As always, I had read all of the navigation guides and planned our route into the moorings at Honfleur. The first part of the journey went to plan. The sun shone, the water was smooth and we entered the shipping channels of the river Seine about four hours after leaving Caen. When we reached the lock off the river it was high tide so we were able to go straight through into the outer harbour. The time was now 2:00 pm and the town bridge was not due to open until 4:30pm, so we moored temporally against a harbour wall to await the bridge opening.
We got off the boat and were able to check out where we were due to moor for the night. Mooring a boat like Jomima is always a challenge. If you travel too slowly you will be blown by the wind and if you move too quickly you are likely to hit something. With two 265hp diesel engines it is difficult to travel slowly so you have to gently slip it in and out of gear while using an electric bow thruster to try and keep the front of the boat where you want it. The actual visitors’ moorings were right in the middle of a relatively small harbour surrounded on three sides by many cafes with outside tables. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and every table was full of visitors. The bridge lifted and about 200 people were instantly stopped from crossing the bridge. Needles to say, they now had some think else to entertain them. I passed through the bridge without incident and was pointed to a pontoon berth, right outside the main row of cafes, with a finger pontoon in front of me, four rafted boats behind the intended berth and nobody to take our ropes. Again, all of the diners now had something to entertain them. Imagine trying to reverse a car, into a narrow alongside space, with 500 people watching you do it, and you will now know how I felt. I went in nose first, managed to stop (just) before actually hitting the finger pontoon and, by using the port engine in forward gear and the starboard one in reverse plus a touch of bow thruster, managed to get Jomima to move sideways into a position that allowed Ann to jump off and tie us to the pontoon. We were greatly relieved to have made it without, unusually, actually hitting something or having to make a second attempt.
Fortunately when we left the following morning it was a Monday, and fairly early in the morning, so the audience had gone home. A lovely place to visit but you need to practise your mooring technique before doing so.
We got off the boat and were able to check out where we were due to moor for the night. Mooring a boat like Jomima is always a challenge. If you travel too slowly you will be blown by the wind and if you move too quickly you are likely to hit something. With two 265hp diesel engines it is difficult to travel slowly so you have to gently slip it in and out of gear while using an electric bow thruster to try and keep the front of the boat where you want it. The actual visitors’ moorings were right in the middle of a relatively small harbour surrounded on three sides by many cafes with outside tables. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and every table was full of visitors. The bridge lifted and about 200 people were instantly stopped from crossing the bridge. Needles to say, they now had some think else to entertain them. I passed through the bridge without incident and was pointed to a pontoon berth, right outside the main row of cafes, with a finger pontoon in front of me, four rafted boats behind the intended berth and nobody to take our ropes. Again, all of the diners now had something to entertain them. Imagine trying to reverse a car, into a narrow alongside space, with 500 people watching you do it, and you will now know how I felt. I went in nose first, managed to stop (just) before actually hitting the finger pontoon and, by using the port engine in forward gear and the starboard one in reverse plus a touch of bow thruster, managed to get Jomima to move sideways into a position that allowed Ann to jump off and tie us to the pontoon. We were greatly relieved to have made it without, unusually, actually hitting something or having to make a second attempt.
Fortunately when we left the following morning it was a Monday, and fairly early in the morning, so the audience had gone home. A lovely place to visit but you need to practise your mooring technique before doing so.