Leaving England

The forecast was looking good, giving force 3-5 winds from the SW. Not ideal if I'm honest as it would mean we were close hauled on starboard yet again, seems to be the story of our lives lately!

Perversely the wind leaving the Carrick roads was steadfastly in the SE which was exactly the direction we wanted to go, however it soon settled and the many yachts that left with us all turned to the east to head up channel. We however pointed a bit east of South and headed for Brittany about a hundred miles distant. We turned and took a last look at Cornwall as it faded into the haze.

It felt odd not to see Annandale in our wake but I knew that she would be used and looked after by David.

We were soon powering along on what turned into a close reach and we were averaging 6 knots or so still with the engine running as our batteries were very low, the new wind generator was still not giving us the output we needed and it was proving to be very noisy. After a couple of hours we were able to turn the engine off and peace returned.

As we ploughed along a lone sail appeared about 2 miles to windward, it appeared to us from her AIS information that there was a good chance she was also heading for Roscoff. Tashana was the name of the yacht and she would be our constant companion for about 50 miles.

As evening fell we had moved slightly ahead of Tashana and were a mile or so to windward of her as we approached the first of the shipping lanes, these really are like motorways of the sea with large cargo vessels following each other less than a mile apart but going in the same direction and at the same speed.

Our job, made easier by AIS was to thread our way safely between these great ships and not to hinder them in any way. The AIS plots giving CPA ( closest point of approach ) and even more confusingly TCPA, ( time to closest point of approach ) were a great help here and Lynne is becoming a dab hand with interpreting the AIS information on the plotter. I suppose it helps if you are naturally interested in stuff,  " that's the Rio Bravo and its on its way to Hamburg carrying containers" she will say, a bit like John Masefield and his dirty British coaster in the mad March days kind of thing.....

Once again we were firmly on starboard tack and also again fairly close hauled, sailing very well and averaging a nice high speed, sometime towards dark we lost our friend from the plotter and the sea around us fell empty of shipping. The moon rose and soon we were sailing on reflected moonlight.

As it was quiet Lynne took over the watch and let me get some rest for a couple of hours, the wind remained fairly constant only dropping below force 3 for short periods. All too soon Lynne woke me up and during her handover mentioned that our friend was back but far behind us and she had been watching what she thought was the loom of a lighthouse but had now decided was lightening illuminating the clouds. As Lynne went below for some rest I was entertained by the most spectacular show of thunderstorms over Brittany lightning flashes and sheet and forked lightning lit up the sky but peculiarly no thunder, only very faintly on occasion.

Soon the dawn broke and with it the familiar dying of the wind,on went the engine for the last couple of hours, we were less than 10 miles from Roscoff and the light on Isle de Batz had been visible for hours. A bit of tide ( the flood ) was pushing us East but other than that we were spot on target. We approached the rock strewn coastline in a hazy dawn and a bit of katabatic wind began to blow against us. We had decided after consulting our brand new, hot off the presses pilot book to temporarily pick up a visitors morning off the Isle de Batz in the tortuous and rock littered passage between the island and the vielle port of Roscoff. We duly navigated the several cardinal buoys and rocks to discover..........no mooring buoys. So much for the ' book of lies', I have a sneaky suspicion that the new marina has made them redundant. So Lynne reluctantly got on the VHF to speak to the marina, the first guy was incomprehensible but after a long silence was replaced with an obviously younger man who spoke English perfectly. Normally you are met by guides in RIBs ( rigid inflatable boats ) for reasons which will become apparent but as it was very early, either just after six or just before eight depending on which time you were keeping, we were left to our own devices to find a berth and moor up Dark Tarn. A successful crossing of the widest part of the English Channel. We were very tired and after sorting out registration with the officand a quick tidy up of the boat, she has looked after U.S. So we look after her...it was time for bed.

After a little sleep we arose at lunchtime to see the last of the rain which had started just after we arrived be replaced by cloudy but sunny conditions. As we sat in the cockpit a series of loud crunching noises grabbed our attention. Several boats having entered the marina had been caught out by the tide flowing through the pontoons. The designers had referred to this flaw in the design as a feature which was there to scour the bottom. Unfortunately it also makes manoeuvring yachts a bit tricky. I was able to witness a couple of collisions of a minor nature accompanied by major panic attacks from the comfort of our cockpit. I can sympathise as probably the hardest part of sailing is actually close quarters manouvering, it might only be one and a half knots of tide but it can still catch you out, notably the owner of the rather splendid Amal 54 pictured above, it's the one pinned sideways across three boats. I think his wife had misjudged their entry and hit several boats going in. He had then quite rightly took over and shown her how to do it properly on the way out in a fit of chauvinistic bravado, causing absolute mayhem and pinning his expensive yacht against three other boats causing a considerable amount of damage. Colloquially known as T-boning. Of course nothing on earth was going to shift it until the tide dropped and I am guessing that he spent the time waiting filling in insurance claim forms and drawing diagrams, just a pity the shouting can't be heard on diagrams.........or, I am guessing, the smug satisfaction of his wife.

We decided to explore a little bit after an invigorating shower and spot of lunch.

We walked down to the older part of town which turned out to be quite picturesque. 

Even had a suitably named bar....

The church of Notre Dame Croas Batz proved a real find, a beautiful building that just oozed history.

It has a very distinctive spire, if you can call such an elaborate construction a spire.

Inside is just as beautiful.

We ambled back towards the ferry port and Marina and took a look at some of the older and traditional sailing craft that were here for a maritime festival of sail.

I also noticed this on our way back to the boat, it's a lift so disabled people or wheelchair users can reach the pontoons, great idea,  one I've yet to see in Britain.

So after our first days exploration and a trip to the boulangerie, it was nearly time for bed again, just do my blog first...............

P.S. We met Tashana briefly as she left for Morlaix where she was attending the festival.