Story of my dream boat. Espace 1000.

[manitu]

This is the story about my new project , a Jeanneau Espace 1000 wich I bought in france allmost three years ago. I will make a log of the work on the boat here, but first , I feel I have to tell the whole story first.


Hello folks. Some of you might remember my first sailboat project, a homebuilt scandinavian "folkboat" wich I bought unseen after a bad motorcycle crash, when I was still dissy , and should have stayed in bed.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...3-a-83350.html

The boat was a turd , but it sailed quite well. So I soon realized that I would never be able to give it to someone, and noone in their right mind would buy it. So I sailed the crap out of it. South of Norway, west coast of Sweden, and a trip to Denmark too.

My best friend helped me a lot with the boat , and soon after I bought it, he bought a Hallberg P28. A much nicer boat , and it actually felt bigger than my 33'.

The winter 2016-17, the P28 sank at the dock, after being caught under the jetty. After he got the insurance settlement, I tracked down the owner of a boat he had been drooling over earlier. The boat , a 35' Vindoe 50 had been advertised but not sold. So we went to Bergen, on the west coast of Norway to get it.



We sailed it around the south of Norway , home to Hvaler, at the swedish border. We sailed it a lot , and my crappy boat was left on land.

Spring 2018, I saw a Jeanneau espace 1000 advertised in France for 12.000 euro. Man, how I wanted that boat, but I had no possibility to get it both fixed , and moved home to Norway.

Henning , my mate then said that if I fixed it, he could start to sail it home, until I could take a leave from job, and continue.
So I went to France , bought the boat, serviced the engine as best I could, and got the boat on the water.



We sailed the boat together , from Gruissan, to Sete, where I had to travel home for work.



I took this picture when leaving the boat in Sete (on my birthday), and left for home.

The next week , he sailed the boat to Port St.Lois du Rohne, where he was to enter the Rhone and the canal system.

I talked to him on the phone during lunch at work , when he told me that he was preparing for the crane company , to demast. I told him to be careful and wait for the crane company, when the call suddenly was cut off. I tried to call back , but the phone was turned off. I didn't worry , I guessed he had dropped the phone in the drink or something like that.

Later that evening, I got a phone call. Henning was killed in an accident in the harbour. I was told that he was hit by the boom, when a fishing boat steamed past the docks. This made no sense as the boom had a brake, and I bellieved that he had removed it as preparation to take down the mast.

From this point my memory is a bit blurred.

Getting Henning home, funeral, and then I travelled to france to investigate and collect his belongings for his family.

Then home again, to prepare for what to do next.

Me and a buddy from up north went to france to continue.
The boat had taken some damage in the bow at some time , but seemed OK.



This is at the entrance to the Rhone, in Port St.Lois.

We had a nice day of motoring up the river , and everything seemed fine.
In the afternoon, we were coming into Arles, when suddenly the engine oil lamp came on. I opened the engine hatch , and out of the oil level opening, there was a stream of mayonese coming out. We went for the closest pier , and docked outside the fire department's rescue boat.

The next morning, we were moved to some poles along the shore, where the barges dock.


The water in the oil came from the SW pump wich was completely shot.
It had been it top condition when the boat was launched , with new impeller and seals. It seems like the salvage company had run the boat with the engine seacock closed, when they took the boat on land after the accident.

Then I had to get a new pump, but finding a SW pump for a BMW D50 was easier said than done. I found one (only one) at a firm in Germany.

I instructed them to send it with UPS express, and under no circumstances use DHL.
They used DHL, and the pump used three weeks to clear french customs.....


I had to go home to work in this time , but my mate stayed on the boat.
Man , was he pissed after two weeks.... All the barge skippers were angry ,as we had taken their parking spot , and motored by, meters away at full steam.

After getting the pump, he took the boat up river to Gray , a sleepy town outside of Lyon.

This is where my journey, solo trough the european canal systems started.

to be continued.
.manitu

[tkeithlu]

I'm sorry that you lost your friend.

Gotta say, you are leading a very full life. Hang in there.

[manitu]

Thanks' tkeithlu. I try my best , but I have to admit when looking back at the last couple of years, that it hasn't been easy.

My experiences with the french authorities while trying to find out what happened didn't make it easier, that's for shure. All they wanted was to pin me in a "chartering out an unsafe boat" situation.
I did end up with a strong theory of what happened, but I am reluctant to share it here in great detail, though I am hovering towards sharing what I learned in an appropiate thread about rigging.
It comes down to bad placement, minor mistake, and one in a million bad luck.

What I will say is this:
If you don't think the appointed spot for de-masting is safe , pay the profesionals , and watch from a distance. Or call another firm.
Never even think about doing anything on a rig where you don't fully understand the physics.
Understand your responsibilities when you take on crew. Have a plan for worst case, emergency funds, and demand travel insurance. If you cant, sail alone.

Well , back to the story.

Back home , I terminated the lease on my apartment , sold away what I could to pay debt and raise funding, and filled my car with every boat spares i coult think of. I had 300 kg (600pounds) of tools and parts with me, as I had learned about the french hospitality for non french speaking people who dares to violate their borders.

I arrived in Gray , just outside Dijon (not Lyon, misprint in last post), and found the boat.


I stayed in gray for two days , checking the boat, and preparing for the trip. If anyone of you were in south of europe in july/august 2018, you might remember the heat wave. First thing I had to do was to was to get AC for the copilot.


Well, finally I was as prepared as I could expect to get so I set off , heading for the first lock. I have to admit , I felt a bit unsecure.



Luckily , a german fella who helped me a lot in France, had travelled solo through the canals from germany. His name was Raymond, same as I called my first (raymarine) autopilot, as it was as getting a extra man aboard after sailing solo without one for a year. He showed me the ropes on singlehanding through the locks. Here you se my rig while going uphill.

I had the engine in gear, and used only one rope.

I had to experiment a bit with the block , to find the best placement , wich gave me power to force the bow into the lock wall, without the stern drifting across the lock, but when I found the sweet spot , I could be in front in the lock , holding my position, at just above idle.

Later, in the afternoon , I had past a few lock's and started to get the hang of it. Looking at the terrain , I expected to get to a lock or three. we were heading into a small valley , and I could se a hill around the bend wich would block our route. But it wasn't a lock that came around the bend..


I hadn't looked to closely at the map book, and didn't expect a tunnel. Not the dog either. For a few seconds I think she thought about jumping off the boat, to swim back out. But then the temperature dropped by 10-15 degrees, and she looked very happy.



The first week or so is critical when you travel to hot countries with dogs. Then they start to shed fur and adapt. So I topped up the water tank when I could, and showered the dog constantly with the deck shower.
At night, I ran the AC, but during the day , I actually had much better effect from wet bed linen on the deck.

First three days, I was on the river Saone, a beautiful and tranquile place.

The river Saone was easy boating , much less current than the Rohne two months ago. Just a lock now and then , where I often had to wait for another boat. because of the heat there were a water shortage , and the lock-keepers only ran the locks when they were reasonably full.



The third day I arrived in Corre , where I left the Saone and startet on the Canal des Vosges, allso called Canal de l'est'-sud. I had heard rumors that the canal was about to close because of water shortage , so I was happy to make it onto the canal in time.


To be continued.
.manitu

[tkeithlu]

Wonderful! I remember learning the locks in SE England; it is a bit of an adventure.

Small suggestion and bit of pontificating:

Find someone with whom you feel comfortable sharing all the details of your friend's death.

If, as inferred, you made an innocent mistake that contributed to this tragedy, you are not alone. There are legions of people out there who made mistakes that led to a death. Most common must be driving errors of the sort we all make from time to time. With perfectly bad timing, a little error has a horrid consequence.

[Quadrille in JB]

I am very sorry about your mate Henning. It sounds like he died doing something he loved.
On a lighter note, what a great trip it is that you are taking. We did this same route in 2013 starting at Port St. Louis de Rhone and ending in Amsterdam nearly 3 months later. The 237 locks that we traversed were a lot of work sometimes but the tunnels were a real surprise. The small villages that we stayed at, sometimes with free dockage, water, and electricity, were always friendly. My favorite countries were Belgium and Holland. We had 3 bicycles aboard that allowed us to venture far from the canal system. And I took full advantage of that, sometimes biking 20+ miles away to enjoy the countryside and to see some amazing sights.
We removed the masts (2) in Port St. Louis and had them stored in the marina until we had them shipped to Berlin the next cruising year.
Attached is a photo of Apria at Avignon in her canal cruising trim. The many fenders are necessary for the narrow locks. The old French locks have a 17' control width and with Apria's fat 14' beam with 12" fenders on each side left us with a scant 6" of clearance on each side.
I hope that you can move on from Henning's passing and enjoy a great trip through this part of Europe.
Bill in JB

[manitu]

@Tkeithlu: I'm lucky to have had great friends for support through all of this, but not with the technical knowledge to understand the nuances of different rigs, to discuss my findings, and to critique my conclusions.

@Quadrille: This was the summer of 2018, but because of things I felt was my responsibility after the accident , and my life situation because of all expences, I didn't find the time to really mourn until this last year.

The story is being told now , both since I've had some time to normalize, and this lockdown which keeps me from doing much else.


OK.. Canal des Vosges.. First thing that happened was a lockkeeper who came running after me , hands waving. No english , just a lot of hand movement and fast french. What he tried to communicate was that my boat was too big. I actually had to get the boat manual , and show him pictures of the lifting keel. Good to go!

It started slow. A couple locks and calm waters.
I passed a man powered swing bridge, where obviously, they hired a man , just to swing the bridge when boats arrived.


Then the locks came closer and closer. I did a total of 93 locks in 5 days, 28 in one day! The locks came that close , that I didn't find the time to take much pictures , which is a shame as it was some of the best scenery of the whole trip. First night I had to camp out as I came one lock to short to get to the marina at Bains les Bains. I discovered one boating equipment I had forgot, Canal anchors. (like big tent plugs) So I just threw the anchor on the shore , and used my biggest screwdriver at the stern.

Second day I did the rest of the 41 lock long climb up to Girancourt , the highest point on the whole journey , 352 meters above sea level.

Here is a selfie of yours truly. Tired after a long day in the locks , thrilled of beind done with the climb , and a bit worried about the waiting decent.



Across the top , much of the canal was in a gulley , with steep wall on both sides.

There , I met the smallest canal-boat I've ever seen. Made my old folkboat seem like a palace!


And after the gulley came the big drop! At any given time I could see at least three locks.


Luckily, going downhill was easier than going up. Just had to remember feeding out the rope, engine in idle. Third day was a slow one , mostly because of lock malfunctions.


At least the pompier's plongee's (fire dept. divers) showed up quickly each time.

Third day on the Canal , again I didn't get to a marina with shorepower. I could see the marina at the other side of the dock, but in france ,when things close, they close. So I tried my luck at a bar by the canal.
I managed get power from the bar so we could have a uninterupted airconditioned night in silence.


These three guys did France a great favour by showing me that genuine friendly frenchmen actually exists. I really needed to just talk with somebody after weeks alone. This was in Thaon les Vosges.

After the big decent , the terrain leveled out a bit , and the locks became further and further apart. Reached the Moselle this day , special feeling to drive the boat on a bridge over the river..




The Mosel vally is a beautiful place , and the temperature had dropped into comfortable levels since we came over the top.


On the fourth day we reached Charmes , and on the fifth day we arrived in Richardmenil , outside Nancy. Just a short stretch from the canalised Moselle.

Next up is the great rivers of central europe, The Moselle and then the Rhine.
to be continued


.manitu