great dairy cows!

Harbor Entry to Guernsey

VAT tax refunds are another reason! 

There are 3 sovern places in Europe that are not a part of the European Union. These are Malta, Gibraltar and the Channel Islands. In order to get refunded the 20% in Value Added Taxes that I paid, No Regrets would need to exit the EU within 90 days of the purchase of the Ultra anchor and other gear bought in England. So they will refund the equivalent of $2,000, for us to visit St Peter Port, the capital of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands? 

No Problem!

Also contributing to the good economics, is that since Guernsey is not a part of the European Union, there are no 20% VAT taxes here on diesel fuel, making it the least expensive in Europe. So early on the 2nd day, we motored 2 harbors up the coast, where a fuel tanker truck met us, and we filled up all 4 fuel tanks. No Regrets holds 1,000 gallons, or 3,880 liters, of diesel. At 0.47 Euros a liter, it only cost $1,997 to "Fill 'er up".

The good news, is this fuel will last for about 1,000 miles, and should get us to the Baltic Sea.

So after getting the fuel for "Free", the tide was high enough for us to enter a small harbor behind a concrete sill guarding the entrance. The photo below shows that same entrance only hours later.

6 vertical meters of incoming tide will be needed before we can get out!

That's the sill astern of No Regrets

Effective and strange!

St-Vaast-la-Hougue and Honfleur

If you like oysters, St-Vaast is for you! World famous, their oysters grow near the mud flats surrounding the harbor entrance. This time, instead of a sill to protect the boats in the harbor, they closed the gate of a lock after we entered at high tide. This means that we will get a late start tomorrow waiting for for the lock to open at noon.

Mending Nets in St-Vaast in 32 degrees

It was a hard 60 mile passage from St-Vaast to Honfleur, with the wind up to 25 knots and steep seas on the port bow. We were tired by the time we entered the lock at Honfleur. It was now 2 hours after dark and this was our 1st lock ever! None of us knew the best way to handle the lock walls and dock lines yet. We finally made it through, and learned some valuable lessons. I call it a "Dumb Tax". 

My goal is to keep the Dumb Taxes to a minimum!

Honfleur is too lovely! Absolutely stunning! Talk about eye candy, every view is fattening.

Honfleur at dawn

They tax the buildings only on the ground floor area. 

Every floor and square meter above that is for free!

Decorated for the Christmas Boat Parade

There was ice floating in the harbor!

The Bell Tower of the all wood Saint Catherine's Church

I now have a baguette of bread per day habit!

After only one cold night and 2 hours of early morning, we need to leave Honfleur and the English Channel, in order to catch the tide up the Seine River toward Paris. We timed the lock opening right at low tide, so we should get a 3 knot push most of the way to Rouen.

Planning to stop back in Honfleur on the way back from Paris, but airplane connections put pressure on the schedule, so we need to push on.

On to Paris!