Demasting
After buying Arbutus in November 2011, we decided to leave her on dry land at Yacht Express’s dockyard for around six months. In June and July we will move Arbutus from Port Leucate to her new home in Carentan.
Yacht Express was in charge of moving Arbutus from the port’s technical zone to the dockyard. Paul couldn’t be there for the move because he was working in Paris. It wasn’t until January 2012 when Paul realized that Arbutus who weighs six tons, was rested on large empty beer kegs and iron supports. He found this worrisome.
During our first night on Arbutus in the dockyard we could feel the strong winds move Arbutus. Knowing that this area the Tramontane (northern wind) can blow at more than 100 km/h Paul was often worried when we were in Paris. So, to be on the safe side and remembering that Yacht Express made Paul sign a document stating that they are not responsible for any damages that may happen to Artutus, Paul bought comprehensive insurance in February 2012
On June 15th, 2012 we began Arbutus’s relocation. We decided to motor through the canals as opposed to passing by Gibraltar which is long and tedious. In fact, we heard that sailing from the South to North of Portugal is difficult and exhausting because of the Azores Portugal winds that come from the North. We are also not familiar with the boat yet so we opted to go through the Canal de la Robine, the Canal du Midi, the Canal latéral à la Garonne, the Garonne, the Gironde, and finally we will reach the Atlantique.
So here we are in Port Leucate to prepare the boat for the canals.
Shortly before arriving in Port Leucate we learned that Paul’s uncle Jean-Claude and Aunt Nicole will be in the area and can give us a hand. It was a relief to know we will have help.
The climactic moment of putting Arbutus back in the water to see if she still floats...
and if we can still plan our trip...
After considering the height of some of the low bridges on the canals we decided it would be wise to remove the stern gantry to avoid any close calls...or worse.
Paul’s uncle and aunt were a great help and they gave us some good advice.
The demasting was postponed until the following day because the preparations took more time than we thought. But it’s not a big deal because Paul said he planned for it.
However, we still didn’t have enough time to rock climb at La Clape :-(
The crane operator was loads of help and full of helpful advice when we started the demasting...not. He was on a schedule and we were wasting his precious time. It was on us to figure it out and to instruct him when we wanted the mast lifted and lowered.
He almost had a heart attack when the mast was in mid air and Paul asked if he could get some old tires to rest the mast on. In the end the mast was fine...we wanted to wait until the canals to damage the mast....
The deck is a mess!!! and it will stay like this for two weeks while we go through around 160 locks!!
We organized the sails and kept only the ones we needed for the journey to Carentan.
We put all the gear in the car and we leave tomorrow!
It took us three days to prepare the boat for the canals!
During our first night on Arbutus in the dockyard we could feel the strong winds move Arbutus. Knowing that this area the Tramontane (northern wind) can blow at more than 100 km/h Paul was often worried when we were in Paris. So, to be on the safe side and remembering that Yacht Express made Paul sign a document stating that they are not responsible for any damages that may happen to Artutus, Paul bought comprehensive insurance in February 2012
On June 15th, 2012 we began Arbutus’s relocation. We decided to motor through the canals as opposed to passing by Gibraltar which is long and tedious. In fact, we heard that sailing from the South to North of Portugal is difficult and exhausting because of the Azores Portugal winds that come from the North. We are also not familiar with the boat yet so we opted to go through the Canal de la Robine, the Canal du Midi, the Canal latéral à la Garonne, the Garonne, the Gironde, and finally we will reach the Atlantique.
So here we are in Port Leucate to prepare the boat for the canals.
Shortly before arriving in Port Leucate we learned that Paul’s uncle Jean-Claude and Aunt Nicole will be in the area and can give us a hand. It was a relief to know we will have help.
The climactic moment of putting Arbutus back in the water to see if she still floats...
and if we can still plan our trip...
After considering the height of some of the low bridges on the canals we decided it would be wise to remove the stern gantry to avoid any close calls...or worse.
Paul’s uncle and aunt were a great help and they gave us some good advice.
The demasting was postponed until the following day because the preparations took more time than we thought. But it’s not a big deal because Paul said he planned for it.
However, we still didn’t have enough time to rock climb at La Clape :-(
The crane operator was loads of help and full of helpful advice when we started the demasting...not. He was on a schedule and we were wasting his precious time. It was on us to figure it out and to instruct him when we wanted the mast lifted and lowered.
He almost had a heart attack when the mast was in mid air and Paul asked if he could get some old tires to rest the mast on. In the end the mast was fine...we wanted to wait until the canals to damage the mast....
The deck is a mess!!! and it will stay like this for two weeks while we go through around 160 locks!!
We organized the sails and kept only the ones we needed for the journey to Carentan.
We put all the gear in the car and we leave tomorrow!
It took us three days to prepare the boat for the canals!
Paul wrote about these same days, in French, from his side of the boat. Read his account →
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