Yesterday the boat was hauled out of the water. The French have their own ways of doing things which defy most laws of logic and a dry dock is no exception.

One of the boats coming out of the dry dock (one staying, two leaving), had a deeper draft than the flood water rises too. The yard has an interesting routine to over come this problem.

They flood the dock as much as they can. Then they manoeuvre a rather large barge’s stern up against the dry-dock doors and use the propeller’s  ‘wash’ to pump water over the dry-dock walls (like a lock gate).

When it is full, they manoeuvre the deep draft boat to the doors and haul it up – one end at a time! –  over the doors with a crane, assisted with the extra water.

It is quite fascinating to watch. We’ve hauled out in a plethora of different docks around the world, but this was our first experience of a dry dock.

With over 600 HP and 38 tonnes held by two lines and a small work boat, just be glad you are not tied up in front of the bow of the barge used to raise the water level.

Take a quick look at the sequenced pictures (below), you’ll see what I mean! The first picture is the large barge manoeuvring into place (to become the “pump”) – the last picture (blue boat) is the boat hauled out stern first, by the crane.

Surveyor tomorrow. . .  all being well . . . pictures will follow . . . I can hardly contain myself!

 

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