It was September 2016. I was at work on the pontoons at the sunny Cannes Boat Show. It was here that I met Hervé and Mona from Harel Yachts. They knew that I dreamed of doing a Transat, and they suggested that I set off in April 2017 to take a Lagoon 45 or 52 across the Atlantic.
It was a really difficult choice to make. The big one or the small one? For the moment I had only sailed on monohulls…
Wanderlust and the call of the sea made my decision for me. I would go whichever boat it was! The thought of doing a Transat gave me a real lift, especially as winter was looming and as well as grey days there was also a lot of work ahead to get the Nautic ready on time.
However, I soon had bad news in my inbox : the April trip had been cancelled. A few days later, a certain Jérôme, who I’d never heard of, sent me a text (end of January) offering a boat delivery at the end of February.
I went straight to my boss’s office to tell him that I wanted to bring my vacation forward by a few months and that I would need a 5 week break if I wanted to fulfill my dream. In the end I actually needed another week on top, something which didn’t surprise the boss of the Boat Show, given the realities of transatlantic crossings!
Almost Ready To go!
In mid-February I bought my flexible ticket for the flight back from the West Indies (with hindsight I should have bought it once I had arrived there).
On the train on the way to the boat I met up with Jérome who would be our skipper for at least a month. He told me that there would be 7 of us in the crew. John the Venezuelan (who insisted that he was Australian when we arrived in Bordeaux), Fabien, a Belgian, and three other French people: Lucille and David had just arrived from India, and Camille.
After a first, freezing night on board (around 2°C) we were ready to get organized for the departure. Getting supplies on board was obviously the first thing to do (you should work on €350 per person, which includes rum and beer). We bought all the utensils that we would need to ensure a very comfortable month on board (glasses, cutlery etc).
With a huge list of foods to get on board, teams had to be dispatched to different shopping centers. We had to be quick and efficient to fulfill this essential task! It took each team five hours to make all their purchases, fill the van and then unload everything on the quayside.
After a rather liquid dinner with Snoopy and François, the owners of “our” catamaran, “Champagne”, we finished of protecting the interior of the boat so that it would arrive in perfect condition on the other side of the ocean.
It’s Transat Time!
It was time to leave: the 25th of February. In the cold and the dark, we sailed up the Garonne River. We stood on the deck, well wrapped up against the cold, looking for any floating objects (identifiable or not), so that we could avoid them. We were mainly on the lookout for tree trunks. After our first breakfast on the river, we eventually arrived at the mouth of the Garonne for lunchtime. With the swell came that old friend…sea sickness. This calmed down relatively quickly, and after a few long hours we came out of our cabins one after the other. Some were slightly apprehensive about tasting what the hardier souls (Jérôme, Fabien and John) had prepared for dinner.
We headed for Ribadéo to avoid our first squall, and to buy some fuses that we needed for the autopilot, which had let us down almost immediately. Was it damp, a bad connection, an abnormal wave? We had no idea.
Our arrival in the port was a bit hairy. The height of the bridge is different on the internet, the Marine Guide and our visual observations. At 6am the decision was taken to anchor outside the port and to wait for the Harbormaster’s office to open up and for the first fishing boats to head out and then low tide, before entering the port without losing our mast…
We made the most of our stopover to top up on a few supplies, like the local dried ham and a few other treats that took our fancy. Well there were a few “bon viveurs” on board!
Our second stop was at Corunna in Galicia to avoid a weather front and to get the pilot working again on the flybridge. It was here that our friend from Liège had to leave urgently for Belgium, although we would pick him up later in Las Palmas.
We left Corunna in fairly strong winds and heavy seas with unpredictable waves. We soon began to remove some layers of clothing, and to our great delight came across our first dolphins. There was even a seagull that paid us a visit, taking up residency on the upper deck…
Las Palmas
Las Palmas was our third and last stopover before the Transat. It’s best to arrive before nightfall if you want to get a pontoon as the Harbormaster’s staff aren’t there in the evening. We arrived too late and anchored in the cove for the night and headed for shore in the dinghy to have a meal.
The days we spent there passed quickly, between getting the last supplies on board, checking everything and doing any small repairs (insulating portholes, checking the engines…), and we then set off again. We had to get cracking, as we were to deliver the boat to the BVI for the 1st of April.
The departure was pretty lively, and we were battered by choppy and unpredictable waves. As the boat was being thrown around quite a bit, (following wind with two sails), some passengers decided to take to their cabins again… It can take a while to get your sea legs!
Despite our lively average speed, we still managed to catch some fish (sea bream, tuna, wahoo). What a delight it was to eat carpaccios, makis and other super fresh dishes made using the fish we had caught. I was finally living my dream!
We continued to head 170/180°, all the while trying to preserve the boat and the sails as much as possible. Everything was going well, and we were starting to get into a rhythm, when our friend the pilot decided to try and take over the boat, which meant that we had to cut the electricity to the whole boat so that we could take back control of the helm. This all happened of course at an inopportune moment, when the wind had whipped up and we had two reefs in the mainsail. We had to make a few emergency maneuvers to protect “Champagne” as much as possible.
Despite our various incidents and our fishing, we still managed to maintain an average speed of 7 knots. And when we were becalmed at 20°55’17’’N, 49°13’41’’ W, we made the most of it to swim in a dark blue sea that was 27°C and with 5000 meters of depth below us. An unforgettable memory!
On the 28th of March land was in sight ! For our last lunch on the water we headed for Tintamarre, a wonderful island close to Saint Martin. We couldn’t resist another swim in the rocky shallows given the color of the water, the tortoises and the magnificently colored fish.
Then it was time to head for Grand Case to drop off some of the crew with the others moving on to the BVI to deliver the boat.
Did The Reality Live Up To The Dream?
This crossing was an amazing experience. There were some good and less good memories. I had been concerned about the pilot, (especially during my watches), with a few moments where I lost control. These were particularly stressful times for me.
However, delivering this boat allowed me to completely cut all ties with the land for a while. I made the most of it to have some real “me time”. And then there were the watches, some longer than others, when we are alone with the ocean and the sky as far as the eye can see. I also had to get used to spending time in a small environment with 7 people from different cultures and with different horizons. It was a real life lesson!
Just one tip: if you have a chance to do a Transat, don’t hesitate. Just do it!
