France - finally

Well we eventually made it to the boatyard in Nantes, up the Loire river, where Palanad is to have a survey.

The trip began on Friday morning at Hamble Yacht services with Tim and I getting the boat ready for the 350 mile trip. Plenty of fuel would be needed as the forecast was for light Northerly winds over the next few days. Sails collected from North Sails lock up and stacked on the boat and the Fuizion food packed away.

After shuffling a couple of boats around so that we could make it out, we left mid morning and motored off to refuel, stocking up with an extra couple of 10L cans.

Great conditions (for motoring anyway) as we headed out past the Needles and set course of 230 degrees towards the NW corner of France.

The crossing itself was pretty uneventful, apart from having to change the impeller on the engine as the old one gave up the ghost and the engine began to overheat! We also noticed a small amount of water behind the aft watertight bulkhead - above the rudders. Not too concerned as it probably came in through the holes in the deck left while the push-pit was off. However now a new one was fitted that was no longer an issue.

After a round of lovely freeze dried Chicken Jalfrezi , it was time for me to get an hour of kip. When I woke however, things were not quite right! Apart from the usual noise of water rushing past the hull, there was an ominous sloshing noise coming from the back of the boat. On further investigation I could see an awful lot of water behind the watertight bulkhead, through the clear plastic hatch.

Up on deck Tim and I then spent about an hour bailing out a few hundred litres of sea water! Obviously it was not coming in through the deck. As the water level was reduced we could see the source of the problem. Just in front of the port rudder, water was bubbling up through the hull - not a good sign. Was the hull fractured? We gybed over and filled the starboard ballast tanks to heel the boat and keep the rudder out of the water while we investigated some more. There was a small round hole just in front of the rudder stock. While in the States having the rudders worked on, the small stainless steel weed cutters had been removed and not replaced. the holes had been filled, but it seemed that during the work, one of the plugs had been dislodged. Out with the Sika and very soon the whole area was dried out and the offending hole filled - no more water problems.

We made good progress across the shipping lanes and caught the tide gates at the Chanel du Four and the Raz du Seine - just! The wind filling in occasionally over Saturday night meant that we could sail again and were making a healthy 12 knots through the water, but fuel was getting low and we still had well over 100 miles to go to the mouth of the Loire and then a 25 mile motor up the river - we were going to have to stop for more fuel.

A quick pit stop at the small marina on Belle Ile and we now had enough fuel to motor the rest of the way. But now time was against us, as we needed to be at the crane lift in Nantes for 1800. It was touch and go as we motor sailed trying to get the best out of Palanad.

Someone must have been smiling on us as once again the wind filled in and we managed to keep the sails up all the way to the boatyard. Arriving right at the top of the tide. Tim made a great job of squeezing the boat in the slipway under the crane. With a 3m draft, it was going to be close as the boat slowly rose out of the water - the keel seemingly going on for ever. As the crane lifted as high as it could, right to the stops, the keel was only 2" clear of the ground!

After getting the rest of our kit off the boat, and having a well earned beer (or maybe 2!) we grabbed a nights kip in a hotel before flying back to the UK in the morning.

The next thing, after a sponsor meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) is to sort out a contract with Palanads owner and then hopefully get her back to the UK as soon as possible and begin the 'on the water' side of the People's Boat campaign.