With the French election underway and the string of frequent security incidents in Europe, France seems to be a bit on edge. In short few days, we were delayed at the airport coming in when part of the airport was closed off for security reasons (unclaimed luggage), then our train was stopped for an hour because there was a security incident and they had to evacuate the train station. And to top it off, our own luggage almost created an event. We left our old empty suitcase on the quay by our boat, thinking that overnight somebody might pick it up (must be a Canadian thing). At about 11pm, I hear a knock on the boat, a French man saying that there is an unattended luggage and he is going to call the police. How embarrassing. So I took the luggage in and next day went to throw it out into the garbage bin. But to make sure I don't create another incident, I made a show of opening it up, shaking it out and placing it open into the bin.. clearly no danger inside. Phew, who would have thought.
Our first sail was much more than I bargained for. We started on a cold early morning in very calm wind, with about 80nm (or about 10 hours) to sail to a little town of Port Vendres on the French side of the border with Spain. As to welcome us to the world of sailing, dolphins joined us, crisscrossing the bow wake for fun. The wind increased steadily but unfortunately not quite in the forecasted direction. We ended up with 25-30knt winds sailing close hauled or on beam all the way.
We averaged 8-9 knot speed (in comparison, our old boat would have been about 6), registering up to 12 knots when surfing the waves. It was a pretty wild ride for the first time on a new boat, with the bow getting buried and waves occasionally crashing over the side into the cockpit. Not to mention that one of the shackles on the main sheet pulleys was busted and somehow nobody told us, so Kuno had to provisionally fix it while underway. Once again I totally underestimated the weather in the Mediterranean. And this became quite apparent when I saw the snowcapped Pyrenees in the background once we got close to the coast. Clearly the northerly wind was going to be cold! I put on all the warm clothes I possibly could and even then I was cold the whole way, sitting under a blanket tucked into the downwind corner under the dodger. But, as I got used to the motion of the boat, I was once again reminded that boats are meant to do this and our new boat felt really solid and safe. So in the end, even though I would have preferred an easier sail to start with, it was a good confidence building trip.
Now we are hopping along the coast
south and its starting to feel like a vacation instead of a work party. We even managed to get in a nice hike along the coast and today we are hoping to go biking along the river Ter. 
There is a bike path that leads about 200km and 2200m up all the way toward the source of the river in the Pyrenees. That would be a great trip in the right direction! But we will just manage a piece in the flatlands.
