The Montpellier airport was a local affair and we didn’t expect much difficulty hooking up with Ed our English boat broker who was collecting us in a loaner van from the Catana factory.(The average size of French cars would not accommodate all the luggage and likely didn’t have the necessary horsepower to move at a safe speed on the highway). However, our trip was during the Euro cup and apparently the Italian soccer (football) team were arriving at the airport at the same time as us. We happily waved Ed down, loaded our bags, and leaped into the front seat before realizing that the one way traffic had stopped moving. Quick thinking Todd jumped out and started directing the cars behind us to back up and go through the parking lot, so we could do the same. Of course we now needed a paid ticket to exit the gate, so Todd ran back to a payment machine as the other drivers waited at our bumper. We never did see any sign saying the road was closed and there were no gendarmes around to direct all the traffic..we figured they were probably getting autographs from the football team.
The 2 hour trip down to Canet en Roussillon allowed us a look at the countryside and a chance to chat with Ed about the progress on the boat. It was not finished yet but he had been told “they could do a lot in 2 weeks and we would surely be able to move aboard in a week or so”. He did say that the conversion from the charter layout to an owners hull configuration looked very good, and that we would meet briefly with Alan the project manager when we arrived sometime around 6 pm that evening for an update. We had anticipated needing time to shop for linen’s, the bulk of kitchen items, and organize our stuff on the boat, and had planned ahead and gotten a hotel for 4 nights so at least we had a place to stay. Alan had offered to store our luggage in his office so we didn’t have to keep dragging that back and fourth, which was a big relief. There was an auspicious moment when Todd was strafed by a flock of seagull’s as he unloaded the van..it was a good time to get out of the travel clothes anyway!
The first sight of our boat was with it sitting in the slipway with dramatic grey clouds promising rain, and the crane still in position from recently hoisting the mast. The hull looked great, much cleaner than last fall before the “facelift”, and it was easy to imagine the tulip bows cutting through the Mediterranean sea and beyond. We did notice there was an issue with one of the new stays being too short, which isn’t usually a problem as they send the old ones to the manufacturer to use as a template for the new ones. The replacement would be delivered Monday which was also when the new sails would arrive. Apparently one side of the hydraulic lift had broken as it was moving the boat from the yard to the water, but she was afloat and looking fine when we saw her.