This is a great interview that I had with Jules who I met in Croatia in 2011. Jules and his wife Vanessa spent four months sailing through the French canals into the Mediterranean. We talked about his trips through the French  canals. He gives us some great pointers and what is needed to qualify for sailing your boat through the French canals as well as some design constraints for those wishing to travel the French canals to the Mediterranean. I learned that my boat is not going to be the ideal boat to travel through the French canals it needs to be a shallow draft boat. Jules boat has a center board which can be lowered and raised at which makes it ideal for both cruising the French canals and sailing in the Mediterranean. We then continue the interview by talking about his 5 years of sailing in the Mediterranean. If you want to get Jule full story of his sail through the canals right away here is the link: Pluto's Travels Through the French Canals This is a photo that Jules sent me of us tied up together where we met in Mljet, Croatia Jules is allowing me to post various chapters of his adventure on my site the first posting is https://www.medsailor.com/canal_cruises/