27km up the Villaine River is the town of Redon.
The Villaine River that has upon it Arzal Lock, Roche Bernard, Rieux and is considered in some unkind parts as England Sur Mer. But this far up river is a different thing altogether. Proper French France.
Having travelled up a number of rivers in my life, I have never ever seen a river to compare with it. Two and a bit things made it particularly special - the first is that after Arzal Lock there is no tide and almost, almost no current whatsoever. This means that there is no rise and fall to worry about so the depth is the depth. If you park your boat somewhere, subject to wind there is no drift and so where you leave the boat is where you will find it.
The second thing is that for a river it is delightfully consistent in depth throughout. Almost 4m depth which makes it an absolute joy to navigate up.
The third thing (of two) is that it is absolutely blindingly beautiful, adorable and delightful.As well as being almost entirely unused and so you can traverse the length of it and see no-one. It is therefore assuredly a place where you can travel up it and not need to share it with anyone.
I know of nowhere else can you go up a river in a yacht with Willow and Oak trees lining each bank and cows down at the river bed drinking bovinely. Where else can you determine to just anchor within ten feet of the cow feeder!
Oh and finally all the gunk on the hull and propeller, all the fouling, snuffs it and drops off. A free scrub off.
The river is deep right up to the entry to the Redon port where it reduces to under 2m and so we have to scuff in through the soft mud which has built up there.
Once in the port there are finger pontoons both sides
28/8
After a few days of R and R it was about that time to go out with the intention of heading towards Lorient. However it was such a still day that the opportunity was irresistible to me to visit Les Iles de Glenans home of the renowned eponymous sailing school.
Proposed and actual route
A gentle motor put to sea and I joined the early morning throng on the way including a couple of French fishing boats that thought it rather fun to slalom me back and forth one to the left and the other to the right and vice versa. Well was on holiday so what the hell I just ignored them and let them cut me up nonchalantly.
Arriving at Glenans there are many mooring options and I chose the one with the least traffic just off the beach at Ile de Penfret
The water as almost clear and this was close to achieving one of my long held ambitions. To anchor in water clear enough to watch the hook all the way down. Well a blurry view as it hit the sand anyway.
Glenans Iles de Penfret
Anchorage
I enjoyed a late coffee and a baguette and had a lovely swim. The hull needed a check to see how the fouling was doing and I wanted to check the propeller and rope cutter which both looked pretty clean and fresh. I took a dive down to check the anchor which was sat gently nudged in the clean sand.
After drying off it was decision time, either stay and enjoy the afternoon or head further South with a target of going to St Piriac Sur Mer which was about four hours away and could be made on the evening tide.
I lifted the anchor and sailed off the mooring sedately past the relaxed boaters and off to the South. It was a hot day with little wind and an obvious opportunity to dig out the cruising chute. The sniffer was hoisted and it was simplicity itself to trim the sail and see it in its full glory for the first time.
Chute
Happy bunny
It was most relaxing to ghost along at 4/5 knots with the wind on the beam for the first time this holiday. Of course good things and wind have to come to an end and sure enough after about 90 minutes the wind dropped and so the snuffer was dropped and stowed away and on went the engine.
As it was quiet I had been below and been doing the washing up. I awarded myself the Muppetry award for leaving the tap on and flooding the sink top and the fridge!
At 16:30 our position was just South of Iles de Groix making over 6.7knots according to the log heading for the Pointe de Quiberon.
I had decided to pass on Lorient as it seemed to me to be again still rather busy so elected instead to go around the pointe to Port Haliguen where I managed to find a slot on the long pontoon inside the entrance for the night which was indeed rather warm.
Arrived at 20:13 note to self remember Port Haliguen is 44 euros in Summer I.e. Before the September change, not to be used unless absolutely necessary!
I have been told that Poole harbour is one of the biggest natural harbours in the world! Well watch out because the Morbihan rivals it easily.
The harbour has according to the guides approximately 60 islands and many ports marked as anchorages on the chart which the pilot books have not yet caught up with number of mooring buoys that have been laid to fill the gaps.
Notwithstanding this there are still plenty of potential places to quietly anchor for the day or the over night.
Much talk is made of the aggressive tides within the harbour, however having visited at the end of August it was neaps and so we were less bothered by current. The approach to the Morbihan is also relatively straight forward so long as a good watch is kept of traffic and the plentiful collision opportunities offered.
What certainly amazed me on approach was the coast number of small motor boats containing les pecheurs who drift around on the tide casting their lines with abandon and when satisfied will then zoom off without any care for vessels around them. It made me smile to think of the offence taken by vessels in the Solent when a motor boat trundles past creating wash. Well if we're more experienced in le facon Francois we would certainly complain much less.
It seems that everyone in France has access to a boat and at the end of August they were all out.
Navigating seul abord and keeping a watch is exhausting in this whirlwind. Fortunately in September everyone disappears back to work and the Morbihan returns to a more relaxed style that suits the exploration of the islands.
Having entered the Morbihan without a detailed plan I was then challenged to find a place to stop over, not for lack of choice you understand, more because there was a nagging feeling that around every corner might be a spot even more beautiful.
Eventually I picked up a buoy that had lines covered in green slime and looked untended. I found aas a relaxing spot to rest for the evening without the need to go ashore. From the chart it was described as Arradon which now has a marina, ironically just around the next bend! A quiet night in a buoy was very suitable and in fact I stayed for 24 hours before deciding to
explore Vannes.
Vannes is the main city of the Morbihan created around a gentle mix of architecture, Breton stonework leads via meandering lanes to Tudor style timber framed buildings and attractive squares and arches. It is a fine place to spend some time people watching, when I first went there it was a little drizzly.
Reading pilot guides and magazines is great prep, but it can fill one with great trepidation The Chanel de Four and the Raz du Sein are two such places that strike fear into grown men, there be dragons here!
Renowned for the challenging conditions in strong winds and with tide running against the wind, has generated a fortune in lighthouse photographs
Chenal de four
Of course one might be terrified of the Needles and the Alderney Race likewise. Yet we transit those places many times with planning, care and preparation so that is exactly how I treated these dragons.
The time of departure from L'aberwrach was set for 05:30 which allowed us to approach the Chenal de Four just as the ebb was commencing . As we left the river we were able to see the true landscape in good visibility and it brought home the pressure that we would have felt had we but known a couple of days before. Sometimes relative innocence is bliss!
The weather was again sunny and with little wind so fog was always a worry, particularly now we were inducted in the oceanic tradition of this coastline. As we worked our way westwards we were aware of the increasing rhythm of the Atlantic Ocean as the swell took over from the channel chop. By my estimation the swell has a wavelength of about 12 seconds. It was a very different sensation even on a still day to be riding up and down the "houle de mer" translated as sea swell. This is the wave action that is generated over thousands of miles of fetch, born out in the Western Atlantic that has almost completed its journey to impact the coastlines of Europe or perhaps to continue all the way up the English channel to merge with the channel chop.
Rounding towards Ouessant in the sunshine we were able to stay relatively close to the mainland coast and watch the few small inhabited places on the Western most part of France. We could clearly see the island of Ouessant in the good visibility as we jumped on the South going travelator to the sunshine.
It was pleasant enough to to leave the autopilot on and sit on the foredeck to watch the world go by as we almost effortlessly were squeezed like toothpaste further south. It was not long before we were able to see the Rade de Brest appearing which would have been a delight to explore but now we're in the outside lane of the motorway we were not going to pull over.
Chenal de Four
In fact we were so much in the outside lane that we were approaching th islands on the western side of the channel and had to be careful not to get shoved down on to their drying rocks off the lie de Beniguet which could easily have spoilt our weekend!
Soon were were through the Chenal and looking towards the Raz as our next major waypoint as we passed Morgat and the Bay de Douarnenz to our East. The weather was still holding bright with only a gentle North Easterly developing and so we continued motor sailing in the Sun.
A couple of hours later we were knocking on the door of the Pointe de Raz and all was looking rosy, however it seems that we had made rather too slowly on our progress and the tide was at this point flooding North and was starting to slow us down. What started as a slight irritation, quickly became a big deal as we increased engine revs to punch ourselves South against the tide which was by the minute increasing in strength. At this point an option would have been to tuck into Douarnenez and wait out the next tide but we could not afford to lose another 6 hours and so we forever our way through the wind was now south easterly and with full sail and max revs we eventually crept to the south of the Raz until a point where we could cut back in to the bay of Audierne and hug the coast line which we did by tacking in once we felt we had enough clearance my to get sucked backwards into the Raz.
at 12:00 After avoiding by the skin of our tooth the suction of the Raz we leebowed the tide on starboard tack up the Bay of Audierne with a hope that we would be lifted around the bay. The autopilot was set to follow the wind angle and each time we got a lift of 10 degrees or so we got a warning to reset the pilot. This worked for about three hours and then the wind dropped and so it was back to the engine to keep up the pace.
At 16:30 we were off the Pointe de Penmarch, having worked relentlessly to the South against the adverse tide and looked forward to making around the Pointe in order to make for Benodet or Glenans if the weather forecast supported it. Unfortunately the Meteo from all directions pointed towards a level of Swell which would make it less comfortable so we bore off in a weakening wind towards Benodet which was fetched at 19:50.
As the Capitainerie was shut we fetched up on a mooring buoy off the office for the night, it was found out next morning that the buoy was not managed by Benodet Marina and so we moved onto the pontoon and since we could not find a recipient for the mooring fee it went into the boisonnerie (drinks fund).
Bridge at Benodet
Benodet is an enjoyable place to have a sojourn and the town is a short walk along the sea front with a very pleasant beach. Across the river is Sainte Marine which is a picture book village and has a ferry which runs back and forth to Benodet. Not much to do there and the walk around town takes approx 15 minutes and then I caught the ferry back and exchanged photos with my daughter in Melbourne via FaceTime. How the twenty first century works!
Getting used to early starts now, this one was 06:30 as we motored out of the marina we took the opportunity to fill with diesel, although the Coop bank decided to throw a spanner in the works but luckily called me soon after terminating the request for fuel and I was able to get them to reenable the card, they are efficient at this stuff - the problem being that the unmanned fuel kiosks always take a payment for the max volume allowed and then if one uses less it gets credited. This does make the bank jump when they see a fuel bill for €350 and they smell a rat. Anyway the slight delay allowed the ferry to arrive and we were easily released from the marina. It was a good morning with a high tide departure to travel inside the Isle de Batz before turning further west. This also save about 3 miles as well
Batz channel
We followed a Russina yacht in and were surprised when he stopped right in front of us. We motored gingerly past wondering whether he had somehow grounded, however it appeared that he wanted to play follow my leader and once we were passed he followed us out turn for turn. The channel is easily navigable and will marked with a spectacular causeway leading to the launching ramp for the fisherman which looks to be at least a third of a mile long and wide enough for one vehicle. How on earth the French determine whether to launch or recover is anyone's guess and I bet there is some fun mid summer. So out into a pretty windless sea and a gentle turn onto a Westerly course with L'aberwrach about 35 miles away we motored along the coast which after Roscoff is not so picturesque. After an hour or so it became even less pretty as visibility dropped to 200m and then down to 100m or less. This is where the toys really earn their money. Having put the chart plotter in the cockpit allows the helmsman to keep a look out using eyes, ears and radar with AIS. The chart plotter can track targets and sounds an alarm when any vessel visible approaches within a defined distance or time.
Heads up
The digital radar was able to see reflections for targets as small as fishing floats and where a vessel had AIS it was able to use both radar and AIS to superimpose the radar blob with an AIS target and warn of the closest point of approach CPA and time. Sounds ideal don't it? Unfortunately if an hypothetical vessel were to be a French yacht without radar, without AIS and in this case without lights or fog sound signals it could sneak up unseen. As one did passing close down our port side. I am not sure who had the biggest look of surprise me or them. It goes to show that stupidity will always beat preparation hands down. Either way as fas as they appeared, they disappeared astern and I thanked my guardian angel for her good will. There was not even the faintest blip on radar for a 35 foot yacht. Be warned. The next challenge was to make the entrance of the channel at L'aberwrach without going to far and without planting the boat on any of the many rocks which would be daunting in good vis. This required some careful pilotage with waypoints, the use of the autopilot to track minimising XTE or cross track error and relying on it to keep as out of trouble whilst eyes were peeled to avoid French fishing boats of all sizes. In addition much use was made of the fog horn just in case. Our sounds were all we ever heard!
A Safer approach to port
The echo sounder was also used to make sure that were where we thought we were and traces of target reflectors ahead of us were carefully tracked to determine whether they were coming at us or moving away. Who says boys can't do more than one thing at once? Approaching point 5 on the waypoint list the fog lifted to reveal a sunny day and a rocky terrain with a number of sailing school boats out having fun.it was a good thing I did not anticipate that as I would probably have run away. It was easy to follow the channel and not hard to observe that the French had moored a large customs cutter slap bang in the middle of the channel. End to end it seemed to leave about a boat width to squeez past, hey ho after all we had been through this ain't no thing! Seascape was able to be moored up inside the breakwater in line with all of the advice researched. The alternative to moor on the channel side had been commented as most uncomfortable by all authors. As we arrived the Douaniers were climbing all over a French boat alongside us, they politely stopped and picked up our lines. When I asked if they wanted to come on board they politely demurred. It was interesting to see that of the entire crew, few actually knew how to tie a line around a cleat , the French customs seem not to worry much about boat handling. Perhaps they rotate people in and out of the office, nice job! Shopping in L'aberwrach is limited so the local bus took a tour up to Lannalis The neighbouring village which was only 3 or so km, but UP the hill and so the bus seemed like a better idea than walking. Having taken the easy and pretty route, it was only a few minutes until the bus driver notified the bus customers (3/4 of us) of our arrival. We walked on into the centre of town which took about eight seconds to find the Spar which was located in a small space two garages wide! Well they at least had bread, cheese and ham so not all bad, 12 minutes after it was time to mooch at the bus stop waiting for the bus back. Pretty but small Brittany.
Up early for departure at 06:10 from Lezardrieux before the dawn which in August is getting ever later. A quiet departure from the river and out to the channel with a target of getting to Trebeurden approx 30 miles West.
The journey down the river in the near dark was somewhat anxious as the marks were sometimes lit but the moored boats were somewhat less obvious. Anyway the coffee was hot and breakfast of croissants with cheese and ham were warming so it could not get much better! Leaving Brehat the sun rose behind us and the see looked like flowing lava in our wake . It looked a little hellish but rather spectacular.
Molten lava
The sun rose into a rather lovely sunny day, albeit with little wind and so we motor sailed towards Sept Isles passing the point at which we had turned back earlier in the week and making much better progress. The tide was now ebbing and we were making a good 7k in the right direction and we were sailing now which was lovely in a SSW 3/4 almost on the nose but just freed enough to be enjoyable.
At 09:30 the log was update to read N of Sept Isles and at that point it was decided that Morlaix would be a stretch destination and save a day.
14:30 the tide was still pushing us along but would soon change so we tacked inshore to try and make the most of any back eddy. Sure enough as we headed inshore the tide started running East again and we had to punch it into the Morlaix estuary heading for Roscoff/Port Bloscon Marina. The visibility was closing in with some rain and so it was handy to watch the Plymouth ferry in order to eyeball the entrance to the marina which is where the ferry port has now moved to. In fact the ferry moors in the outer harbour which is closed for arrivals and departures. As we entered the marina the tide was rushing through it and we had to turn the boat to stem it and wait for the rush of boats to ease up and the young HM to point us to a mooring which he did in a positive but not always helpful way when asked which side to put the fenders on, he replied "as you please". It was now raining quite hard as we manoeuvred into the finger pontoon which was slippery, narrow and did not have a cleat on the end.
Since this is a new Marina it would be nice if the fashion for hoops on the end of pontoons was declined in favour of a good old Walcon cleat to chuck a line around. Hoops are the devil to use when single handing and not much easier when crewed.
50 miles sailing and only 3 hrs under engine. It was now 16:30 and Roscoff was being entertained by a weekend of fetes and so it was a quick change and a wait at the bus stop by the marina for a scheduled bus.
Unfortunately the awaited bus never came and luckily the rain did stop so it was a twenty minute walk into town to see what was left. By the time the quay came into view it was clear that most of the crowds were departing and hemming in the bus which was still trying to escape and the stands were being dismantled so it was off to a very nice wine bar on the front for a well earned glass of red wine and a bit of people watching. Notably the local speciality being a middle aged guy who imagined himself as a bit of a Johnny Depp character and made free with chatting up any female in range by standing in their way, a technique which was refined but not effective as it was obvious that ladies heading for a cigarette would bypass him forcibly on the way outside. Johnny needs some work on his technique je crois!
It was time to begin the voyage South and get to commit to going round the bend, well Ushant would do for now. So we slipped lines after filling up with fuel at Boatworks in st Peter Port the last place to get duty free diesel at a fab 57 litres for 34 quid! we had to wait for clearance over the sill for the Victoria Marina so departed at 11:40
By 14:45 le Roche Douvres was in sight, the wind of course was on the nose backing from WSW to SSE the boat speed under engine was now reading 9k and it was time to recognise that it had recalibrated itself or rather it had developed a grandiose exaggeration. So I reset the log to track SOG which grout it down to a more manageable 7k. We enjoyed a fine lunch courtesy of M&s of breadcrumbed and battered sea food (hurray for 3 for £10)
At about 16:30 we were well past Roches Douvres with about 14nm to run to the mouth of the Trieux where we arrived at 18:35 announced by a huge wind veer as a warm front came through the temperature rose. By 20:00 we were all neatly tied up in Treguier wi the log stating 28792 a trip log of 75 miles including the extra logged miles.
Solitary Cruising instructor heads for the Channel Islands
Evening
At some point one gets itchy feet and it is time to up sticks and head out to sea before gets too comfortable And so it was on 13/8 that Seascape was off towards Guernsey single handed this time and in a high pressure atmospherically making for a sedate trip. Wind was force 1-2 and so a departure at 11:00 suited the tides for an intentional ride south down the Alderney Race. In fact I left a bit earlier having finished my rewatering chores and so with no rush, Seascape and I pooled along the shore again. This time we stayed un peu a Nord just to prove that once bitten is enough.
Omonville
En route I decided to poke my head into Omonville La Rogue while I waited for the tide to kick in. There were a number of steel white mooring buoys in place for visitors and a couple of nice restaurants were visible. The buoys have rings on top but are without pick up buoys. They all looked like they could be a bit rolly as they were on the East end at the rather exposed end of the harbour. I would not wish to be here in any Northerly wind quadrant whatsoever.
At 13:50 We were off Cap de L'Hague and riding the tide south with no real wind to speak of.
At 15:30 the tide had only kicked in enough to give us 7.5 k over the ground and we were east of Alderney making reasonable progress. It looked like the negative tides are stronger than ever but the positive one are shy today! At 80:00 after 35 miles we arrived in St Peter Port and moored up alongside the non walk ashore pontoons in a relatively busy harbour. A French charter boat moored up alongside us and we later discovered that it's grotty fenders had scoured a long scar in Seascapes starboard beam as it tied up. At the same time a French Ovni attacked from the bow and was only just fended off from driving its anchor through the pulpit as the crew stood at the bow with a line disconnected at both ends and told me calmly that he was awaiting an order from his skipper instead of tying one end around a cleat.
Needless to say I was somewhat firmer and told him to xx£&@ tie one end on and let me get the other round a pontoon cleat to slow the metal ram down. Why is it that there are many excellent French Yachtsmen doing exceptional things in yachts, particularly the Vendee, Little Bretagne and the Jacqueline Vabre but so many charterers who should never be allowed to float. How come the charter companies seem to hide all the fenders?
An uneventful trip to St Piriac on approach we were welcomed by a leisure motors fishing boat preceded by a host of 6 or so dolphins also on the hunt for fish.
Following the marks into the port I noticed there were quite a lot of racing spinnakers still some 3 miles behind me and thought nothing of it until entering the marina and being told that there was no space because of the Tour de Bretagne. Ah!
I crossed over the sill an hour before high tide and after a short wait it appeared that they HM preferred to get me out of the way in the marina than to send me back out into the way the racing fleet. I thought the HM was going to help me by nudging me into the mooring pontoon and prepared all of the lines and fenders and manoeuvred in. As I turned around to speak to him, he had disappeared! So much for my helper. Unfortunately this put me off my stride and I nudged the bow into the walkway which really annoyed me. Had I been prepared I would have been happy to single hand in and take my time.
Piriac Sill
Lesson learned, trust no one , particularly professional assistants with a short attention span.
We had a day in Cherbourg to have a nice meal and show Charlie the sights. Over the meal we discussed what we could do next to make the most of Charlie's holiday. It was proposed that a trip to Alderney would be in order.
8/8
We had a lazy start the next day and I worked out the tides for a trip across the Alderney Race which is ideally approached for a crossing at slack tide. (The Alderney Race is renowned for its fast flowing currents and rough waters so respect is called for).
We planned our departure for a couple of hours before HW Dover to give us time to get along the coast using a little back eddy to help us inshore between Cherbourg and Omonville.
It was a beautiful morning we decided to ease along and sail as far as possible which turned out to be a mistake as today would prove not to be a day for loitering. The wind was North Westerly today and we had to squeeze along the coast on a tight Starboard tack. On the positive side we were able to see the villages and sights along the way in the light wind. On the negative side this pushed us in towards a couple of headlands and their associated turbulent water not the least of which is Basse Brefort which we travelled through in a damp fashion with the boat pitching up and down into some large chop which ordinarily we would have been to seaward off.
I was most grateful that we were in a well found vessel who could withstand the shaking about. Even so we got a couple of green ones along the deck.
We pushed out towards Alderney skirting the Cap de l'Hague and taking some more green ones for our trouble.
As we got into the Aderney Race the wind increased and the swell accordingly, as we were about a third of the way across we hardened up the Genoa sheet and something went quite wrong. The drum literally flew off and the O ring headed for the scuppers, these new winches less than a year old had failed. We reassembled the winch after taking the load off the sheet, just as well I always teach my students how to do a rolling hitch!
Lo and behold it failed again, this time the O ring bounced in the scuppers and went overboard to howls of disbelief from us both.
That's blown it
We managed to jury rig the little spinnaker winch to take the load after a while but it did not bode well for such an expensive failure in a relatively moderate wind.
What was worse was that we had spent so long dealing with the sheet winch that we were now no longer squeezing up north of Braye but we're approaching the shore from the East and the tide was starting to ebb southwards sending us to Guernsey if we were not careful.
The next hour was not an experience I would want to repeat, ever!
We started the engine and throttled it up as far as I dared and sailed the boat as hard and as close to the wind as I dared. As we got nearer to Aldreney and approached .Pt Quenard the tide started to ebb even faster around the headland.
We were less than a quarter of a mile from the North channel but the tide was sucking us South at an incredible rate. At one point we had 9 knots on the log speed and zero knots on the Speed over Ground and what was worse was that directly behind us was opening up a set of whirl pools from hell with standing waves that it looked like we were slowly going to reverse ourselves into.
Keep calm and carry on
Sliding down the Race
So what to do......
If we carried on then surely we would slowly get sucked backwards into the morass. If we turned and fled we would drive straight into it.
The other option was to oh so gently manoeuvre a little sideways in an attempt to find slacker water and inch towards the North channel where the tide was starting west rather than South.
I took a while and it could have gone either way, but eventually we pulled ourself out of the quick sand and got into the West going channel and relative safety.
Heading into Braye harbour we found a mooring buoy close into the harbour wall as the other buoys further out were occupied by a number of boats rocking and rolling in the swell which in my experience is becoming a bit of a thing on my last few visits.
So we had a bit of lunch and then of course the swell reached is with more than a little tenacity. Patience is in short supply when being rocked from one gunwale to the other. After 90 minutes of this rigmarole we collectively decided that enough was too much and made plans to head back to Cherbourg as soon as the ebb eased so we tucked in for a snooze until later.
Heading out of the washing machine in Braye into the tumble dryer just outside the harbour at dusk was as pleasant as one might expect.
Once clear of QuenardPt again we were then just into the wind against tide of the race which was lumpy and on the beam for a while. All in all not going to be the best day's sailing. Sorry Charlie!
We made it back to Cherbourg in the dark with an increasing Westerly wind and the tide behind us making 10 knots over ground which at least shortened our purda.
Oh how we laughed after a bottle of wine and a hot meal, 55 miles to end up where we woz! That night a gale went through unforeseen , what a pleasure to lie in my bunk and hear the whistle of the rigging and be neatly tied up in shelter rather than bouncing around a mooring buoy.
It's been some time since I updated the blog and this is due to a lack of focus and plenty of diversions to deal with.
Just like being at school when I was too late to complete my homework, the backlog has become a beast that needs taming!
So Seascape is now in Brittany in a town called Redon living through the winter on board and being surprised by the rapid approach of Christmas so time to catch up and describe how I got here and perhaps why - so here goes...
Chapter 1 Departure from the Hamble August 6th 2016
The Autumn was approaching fast and I had spent a summer learning to teach both Shorebased and Practical yachting by way of a number of Day Skipper and Competent Crew courses in the Solent. Its fair to say that I learned as much as I had taught and it was a rewarding if tiring exercise intellectually and physically, teaching up to 9 days solid on a combined course of 4 days theory and 5 days practical.
When I say solid we are talking at least 18 hours a day but that is a whole story in itself. So lets stick with the great people I met throughout the summer and the laughter we shared that will last for a long while.
So having finished my last contracted course in August I finally got to focus on departure and with the plan to head south to Cherbourg as the first leg of the voyage I contacted a few mates and erstwhile students who had expressed an interest in joining me at some point.
It was Charlie a dinghy instructor and now qualified Day Skipper, who answered the siren call, luckily for me.
Charlie was able to extricate himself from a myriad of other exciting commitments to offer me a week of his time and drove down from Sheffield via a number of other towns where he had compelling reasons to pop in.
Charlie arrived in the Hamble on Sunday night just before midnight and loaded Seascape for an early start the next morning.
Seascape sailing under Genoa, Staysail and Main
Tides were well timed for an "east about" the island departure with a South Westerly wind (naturally) so with newly scrubbed bottom and victuals stowed, at 06:00 we sailed up the Eastern Solent on a Monday morning early with all our white canvas aloft - that is Main, Genoa and Staysail. We certainly looked the part and romped up to Ryde in double quick time. After fiddling around with the log impeller for a few minutes off Wootton.
The speed was registering well in excess of 7 Knots and the tide was giving us an extra tow so we made Bembridge without delay and decided to tack up the Eastern shores of the Island to clear southwards for Cherbourg. The wind over the island cliffs was playing interference though making the wind direction more southerly than we would have liked so we had to motor sail to get clear of the island.
East via Bembridge
We quickly left the shores of the Island behind and enjoyed a close hauled sail towards Cherbourg working hard to use every opportunity to squeeze up on Starboard tack as the wind veered back to South Westerly. This is where the Autopilot earns its passage. Using the wind pilot mode we set a course to stay at 35 to 40 degrees to the wind and as the wind frees we squeeze up. We started at 200 degrees and managed to eke out another 20deg. to 180M which kept us near enough to Cherbourg with a contingency to St Vaast if all went the wrong way.
The wind remained in this quarter for the remainder of the voyage but weakened when about 15 miles North of the French coast and so we had to motor the last couple of hours into the marina allowing for the tide to change and keeping us up on the right side of it.
We arrived at 20:00 BST and the log read 28604 (94 miles logged) and enjoyable sail for most of the way despite the wind direction and the drop at the end. Engine hours 5.
A boat is for using and I would not wish you to think that I do nothing but renovate, renovate and renovate.
As you may remember launch was in July which had delayed the big plan to head south for this year, so the revised plan was to shakedown by sailing locally and then increasing the distances as we resolved teething issues that might need some additional support.
An early trip to Poole provided a very nice challenge with weather as we raced to get in before a summer gale and monsoon, we wanted to visit the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Poole and visit friends and so we did victualling and refuelling at the yacht haven at the RAFYC.
Looking down from the PPYH
We almost missed the heavy winds and rain but not quite as you can see Seascape performed admirably in conditions where the wind gusted over 30 knots she was forgiving and graceful just as we had hoped.
We made it into the RMYC and enjoyed a lovely weekend of hospitality.
On to the Channel
Immediately following the first trip we took some holiday and headed towards (Never "TO" which would be presumptive for the superstitious) The Channel Islands and Brittany. For those that think the travelling across the channel is an anxious trip take a look at the video where you can see we sailed across from Poole to Cherbourg in perfect sailing conditions. Seascape romped along in the conditions easily making in excess of 7 knots and providing an exceptionally comfortable and fast trip to France arriving relaxed and very rested which was very satisfying indeed.
Frances took the opportunity of hoisting the courtesy flags, first upside down (International sign of distress) and then the correct way up!
From Cherbourg we replenished our wine stocks at Normandy Wine warehouse and Carrefour and headed off to Braye Harbour on Alderney.
Rainbow over Braye
Storm coming
Sunset
On Southwards
After a lovely stay in Alderney where we walked around the port and had an early beer in the Divers pub (us still on French time - whoops!) they were relaxed so I doubt we were the earliest drinkers at just before 11am. Next morning we had an early start to catch the tide down the Swinge towards Lezardrieux in Brittany.
It was a truly spectacular trip leaving in the early morning before sunrise and catching the most beautiful of sunrises off the coast of Alderney was very special indeed.
Almost
Morning
The Big Russell off Guernsey
Our voyage down to Lezardieux was productive, if not too exciting with quite a lot of motoring, but we arrived and decided to take a look at La Corderie a location which we had seen and would dearly have loved to anchor in.
La Corderie
Unfortunately many there had already blessed their presence and the last thing I felt comfortable doing was anchoring in a confined space with the risk of grounding on our first foreign trip so we headed off up the river to Lezardrieux and took a berth in the marina.
Lezardrieux berth
After a restful evening we went up to see the market and take advantage of a lovely restaurant for lunch. The market had some lovely Breton musicians playing their pipes and trad music which entertained the crowds and we enjoyed as ever perusing the various stalls selling fish and seafood and beautiful fresh veg not forgetting of course the bread and patisserie.
At the first opportunity we headed off to sit outside the restaurant on a lovely warm day and had a lunch that was truly divine. Lunch was extraordinary, starting with amuse bouche of tuna that was coated with a mix of salt and sugar followed by oysters and a fish stockpot to die for.
The oysters were immaculately shucked and after the meal I went to ask the proprietor and chef what the secret was as well as to thank him for a truly memorable lunch. The secret to opening oysters , well now I am inducted I am not allowed to say !
Lessons
The following day we decided to head for St Quai de Portrieux , as we were preparing to leave there was the sound of heavy footsteps on the pontoon and we observed almost a dozen douaniers Approaching with intent. We casually carried on shortening lines and the. I casually asked them if they wished us to stay. Luckily they were more interested in the Jersey bound yacht alongside us and bade us Bon voyages.
Without hesitation we left and motored out of the beautiful river towards the east.
Once offshore we enjoyed a sail which continued to exceed our expectations, on a broad reach the wind increased from a gentle force 2 towards a high end 5 and Seascape just picked up her skirts and flew faster and faster, without fuss or drama we were tramping along at speeds that we had not experienced on a yacht previously. In fact we kept checking the log against the GPS in case the instruments were cheating. From 7 knots we soon achieved 8.5 and then topped 9 with a whoop. It was like surfing a jumbo jet, soon we were topping 10 and unbelievably at some points we hit 13knots AMAZING
If you don't believe me see the video below to experience what she feels like at speed.
It's been a while since I added any content and there is a backlog, so I thought I would provide an update on the quest for beds and comfort.
I like my sleep and since I spend much of my life doing it, I cannot excuse an uncomfortable bed and neither can my back and hips both of which express their views with vigour when otherwise ignored.
The bunk cushions on Seascape have been used to varying amounts and they all share the same issues, firstly they are made of closed cell foam which is only 4 inches thick and secondly they are arranged in a mosaic as they need to be removed for access to lockers underneath them. As a result of the mosaic they have *fiddles to keep them in place and stop them sliding all over the cabin.
*Fiddles are wooden edges to tables etc that stop your kit sliding off a table when it isn't level, they are attractive , functional and a right royal and real pain in the arse when you sit or lie on them.
So the quest was on for a comfortable (k)nights sleep. Trips around the boat shows proved that there boat bedding companies providing mattresses, of course marine pricing was the equivalent of purchasing the ground floor of a shopping mall - prices ranging from £300 plus to well over £1000 per cabin.
We have 4 cabins worth and so we hesitated and pontificated for some time.
In the meantime I looked for cost effective options that would give us a good night of sleep without having to lie awake because of the price! After much web browsing and looking at camping and caravan sites. I came across a German product called Froli Mobil, it provided an additional layer under the bedding rather than an expensive replacement and could be bought in modules that could be added as needed once we passed the testing phase.
The U.K. seems to be a bit sparse on suppliers and so I emailed a German camping shop and they provided a product using Froli which they call Berger Sentina Mobil. A bed of 180cm x 90cm costs in the region of 120 euros as a boat does not have regular shaped rectangular beds there is the possibility to use a one bed pack top make up a boat double with a bit of juggling. As it was I used three packs to do two double cabins with a few modules left over as spares.
A picture paints a thousand words so let's look at it
Froli laid out in the aft cabin
Mattress back on top
As you can see Froli is based on a matrix of plastic components which can be connected together on a base that clicks together in squares. The colours show the stronger more resilient petals (yellow), the regular petals grey and the little red elastic bands can be used to create even more resilience in the petals for areas such as hips, arse, shoulders where a little more support will be appreciated .
The original cushions are laid back on top of the Froli matrix, you can see the fiddles and why lying on them is not a rewarding experience, the good news is that the Froli matrix lifts up the cushions like a mattress and let ventilation in underneath which boat owners and campers will know helps greatly in holding back condensation.
Fiddling requires the gaps between the cushions to be filled with a little something and currently I am exploring solutions including using foam pipe insulation to cover the fiddles and provide some padding.
I am also trying to source the half sized petals by communicating to the Germans as the importers in the UK seem not to know anything about them.
Results so far have been excellent, at a cost of less than half of redoing one cabin the two double cabin beds have been totally rejuvenated providing a luxury way beyond expectations, no creaking, less condensation and warmer. Still left to do is to ventilate the plastic cushion cover bases which are not breathable and therefore do not assist ventilation from the foam cushion.
So far we have had very comfortable nights of sleep and great satisfaction we have also recycled the bunk cushions and saved money too. I would rate Froli as a decent 9/10 so far.
Zzzzzzzz
