Thursday 13 February 2014

cruising down to St. Malo

There were a number of these cruises down to St. Malo, with different people on board, mainly with my group, but I think my competent crew course started with a sail down to St. Malo.

The first cruise was definitely the one where we 'went ahead of the race.

This race was a yacht race to commemorate the St. Helier yacht club boats going down to rescue the Jersey engineers from the ranche dam/barrage when the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, the St. Helier boats rescued the engineers and as a result, the St Helier yacht club get to fly a 'defaced ensign'.
Well this above is what I seem to recall being told, but I am unsure if I have recounted it correctly.

Anyway, we were not racing, our big heavy old wooden-build ketch might not be a match for those light modern boats, but we went down ahead of the race in the morning, and they were overtaking us into St. Malo, but one boat lost power and we had to tow him into the harbour at St. Malo.

We moored overnight there, we got the shower unit codes so we could shower.
We had supper in a restaurant and I remember the very fishy fish soup, which was enough of a meal for me.
I remember being fascinated by the massive harbout and all the boats.

I get confused about what happened on which trip after that, but I remember one of the massive ferries which docked near the harbour, nearly causing mishaps as we left St. malo, I remember a cruise ship with a very naughty looking face painted on the bow, and I remember my disaster with doing the sheets as we left St. Malo one time, thankfully I did not let go of the sheet but could not secure it well and the skipper got a bit impatient with me.
However, all went well.

Another St. Malo thing I remember was one time, it was evening and I think the others went to a bar, the skipper decided on an early night and I said I would go for a short walk.
The skipper said he would listen out for me as he slept lightly and I told him not to worry, I would stay close to the harbour-side, I was obviously norty by then because I added as an afterthought 'How do you say drug-dealer in French?'
He grinned at that.

Anyway, those days are gone now, those St. Malo days, and that is a pity, but at least I lived it.

On my competent crew course we did moor overnight in St. Malo, and the others went out to a bar, and one of them left me her Ipod to play with, I was not into bars, nor did I have much money, and I needed space, being on a boat and having to interact all the time was really hard for me.

well I don't know what I did to that Ipod but it keeled over and died! :(
She said it was old and didn't work very well, but it took one look at me and breathed it's last!

Well, maybe she got it working again.

The next day we went up through the barrage and onto La Ranche, and on La Ranche we practiced 'man overboard' which went well.

wow, what experiences, what an awesome life! :)


8 comments:

  1. This one's both sweet and funny.

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  2. It was a sweet and funny time, well actually during parts of this I was really suffering because of the Jersey situation.
    I had a picture of me in St. Malo on one of the boats, and I had to wear a hat because the stress had lost me my hair.

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  3. These posts brought back happy memories of weekend spent in St Malo with friends of my parents, the Regals. They took us down to St Malo at weekends in their boat often in the summer months, and it was lovely gliding up to the mooring in the dusk, all the lights on, and waking up the next day for what seemed to me (as a 11 year old) somewhere quite exotic and wonderfully strange - the words all different, the food and shops quite different, and even sweets which we could never get back home.

    Alf Regal used to also eat langustine from time to time, which his wife frowned upon, because as you know, Jewish religious laws forbid shelfish, but he loved it, and he said "It is not as if anyone knows me here".

    He also used to balance a tray of peaches on his head, and I think I have some cine footage in these brief clips here of one trip:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLhBkyCbWtI&list=PL542664874520DA97&index=4

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  4. St Malo is beautiful. I always think of the pirates when I think of it. I took a whole role of slides there once and then lost my (very good) camera, but the place was so lovely that it was the loss of the slides that upset me.

    Good to hear the happy stories in spite of the hat.

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    Replies
    1. Aww. Thanks Polo, I lost thousands of pictures as well as videos as a result of what happened in Jersey and the way I had to leave :(

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  5. I loved all the boats, I also liked to walk the old walls and climb the hill. We had a lovely time with some German holidaymakers and some English holiday makers on the caravan site up there as well, a real jolly party :)

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