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We left the Ostend harbour at early dawn, the quiet sea and almost wind-still weather created the perfect circumstances to learn the basics of navigation at sea.
Our (in the meanwhile late) Decca radar likes me and in a few hours I got the ancient (1960) machine doing what I want. The transas navigation software looks similar to what we had on the Belgica so that looks quite familiar as well. After the first watch Henning and I make a good bridge team.
Henning, maybe a little bit of explanation
In short, Norwegian Vikings alike, in tribute to his forefathers, he came to Belgium by boat, drank some good beer, grabbed a local woman along and took off again.
I had the luck of meeting him in my local pub the jolly sailor He works on the Daphne as the ships engineer since a couple of months and ended up in Ostend for a 2 months summer break. After sharing a couple of drinks on a couple of nights he asks if I dont want to work as crew on the Daphne and join on the world tour. Hmm
So it is due to him and the jolly sailor that I got introduced to the life afloat!
Our course sets to St. Malo, along the famous race of Alderney on which we manage to squeeze 16kns out of the Daphne without changing anything to the normal 10kns cruising speed settings, it sure does give a good feeling!
On arrival in St. Malo we try out the new dinghy the man bought for us, a nice, semi-rigid with a 9.9hp outboard. Perfect for planing with 2 and even for passenger transport of 4. We enjoy ourselves by test riding our toy between the little fort-infested islands in the harbor approach.
After 2 days, and filling up a harbour litter bin with at least 200kg of garbage out of the front peak (old tools and electronics from the 1960) we start the next leg to Brest. Only a couple of hours into the journey the Decca goes blank and a nasty burned smell spreads on the bridge.
The coast of Brittany is not the best place to navigate without radar so we run in to the closest harbour, St-Quay-Portrieux. On approach the ship decided to test us
Going in on a blank radar suddenly the bridge door jams, 2 min later, all of our 4 GPS-systems go down (later we learn that local French fisherman think its funny to block GPS-signals).
So I get a first lesson on chart and visual approach of a harbour. Tricky business when you dont expect it
We stay just long enough to get the backup radar working and buy a supply of food and wine (after all, were in France).
For the second time, we set to Brest. It seems a very hard place to reach, because in Lesardieux we stop again. Nice little town but the only thing open is a white-yacht-club. This is a difficult thing to describe but in general it is a club with people who buy a yacht to place it in the marina and show off the extra 3 foot in length to their neighbors but hardly ever take it out on a trip. They really dont like 2 guys in working clothes, having a drink in their place, and living on a boat at least twice as big as theirs...
We already tried to get to Brest twice and didnt succeed so in the early morning we aim for La Rochelle, a sturdy head on wind and the famous Biscay waves makes the inclinometer go wild and we do an easy 55° both ways. My breakfast hates me and returns to the point of entry while I try to secure some ropes on the deck. Around noon even The Man thinks this is too much of the good stuff and resets the course to Roscoff so we get a decent night sleep in the harbour.
La Rochelle here we come, the wave plough works perfect, the sound off hundreds liters of water rattling on the window bridges makes Eva jump from time to time. Deeper into the bay we get our first ocean swell, horizoning waves on the bridge (bridge height is about 6m).
La Rochelle itself feels like a genuine southern France town when you enter as long as you ignore the heroin addicts in the streets. On the other hand, we do manage to find a place where they sell decent beer, the beer library.
They sell 10 brands of beer and serve Orvall in a Leffe glass
We are in France
On the other side of the dock is the France 1, a former ship of the president and now a museum and somehow, it got attention from Henning and me
Today it got clear that we cannot stay in La Rochelle,
there is simply not enough space for the race on Monday, so we move again, to Saint-Nazere this time, close to Nantes. This time for 6 weeks, the first 2 I go back to Belgium, the next I get the ship ready for the next leg
Up to the Mediterranean
14-09-2011 om 00:00
geschreven door Gibbon 
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