En Charante-Maritime

La Rochelle, lying half way down the French Atlantic coast, is 350
nautical miles from Plymouth. For yachts sailing from Britain to
Spain, it is the last French port which is accessible in all tidal and
weather conditions. Most visiting English yachts use La Rochelle only
as a stop-over port during a longer cruise. This is a pity as it lies
at the centre of a very interesting cruising ground. Within a radius
of 10 miles there are 3 picturesque islands and 2 river estuaries.
They form part of the Charante-Maritime Region of France and are close
to the famous vineyards of Cognac. Being south of the river Loire the
summer weather tends to be much better than Brittany or Normandy. The
offshore islands of Ile d'Ol‚ron and Ile de R‚ protect the waters
round La Rochelle from the worst excesses of the Bay of Biscay.

We only had 13 days available for our cruising holiday this year and
as La Rochelle is less than 300 miles by road from Cherbourg, it
seemed to be an ideal trailing destination. The main disadvantage is
that many harbours in the Charante-Maritime are only accessible close
to high water. However, having to plan our breakfast according to the
tide tables seemed a small price to pay for the prospect of better
weather, exploring the smaller harbours, and sipping French wine.

Port des Minimes is a 3000 berth yacht marina about 1 mile from the
ancient town of La Rochelle and little research was needed to confirm
that it was the obvious place to launch 'Tiger Lily'. The threatened
French lorry driver's blockades turned out to be non-event and within
20 hours of leaving home we were studying the large slipway at the
northeast end of the marina. A mass of yachts were using the slipway
to clean their hulls, but the tide was fast coming in and by the time
we had erected the mast and made Tiger Lily ready, there was plenty of
room to launch. The car and trailer were parked close by and suitably
immobilised. Within 24 hours of leaving home we were safely moored on
an empty pontoon enjoying a glass of French wine with our meal.

It is not wise to trail carrying cans of petrol and so the first job
is always to buy petrol, local charts and provisions. We combined our
shopping trip with a sightseeing walk to the old port of La Rochelle.
The 'Vieux Port', guarded by the two towers of Saint Nicolas and La
Chaine, is an impressive sight. Many of the shops seemed to be up-
market and a rather expensive, but it was pleasant watching the boats
from one of the pavement cafes which surround the harbour. Every 30
minutes the Water-Bus leaves to make the 10 minute journey back to the
Port des Minimes (fare œ1).

In summer the Ile d'Ol‚ron, ten miles west of La Rochelle, is popular
for camping. Most camp sites are on the west side of the island where
the Atlantic swell breaks on the sandy beaches. However the east side
of the island has 4 picturesque harbours, but non are accessible at or
near low water, so it is necessary to plan one's arrival. We left Port
des Minimes with plenty of time to spare, but lack of wind forced us
to motor part of the way to St Denis d'Ol‚ron, the most northerly
harbour. Here the sill carries 2m of water for 3 hours either side of
high water, but once inside there is plenty of depth under the
visitors pontoon. We had arranged to meet a friend who was camping on
the island and after a couple of telephone calls soon established
contact and agreed to meet for a sail the next day.

Port Le Douhet is only some 4.5 miles down the coast and this made it
an ideal objective for a short morning sail, - short because it was
necessary to leave St Denis and enter Le Douhet on the same highwater.
The concrete sill at Le Douhet dries within an hour of low water and
once inside it is important to leave the yellow post to starboard so
as to avoid an underwater obstruction. Close to the harbour a line of
restaurants provide a good variety of food.

Le Douhet, like St Denis, is a modern yacht marina, but a few miles
further south lies the older harbour of Boyardville. This port lies on
a tidal river, La Perrotine, and caters for a number of fishing boats.
The harbour itself is locked, the gates opening and closing
automatically about 2 hours either side of high water. We used
Boyardville for a lunch stop and to buy provisions but not wishing to
get trapped by the lock gate, we left to sail via Fort Boyard to the
Ile d'Aix. The fort, built by Napoleon and resembling one of the
Solent forts, was used as a prison but today is a tourist attraction.
The wind was north westerly making the moorings on the southeast end
of the Ile d'Aix just tenable for an overnight stop. We picked a
mooring buoy fairly close inshore which would allow us to dry out at
low water.

Facing the entrance to the River Charante, the mooring was ideal  to
begin the 17 mile trip upriver to Rochefort. The river can carry a
stream of 4 knots in places and so we choose to ride the flood tide
right up to the lock gate, which only opens at exactly high water. The
river carries commercial traffic and is therefore well furnished with
a succession of beacons and leading lines. The lifting bridge just
above Soubise has now been replaced by a high road bridge. Just
outside the lock at Rochefort there is a waiting pontoon for early
arrivals. As the lock would not be opened again until the following
afternoon, we spent a full day at Rochefort, exploring the town.
During the Napoleonic period it was the centre of shipbuilding for the
French Navy and far enough upriver to be safe from marauding English
fleets. The 'Corderie Royal' just alongside the river manufactured
most of the rope for the French fleet but now houses a nautical
museum.

Leaving the river is more of a navigational exercise - boats can only
exit the lock at high water and by the time they reach the mouth, the
ebb stream has set in strongly. This can create a heavy sea at the bar
particularly when a north westerly wind blows directly into the river
mouth. As this was the case on the day we left, we chose to pick up a
mooring buoy near the mouth and wait for the high water slack,
occurring at 5am in the morning. Although still dark at this time, the
two outermost pairs of leading lights were visible making navigation
easy.

Back at La Rochelle, it was time to check the car and trailer and then
take the Tiger Lily into the old harbour in the centre of the city.
The narrow approach channel and the 2 imposing towers make the harbour
impregnable and it is easy to see why it was used as a submarine base
during the second world war. There are a number of visitors berths in
the old harbour, but being right in the middle of town, it could be
noisy compared to the Port des Minimes.

Tides were now flowing northward in the morning and so it was time to
visit the Ile de R‚. There is a very convenient daytime anchorage
close to the beach at the south east end of the island. A mile north
of this spot is the magnificent Ile de R‚ road bridge - it stretches
in a gentle curve for nearly 3 kilometres. Yachts can sail through
most of the many arches. Our destination was the capital of the
island, St Martin. Although the harbour is locked, the lock gates are
normally open when the water is above mean tidal level (within 3hrs of
HW). As it was Bastille Day, the French national holiday, the harbour
was very crowded, but we managed to squeeze in at the far end. It was
a lovely warm evening with many people promenading along the quay or
sitting at the numerous pavement restaurants. Many french harbours
have a firework display on Bastille Day, and St Martin was no
exception. Although not up to the standard of the fireworks display at
the end of Cowes week, it did liven up the evening giving some people
the opportunity to illegally let off red parachute flares.

A few miles down the coast is the drying harbour of La Flotte. We took
the precaution of walking there from St Martin, in order to inspect it
at low water. Having checked it and the approach channel, we sailed
there later on that day at high water. La Flotte is a little fishing
community, but visiting yachtsmen are welcome as long as they do not
mind drying out in the soft mud. The ten visitors berths were full,
but the friendly harbour master soon found us a suitable spot. A major
attraction on the quay was bungey jumping from a tall crane, but this
activity was not for us!

Before sailing back to La Rochelle we decided on a long via La
Tranche-sur-Mer on the mainland. The passage skirts a fish farming
area packed with nets and buoys covering 2km by 1km. It is not
advisable to sail through this area, whose corners are clearly marked
by cardinal buoys. La Tranche offers a good sandy beach and a number
of mooring buoys, but little else. As the wind was rising when we got
there, we decided to make an early return trip to La Rochelle. The
northwest wind began to create quite a lumpy following sea. However,
with 2 reefs set, Tiger Lily was never pooped and we slid under the
Ile de R‚ bridge into calmer waters on the lee side of the island. It
was then only a short passage back to Port des Minimes were we were
welcomed by the harbour staff on the visitors pontoon. By now they had
come to recognize Tiger Lily and had their control card all ready by
the time we tied up.

Our last day was spent gathering souvenirs and generally making ready
for the trail home. The slipway was busy throughout the day with
people scrubbing the hulls of dried out boats. However by high water
they had all gone making it easy to recover Tiger Lily onto the
trailer. Tiger Lily is not antifouled and there is always some marine
growth after 2 weeks afloat. The task of cleaning the weed from the
bottom of the hull was made easier by the presence of a convenient
water tap. That night we slept aboard the boat parked on the quay by
the slipway. By 7am next morning we were leaving La Rochelle bound for
the overnight cross channel ferry at Cherbourg and 24 hours later she
was safely parked outside our front door at home.

This was Tiger Lily's seventh continental trailing holiday. A look at
the statistics shows that it was one of the cheapest - marina fees
were about œ4 per night, and food was about œ7.50 per person per day.
The 'one-off' expenses of getting Tiger Lily and two crew to and from
La Rochelle worked out at œ290. We had 10 days afloat, sailed an
average of 12 miles per day and visited 12 different harbours or
anchorages. There were a number of occasions when we needed to set an
early morning alarm in order to catch a particular tide or lock gate.
but we never had to change our plans due to bad weather. Comparisons
with earlier holidays are difficult to make, as each area offers it
own unique blend of sailing, culture and scenery - suffice it to say
that we left La Rochelle 'En Charanted'.


Alan Murphy  -  TIGER LILY