Continuing from where I left off...
After a few weeks of having a mechanic try to get the old Sabb started and having very little luck, I ended up purchasing an outboard and a mount. Installed the mount and the 6 HP Tohatsu outboard with the help of a colleague and a friend of his during a fun weekend even if there was no sailing.
The next step was 50 miles to Dieppe, all of it under power and with a very interesting crew member. While in Boulogne, I met the captain of a 70 ft charter sailing boat that had been blocked in Boulogne by the Duanes (french customs) because the owner had not paid the VAT on the boat. He agreed to sail (or motor) with me to Dieppe and after several hours of listening to everything I needed to change on my boat, I wasn't terribly upset to not make the next 25 or 50 mile leg to Fécamp or Le Havre on Sunday.
About a week later I returned to Dieppe, this time with a young colleague who had never been sailing before but who was motivated to try. About 30 mins out on a downwind passage of 25 miles, he started feeling ill and never really recovered. Well, that isn't totally true, he was feeling better for about 45 mins when he took the helm and proclaimed, "Je suis marin!" The minute we pulled into the breakwater in Fécamp he quickly informed me that he just couldn't do it anymore and although he was sorry, there was no way he could go out again on Sunday.
That night, the wind blew all night long from the north at about Force 5 and 6. I had decided the night before that I was doing the final leg to Le Havre "en solitaire"! I now think that maybe, just after a couple of glasses of rum, is not the ideal time to make such a decision. In any case, we woke up early the next morning (although I hadn't really slept hearing the wind howl all night long and more than once getting up to check the weather forecast) and I was off. Once out of the breakwater I realized there was no going back. I rolled out the genoa, and the boat was off like a racehorse. We were surfing the waves at times 10 kts over ground (the help of a bit of current) and I made Le Havre (25 miles) in 4 and a half hours. At Le Havre, I learned of my permanent berth and Ceta was 'home' for the first time.