Mont Saint Michel

[GJ0KYZ]

I went to Mont Saint Michel again yesterday (22 August). The tide in the evening was the highest of the year. What a great day. I've uploaded a few short video clips on YouTube. You can see them at this link: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

[Brian]

Good grief, GJOKYZ, now that really is a stupid hat isnt it?
Stll, full marks for having the courage to wear it on screen though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ39V_YLqGA

[GJ0KYZ]

I know what you mean but my wife took a liking to my original hat and is wearing it in the video. The one I have on belongs to Aunty Queenie. I rather like it actually and when you're as slappy as I am 'owt is better than nowt: a sun-burnt pate aint no joke.

[Erin]

I like those transom legs that keep the boat level when dried out. Was that fitted by the manufacturer, or aftermarket?

[GJ0KYZ]

Those were manufactured locally and fitted about two months after I bought the boat. The gel coat was becoming chipped here and there because my mud berth is a quite hard. They were expensive but, along with the Coppercoat, well worth it.

Actually the hull suffered some damage whilst at Mont St. Michel. You can see in the photo that the boat's come to rest on a large concrete plinth. What you can't see is that this is divided up leaving some nasty edges. When the tide came in the boat was pushed around and bumped into these quite heavily. Unfortunately the gel coat on Ribcraft hulls is egg-shell thin and is easily damaged.

[karlT]

Love the fact you had put fenders out on both sides to protect against the nearest boats which were probably at Cancale.

Then thought maybe that for French coaches!!!!

[Erin]

Just watched the vids. What a great destination, I'd never thought of going there by sea, and what a beautiful sea state it was last weekend. Was that a legitimate mooring area/buoy that you used?

[GJ0KYZ]

Hi Erin,
I wouldn't say the area was a sanctioned mooring spot as such as it's close to where the buses park but no one seemed to mind although the gendarmes took an interest in what we were doing at one point. I think the buoy and the recently-built concrete plinth are there to help with flow monitoring in the Couesnon river now that the new barrage is up and running. This closes at high water and then opens three hours later. The current in the river during this flushing phase is very strong and I wouldn't recommend anchoring in the river channel anymore (I've attached a photo of the barrage).

A better point to moor up is along side the slipway on the western side of the mount. This is easily spotted and has posts to tie up to. The sea bed there is firm sand with no rocks (I've attached a photo of this spot too). The only problem with the slipway is that the side slopes and has some large nails sticking out of it. As the tide falls I could imagine that fenders would ride up and sponsons would easily catch on the nails. You could always take a hammer and flatten them (they're in a line and there are only a few) but the slipway is next to the police station and I'd imagine the French would rightly kick off if they caught 'Les Rost Beefs' damaging their world heritage site.

We were the only boat to dry out that day. There were quite a few French boats there on the high tide but they all left shortly afterwards. The tide was so high one French guy managed to get his boat inside the gate at the entrance to the village (see attached photo). When the tide came in my boat was knocked about quite badly and the hull suffered a few chips here and there.

Still, it was a lovely day. I've been there three times this year and will certainly go again soon. Let me know if you're thinking of going yourself. I've got plenty of info including way points and tracks and could bring my boat along too if you don't fancy going on your own.