Albin 25 AK

Last year we took a cruise at sea and found it overcrowded. As I unfortunately cannot take holidays outside school breaks, we thought that maybe the canal would be an alternative. More over we wanted to explore living on board Albina.

We already brought her back through the canal when we bought her 3 years ago, but we made so many changes that this time the cruise would be different.

We decided to take a slow departure and took 2 days in the harbour to load all the stuff necessary for our 4 weeks’ cruise (mostly food and drinks). Our first navigation would only last a couple of hours, a trial run!

We were used to intensive boating on canals, as we were running an inland waterways rental base, and moving meant for us bringing our boat (on which we lived) as quickly as possible from where we worked to where we would be working the next season, but this time we would take it easy, just like tourists.

(Pics of higher resolution you find in the Mega Picture Gallery)

(By Laurence and Patrick Deschamps)

(16-05-2008)

Albina:
A 25 Motor sailer, Hull #1350, built in 1972, imported to France the same year.

We’ve been living on a boat for more than 10 years, but as our children grew , we had to move ashore and settled in the south of France in Camargue.

Last summer, we decided it was time to prepare our “retirement”, as the children would leave in a couple of years, and were searching for the ideal boat for the two of us.

A small boat, for small troubles, and cheaper mooring fees, not too complicated to service, able to cruise as well at sea as in inland waterways, but comfortable enough to live on board.

After “surfing” a lot on the web, Albin 25 was a serious option, and we were prepared to go north to visit A25 for sale, when we discovered Orphée II, lying less than 200 Km from were we live. The day we visited her, and the decision was made in 5 minutes. YES…..

First necessary kit was loaden on board and on Sept 12th, we left the harbour of Gruissan/Barberousse to bring her back to Beaucaire. Her previous owner was sad as he saw her leaving, but on board we were happy and stressed. We’ve had choosen to bring her back along the canal, not the shortest way, but the safest for a boat you don’t know well…Moreover this canal cruise is superb, and spending more time on board did please us.

Our first navigation was at sea from Gruissan to Port La nouvelle, 8 nautical miles , not long enough to pull the sails….The weather was very sunny, no wind, not much waves.