The second time I
got to sail a Helia1
Lunch time in La
Rochelle... Stuffed peppers and a glass of Cabernet Blanc. Our boat
is safely tied up on the dock, and not at all stuck on the hard. By
the way, there are two ways that being stuck on the hard can go
wrong. Not being able to become unstuck (see this post) or coming
unstuck without anyone expecting it will. Back to the peppers... just
waiting for the ding of the oven. HOLY TUXY and LUNY what is that! A
Helia 44 just became unstuck from the ramp and is is drifting to a
hole row of moored boats. There are no engines running, there is no
one on board? What happened? Did the centuries of tidal observation
in La Rochelle not lead to a reasonable predictable tide model with
an uncertainty band of less than 30 cm on around 6 meters, mainly
correlated to weather effects? Is the catamaran equipped with an auto
mooring package, or a remote control package? NO something is wrong.
Quick quick, man the little SaltyPaws, row those ores. With a big
crash, the Helia plowed its bow into an Aluminum Ovni, instantly
proving the point of metal boats. Some desperate boat owners are
pushing the 14 tonne vessel unsuccessfully, against the wind. I am
pulling the ores of little SaltyPaws as hard as I can. After tying up
of the dinghy to the starboard platform, I hurry to start the
engines. Elizabeth quickly grabs some fenders (which as per Murphy's
Law where all set up on the wrong side), so I can use the engines, to
pivot off the unfortunate downwind ships, without causing additional
damage. After a few nerve wracking moments, and there may have been
some shouts, the boat is free, and I can keep it idling in the
harbor, to make a plan for mooring it. I am very glad, that I could
say to everyone with nasty stares: “It is not my boat”, and I
could even say this in French2.
By this time, the
harbor master arrives in a dinghy, to sort out the situation, and by
doing so confirming the universal law, also in this this case the
cavalry was suitably late. My first proposal is to go to the boats
original location on the pontoon, which would involve, going around a
floating pier. But, no, the harbor master decided that I needed to
take a different spot, and uses his dingy to relocate a motor trawler
to make space. Docking the Helia was easy, but I stepped back on the
jetty, with adrenaline still pumping in even the smallest veins. By
this time, the unsuspecting owner walks onto the jetty, unbeknownst to
him, (the installation company was in charge) the boat is now moored
on the jetty, with a big hole in one of the bows. This is new boat,
that wasn't even handed over to him. With an amazing bit of stoic
character, the owner takes stock of the situation, and I row him with
the little SaltyPaws, to inspect the damage of the Helia, and the
other vessels. I have never seen an installation company see that a
boat was fixed this quickly. Within 3 days, it was as if the hole was
never there. The good thing is that fiberglass is easy to fix. Or, in
case of the aluminium Ovni, it is hard to fix, but did not need any
fixing due to its metallic nature. So also this Helia had a tricky
bit of sailing, in it, not for its owners but for me.
1The
third time was a quite unremarkable sail to the fuel pontoon and
back (what was remarkable for this trip was the quantity of euro's
required to fill the tanks)
2 If
it was my boat, I would either 1) be in all states that someone let
my boat drift on a row of other boats or 2) in addition, if I was
in charge Terribly ashamed that I was not in command of my vessel.
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