With Trave being approximately 10h away, we had gone to bed with the resolution to get going at around 9:00 with the begin of the locks’ operating hours. Well, the day would develop quite differently from what we had planned. Here the (arguably overly exact) chain of events that unfolded.
| Time | Event |
| 8:26h | Felix was deeply asleep and felt no joy in waking up or let alone in getting up |
| 9:00h | We had a quick breakfast |
| 9:25h | We loosened the ropes and headed for the first lock — lock #16, Écluse de Gray. Only 30 minutes late – not too bad. There were other boats in front of us, so we lined up and waited. |
| 10:00h | We had ascended and had cleared the lock |
| 10:03h | We had left the city center behind us and had entered the industrial zone in the periphery of Gray. |
| 10:07h | We were abeam Arc-les-Gray. I was taking photos of these interestingly looking silos wondering what they may contain … |
| 10:09h |
… and then it happened. The engine made a muffled sound and then it stopped. We sprinted down to the cabin and tried restart the engine to no avail. I turned the ignition key 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 more times, but the engine did not kick in. I had heard this sound years back when a car, that I had rented, almost run out of gasoline and I barely made it to a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the tank was empty. I went back up to the helm on the upper deck. We drifted in the middle of the river. There were no other boats in the vicinity. We were in a distress situation, but there was no immediate danger. At 10:14h, I called up the rental company and informed them about the breakdown. They promised to come immediately. I was worried a bit that a big barge might turn around the river bend with us being in their way without control. It would hence be good to bring the boat ashore somehow. There was a mole about 30 meters away in front of a plant with a bunch of silos. But without propulsion it made no difference whether the mole was 20 meters or 2000 meters away. We continued to slowly drift downstream towards Gray. We looked around for something that we could use as an oar or a paddle. Felix suggested to use the gangway that was tied to the fore deck. I had no better idea, so why not giving it a try? |
| Around 10:15h | I went to the bow started to use the gangway as a paddle while Felix kept the direction with the bow thruster. Slowly, the boat turned towards the mole. |
| 10:20h | Still rowing… |
| 10:22h | I could not believe it: Still rowing… |
| Around 10:24h | The sun was really intense. And I started to feel exhaustion and needed a break and a drink. |
| 10:26h | Rowing… |
| Around 10:28h | Still rowing… The distance to the shoreline had noticeably shortened. I ask Felix for a quick foto of me with the gangway paddle to have prove for the posterity. He refused suggesting to concentrate to get ashore. igf?ds(/)§fs!azifef$ — ok, then back to rowing.. |
| Around 10:32h | Something completely different: Rowing. We had neared the mole to about 5 m… |
| Around 10:35h | We had reached the mole. Felix climbed onto the quay wall and we tied the boat to bollard. We then opened up the engine compartment. There was nothing obvious that would explain the malfunction. At 10:38h, I placed another call to the rental company to inform about our exact whereabouts. Madame Julien, the owner of the company, told me that a rescue team was already on their way for help. |
| 10:45h to around 11:15h | The team arrives. After exchanging 2 filters to no avail and more checking, the root cause finally became apparent: Diesel plague — bacteria living in the separating layer between the water and the diesel. The bacteria had developed a bio film that clogged the fuel line. The guys promised to come back with equipment to clean the tank. We started cooking. |
| Around 11:40h to around 12:30h | Change of plan: Lunch had to wait. The team was back — much earlier than expected and with a reserve canister containing 20l of diesel. The idea was to fix the canister into the engine compartment with some elastic straps. This would enable us to continue to Savoyeux which was about 4 hours away. The rescue team would go back by car and prepare some auxiliary tanks that would be swapped against the reserve canister upon our arrival. This would minimize our downtime and allow us to continue our journey towards Trave without loosing to much time. |
| Around 12:30h |
We were back on the river with the propulsion restored. Felix on the helm, myself in the kitchen preparing lunch. |
| 13:19h | We were in the second lock of that day: The lock #15 — “Ecluse de Rigny”. |
| 14:15h | We entered the lock #14 — Ecluse de Vereux to continue our ascend upstream. |
| Around 15:45h | We entered the lock #13 — Ecluse de Savoyeux. There was a German sailboat in front of us that was heaved around heavily by the water rushing into the lock. One time, it was heavily tossed against the wall of the lock. Sometimes it is good to be second… |
| 15:54h | We had cleared the lock. |
| 16:10h | After some waiting, the signal lights indicated our permission to enter the tunnel. |
| Approx. 16:25h | We had cleared the tunnel and arrived in Savoyeux. |
| 17:03 h | Installation of auxiliary tanks finished. Car checked — windows were closed. |
| Around 17:15h | We left the harbor of Savoyeux. |
| 17:55h | We passed an auxiliary lock that is only used at high water levels. Lock #12 near Ferrières-lès-Ray. |
| Around 18:15h | We entered lock #11 — Écluse de Charentenay. |
| 18:52h | We passed lock #10 – Écluse de Soing intending to spend the night at the jetty of the camping ground of Soing. |
| 19:23h | We arrived at the camping ground and realized that all places were taken. As the locks had stopped operating at 19:00 h, there was no option to go further upstream. We had to look for a place “in the wild” — without electricity, running water, internet and all the other amenities. |
| 20:26h | We found an opening in the trees lining the shore of the river and managed to come ashore carefully not to damage the boat. We tossed a rope around a tree and hooked up its ends to the boat. There was virtually no current, so this was enough. |
| Around 21:30h | The sun had set. There was the distant sounds of shots. I hoped that those hunters had better eyesight than the average hunter in Germany and did not mistake us for deer or rabbits. |
| Around 22:30h | By now, it was dark. Some stars were twinkling in the unobstructed sky. Nature had come to a standstill. All the noise from birds, frogs, insects and other animals was virtually gone. It was quiet except for the chortling sound of fishes coming to the surface and the occasional bangs of the shots that ripped the quietness of the night. Reassuringly, they were still distant. Well, no reasons for any concerns — but I am just a city guy… |
| Around +1day 4:00h | Felix passed by my cabine with his blanket to not spend the night alone in the wilderness — apparently he is also a city boy… |
