I left Cannes Sunday afternoon and made it to Sainte Maxime, right across the bay from Saint Tropez. I anchored and had a good night sleep. The weather forecast was for a mild S.E. wind. But it turned into a real nasty plus knot SW. Right on the nose. At first the seas were still reasonable but once I came around a cape the waves became really wild. The auto pilot nor the wind vane could handle this so close hauled motor sailing so I hand to hand steer. This makes watching the charts down below very difficult. At one point I was not making any headway and the boat was galloping like a bronco, I was about to turn back. There were just no hiding places along the way for the wind direction. I finally made it into Toulon at 8 p.m.
Toulon is not much to look at. It was all rebuilt after WW II, the Germans bombed it and when they retreated they destroyed the rest of it. It is the main French Naval port. The “Mistral” amphibious assault ship lays right across the marina.
Tomorrow morning there is supposed to be a force 6 N.W., so I might wait that one out, however the “Meteo” has lost most of its credibility as far as I am concerned.
-
- Toulouse, “Fleetwood” on far left
-
- The S.W. corner of the bay of Cannes, near St.Rafael
