To:
Charles Ramcharan
Hi All,
I talked with Rosi and Jim on Saturday morning.
They were still in Royan, but they were getting
ready to push on to Pouillac (sp?), where they
will meet up with Paul & Janet Herzog. They got
the engine problem fixed in Royan. Rosi told me
that the repair person said the engine was
"constipated". She did not have any further
information on what that might mean exactly. In
Pouillac, they will have the mast taken down.
[They have to take down the mast to get under the
bridges that they will be passing in the canal.
This passage through the canal had the greatest
influence on Rosi and Jim's selection of boat to
purchase. They had to get a boat with a shallow
draft - Libelle draws about 4.5 feet, and they had
to get a boat with a stepped mast so that it could
be taken down for the canal passage]
In Pouillac, they will also try to get the depth
sounder fixed. In Royan they have "ledges" where
you can "park" your boat. When the tide goes out,
the boat sits on the ledge with the bottom exposed
and you can do any light repairs and maintenance
to the hull. Hopefully they have some of these
ledges in Pouillac and they can find out if the
transducer is the problem.
Rosi said that Royan was a beautiful place with a
wonderful market. She was so impressed by the
neatly arranged fruits and vegetables - all
perfectly ripe, many different kinds of fish, and
at least 20 different kinds of olives! She
mentioned that things, unfortunately, weren't as
cheap as they were in Azores. Apparently they had
a good leg from the Azores to Royan - winds were
good, but they were happy to be in France because
it's actually warm there. I think that most
everyone on this side of the ocean find it hard to
relate to that sentiment. Most everyone here has
gotten a blistering introduction to summer.
Rosi said that she will try to send some photos to
me by the beginning of August. They are not
entirely sure how long the passage through the
canal will take, but they will check in phone, and
hopefully also by email, from time to time. I
believe that once they hit the Mediterranean, they
will scoot down the coast to Barcelona and then
across to Mallorca where they will visit some of
Rosi's family (Lilo, Hartmut and Christina).
Well, I think they are getting ready for a nice
tour through some beautiful countryside, but it's
not an *entirely* lazy ride. Rosi mentioned that
it will be nice to have Paul on board for tricky
navigation through the canal. Apparently, you can
get some strong currents through there (and tides
perhaps at the beginning).
Until next time,
Alles Gouda,
Yvonne
