Log # 35L Problems getting out of the Gironde

This is written as we prepare to leave the Gironde from Port Medoc, instead of Royan as originally intended. As we passed this area en route from Pouillac we saw the masts and thought it to be an easier entrance than Royan, which it was.

Regarding the problems we experienced since exiting the canals; they started in Begles, a suburb of Bordeaux, and continued when we were in Pauillac.

Steering Gear Problems (#1)

At Begles Marina we were alongside a pontoon facing upstream. There was a swift current passing beneath the pontoons of 4 to 5 knots each tidal movement. Ironically the flood tide upstream is faster than the ebb tide downstream, and after a few days we were advised to rotate Veleda to face downstream to face the stronger current. No problem and this we did.

We purchased a Raymarine ST 6000 linear drive below decks self steering system from Holland Marine in Toronto. Although we were told it could be self installed, we found an English mechanic at Rolland Marine in Begles who was quite competent and asked for his help. We are glad we did. Richard was a dedicated marine mechanic who evaluated the situation quite well. We (he) had to fiberglass a base for the linear drive on our starboard quarter to intersect our quadrant at a 90 degree angle. It wouldn’t fit! Look at the quadrant. It had no central point to attach the linear drive. OK, weld a plate on the quadrant to take the linear drive shaft. When the quadrant was removed, we saw a hairline crack on one arm. Being aluminum, welding was not advised. We did not want to risk a fractured quadrant for an ocean crossing.

OK, how long to order a new quadrant? A few days, but France goes on holidays next week!

A new quadrant was delivered and installed. However, the slope of the bilge did not allow the 90 degree angle, and a plate would need to be welded to the new quadrant. The base was fiber-glassed in place, but the angle was not right! The quadrant had to be removed and a new pivot point drilled into it. This worked out well the second week, BUT, just as this final stage was being completed something catastrophic happened to Sprite, our dinghy.

Problems with Sprite (#2)

When we were facing upstream I was afraid Sprite, even though on our Dinghy-Tow system, might get swamped bows on by the heavy currents going upstream. If that happened the bow would be ploughed under, and Sprite would take a nose dive. I tied a bow line from Sprite to our bimini and lowered her stern more to reduce the angle to the current. When we rotated to face downstream, no problem! However we had problems with the outboard on Sprite, and took the dinghy off the Dinghy-Tow to have the engine removed so the carburetor could be cleaned and the timing properly set up. The motor was serviced and returned, and we left Sprite in the water, secured to the pontoon ahead of Veleda for a few hours. Judy and Richard were putting the final touches to the steering gear, and I was over at the shopping mall trying to do a last bit of E-mail (unsuccessfully). When I returned, Judy said that Sprite had flipped and she thought the motor had been lost! Aaarrgghh!

Sure enough, Sprite was upside down in front of Veleda! They couldn’t get it righted! It was surging in a four to five knot current, upside down. I crawled across the upturned keel to fasten a couple of lines to the outer sides and got some help to haul it upright, and then onto the pontoon. The engine (still there!), which we had just spent 200 Euros to get checked out, had been immersed in dirty silt-ridden water for an hour or more! After flushing the engine with fresh water and drying it as much as possible, including the spark plugs, I tried starting it. No luck! Of course, the fuel tank had been underwater as well! I got some fresh fuel from a Scottish boat on the pontoon, disconnected the fuel line and plunged it into the fresh fuel. I cleaned the spark plugs again and pulled my heart out! It finally started. Revving the engine with the choke on to clear the carburetor and leaving it running for over an hour has cleared the engine sufficiently that it runs. OK.

I suspect the tidal bore rushing upstream and forcing Sprite against the pontoon caused the flip. When another boater told Judy and Richard there was a problem, the dinghy was inverted, under the pontoon and partly under Veleda’s bow, with no sign of the motor on the visible part of the transom – why Judy assumed it was lost. They got it free of the pontoon, but left matters at that till I returned. Just what we needed, when the steering gear was finally nearing completion after a two week problem-filled installation.

Next day we set off down river to Pauillac, checking out the new self steering system. It worked well!

Problems in Pauillac – A Bad scratch on my topsides (#3)

The entry into Pauillac Marina is tricky, especially at low tide which was when we were entering (since we had to leave Begles at the beginning of the ebb tide to use the current in our favour). There is a high wall (not a breakwater) with a narrow opening facing the mud flats of the shore that we had to negotiate to get into the marina. We were to go to the second pontoon facing upstream, which meant going in at dead slow and executing a 180 degree turn. I wasn’t able to get lined up and so explored further in between the second and third pontoons for an inner slip. Again I was not able to get lined up for an inner slip opening, and realized part of the problem was that there was still a current, even though we approached at low, but clearly not slack, water. When trying to back out, the current was drifting me diagonally across the pontoons. To get any steerage in reverse, I had to have more way on. The rudder was finally starting to swing my stern away from the boats on the third pontoon, and I had to keep way on or else drift into the boats there. I finally slewed past, but my bow swung over with the current and scratched along the extended shaft of an outboard engine creating a metre long slash on my port bow! AAgghh! The first bad scratch since the new paint job three years ago!

Problems in Pauillac – Masting and Dismasting (#4)

Next day we had arranged to have our mast raised, a procedure we have done many times; we did it each spring at our sailing club in Toronto with the club’s mast crane. There is a lot of work getting it ready to be raised after two months on the cradle. We had to have everything loosened off, and the cradle ready to be dismantled before the mast could be placed. No problem; everything went OK, except the jetty crane was too short for our keel-stepped mast, and a mobile crane was then used.

After the mast was stepped, Judy and I attached and tightened all the stays and shrouds to help support the mast, and we would fine tune them over at our slip. On backing away from the dock, I heard a “TWANG”, which Judy thought was a flag halyard which caught and broke on the still overhanging jetty crane: a small problem to replace.

Back at our slip we worked like dogs to tune the stays, attach the boom, and get the boat ready for sea. As a final check and maintenance, Judy went up to clear the flag halyards to find that the “TWANG” was not on the flag halyards but was our upper port shroud which tore the bracket attaching our spreaders from the mast. It was too big a distortion of the backing plate for us to just pop rivet back into place. We were devastated! The mast would have to come down, and we thought we would have to get a rigger to assess and repair the damage. France was on holidays and we might not get anyone for two weeks or more! AArrgghh!

Finally – Things worked out

Next day we went alongside the jetty again, but this time on the launch ramp side as we were going to secure Veleda alongside and let the tide go out, allowing us to work on Veleda’s hull. The very friendly harbourmaster and his assistant hauled the mast out again and laid it on the jetty to see what needed to be done. A local mechanic came and assisted, indicating the plate could be hammered into place and then pop riveted. The assistant took us all over town looking for larger rivets, but none were to be found. However the stainless steel smaller rivets were OK and the mechanic used his heavier rivet gun to complete the job. No charge, it was just a friendly act of help. Whew! The mast was now OK.

As the tide went out, Veleda settled high and dry on the muddy concrete launch ramp. We were given hoses to clear off the ramp so we could work around Veleda’s keel. There is a water shortage, and so we were asked not to use too much water in cleaning the hull. So we set to work, sloshing through the mud wiping down the hull. We attached a zinc anode to the shaft, and after cutting away several feet of rope wound around the prop, pulled the 14RH12 prop off (with help again from the harbourmaster and his assistant) and replaced it with a new larger 16RH14, the same size as the one we lost last year on the Danube River in Romania. (16RH14 means the diameter of the prop is 16 inches; RH is right hand turning; and the 14 means the propeller advances 14 inches with one revolution - a more powerful propeller.)

Then the messy work of bottom paint. The hull was actually quite clean, no seaweed or moss, all eliminated from 2 months in fresh water of the canals. There were a few small barnacles which we scraped off, and after scrubbing the hull and rinsing it down, applied a good coat of bottom paint. It took a while to clean ourselves, clothes, boots and tools from the mud and the old blue and new black bottom paint; after a shower Judy and I went for a nice restaurant meal while waiting for the tide to come in so we could take Veleda over to our pontoon slip at 2100, close to high tide.

Next day we again put on the boom, hanked on the mainsail and all its lines, tuned the rigging, got rid of the excess lumber from the cradles, rigged jacklines, hoisted Sprite on the Dinghy-Tow, and generally got ready for sea. We left at high tide the following morning to ride the ebb downstream, a full sailing vessel again after 2½ months in the canals from the Mediterranean. After all the complications with the quadrant and self-steering installation, Sprite flipping over and the engine immersed in muddy water, the scratch on our hull, the spreader base distortions, and all the associated costs and delays, it was a relief to be in the open waters at the mouth of the Gironde, with only one more port before heading out into the Bay of Biscay for northern Spain.

Next log