Sunday, September 14, 2008

Trains, Planes, Automobiles and Hurricanes

As indicated by the title this update contains some unusual news that doesn’t have a lot to do with cruising. The story starts on September 7th when we left La Rochelle for Hondarribia, Spain. We had a wonderful overnight sail and it was exciting to see the mountains of northern Spain appear in the horizon as we approached the coast.
Lone Star averaged 8 knots per hour for the trip and was very comfortable. We raised our Q flag and entered the marina in Hondarribia and found the visitors pontoon where we were to dock.
That was when our short term plans changed rather dramatically. While securing the first line Jan's left index finger got caught between the line and the boat cleat. Then, as the line started to tighten, the finger was severely pinched resulting in the tip being torn off and the bone exposed. Needless to say the rest of the docking was a lot of fun. Blood was coming out of Jan’s finger at a rapid rate. She was a trooper though and applied pressure with a towel and was even able to take over the helm while Craig secured the other mooring lines.
With the boat secured, triage applied to the wound and the trail of blood cleaned up we seized the new opportunity to sample the Spanish health care system. Our first visit was to the emergency room at the hospital in Hondarribia where we were seen by a doctor who spoke excellent English, explained the treatment options available and encouraged us to see a plastic surgeon in the nearby town of San Sebastian because they were better equipped to perform a skin graft if that treatment option was selected. He even took the time to make the appointment, call the taxi and made sure the cab driver to San Sebastian understood exactly where we needed to go.
At the hospital in San Sebastian the plastic surgeon explained the treatment options, but the explanations had to be translated with the help of a nurse that spoke English. As a result we were not entirely sure about all the details. We did understand enough to know the procedure could be deferred for a week if we elected to go back to Houston to get it done. We left the 2nd hospital with a fully bandaged wound, supplies for changing the dressing, an appointment for September 12th if we decided to get a skin graft there and a queasy feeling after seeing Jan’s exposed bone where the tip on the end of her finger used to be. Once again the doctor and nurse were outstanding. The nurse communicated with the taxi driver and made sure he knew to stop at a pharmacy so we could pick up drugs and where exactly to take us. Later that night we decided the boat was no place for Jan to recover and set in motion plans to come home.
We spent the next two days preparing to leave the boat in Hondarribia, which Craig had to do 100% of, finalizing travel arrangements which Jan handled, and keeping track of Hurricane Ike. We also contacted our friend Kathy Stewart who worked on doctor angle stateside and set up an appointment for Monday, September 15 with a hand specialist. During this time we did manage to get out once and sample the local cuisine for lunch.
This convinced us that we would indeed come back when we restarted our cruising. Then on Thursday, Sept 11th we said goodbye to Lone Star and began our trip home.


To get home from Hondarribia, Spain we (1) took a cab to the Hendaye, France train station – right across the border (2) took the TGV train to Amoulline, France – 3 hours (3) changed to the TGV train going to Charles DeGaulle airport – 3 hours (4) spent the night at the airport hotel with reservations the following day for the nonstop Continental flight to Houston – 10 hours. We chose to fly out of Paris as opposed to Madrid because we could get a nonstop flight to Houston which would be easier for Craig who had to Sherpa all the bags and Jan who was getting thru the ordeal with Ibuprofen and copious quantities of wine. All the while we were keeping track of Ike and not liking what we were seeing. We knew it was a race against time. We woke up the next morning and learned we had lost the race. Bush was closing at 2PM, and our flight which was due in at 4PM was cancelled. We also checked the internet and realized Houston’s run of 25 years without a hurricane was at an end. Sooo (5) Jan scrambled to get us re accommodated on another airline and (6) we caught a Delta flight to Atlanta – 9 ½ hours (7) cleared Customs and took a plane to DFW – 2 hours (8) rented a car in Dallas and drove to Henrietta, Texas – 2 hours where Craig’s parents live. After 2 days of trains, planes and automobiles we arrived at 1AM Saturday, Sept 13 (our 33rd Anniversary).
We are surprised this travel log did not turn into a twelve step program because we were certainly ready for a drink when we got to Henrietta. Unfortunately this city is located in one of the “dry” counties (no alcohol sold) in Texas. The folks, bless their hearts, had some cold Corona Lights in the fridge so we were saved.
As we wait for utility and other public services to return in Houston it is nice to be able to spend time with Craig’s parents, sister and brother in law. We will continue to be anxious until we get to the appointment with the hand specialist in Houston and are now exploring options in the Dallas area. On the upside, while we have friends with damage to their homes and it will take months if not years for the Galveston/Houston area to recover, all our friends and Jan’s mom are safe.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Tides, Markets & Weather Windows

As we write this we’re still in La Rochelle doing what cruisers spend a lot of time doing – waiting for a weather window. As soon as we have good weather our plans are to head south to Spain. Since our last entry we have done numerous sails in the La Rochelle area to the nearby islands of Ile d’Re, Ile d’Aix and Ile d’Orleron. Each trip out we have tested various aspects of the boat and are extremely pleased with her. On shore time has been spent exploring the area on bike and foot and enjoying the market. La Rochelle has the largest market in the area. The indoor market is open 7 days a week and has everything from seafood to cheval meat (you figure that one out); cheeses to pates; and breads to deserts.



Three days a week the local farmers join the permanent market and sell their produce and cheeses in outdoor tents surrounding the market. It’s quite a colorful site and excellent people watching.



Another event that becomes part of your life is the tides. Back in Texas and during our past cruising tides were rarely an issue. Here your sailing time revolves around them. It is not uncommon to have a 5 meter difference between low and high tide.




Be sure to pay close attention to the last picture. Some of the French sailers apparently do not pay attention to the tide tables because they are AGROUND!

But now all boat items are fixed and Lone Star is ready to go. It took a bit longer to get everything taken care of not because of slow workers but because of another French tradition – vacation time in August. August is the month France goes on vacation and Amel essentially shuts down for 3 weeks during this time. So we are now waiting for that perfect or almost perfect window to head south. Since we have been here the weather has been constantly changing from sunny to stormy to windy to extremely windy and stormy. In fact yesterday we had gusts in excess of 40 knots. Its one thing to be out and have the winds build to 40, it’s another to start out in them – especially when you don’t have too. However the weather gurus are telling us a high is on the way and things should be moderating. Well if you have to wait somewhere for good weather you could do a lot worse than La Rochelle.
Fair Winds,
Craig and Jan

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Ours at Last!!

We don’t want to make this blog too gushy so we will be brief when describing the boat. It is SO COOL! When you wait two years for something to be built and delivered you have a lot of time to think about the decision and to second guess it. We arrived in La Rochelle, France July 27th, the day before we were to take official delivery of Lone Star. La Rochelle is a beautiful, historic Atlantic port located on the Bay of Biscay, below Brittany and above the Bordeaux regions of France. The entrance to the old port is guarded by two towers built in the 15th century.





Over 300 restaurants, most sidewalk cafes, line the winding cobble stone streets and port quays and the city is home to numerous museums; everything from a national aquarium to a maritime museum and a museum honoring the perfume flask. We checked into our hotel in the late afternoon and since it didn’t’ get dark until after 10PM, we were off for a sneak peak of Lone Star. After two years of waiting we weren’t able to wait until the next day for our “official” introduction so off we went on foot to Port Minimes Marina for a look at the boat. Port Minimes is a mega marina with 3,000 slips so finding her wouldn’t be easy. However, we spotted Amel flags flying from many masts so we headed in their direction and success – there she was! We were totally overwhelmed with how beautiful Lone Star was and couldn’t believe she was ours. Any second guessing was gone forever.
On Monday (July 28th) we were picked up by Olivier BEAUTE, the Amel After Sales Manager at 9:30 and taken to the boat for introduction and training. We were welcomed on board with Champagne and, as you can see by our first photo together on the boat; the Amel crew even had Old Glory flying for us.

We won’t bore you with all of the details, but it would be safe to say that every system on the boat was covered in detail during the week of training. We spent the first half day in the engine room and discovered a number of classic Amel features. For example Olivier was explaining the circuit that takes raw sea water and circulates it through the heat exchanges for the refrigerators and freezers and Craig noticed an identical pump mounted right next to the one he was describing. When asked about it he said “But of course we put a spare ready to hook up because you would lose your perishable food if another cooling pump was not available to hook up immediately.” You need to supply your own French accent to that quote, but the words are exactly what he said. (note the picture of Craig in his favorite location and Jan on one of her favorite boat features)



We spent two days going over the various systems before we took our first sail. Towards the end of the first day we were glad to see Olivier depart, not because we didn’t like him, but because our brains were on information overload and we were anxious to start moving in. We had air shipped three boxes of linen that Jan selected and had altered to fit the various bunks and making the beds was the first step to moving aboard.
The other 25 boxes we had shipped by sea eleven weeks earlier had yet to arrive (Jan got the “I told you so” award on that issue) so with the beds made and nothing else to do we went to the Carrefour Marché (the Super Wal-Mart of France) and started what turned out to be a daily ritual of provisioning. This time it was for pillows and some basic food items. After that we went to the hotel for what would be our last night on dry land.
Days 2 through 5 went by very quickly. Training usually lasted from 9 to 5 with of course the 2 hour French lunch break – a lot to be said for that custom. We sailed three times with Olivier and learned how to set all of the sails. Amel has a unique downwind sailing system that has two headsails and two whisker poles on opposite sides of the boat. It is very well regarded because you can furl both sails simultaneously from the cockpit if the wind comes up so it is very safe on passages.



Another part of the training was boat handling. Jan was backing into the slip and crabbing away from the fuel dock like an expert while Craig was having a bit of trouble. Craig thinks it was because Olivier was giving her more pointers, but it may have been because Jan was a better listener. In any event we both learned a lot about handling this large vessel in close quarters.
We can’t say enough nice things about the Amel Crew. The boat was in the best ready condition of any boat we have ever purchased. We had to work to create a punch list and managed to come up with 4 things. Olivier spotted a couple of other items that needed tweaking that we didn’t even see and before we could even blink all the items were taken care of by Christian and Nicholas, the two Amel employees who work at the marina servicing the yachts. You can tell the employees really take pride in their work and the company, as do the Amel owners we have met. Amel has two dedicated pontoons at the marina with over 50 slips filled with new yachts waiting for their owners, yachts coming in and out for servicing and a number of yachts whose home port is La Rochelle. It’s a regular United Nations of owners. We have met, of course, many from France, and also Australia, Canada and Great Britain. Some have owned two, three and even four Amels and all consider themselves part of a family. We actually think it’s more like a cult.
Sailing in La Rochelle is delightful. You have to be very aware of the tides, but once that is accounted for the water is deep and the ocean swell is minimal. On one of our sails we went by historic Fort Boyard, located in the middle of the bay and built to protect La Rochelle and the mouth of the Charente River. Boyard was built because the mainland cannons’ range could not reach the ships at sea. However by the time the fort was completed technology had improved and the mainland fire power could easily hit attacking ships. It was only used as a prison and now is the site of a French TV game show. Boyard is not as impressive as the fort at the Dry Tortugas, but that may have been because of the guests we had on board Seabbatical at the time.
After our week of training and with the umbilical cord cut, on our first sail without Olivier we took along another Amel owner, Dennis Woods. Originally from England and currently living in Ireland, Dennis is the owner Il Flauto Magico, a Super Maramu which was in for some routine maintenance. Trust us Dennis is the one to invite to your parties to keep the guests entertained. He is absolutely delightful and entertained us several evenings at sundowner time with tales of his sailing adventures. Having owned three Amels, Dennis shared numerous sail trimming tips and was a wealth of knowledge on great ports to visit.
Our plans for the next two weeks are to continue doing day sails and some overnights before setting off on longer distances. And oh yes – unpacking. Our 25 boxes finally showed up!
Fair Winds,
Craig and Jan

Friday, July 4, 2008

Investmant Advice and Birthday Greeting

We made our final Euro denominated payment for Lone Star yesterday. Are you asking why this is news? The reason is that it is NOW time to start buying the US dollar. We have managed to be on the wrong side of the exchange rate from the time we ordered the boat (at 1.28 Dollars per Euro) to when we made our final payment (at 1.57) a 23% increase in cost. Now that the exchange rate is not as important to us we expect the dollar to strengthen and that advice is as good as you can get from CNBC.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

We're Back!

Howdy! We’re back and soon to be out there cruising again; only this time on a different boat and in a different part of the world. Welcome to our new website where we plan to keep our family, friends and fellow cruisers updated on our adventures. For those of you used to the old Tales from Seabbatical Journal we’ve decided to “kick it up a notch” with a website which we hope will entertain and inform. It’s been a long, boatless year since we returned from our cruise last June. After docking at Lakewood Yacht Club in late June we spent a week unloading six years of gear, cleaning and polishing, fixing broken stuff and generally getting Seabbatical ready to sell. We thought it would take about six months for her to sell and anticipated spending time down at the docks keeping her in selling condition. Much to our shock the right person walked by at the right time and Seabbatical sold within 3 weeks! For the first time in many years we were boatless and landlocked. We managed to keep busy with visits to and from the girls, a family reunion at Christmas, some snow skiing and hours of preparation and anxious anticipation for our new boat. The waiting is almost over – we leave for France in July and take possession July 28th. For our first installment we thought you might be interested in how Lone Star came to be…..

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Construction Photos of LONE STAR

Construction photos taken recently in France by Joel Potter. When he sent them he said the boat looked like a train wreck. We think she looks beautiful.