De-masting for a MASSIVE river trip!

 Sea air has such an 'aliveness' found nowhere else, so I wonder how our yacht and selves will feel travelling the Mighty Rhone and French canals. First job - every sailing rope comes down to be washed, softened, dried and stowed away. We have height restrictions on the next leg of our journey. Nous voyageons donc sans voiles et sans mats. We must travel without sails and masts!

Greg removing booms from our masts.

Greg constructs mighty supports for our masts at bow, midships and stern (above)

One of many pensive moments before de-masting.

I make detailed diagrams of wiring from masts. Under those caps a myriad of wiring.

And ages straightening and removing split pins from all the bottlescrews at the base of the rigging ( I could have been a dentist)

No going back - young man fixes the crane hoist to the top of our Missen mast

Greg watching from below

If only the French had a word for laissez-faire LOL - the crane operator encompasses 'laid back' - maybe texting his lady.

Greg's got a strong left arm :)

Missen beng dropped onto temporary quay rests.

Stern support - so weird not having missen mast in cockpit.

Where the foot of the mast normally sits.

Main mast suspended over water

Oh My - like a bird without her feathers for now. White net over sprayhood keeps biting insects out of our water home. Greg will be removing the instruments at top of mast when we come stern to pontoon. Busy old day!

Cold beers and a wonderful view to celebrate a great days work.

En route to Port Napolean

Eye-catching Spinnaker

Conspicuous Rock

Crossing shipping lane before heading into Port Napolean canal

Biggy from Singapore

Cockle Pickers in canal

Someones' home on canal bank

Moored near reedbeds - very peaceful

Moored in La Ciotat harbour

Greg surveying the harbour

Karoke bar where Greg thumped out Nessun Dorma!

Marco Fillipo leaves us now to join a Minstrel troupe in Marseilles. Thank you for all your help Marco!

Love old doors and stone

 Traditional local boats Ciotat

Now we sail in the Porquerolles Bateaux de Tradition :)

We left Cavaliar-sur-mer heading to Ciotat. On passage our route took us through the stunning bays of the Isls d'hyeres and a classic sailing regatta the 'Porquerolles Bateaux de Tradition'. Had  we known we would have joined in. Following pics express better than words:

My favourite

Gaff rigged reminds me of Falmouth oyster boats

A few more from Cavalair-sur-mer - a very friendly unpretentious town!

Another mood at sea

This Ferris Wheel looks amazing at night - reflections on water. Pity I'm not set up for night shots.

Just as we berthed another wind arriived - gusting to fifty knots approx' 58mph

 A casualty of the wind as we sailed out...

Arrival Cavalair-sur-mer Cote d'azur

View from mooring :)

Greg is sleeping behind those sunnies - you can see me on the helm in reflection hee hee

Marco Fillipo crashed

Cream crackered

Everything onboard covered in seasalt

Twenty seven hours after departing Corsica - Cavalair-sur-mer is a welcome sight

As we entered Cavalair harbour this caught my eye

The night we joined the Rolex Cup race :)

Isle of Giraglia (off northern tip Corsica) little did we know that this isle is the midway point for the St Tropez to Monaco Rolex yacht race!

The yacht is flying a spinnaker sail.

After we cleared Giraglia the wind was on our nose and the sea was building against us as we sailed north west into the Ligurian Sea. We saw one, two then three massive racing yachts to Starboard bearing downwind towards Giraglia. As night fell more and more yachts came on our starboard. Then more. We were on constant watch as many of the midfield yachts did not have AIS and several were sailing on anchor lights only! All were flying massive spinnakers which hid their navigation lights fr0m us. One yacht crossed our bow at very close quarter which they are perfectly entitled to do.The slower boats sometimes came from Port. They looked strange in the night sky,  like giant Darth Vaders silently coming at us. We had to sail hammering into the wind with typical short steep waves of the Med. Our boat is very plucky and sailed well but at times it felt we were either hitting a brick wall or falling off a cliff.

We set off to France blissfully unaware...

As we left Corsica headed overnight for the Cote d'Azur we had no idea that a massive fleet of yachts was coming on a reciprocal heading :) Several hundred of them!!! Here's the link to this very serious race - Rolex Cup!
https://www.sailracecrew.com/yacht-racing/yacht-racing-sailing-mediterranean/giraglia-rolex-cup/