Now that Chloe's in the water it's time to finish up her mainstream kitting out phase and to start testing Chloe out as a sailing boat. Chloe's first sail time has finally arrived!
All her systems were largely in place at the time of her launch so we had to: load up fuel, install a list of spares, load up shore tie ropes, select an outboard motor, select some charts, buy some safety equipment, install personal furnishings & belongings - and of course load up the provisions - all with the related storage systems.
The folks from Garcia were extremely accommodating, professional and helpful. They know they have the best boats out there, for both advanced and budding cruisers and clearly enjoy keeping their reputation as being the builder's of the world's best sailing yachts.
Every little detail of training and explanation was managed perfectly by their team of hand off management & staff. We discussed, defined and had some last minute customizations sorted out for us also. A very smooth process and we very much enjoyed the whole relationship we felt we were building with Garcia.
We also installed the last components that a we had hand selected as non-standard components.
For the RIB, Chloe's outboard selection is a 1Kwatt electric from Epropulsion. It's a follow-on generation of outboard motor with improvements over the slightly older Torquedo outboards. It uses a more efficient, permanent magnet motor and a larger battery. It should push our little 9ft dinghy at about 3 knots for about 3 hours on flat water and run up to about 5 knots at max power, for an hour. We'll write more about it once we have some real data. We chose electric for better reliability & weight and of course pollution. And Yes, we sacrifice power, range and fun that a gas motor would have provided.
We also had to sort out some 3rd party supplier issues. Some of the issues we faced were a dead Halo radar from B&G and a leaking Dinghy from F-RIB. We discovered a very slow leak after 2 days of hanging from the arch - after we had installed her lettering on her "Tender To Chloe". Garcia took it upon themselves to sort it out for us - now it's perfect.
These items took time to fix and re-order but once they arrived, they were installed and tested within a day.
Mean time, we needed a whole bunch of creature comforts.
Dawn wanted to design some thick, dual foam cockpit cushions and backs. She found a lovely lady at a very local, small fabric & upholstery shop in Cherbourg, just a hundred meters away from the Marina - Sellerie Bateaux. We thought a bright red would make the cockpit a happy place to live on a overcast day. We made our cushions from a dual layer of (i) 2-cm of closed cell foam, plus (ii) a thicker 5-cm layer of open cell foam on top. We surrounded the cushions in a zipped jacket of heavy, water proof fabric. A Big Bold Bright red. Peter was told to carry them back and forth to the boat to fit and cut the foam exactly to size & shape.
We very much enjoyed the local Cherbourg sites and way of life in the mean time. We were really getting to know this town. It has something fun that's put on each week.
The arrival of the famous French war ship, Laffayette was one such spectacle complete air cannon fire and a massive fireworks display, right over our heads - showering us with technicolor.
Everyone's yachts on the dock were covered with bits of fireworks cardboard the next morning.
Testing Chloe Out
In the mean time, we took Chloe out for a Spin or two or three... in Cherbourg's harbor area.
Cherbourg is surrounded by a series of sea barriers, arranged in concentric semi circles, leading further and further out to sea. The outer barrier, named the Grande Rad, was built by Napoleon and forms a kind of land mark for the ferry's arriving into Town.
We sailed out beyond the Grand Rad and tested Chloe in about 20Knotts of wind on the windiest day available.
Chloe sails perfectly. Better than we had imagined.
At 16-tonnes of displacement, she is very smooth and steady. Her 2" thick, solid, 10-ft deep centerboard allowed her to hold up to 35 degrees AWA when fully sheeted in. We must admit that we had been slightly skeptical with respect to a centerboard's upwind performance, when compared to a fixed keel boat: however we were very wrong. Chloe's 3 meter board and optimized ballast & hull provided for fantastic performance. As we start to get better at fine tuning her and trimming her sails, we'll start to make some more detailed analysis's of her performance.
Marking up the Reefing Lines
We marked up her Dyneema cored halyards and her reefing lines.
Chloe has 4 reefs available on her Mainsail. The first two reefs are so called 'automatic' reefs or Single line reefs: one reefing line that pulls both the Main's foot out and the Tack down and Forward, at the same time. This arrangement is for simple cockpit operation. The third reef is operated via a double line; a traditional reefing system for bullet proof operation in heavier air. The 4th reef is un-rigged. Only heavy clews installed & available for storm sail rigging. We'll have some lines available for #4, but probably won't be using them too often - who knows, with mankind' pollution driving Climate Change, globals winds are getting stronger on average every decade.
Back home in the Chantereyne Marina, Chloe is docked up next to her Garcia sister ships and some Allures also - being of the same lower hull construction and from the same over-arching holding company - Grand Large Yachting.
Overnight, all of these boats were connected up to 16Amps/240v of shore power along the dock - we instead wanted to test out Chloe's independence from power and fuel. Chloe's powerful Solar panels, 3x SunPower 360Watt, 60cell panels - generated more than enough juice to keep her large 900Amp.hr lithium phosphate battery bank topped up every day. Even in cloudy weather. During this time, we used fridge, TV, WiFi, Internet Switch, hair Dryer, Electric Space Heater and had lots of pots of coffee & tea, heated by her very energy efficient, Spectra, vacuum electric kettle. Chloe's array of LED lights made hardly a dent on the energy usage.
At sea, Chloe will use more power with her freezers and her autopilot, but in turn, occasional use of her hydro generator will more than make up for these additional loads. In summary we feel that Chloe's energy systems design is perfect - for if trying to minimize Diesel burning. So far we have not drained her batteries to below 80%, that, on the rainiest day.
Yes, we did say electric space heating - With a 700 Watt electric space heater. Chloe's 3" neoprene foam insulation creates an extremely efficient space to heat, while also minimizing condensation in the morning. Condensation is so often seen on plastic production boats - leading to all kinds of mold and damp issues. We did test out and run Chloe's Webasto diesel heater too - but really only as a system test and to generate hot water for showers. Dawn loves Chloe's shower as it puts out a great level of water and doesn't drench the toilet areas, as we have seen on so many other boats. Peter's shower led him to conclude, yet again, that he needs to diet. It's only designed for people with will power and slender tummies. Thank God for marina showers!
As initial test sails, we span around the Cherbourg outer, Grand Rad on several day sails and then headed off to near-by Alderney, 30 km or so, up the coast.
We had to time this sail fairly accurately as a strong tidal current, known as the Alderney Race can and does get people into nasty difficulties - especially when the tidal race current of several knots, is running against the wind.
Alderney, is the third largest island of the Channel Isles. It's a paradise island of only 1500 people, or so. A Garden Island full of manicured English gardens, each crammed full of song birds - with wild flowers all over - it felt somewhat surreal and ideal. The small harbor area allows yachts to hook up on a solid buoy for a small fee of 20ukp/night and every 3rd night is free. We could count at least 50 such buoys. Great showers and toilets and lots of nice places to eat, including the well known, Braye Chippy. A short walk up the hill is Victora street in the centre ville of St. Anne, with lots of friendly pubs and little specialty shops selling English bakery goodies, a nice little butcher and various hardware & tourist stuff shops. We discovered two larger stores for general groceries and all the marine services that a fully equipped city would offer.
We hired a couple of electric bikes, right at the Marina - from Auto-Motion - here, the manager was kind enough to tell us all about his Island. Clearly people are very proud of their ideal, zero crime, island, as they have right to be.
We rode our E-bikes all round the island, literally, with a couple of our French friends from the next buoy yacht, trying to get a glimpse of some Puffins, who were obviously hiding in the co-habitaed rabbit burrows at the time. Stopping at a perfect half way lunch spot, 'The Old Barn' - highly recommended - lunch in an English Garden.
Perhaps our best meal during our stay on Alderney was in the Geogian. A pub/resturant on Victoria street with live music and drunken singing. Wonderful.
Alderney is not a bad place to end up, in this life - actually, we could not think of a better ....
Dawn found it a very relaxing place with good internet - to sit back and program her Electric Car App that helps EV Drivers find Hotel's with charging facilities... 'just doing our bit to help the planet.
Next stop : Guernsey. We set off again for a day sail to the next island.. a very different place.
