We interrupt this transmission ...

Hello blog fans, a quick update from Frontignan as there have been a few developments since the last post.

Two months ago we arranged a hard standing winter mooring (one that's out of the water) at Frontignan, which has been checked several times since, only to find out at the 11th hour on the day of lift out (Tuesday) that the boat park's cradle on which she would sit for 6 months wasn't strong enough to take the weight of the boat - caramba!

It's the first hitch we've had - but a big one - and, with two days to go before departure to Spain (yep, we have tickets to ride) we had to make a very quick decision.  We tried all the marinas along this stretch of the coast but there are literally no moorings - especially at this late stage of the season - so we decided to lorry-load her back to Dunkirk - where we started our journey!

It's amazing what you can achieve when you have to with the help of professionals, good friends and family.  We were given a great lead from Mr Ackermans on 'Narvik' who was moored behind us waiting to be lifted out and low-loaded back to Holland.  With time of the essence Skipper wasted no time in making phone calls and within 2 hours we'd arranged for the excellent Dutch firm Van de Wetering Transport to collect our lovely "Reward" at 9am today.  Skipper also contacted Bleu Marin, the firm that demasted us in Dunkirk all those months ago, to arrange a hard standing for 6 months.  First Mate did all the backup work: bank transfers, emails, gallons of tea and moral support, etc., so it really was a team effort.  It also meant that we had to be demasted - again! - to enable safe transport on the lorry so Skipper & First Mate worked like trojans Tuesday and Wednesday to ready her for a 9am collection today.

Paul, the best boat crane operator in France!

 

"Reward" on the lorry

Although unplanned, it's good in several ways: we won't have to bring her back the way we came which we didn't really fancy for ourselves as we've seen everywhere we wanted to visit; we didn't fancy putting the boat through the rigours of ascent up the Rhone against 4 knots of current; plus it gives us other options for cruising next year and while the upfront cost is painful, in fact, we'll be in pocket in the long run.  So that was a wake up call!  And as I type, "Reward" is on the lorry somewhere in France en route to her winter resting place in Dunkirk ...

So, that's what we've been up to for the last couple of days!  So, until the next post shipmates ... 'over'.