Wednesday 7 May 2014 - St Tropez and Cannes

I didn’t post yesterday.  The internet at the marina was too weak to reach our boat and there was not too much to report.  We just had a very nice day out in St Tropez.  We spent the morning in the market, which was huge, not buying much, but enjoying the atmosphere.  Then we had lunch on board, did a bit more cleaning and tidying.  Richard managed to put on our new Dyneema main halyard, which I thought was jolly clever.  Even he was a bit surprised how well it went.  We then had a huge indulgence buying each of us a large slice of Tarte Tropezienne.  That really filled us up.  Some diet I’m on!

Then finally we went out to dinner.  We didn’t go anywhere special, but it was a pleasant restaurant overlooking the beach and sea and we had a nice meal.

The marina is full of charter boats on a rally.  They are all Russian!

So today we set course for Cannes. We booked a berth before we left St Tropez, so we had all the time in the world to get there. The weather report looked good.  Wind from behind at force 2-4.  We even thought we might get some sailing in.  We did put up the main just after getting out of the harbour, but it was disappointing because the wind didn’t get above 9 knots and from dead behind that really isn’t enough to move our boat at any reasonable speed.  So to begin with we just motor sailed along.  Then on the radio there came an announcement to listen to an urgent new weather forecast.  Out of nowhere they were suddenly predicting a force 7 for the afternoon.  We still could not see where all this wind would come from.  The weather was bright, and although the barometer had fallen it was still quite high.  But they were right.  The wind started to build and suddenly it was blowing 22 knots!  So we took a couple of reefs in.  Richard decided not to sail.  He wanted us to get to port before it got worse, so we kept the engine on and were doing over 8 knots through the water.

But as predicted the wind continued to build.  I only saw it go to 28-30 knots, but Richard said he saw it gust up to 32 knots.  The sea was also getting very choppy.  The auto-pilot was doing a rotten job causing us one involuntary gybe.  So Richard started to hand steer.  With the wind and the waves behind, the journey wasn’t so bad until we had to take the sails down.  That was rather ropy, but it went better than we hoped.  The new halyard meant that the sail came down faster and further than it had been doing last season.  Although it did not come down altogether, it came down enough for us to enter port without Richard risking all going forward to pull it down.  As we approached the harbour entrance, we were struck by a nasty wave and pushed all over the place.  This was all the more galling as we could see flat water only yards away.

But we finally go into the shelter of the harbour and flat water.  So Richard could go forward and take the sail down and I was able to set all the fenders in much better conditions.  However, mooring was not easy.  We were given a berth right on the end of a pontoon and the high winds (which were still blowing 20-22knots) kept pushing us off the berth.  We were helped by a couple of Frenchmen, who we at first thought were from the port, but discovered were just workmen building a gantry on a boat on the same pontoon.  So with their help we eventually got moored up. 

And now here we are in Cannes.  The place is a bit of a building site because they are constructing all the stuff needed for the Film Festival which opens in 8 days time.  They also seem to be doing up the old port and that too is a building site.  But still it is fun  and quite glamorous.

We spent the afternoon walking along the Croisette and then on to the posh shopping street - Rue d’Antibes.  Back to the boat for a bit of a sit in the sun and then off for a cocktail.  So it is a hard life!  We are even getting some wifi here, but again, the signal isn’t strong enough to get to our boat.   We have persuaded the port to let us stay for two nights, so we will tell you how we are getting on tomorrow.

Oh, the Russians have followed us here!