Reminder Ariane and Rached board their newly purchased Sun Odyssey in Port-Leucate for a Mediterranean crossing with their 2 children Louna and Maël. With winter just around the corner, they are supported by Jean-Luc, a professional skipper. Ariane who has already unrolled the logbook of the course comes back this time with the often crispy anecdotes of life on board.
What you were not told about the crossing... After this adventurous crossing between France and Tunisia, we take you back to our experience on board, with the children, the teeth growing, the seasickness, and... a waterway
An expert to validate the purchase
More than a month before the departure date, we set up on board our new newly purchased boat. This time spent mainly in the harbour allowed us to clean the boat, evaluate the work to be done, repair what was damaged or defective, and equip it with the necessary safety equipment for a family crossing with 2 young children on board.
For the purchase, we had the boat appraised to protect us from unpleasant surprises. We will see that this approach is essential, but it is not enough, and our experience has shown us that we have narrowly escaped the worst.
A skipper to confirm our training
Knowing little about the sailboat, and planning to connect France (Leucate) to Tunisia in November, we contacted a professional skipper, Jean-Luc, proposing to accompany us on this crossing of the Mediterranean to make us feel secure and coach us on how to handle the boat. His presence was a blessing, allowing one of us to take care of the children exclusively by day and by night, without having to work a shift.
Managing children in navigation
The children had already got used to the small but playful space of the boat, the noise of wind, waves and rain, the stormy nights and windy days forcing us to stay together happily inside this closed space. Nevertheless, the lodging we had from La Ciotat, day and night, was a discovery they had to face. And so do we!
Louna quickly realized that doing activities in the boat while sailing was turning her stomach. She then learned to take naps during the day, on deck or in the cabin, to calm the seasickness that had taken her.
Maël, too, has naturally learned to sleep much more. Breastfeeding was a great way to manage the long and difficult moments of the crossing. But when a wave blew up and slipped this little piece into the cabin, despite my presence beside it, he was not spared from seasickness
You should have seen us, Mael vomiting on the bed, Louna vomiting on Mael at the sight of the vomit, and the 3 of us wading in there to the rhythm of the roll... My stomach didn't last long either before making desperate signs to me...
Each movement became a test to change and clean all this, at night, as the boat invariably continued its chaloup dance. The 2 children, who became cranky, trained in strident vocalizations.
But old memories of sailing in the Irish Sea have made me smile again and allowed me to take it philosophically. Once we were all clean, we went back to bed, huddled together, fell asleep deeply and let the hours pass until the early morning, promising warm caresses from the sun.
Water ingress and sinister crackling on board!
The next day, the sea was calmer, and the sun was shining. Ideal for the morale of the troops, but a strange noise can be heard under the floors. A strange lapping that didn't come from the outside, but from the inside... While I was relieved that the seasickness had left us, I was pale.
I lift one of the floors and find a lot of water in the holds. I keep calm and call Rached and Jean-Luc who is on deck, so that he can see how much water is there.
Unequivocally, it is sea water, salty and full of sand. We operate the bilge pump to remove as much water as possible. We inspect all the through-hulls, lift all the floors. The lodge carries water everywhere. At the moment, we are unable to determine the source of this water.
Moreover, the boat makes a strange crackling noise at the front with each wave we pass over, without us being able to define what the reason is either. We are between Sardinia and Tunisia. No withdrawal possible. Jean-Luc's calm and benevolence allow us to keep our cool. Probably due to worry, I get seasick again. The playful and daring crossing becomes painful and laborious. Fortunately the children are fine and enjoy the sun on deck with their dad. They play together quietly, and Jean-Luc is incredibly kind to them. We manage these double reading hours as well as possible.
An end of the crossing under the sign of anxiety
I try to make good meals despite the lodging and nausea, we laugh together and enjoy the positive aspects of this experience. In parallel, we operate the bilge pump as much as possible. This symbolically reassures us, because we no longer see the actual volume of water entering the sea bed.
The Tunisian coast is in sight. No more question of continuing to Monastir as planned, we choose to take shelter as soon as possible and head for Gammarth.
Relief. Smiling, we take pleasure in imagining ourselves as real adventurers who, finally, at nightfall, will find themselves dry in front of a good chimney fire.
To save time, we operate the motor at full speed. It becomes a real ordeal for me, my ears can't take it anymore, and I fear for the ears of the children.
Fortunately, our bodies have adapted to this context. We spend the end of the navigation sleeping together, leaving Rached and Jean-Luc to manage the navigation... and the waterway.
A challenging experience, but a positive outcome for the whole family
The engine that stops wakes me up: end of the trip. Jean-Luc, equal to himself, with a radiant smile, but a tired face, also shows real relief. He vouched for us by accompanying us on this crossing which could really have turned out to be a tragedy.
Rached has tears in his eyes, moved by what we have just gone through, with these fantastic moments and this worst that we have avoided. Louna, a wonderful woman, has been able to live this experience in a positive way, despite the limitation in activities, the constraints related to the crossing, the safety rules, and the seasickness that she has taken twice. Maël will have had 3 exit teeth during the crossing! They had been titillating him for months, starting to appear without breaking through, and making him sing in the high notes like never before. The relief now is complete
In search of the causes of our worries
We still have to find that waterway and the reason for the suspicious noise in the forward cabin. The dry boat will reveal the damage. Fortunately, our common sense and Jean-Luc's professionalism have allowed us to manage these problems with good reason.
