The dream started 12 years ago when Martin and I purchased Cornish Piper (affectionately known as CP), our Halmatic 30, a John Sharp design built in Hampshire in 1981. About 30 years earlier, Martin had worked in Sete and dreamed of taking his own boat back there via the cross-country route across France from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. So even back then, the main stipulation in our boat selection was it could fit down the Canal du Midi with a maximum draft allowance of 1.4 m. Twelve years later and with a deadline of the end of May to reach the Med, we finally left our then home port of Marans, France, on 22 April 2022. We hadn’t sailed Cornish Piper since the previous August and we were nervous about the first part of the trip up Le Gironde river. All the pilot books and guidance on entering the Gironde talked about the overfalls and not entering in certain states of weather and tide.
On leaving Ile de Oleron we took advantage of a weather window and legged it out at 9am, heading for Royan. The overfalls and swell at St Denis were a spectacle but nothing compared to what was to come later. Apart from some swell, much of the trip was benign, any wind we had was on the nose so we motored. The biggest excitement was trying to top up the fuel tank in the swell without spilling it everywhere. The sea varied from slightly choppy to glasslike on occasions. We followed the pilot book and avoided temptation to cut the corner on entry to La Gironde channel. We quickly saw why this channel has a reputation; wrecks strewn around. Our photos do not portray the following swell up the Channel, the massive breaking waves on the banks right next to the channel and the resulting corkscrewing from Cornish Piper. Putting any worries aside it has to be said the entry was spectacular and we are proud of ourselves and Cornish Piper for rising to the challenge. We safely tied up in Royan right on target just before dark to enjoy a celebratory drink.
Dropping the mast
We’d decided to leave de-masting until Pauillac, slightly further up the Gironde. We spent five days there and it took us the best part of
