Departure Date  24th June 2009

It seemed at one stage that our departure for our summer cruise would have to be postponed as Glenis and myself went down with the worst colds we have ever had. Our liferaft was meant to be ready by the end of May but we were still chasing it a few days before we left. Then the Marina called to say that an alarm had being going off all weekend on our boat. A quick dash down the A38 to Plymouth to investigate only to find that the Gas alarm had decided to activate on its own leaving our batteries  completely flat. Fortunately they were not ruined

Destination – Salcombe

We decided to sail to Salcombe as our launching point for crossing the channel, firstly because it would be a nice short trip to get us back into sailing mode, and secondly it would make the crossing a little shorter.  The wind was blowing from ENE F4/5 occ 6 so a direct course was not possible.  In fact it took 7 hours to get there and what should have been a 17.5 mile trip, due to wind direction and tides became a 30 mile trip! 

25th June Destination Guernsey – St.Peter Port  Distance 73 miles – Departed 05.30 – Estimated arrival time 19.30

Wind was F5 gusting F6 and blowing from SE.  The sea was quite lumpy and not very pleasant as we were close hauled, but we were well reefed on both main and genoa and Quarante handled well.  As the day progressed the wind shifted more Easterly and so we were able to slacken off the sheets and the sail became more comfortable.  We made good time and arrived at St. Peter Port at 17.30, tired and happy to have made landfall in good time.
We decided to try out our new folding bikes for the first time. Previously we had always hired bikes but we found this to be very restrictive with shop opening and closing times. Now we had the freedom to explore the island at our leisurely pace. We reckon that they will have paid for themselves by the end of the summer.

Two nights in Guernsey and then off to Jersey but no wind of any description so motored most of the way. Half way there dense fog descended just as the annual race of eighty four yachts from Jersey to Guernsey was about to pass us. We had just upgraded our radar before we left to the new digital version and I must say it proved to be extremely good and as we passed the stragglers, yes you guessed the fog cleared!
The wind rose to about 6 knots and we decided to try our cruising chute, although we had  the chute for nearly seven years we have only used two or three times, it just always seemed to much hassle to get it up from fo'c’s'le and the time it took just to rig it the wind was usually gone or too strong. On this trip we started out with it already rigged on the deck with the sheets in place and tied to the guardrail. This seems to have sorted our reluctance to use it. Hoisting is now down to about five minutes and improving from about forty five minutes when we first started, definitely a success story.

We arrived at St.Helier at 17.30 unable to enter the marina until high water because of the sill.  We rafted up on the waiting pontoon until 20.00.  Dinner was a bit late, but with free electricity gave me the chance to use my new George Foreman grill – its great for kebabs!  Sunday gave us the chance to use our bikes again – they were a good idea.

Monday 29th June  Destination Lezardrieux – 50 Miles

Arose 07.00 to be met with fog.  Listened to radio Jersey who announced fog patches would clear by the afternoon.  Clearance of the sill was at 09.15 and by 10.30 the fog had cleared, so we left and motored out of St. Aubins Bay through the Rock Passage.
The wind was W/NW 4.5 knots.  We continued under engine until 16.30 when the wind increased to 11knots and hoisted the cruising chute.  The tide did very strange things today turning from SE to S to SW – nothing like the tidal atlas. I checked and re-checked my calculations but could find no mistakes.  Arrived at the marina at 19.45.  Remembered to change to French time and hoisted the French flag and our new Breton flag.  It is quite a beautiful spot here, and peaceful.

Tuesday 30th June

Staying put today to do some shopping and try to sort out problems with our new generator.  It had begun to show overload with no load being applied.  Our contact in England put us in touch with the main agent, who talked Ronnie through correcting  the problem.  The only thing he couldn’t check was that the correct voltage was being produced, due to our multimeter being broken.  Another job which should have been done before leaving the UK !  We then tried to use the ‘free’ WiFi connection at the capitainerie, but after frustrating attempts, no luck.  Then Ronnie went up the mast to check out the tricolour light as it did not appear to be working – only to find the light cover had disappeared!  The bulb is still there and working.  What a day!  Poor Ronnie was exhausted.

Wednesday 1st July  Destination Trebeurden – 37 Miles – approx 7 hours

We left Lezardrieux at 05.30 so as not to fight the tide in the river, and left through the passage Chenal de la Moisie.  The wind was E F2/3, so no sails.  We called our friend Johnny, who is sailing in Brittany too and said he would be in Camaret on Friday.  We really wanted to meet up with him so this sort of changed our plans.  We thought we would miss Trebeurden and go on to Morlaix tonight, then L’Aber Wrach Thursday and Camaret Friday.  At the point where we would have changed course for Morlaix, we changed our minds again and decided to head for L’Aber Wrach, it was mid-day and 35 miles away.  This would give us extra time to get to Camaret in case of adverse weather.  The winds stayed low all day, so we motored all the way.  We arrived at the Libenter bouy and turned to follow the markers in.  Visibility was not great.  We arrived at 19.00 and met by a marina person who showed us where to berth.  We had travelled 73.5 miles.  I had tied the fenders at boat height as I expected to be rafted to another yacht, but there was space on the pontoon and as I had to be quick getting lines and fenders ready, I forgot to lower fenders.  Fortunately conditions were calm and two very friendly people helped us to berth and held Quarante off while I lowered fenders.  It was a long day.  The tides did not seem to behave as they should have again, is it me?

Thursday 2nd July  Destination Camaret via The Chenal du Four  Distance 38 miles – 7 hours

I have to get the tides right today!!  I calculated that the tide would turn South in the Chenal du Four at 13.37 and would run until 19.37.  After fuelling up we left L’Aber Wrach at 11.20 but there was fog and drizzle.  Was this wise, I thought to myself.  We decided to continue cautiously.  At the Lebenter marker another yacht called Chantrel came up close astern and called to ask were we going through the Chanel, as he was.  We agreed to listen and keep in touch on Ch16 and Ch77.  It felt a little more comforting that there was someone else doing the same thing.  The fog remained and we both kept a good look out as well as monitoring the radar and chartplotter.  It was not very pleasant.  We encountered a very small fishing boat and had to manoevre rather smartly, but he seemed totally unperturbed.  At 13.50 the fog began to lift, thankfully.  We had been in our oilskins up until then.  At 15.00 we passed the Chenal du Four light and the fog lifted completely, just in time – phew!  We even had enough wind to raise the sails.  We negotiated this notorious channel with no problem using the paper charts, pilot book and hand bearing compass, but had the chartplotter on as back up.  We arrived in Camaret at 18.45 and while berthing onto a pontoon we just clipped the anchor of another yacht on our toe rail off the port quarter.  I think the wind gusted at the wrong moment.  We apologised and the owner inspected for damage, but there was none to his yacht and just a slight mark on our toe rail. Camaret was a friendly place and we were blessed with really nice weather over the few days we spent there.

Friday 3rd July

We met up with our friend and as he was fluent in French we went in search of a new tricolour for our masthead. Despite going to three different chandleries we had no success.
We were berthed fairly near the mouth of the marina and about 10.30am Ronnie was standing at the stern of the boat when a 60ft motor boat with extremely high sides was making his exit from the marina and heading straight for our yacht. Despite Ronnies best efforts to warn him of the pending disaster he took no notice and duly crashed into Quarante. Fortunately very little serious damage was caused except some deep scratches and a dented exhaust outlet.  We duly exchanged names and addresses and got his insurance details.  Fortunately there were many people who came forward to offer themselves as witnesses.

Saturday 4th July

We had a day off today, and took a walk out to the Pointe de Toulinguet.  We have made a few friends and all had dinner together.  Weather seems to be deteriorating, gusting F7 tomorrow.

Sunday 5th July  Camaret to Brest
Enjoyed a good sail in winds of F3/5 and went into the new marina which had only opened about three months ago. It has huge facilities for visiting yachts with free Internet access in the main office. This is where I sent you, Martin, our first email report and I was very impressed that when I started to type in your email address and got as far as ‘Martin’ the rest of your address came up automatically. Obviously well known in these parts!

Monday 6 July  Brest to Port Launay

Monday morning my friend went and got the tricolour and as the forecast was for winds gusting up to F7 we decided not to venture out of the Rade de Brest but to go up the river Aulne as far as Port Launay.
We left the Marina with a F6 and gusts of 28 knots across the decks and headed to the south east corner of the harbour to start our journey up the river. This where our friend took the photo of us sailing and you will notice we were well reefed. The river soon started to narrow and the countryside became more flat and open. The scenery was stunning with small cottages in some very remote places. We passed a graveyard for old naval warships which were just left to rot which you can see in the photograph below left. It was very eerie and looked a bit sad. We next passed under a high bridge, which at one time looked like our mast would hit the main structure, too late to change our minds so we closed our eyes and hoped for the best. It was just an optical illusion and all was well. We had double checked the height before hand and we had four metres to spare. Our chartplotter started to do some funny things like showing that we were going over the motorway and through fields, my only comment to Glenis was to make sure we were driving on the left hand side as we were now in France! Just before we reached our destination we passed through a lock and moored up shortly after, at the delightful village of Port Launay and stayed for two nights. Our friend then fitted the new tricolour, which took over two hours as the wiring had somehow been cut somewhere in the mast. Fortunately there was a spare wire which solved the problem. In the afternoon we cycled to the nearest town of Chateaulin which was as far as boats with a mast can travel. We were very pleased to have decided to moor up at Port Launay as the town was very noisy and commercial.

Wed 7 July  Port Launay to Douarnenez

We cast off at 1700 hours with the intention of anchoring just before the old warships so that we had a good start the next morning on our voyage to Douarnenez.
Just after we entered the lock an Irish boat was approaching the other side of the lock and dropped his dinghy painter in the water and got it wrapped around his propeller. As soon as the lock keeper had thrown the Irish boat a rope he returned and we passed through without further drama. We reached our chosen anchorage and let down the chain but noticed the windlass was not operating in the ‘up’ action. As I had let out 40 metres of 10mm chain I was not looking to have to do it by hand the next morning. I put off the problem solving till the next morning, had a nice dinner with our friends and enjoyed a good nights sleep. Next morning I got up two hours before our departure in order to sort the windlass problem and had a thought that it just might be that the plug was not making a good connection in the socket. I found a small piece of emery paper rolled it up and cleaned out the four plug holes. Luck was on my side and it worked first attempt. I was tempted to go back to bed but resisted and just sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We re-entered the Rade de Brest. A favourable wind of  F3/5 was blowing so being cautious we put in a reef in our Genoa and Main and headed for the Chenal de Toulinguet. This is a very narrow channel with rocks both sides so it was a bit scary but we were through it quickly. Our friends on their Rival 41 hoisted their cruising chute but we thought the wind was a bit too strong for us. The wind continued to increase and soon we were achieving 7.4kn though the water, shortly after our friends took down their chute and hoisted their Yankee. We continued across the bay until we were directly north of Douarnenez then gybed  and ten minutes later we entered the marina.  It was 15.45 and we had travelled 39 miles.

Thursday 9th July

We decided to stay in Douarnenez today to do shopping and visit the maritime museum.  We encountered a very nice lady in the tourist office who helped Glenis with her French and directed us to a really good poissonerie, where there was another very helpful man who advised us on our purchase of some delicious fish.  Our two Irish friends came to dinner for the last time as we were parting company the next day.  We had a three course meal, they cooked prawns and Glenis cooked the fish and made a dessert which involved lots of brandy and cream!!  We went to bed rather later than intended,  but it had been a great evening.

Friday 10th July  Douarnenez to Concarneau via the Raz de Seine – 52 miles approx 10 hours

We left Douarnenez at 07.30 whilst everyone else was still asleep.  We slipped past our friends and motored out into the bay.  It was 15 miles to the Raz de Seine, and after doing my tidal calculations we needed to be at the start at 10.00 am to catch the last hour of the tide going South.  I thought it would be good to have some tide helping us through, rather than wait until slack water.  Winds very light again and Westerly, so on the nose.  We motored along the coast, and as we approached the beginning of the Raz fog descended !!  Fortunately it cleared again fairly quickly and we never lost sight of La Vielle and La Plate lighthouses.  We followed the instructions in the pilot book and found that we were doing 10.5 knots in the racy bit.  Once through, the wind was on our starboard quarter but still too light to sail so we continued to Penmarc’h under engine.  As we changed direction for Concarneau the wind was dead astern and still too light to try the chute or even goose-wing.  We were pretty tired of the engine at this stage.  Then as we neared our destination  the wind increased.  Sods law or what!!  While we were sailing in the channel to get to the marina, I was tying on the fenders ready for arrival but did not realise one had gone awol until it was too late to turn back to look for it.  We arrived at the marina at 18.00.  We had travelled 60 miles.  Dinner was steak done by ‘George’ (he’s getting good at this) and was really good with mushrooms, onions and potatoes. Before we left England we bought the George Foreman Electric Grill and it has turned out to be very useful as free electric is provided in all the French marinas we have visited. The bonus is that we save on bottled gas. We also bought a small one litre electric kettle which is great.

Saturday 11th July to Sunday 12th July

Concarneau is actually on an island connected to the mainland by a drawbridge.  It is quite bustling and pretty, with small streets packed with gift shops and cafes.  Very tourist orientated.  We explored a little and found a chandlery to replace the fender I had lost on the way in, and an internet café to catch up on e-mails.  We found our bikes very useful, but this time it was to transport some wine back to Quarante!  After ‘George’ had cooked us another delicious dinner we took a stroll across the drawbridge again for an evening nightcap, which was a mistake as it cost 15euros for 2 coffees and 2 calvados!
We have decided to stay another night as strong winds and rain are forecast for tomorrow.  They had already arrived by the time we went to bed.

Monday 13th July  Concarneau to Port Louis at Lorient – 30 miles approx 6 hours Wind SW F3-F5 increasing to F6 later.  Rain

Got up at 07.00  We were going to get fuel before leaving, but after inspecting the set up last night, it just looked too dangerous to even attempt it.  We left under engine, and at 10.00 there was enough wind to hoist the sails.  We were getting a good 5 knots of speed and had a good sail to the channel to enter Lorient.  We had decided on Port Louis as it seemed quieter and more interesting than the other marinas in Lorient.  After much confusion on my part as to exactly where to go, we just tied up in a fishing boat berth, while I ran up to the capitainerie to get further instructions.  I was met by a member of the staff, who told me that the marina was closed for renovations and we could not stay.  We beat a hasty retreat, being very careful as it is was low water and  quite shallow around the marina.  We headed across the channel into Kerneval marina.  There was no problem finding a berth, though we had to have two attempts as the wind was a bit gusty.  We arrived at 15.00.  Latest on the Navtex is for F7/F8 tomorrow. We just realised that tomorrow is Bastille Day so every thing closes and as we had only a little food on board we made a quick dash to the supermarket  which was about a mile away. We were both rather tired so we did not venture out after dinner and had an early night. As the F8 was confirmed today we decided to stay another night and visit the town of Lorient three miles away on our bikes. Not having a map did prove a slight problem as it took over an hour of hard peddling only to find we had taken the long way round! A quick look around the centre and after a spot of lunch we headed for the marina, which only looks after the large racing yachts and has an exhibition dedicated to Eric Tabarly. This marina was formally the Submarine base for the Germans in WW2 and still has the Pens in which they were housed. We thought we would go on a guided tour of the fortifications only to find it was a walking tour of the car park, we gave up after forty minutes. There may have been some inside viewing later but by now we were both rather cold with the strong wind and bored. We found the short route home it took only twenty minutes. As the forecast was looking better for tomorrow we decided to go across to Ile de Groix a short journey of 6 miles.

Wednesday 15th July  Lorient to Isle de Groix – 6 miles

The fuel berth in Kerneval marina, Lorient was easy to access, so we decided to top up the tank with fuel there.
We left the fuel berth at 11.00 for Port Tudy on Isle de Groix.  We had been there before on our earlier trip with our friend Johnny from Ireland, so knew how to enter and where to go.  It was only a short distance and the wind was on the nose so we motored with the main sail up to keep us steady.  There was a big swell and we were glad to be in the shelter of the island.  We arrived at mid-day and were able to berth in the marina rather than on the fore and aft moorings.  After lunch we took the bikes out and rode into the countryside.  It was a beautiful day, and we found an internet café to catch up on e-mails. 
Ronnie turned on the new tricolour at the top of the mast only to find that the port and starboard colours are in the incorrect position!  Good job he checked before we needed to use it.   It was too windy for him to climb the mast, so it will have to wait for another day.  We have decided tomorrow might be a good day to leave for the Quiberon Peninsula.  We need to leave by 07.30 to enter the Teignouse passage at slack water as it can be rough there.

Thursday 16th July  Isle de Groix to Port Haliguen on the Quiberon Peninsula – 26 miles

We checked the Navtex for weather when we got up, but it did not look promising with winds of F6/7 forecast so we decided not to go, and Ronnie went back to bed.  I was not convinced as the forecast was a day old.  I had breakfast and wondered what to do.  I took a walk out to the breakwater and the sea looked very calm, a few yachts were out and motoring as the winds were light, but I realised that may have been because the island would have given shelter.  I made a cup of tea and watched the sleepy port waking up.  A fishing boat was in and local people were going to it with shopping bags and coming away with huge fish that would have kept Ronnie and me going for a week – must have been Tuna, I think.  A little while later, I saw marina staff around so thought there might have been a forecast at the capitainerie.  Sure enough, it was there and looking much better.  The morning was forecast for ESE winds F3 becoming F4, with 1 metre swell.  The winds were going to increase to W F5-F7 in the night and Friday WNW F6 gusting F8.  If we didn’t go now, we would be stuck in Port Tudy for a few days.  I ran back to the boat, and Ronnie had just woken, so we decided to make haste and leave.  It was 08.30, and knew it would be a rush to make the tidal gate as we were now an hour later leaving.  We had 20 miles to do in 3 hours.  Again the wind was on the nose F3/4.  We had to motor straight there to get the last of the tide and slack water to go through the passage.  We were sorry we didn’t have time to sail, as it would have been good sailing.  We reached the marina at Port Haliguen at 13.15.  It is the most expensive marina we have visited yet, at 40 euros per night!  Many yachts came in later and were rafted 3 deep.  The wind increased greatly and by the time we went to bed, it was gale F8.  We checked our ropes and doubled up on some.

Friday 17th July - Port Haliguen

It was a wild night!  I am so glad we were safely tucked up in a sheltered marina.  The forecast for today is F8 gusting F9.  We took a walk into Quiberon and down to the other side into Port Maria and the sea looked very rough.  Quiberon is a very attractive town, looking typically French with lots of street cafes and a great fish shop.  The marina has internet access, with one computer which everyone was queuing up to use for long range weather forecasts.

Saturday 18th July - Port Haliguen

Another wild night.  The forecast has moderated a little with winds from the NW and F7 at first, then backing W/SW F5/6 with gusts and rough seas.  We have decided to stay another day.  We need to leave early again to negotiate the Teignouse passage back.  The forecast for tomorrow says the winds are easing again.  We have warned our French neighbours, who are rafted on our outside, that we will probably be leaving at 07.00 tomorrow.  Although I didn’t understand his reply, I could tell by the look on his face that he was not too pleased!  Ah well, C’est la vie!  The weather has deteriorated so much now, and there are more lows out in the Altantic waiting to move in and give us more bad weather that we have reluctantly decided that this is as far South as we will go.  We will head for Isle de Groix tomorrow and then there are just 2 more tidal gates to negotiate, the Raz de Seine and the Chenal du Four.  Once around the corner onto the North Brittany coast we can take our time visit the ports we missed on the way here.

Sunday 19th July - Port Haliguen to Ile de Groix

We got up at 0600 hrs, called the Frenchman, on the boat on our outside, and I must say that his mood had only got worse and apart for a few grunts there was no other communications with him. We set off for Port Tudy 27 miles away. We motored down to the Teignouse passage which was a little rough as the wind was from the west and was wind over tide. Once through this tidal gate we were able to the set full sails and head for Port Tudy. A little later we could see some squalls ahead so we reefed down well in time before they reached us. We were not so lucky with the rain as the heavens opened just before we reached the Port. We were shown to a berth in the marina which was the same as on the previous visit. We were safely all tied up by 12 noon.
I went up the mast again to see if I could sort the problem of the tricolour light, I took the glass cover off and came back down the mast. The problem was that the lugs were of different sizes so that it could only go on in a certain way. The solution was to make all the lugs the same size, which I managed with a small hacksaw blade. Up the mast again and without further ado it fitted without a problem with all colours in the correct direction. After dinner we went for a coffee and a couple of calvados at a reasonable price of 11 euros.

Monday 20th July - Ile de Groix to Concarneau

The next morning we headed for Concarneau at 0730 hrs - 26 miles away.  The wind was very light F1/F2 but there was quite a big swell from the north west. Glenis felt very queasy and was unable to eat breakfast.  She quickly took some Kwells but the motion was too rolly and she was very nearly at the stage of putting her head over the side. As we rounded the Penmar’ch headland the swell subdued and Glenis started to recover. Two ginger biscuits and an hour’s sleep and she was as good as new! About 5 miles from our destination, fog descended for a short while and was then replaced by rain as we approached the marina. We arrived shortly after 12 noon.
After lunch we went to the supermarket, partly to buy food but more important to get some more of the wine which I had bought on our previous visit.  But alas they had sold out of that brand so I had to take pot luck on a different type. Glenis is convinced that the boat is starting to list with the amount of wine we now have on board but I am sure it is just her imagination, or just maybe she has had one too many! We have now resigned ourselves that we will not be able to visit the Glenan Islands as the weather is not settled. Before we left England I bought a wifi aerial for our very old laptop and was assured that with this gadget I would have no problem in hooking to the internet but no luck. I have only managed to get online once and then I had to stand in the car park to receive a signal. Next year I suppose a new up to date model with built in wifi will be required.
In the berth opposite us there was an English Moody 34 and Martin its owner was working on his laptop, so I managed to get a full update on the weather and discovered that gales were forecast in 48 hours time. The next day we decided to make the short hop to Port la Foret, 4.5 miles to the west.

Tuesday 21st July - Concarneau to Port La Foret

We stayed just one night in Port la Foret. The weather forecast at the Capitainerie confirmed the bad weather was imminent so we decide to make for Loctudy the next day. This was to be our hopping off point for the Raz de Sein.

Wednesday 22nd July - Port La Foret to Loctudy

Shortly after we set off, the wind strengthened and rain started to fall. The marina at Loctudy was very large and we were met and directed to a berth. I misunderstood the information given and while I navigated toward what I thought was the berth, I realised my mistake.  I hesitated just as the wind strengthened and I lost my steerage as I was going too slow and found myself starting to turn 180 degrees. The space between the two lines of pontoons was just wide enough to turn the boat but not before we had some very close encounters with other boats. It was at one of these moments that Glenis tried to fend off the pulpit from hitting the stern of another boat that she caught her fore finger and squashed it badly. I managed to get the boat back out into the general harbour, but by now Glenis’s finger was bleeding profusely.  She ran down below, grabbed a load of tissues, came back up on deck and we tried to berth again. This time we managed okay and quite a few people were on hand to help. Once we were safely tied up Glenis went down below and very nearly fainted with the pain in her finger. Fortunately I did not hit or damage any boat thanks to Glenis’s action of using her finger as a fender! There were a lot of British boats adjacent to us and they offered their medical supplies.  Our friend Martin on his Moody was also there so we kept in close contact with him and got the latest updated on the weather. The gales lasted for the next three days so we stayed put, which gave Glenis’ finger a chance to start to heal. We met up with Martin and his wife for drinks under the guise of discussing the weather.  We discovered that they keep their boat in Plymouth as well, but in a different marina.

On day two the rain stopped, so we took advantage and took the ferry to visit IleTudy. It appeared to be a sleepy place with not a lot of people about but very scenic with a beautiful beach.  We stayed for about two hours. While we enjoyed the visit, we were happy to get back to the mainland. We then decided to explore the old part of the town and the fishing harbour. We were sorry that we had not gone there sooner as it is a working fishing port and it was possible to buy the fish direct from the trawlers, there was a real buzz about the place. We carried on up through the town and found an internet site and as soon as we logged on I crashed the whole system. I made my apologies and we got talking to the owner who had lived in the US for a time and although was a local by birth spent his working life in Paris. I further found out that he used to visit London on a regular basis and used to stay at the hotel which I managed over a number of years, what a small world! We thought that we should get an update on the weather from our friend Martin and were invited for drinks at 1800 hrs. The weather looked good for the passage through the Raz de Sein departing next morning at 0640. We had to get the tides right for this as it can throw up some huge seas and fast tides.

Loctudy to Cameret via Raz de Sein Saturday 25 July

There were numerous other yachts leaving that morning all bound for the Raz.  Our friend Martin had already left as he did not have a very big engine and was worried that if he had to motor he might miss his ‘slot’. As it happened the wind was very light and we motored the 36 miles to the Raz, on the way we encountered a pod of dolphins who unfortunately only stayed a short time with us. We entered the Raz in perfect conditions, calm seas and the sun shining. I said to Glenis that I didn’t know what all the fuss was about, I think the pilot was just being cautious. We learn’t later that a yacht which came through three hours after us had a very rough and unpleasant journey! We continued motoring due to the light winds and reached Cameret at 1600 hrs. We arrived just before our friends, helped them to moor up and were promptly invited to drinks on their yacht. These drinks were now becoming part of our daily life and the weather seldom discussed, but it did help in the coping with the very disappointing weather we were encountering. Our next obstacle was to get through the Chanel du Four and again the timings were crucial. We stayed in Cameret until  Monday.

Sunday 26th July - Cameret

We did the usual food shopping which seems to take up so much time, but I suppose we have to eat.  It does give me a chance to look out for some nice wines! A full discussion took place on our boat with our friends about whether we should attempt the Chenal du Four tomorrow.  It would mean leaving at 1330 hours to catch the north going tide through the Chenal, which would result in getting to L’Aber Wrach quite late. As we are now in high season it might be difficult in securing a berth at that time of night. The decision was put off until tomorrow.

Monday 27th July - Cameret to L’Aber Wrach – 30 nm

There was a big swell running through the marina this morning and as we were in a sheltered position we thought that it must be quite wild out in the open water.  The forecast was quite good with a F4 WSW wind but we were still unsure and went to the port office to check the weather. We got talking to a local fisherman who told us there would only be little swell in the Chenal due to the shelter of the islands but a little rough in getting from the marina to the approaches, a passage of eight miles. We decided to take his advice, and headed off at 1400 hours, under engine as the wind was on the nose. The others have decided not to leave today but to wait until more settled weather.  It was, as the man said, a rough eight miles but as soon as we entered the Chenal it became much more pleasant due to the shelter from the Islands. We unrolled the sails, turned off the engine and had a lovely sail up the Chenal. We passed the Le Four Lighthouse at 18.00 and the swell returned with a vengeance.  As we turned for L’Aber Wrach the wind dropped and was directly behind us so we motored the last few miles into port arriving at 20.00 hours.
We were met by the marina staff and directed to a berth where we rafted up to a large Dutch yacht. The Dutch couple then informed us that they were leaving at 06.45 so an early morning was on the cards!

Tuesday/Wednesday 28/29th July

After re-berthing we did not go back to bed but decided to get the infernal shopping out of the way early so leaving most of the day free. I did a few maintenance jobs around the boat while Glenis wrote up the log. But after a few hours of this hard work we both got fed up and got out our bikes. We found some beautiful panoramic views and visited the old semaphore station high up on the cliff.  Back to the boat and we decided to leave for Trebeurden early next morning, as the weather was looking promising. 
We woke up in time for the 0520 shipping forecast on Radio four, winds of F5-F7 were the order of the day and it was now raining heavily so made the wise decision and stayed in bed for another couple of hours. The rest of the day continued in the same vein so we caught up on all our paper work and generally relaxed. In the evening we went to the pub where they had Internet access and we found that we had picked up a virus on our memory stick from the last port we used it in.

Thursday 30th July - L’Aber Wrach to Trebeurden – 46 nm

Next day 30th July, my Birthday, we set off for Trebeurden at 0545 having first listened to the shipping forecast, winds of F5-F7 W/SW were predicated but becoming F4 later. Once we were out in open water and passed the Libenter cardinal the swell was 2-3 metres with the wind F4 behind us. We unrolled the mainsail with a few reefs and had to motor to keep control.  Once we reached the Bay of Morlaix we altered course slightly and were able to put up full sails and turn off the engine, even though the wind had increased to F5/F6. We had a good sail but were anxious to get to Trebeurden as soon as possible as the marina has a sill and would close after 1600 hours. We had some difficulty in locating the South Cardinal Buoy mentioned in the pilot book on the final approaches.  It could do with re-painting!
We arrived safely at 1430 and found a berth without difficulty. We went out for dinner to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday and had some really good fish. Trebeurden is very much a seaside resort with some beautiful beaches, which were rather crowded on the two days we were there. We stayed in Trebeurden another day to enjoy it’s beautiful beaches and scenery.  We are planning to go to Treguier tomorrow.  Forecast is for S veering NW F5/6. Quite a few yachts which we had met in other ports left today and all asked about Glenis’s finger.  It is still very sore and swollen, but not broken thankfully.

Saturday 1st August - Trebeurden to Lezardrieux – 40 nm

We planned to leave for Treguier at 0500 hours in order to arrive at slack water. I had been there before with Martin on his boat and the tides were extremely strong.  It meant leaving in the dark, but the marina is well lit.  Our only slight worry was negotiating the unlit markers and moored boats just outside.  However when we woke in the morning there was a howling wind and needed little encouragement to stay in bed.  I woke again at 0730 and the wind had dropped.  I made a snap decision to go to Lezardrieux instead, where the entrance is easier regardless of the state of tide. A quick look at the level of the sill, which was dropping fast, and we rushed to cast off. As we sailed over the sill the reading showed two metres, we draw 1.9 metres, a close shave by any account. We then had breakfast on the move. We motored up to the Chenal between Les Sept Iles and the mainland as the wind was directly astern and only F3.  As we turned into the Chanel we were able to put up the sails as the wind strengthened. I went below for a snooze during which a light mist started to descend.  By 1100 it had turned to rain, and rain it did!  As we turned into the Chanel de Moisie the wind increased to F5/F6 and Glenis woke me as the sailing was becoming quite lively and we needed to reef down.
We arrived at Lezardrieux at 1530 and were met by the marina staff who put us in the new marina, which also has a sill like the previous port. We were totally soaked and the rain continued into the early evening.
We stayed in Lezardrieux another day and strolled around a car boot sale on the quayside.  There were some very strange looking tools and implements.  In the afternoon we took the dinghy and went up the river.

I took some spare fuel for the outboard motor, the tide was in coming and running quite fast. We ventured upstream for about 5 miles where we saw a motor boat moored rather strangely!! Shown in the photograph to the left, I topped up the fuel and then turned for the journey back. It was then I realised how strong the tide was running and I was a little concerned that we may run out of fuel. We did make it back, and when I looked in the fuel tank there must have been only an eggcup full left.  After stowing the dingy heavy rain started to fall again. A 48 ft French yacht, which was brand new, attempted to moor up on the other side of the pontoon from us.  The skipper was clearly not used to handling his boat. He missed the pontoon, sailed out over the retaining wall at the side of the sill (I think he just scraped over it) and then attempted to re-enter the marina over the sill, the normal way. Despite the heavy rain, Glenis and I went out to give our assistance by taking his lines. At the second attempt he got the bow rope to us. At this stage he stopped making any effort to bring his boat alongside.  Glenis and myself managed to bring the bow in to the pontoon but his stern was almost 30ft out. He threw his stern line to us but it was not long enough so he then joined two ropes together and passed them to us over the bow. At this stage his boat was now at right angles to the pontoon and it was quite a struggle to pull him in. When it was all over we got a begrudged ‘thank you’ as if it was our fault in not handling his ropes better!  So much for French gratitude!  We were totally wet through and had to change all our clothes. We then planned our departure for Jersey tomorrow.  Taking into account the level of the sill and to catch the ebb tide in the river, we have decided to leave at 0635 in the morning.

Monday 3rd August - Lezardrieux to Jersey – 46 nm

The previous time we sailed to Lezardrieux was low water, and the sight of all the rocks in such close proximity is quite spectacular.  It was high water as we motored out this morning.  I think Glenis likes it better at low water as you can see where the rocks are then!  We arrived at where the north Cardinal called Nord Horaine was indicated on the chart and the pilot book but could not find it. I think a little bit of chart updating is called for here.  At 0830 we turned off the engine and managed to sail all the way to Jersey. We re-entered St. Aubins bay via the Rock Passage, which sounds worse than it is.  On our approach to the harbour the traffic lights were on red, so we waited ten minutes or so, but as no vessels were coming out we called the harbour master who said he would change them to ‘all lovely and green’ for us. Time was now 1500 and the sill for the marina was due to open at 1530.
We drew up to the waiting pontoon and were preparing to raft up beside a French yacht, when the French lady stood on the deck of the boat and said she did not wish us to raft beside her. The answer I gave her was not Kings English, it was only for half an hour and it was a waiting pontoon. We boarded her boat and she reluctantly helped us with our warps.  Yesterday’s experience was still fresh in my mind about French gratitude. Ten minutes later the sill opened. Inside the marina it was complete bedlam with boats rafting up to the extent that some of the passageways were blocked and no marina staff to be seen.

The next day we visited Elizabeth Castle.  There is a causeway you can walk over at low tide to reach it.  We took the amphibious bus which played, to everyone’s amusement, the theme to a James Bond movie as we went through the water. 

The castle was occupied by the Germans during the last war and fortified it with their usual bunkers etc. We took a guided tour, which was very interesting. At noon they have a display in the parade ground with a person dressed in military costume of the middle ages. Just as we came out of the coffee shop he was getting all males to join him in the parade ground and I got collared. He had us marching up and down the square bellowing all the time how he could get us flogged for our poor marching efforts. He had all the women in fits of laughter and fun was had by all.  He then marched us down to where the cannon is fired at 1300 and we were all dismissed, except for six people, who were going to help him fire the gun. The visit took most of the day, but it was a good day out and the weather for a change was kind to us.  We had another amusing evening of seeing how many boats could be squashed into the marina.  Fortunately we had only one neighbour rafted to us and they decided to leave at the same time as us tomorrow.

Wednesday 5th August - Jersey To Guernsey - 22 nm

We left St. Helier at 07.30 and motored though the Northwest Passage.  We set the sails at the Corbiere Lighthouse. There was quite a swell and the wind was light on the port quarter and we struggled a bit until the wind strengthened. Then fog came down and stayed for about an hour. We used our new radar again and it gave us superb knowledge of the position of other boats in our area. As we approached Guernsey the sky cleared and we had a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to anchor in Havelot Bay just south of the harbour entrance for one night. The tide was due to turn at 0130 so I got up at 0200 to check the anchor but the tide was insignificant and the boat continued to lay to the wind. Next morning we entered the harbour and topped up with duty free fuel, a bargain at 56p a litre.
By this time there was enough water for us to enter the marina and we were put very close to another Najad. We got talking to them and invited them over for a drink in the evening. Just before they were due we opened a bottle of wine and put some nibbles out.  Then they came and said they were unable to join us as some thing had cropped up.  No problem, Glenis and myself drank the wine and ate most of the nibbles and very good they were too.
At this stage we were ready to cross the channel and just waiting for the right conditions.  The forecast was for northwest winds for the next few days, otherwise good sailing. We came to the crazy idea that we would like to go to Cherbourg, even though it would make our homeward journey even longer. But we would be able to sail there in a northwest wind. 

Friday 7th August - Guernsey to Cherbourg - 40 nm

So this morning at 0630 a favourable tide took us up the Little Russel and on into the Alderney Race. The forecast was for light winds but we were now getting up to 20 knots of wind. It was quite exhilarating and we clocked up 13.5 knots over the ground. Once we reached Cap de la Hague we slowed down to about 9.5 knots then as we altered course we found it very difficult to sail in the direction of Cherbourg.  We tried a few different tactics with no success until we goose winged.  Then the tide turned against us as we had forgotten about the hour difference in French time! We arrived at the marina at 1300 and had lunch.

We had two beautiful sunny days in Cherbourg and mainly relaxed.  I did a few maintenance jobs while Glenis wrote up the log. We went out for dinner to a restaurant we had frequented on previous occasions.  The food was good but they were very busy and not very friendly.

We are hoping to leave tomorrow to cross the channel as the weather seems fairly settled for the next couple of days.  The only problem is the winds are forecast from the NW – the direction we need to go.  We think our best bet is to aim for Weymouth.

Sunday 9th August - Cherbourg to Torquay - 106 nm

With a forecast this morning of NW winds F3/4 backing SW and increasing to F5 this afternoon we decided to head for Dartmouth.  We left at 0530 after the shipping forecast.  Once we were outside the main harbour we caught the last of the slack tide with only F3 winds and coming from the northwest.  We decided that while under engine, we would make as much headway as possible towards Dartmouth.  The mistake we made was that when we changed our plan, we forgot that we would then be still in the mainstream of the strong spring tide when it turned east.  This is exactly what happened and it just got stronger and stronger until there was 5 knots against us and we were making very little progress. Even when we had full sails up and the engine at normal cruising speed it took us three hours to do nine miles. We then decided to head north, which increased our speed considerably and got us out of the strong tide.  We discussed changing our plans to go to Weymouth. However we remained true to our original plan and once we were out of the strong French tides altered course again and headed towards Dartmouth. As the day wore on we realised it would be dark on entering Dartmouth.  We were unsure of securing a berth and I did not want to anchor in the dark with a strong tide running. So we changed our plan again and headed for Torquay, which we both know extremely well as it used to be our home port.  With the wind going round into the SW we were able to sail easily to Torquay and once the tide changed west we made good headway.  We arrived at Torquay marina at 21.30.  Once all secured, we relaxed with a glass of wine to celebrate being back in England.

Monday 10th August – Tuesday 11th August - Torquay to Plymouth

We left Torquay in a choppy sea and winds gusting 27knots, but we were only going a short distance of 10 miles to Dartmouth.  We had a generator fitted during the winter and have been having problems with it while on holiday.  The fitters have agreed to have a look at it tomorrow, so we will spend the night in Dartmouth. 

Tuesday – Hopefully the generator is now all sorted.  We left at 14.00 as the tide slackened, for Plymouth.  No wind as we left, and then as we neared Start Point it increased very quickly to 20 knots with a choppy sea and we had to reef the Genoa!
We had a really fast exhilarating sail back to Plymouth. It was really good to end our holiday with such good sailing.  We arrived at the Mayflower marina at 19.30 and decided to end our summer cruise with dinner and a bottle of wine in the marina restaurant.

Now that our summer cruise was over we looked back over the eight weeks and found that it had gone all to quickly. We certainly learnt a great deal and we feel much more confident in contemplating a visit to Portugal next year.

June 2010 - Ronnie and Glenis are now on their way down to Portugal and are sending me regular reports of this cruise, to read all about this 2010 cruise click here.