Parked for Winter

After sailing into the Gulf of Morbihan we visited Vannes where we found that they did not have a winter berth big enough for us. After a look at the chartplotter and the Cruising Guide we tried our luck in the Vilaine River a bit further West  La Roche Bernard was a pretty little town, but again we were too big.  But four miles North at Foleux, we found our winter spot, on the hard at Multi Nautic boatyard.

On the end of the dock at Foleux marina....

....from where we had a fine view East up the Vilaine River.

Same view at dawn.

Nancy enjoys the Medieval town  of La Roche Bernard.

After a few days' work, we took off for a land trip to the Loire Valley, and stayed at this chateau converted into a fine hotel: Chateau de Beauvois.

We visited the chateaux at Chenonceau, Amboise and Clos Luce. Here's Nancy at Chenonceau.

Medieval buildings in Amboise, where we walked up the hill to....

..chateau Clos Luce where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last few years as a guest of the King Francis I.
Here in the chateau gardens are hanging prints of Leonardo's paintings.

Chateau d'Amboise taken from the old town,

Nancy did not much like the white and the red served up in a visit to a vineyard, but the sparkling wine saved the day!

And so back we went to Foleux on the Vilaine, where we just fitted onto the boat lift trailer! It did take two goes to haul us up the slope......

 .....and here we are half way up the ramp: that's 32,000 pounds - 15,000 kilos, which was at the top end of the equipment's maximum limit.

And so off to England where we visited Dad in Northampton, and Roger in London: Roger's house has a "distinctive" new coat of paint, named "Jamaican Blue".

Flying to Marco Island via Miami tomorrow.
Best regards to all,

Nancy and John

After a Scary Start, South Brittany Has Charmed Us

From Camaret we motor-sailed through the Raz du Sein, down a 3 knot current.  Normally this would be a blast, but here now came along a summer afternoon fog that Maine sailors know so well.  Visibility was down to 50 yards (about 100 feet beyond our bow, and so we crept along with radar set at 1.25 miles. 

Just after passing the rocks, visibility improved to about 100 yards as we safely passed a sailboat that had been ahead of us.  Then, at the Point, we picked up a good sized radar return a mile away and a few hundred yards on our starboard bow: but no AIS signal received.  Port we went 20 degrees and as we crept along the radar blip was staying put, so we would pass safely about 500 yards leaving it to starboard, and evidently it was a fishing boat motoring slowly.  All was good until that darned radar blip started moving quite quickly and towards our path. Port another ten degrees we went, and JFK exclaimed to Nancy, “It’s moving towards our heading! Watch out on Starboard! “

As JFK watched the radar, on the darn thing came!  Port another ten degrees. Then Nancy: ‘Watch out!  Ship on starboard!!”  Full astern went Adventuress and ground to a halt, and just 50 yards across our bows steamed way too fast “L”Horizon”  a French fishing trawler.  To say we were shaking is not an exaggeration.  Suddenly the darn bugger stopped, and we guess he had just noticed us!  On the VHF radio JFK practiced some old French he had learned as a teenager, but no reply! So we issued a “Securite” alert to all ships naming the damn culprit.  That “Securite”  is heard by the Coastguard, so it is quite an effective, as well as warranted, warning! How could a sizeable fishing boat be in dense fog, suddenly alter course and increase speed, not be transmitting AIS, and evidently not be watching radar?  Possible answer:  French. Possible adjective: Anglo-Saxon, begins also with F.

We resumed our way and the fog blessedly lifted. 

By cell phone we learned that Audierne did not have room for Adventuress and so we spent a somewhat rolly night at anchor off St Evette.  Next day we arrived at the Odet river, and its literally thousands of boats in the harbours and marinas of St Marine and of Benodet. 

We sailed past these and up the river just two miles, where we anchored safely in a peaceful bucolic landscape, with no one within a mile of us! 

Back down river by dinghy to Sainte Marine: a lovely harbour, here dried out at low tide.

Since then we have explored the South Brittany islands: Groix, Belle Ile, and Houat.  In Groix we were jammed in a sardine raft with 20 other boats.  All quite safe but definitely not to The Admiral’s liking!  Here we are rafted fore and aft on buoys: we were the last sardine in the tin, and acting on instruction from the harbour master, forced our bow between two boats just ten feet apart! By the time we had squeezed our fourteen feet of beam plus fenders into the raft, the whole darn tin was tight as a sardine's whatsit!

Then in Belle Ile we had a unique “Island Packet Minivous” in the Basin a Flot at Le Palais.  We rafted with Paul and Elaine Bragg, “Jennie B” IP380; and with Haakon and Judith Jacobsen,  “Touche” IP380, who were already there waiting for us.  So we had lined up astern the UK flag, the Danish flag, and the US flag, all flying French courtesy flags! A party night followed, with champagne on Touche, and an eye opening Chilly Supper on Jennie B. What fun!

Picture by Elaine Bragg, from the far side of the basin: lined up on Adventuress, L to R: Paul Bragg, JFK, Nancy, Judith and Haakon Jacobsen.

Here are the three Island Packets L to R  Jennie B, Touche, and Adventuress.....

and here is Nancy's selfie, capturing the moment Haakon poured out champagne....."The Widow"!

 We toured Belle Isle by bus, and enjoyed Sauzon, a classic fishing harbour on the NE coast....

...where we had traditional galettes and beer for lunch: and yes, my friends, that is Nancy's triple Belgian 8.5% beer on the right.  Fortunately, JFK was there to help her back on the bus!

The cliffs and rocks of Port Coton may be not so famous as the Needles of the Isle of Wight, but the French have all kinds of stories about throwing the invading English "Roast Beefs" back into La Mer....

and Monet painted this picture....Aigulles de Port Coton....but he was not thrown in!

And here we are anchored in a cleft just 100 yards wide in Port Gulphar: this was a classic Adventuress adventure: on our bus tour we saw this spot from the cliffs above....and next day, there we were!

Monet would have enjoyed our view from our anchorage among the rocks.

Nancy is celebrating our departure from the craggy coast and we did not even scrape a rock!

Next was a superb anchorage on the Eastern end of the island of Houat....

..where we dragged our Caribbean-sized dinghy up the beach. We definitely need a six foot "rubber ducky dinghy" for beaching in Europe!

Mind you, sometimes we need a dinghy with room for provisions...

....which we had found in the little village up the hill....overlooking idyllic bays.

 From Houat we sailed to Presqu' ile Quiberon, where we rode our bikes and admired the scenery.

Best to all,

Nancy and John

PS unlike the last time we prematurely blogged that we had no air in our diesel, this time we really don’t have any more air in our diesel! And the engine, and The Admiral, are both purring very happily.

Brittany via The Channel Islands

In persistent optimism we sailed to Alderney, timing the 4 knot tide to sweep us around the corner of Normandy and into Braye Harbour at Alderney, Channel Islands.  There we spent a few rainy days and ordered a new diesel pick up tube from USA, the last part of the supply line from tank to engine. that we had not replaced.  Her are some pics taken in a few windows of sunshine:

The mooring field at Braye Harbour is quite large...

 ...and here is the view from the boat, back to where the above pic was taken.

 Many remnants of the Victorian fortifications from the Nineteenth Century, and of the German occupation in WWII are scattered around, giving Alderney a "goose bumpy" feeling to its history.

 Exploring one sunny day we found some interesting short cuts and enjoyed stretching our legs.

Then we were off to Guernsey, through the tidal race of The Swinge and on 14 NM to Beaucette Harbour, where we waited outside for half an hour until the gauge showing the water depth over the entrance sill reached 1.7 metres - about 5 feet 6 inches: Adventuress draws 5 feet.  While we waited amongst the rocks outside the diesel continued to have air bubbles in it....and so we were relieved when we finally docked inside, in a lovely spot.....

 ...berthed in Beaucette in a prime spot: thanks Ricky and Steve for a second great stay in your unique marina!

 We showed you this view in last year's blog, but this pic shows the water at low tide, and you can see the rocks at the waterline.  It is an entrance that requires a bold heart, and ideally, no air in your diesel supply!

Nancy composed this pic, and I just simply pressed the button! Here you get an idea what happens when you have a tidal range more than 20 feet.

Almost low tide in Bordeaux Harbour, Guernsey, and the local tiny fishing boats are just afloat.

St Peter Port Guernsey was calm in the early morning after we had a big celebration the night before. What were we celebrating? Read on:

When our new pick up tube finally arrived from the USA we were disappointed but not surprised to find it was definitely not what was promised in writing: it was just a new duplicate of our existing original defective part!  So off we went by bus to St Peter Port, the main harbour in Guernsey, where within an hour a machine shop made a new pick up tube to JFK's specifications.  We took it back, fitted it, and that very day we went on a sea trial the four miles back to St Peter Port: PERFECT!  No air in the diesel.  Finally!  And all we have to say here about the outfit in the USA is: shame on you.

And to our Island Packet friends: ask and we will tell you all the sorry details!

 With a fully functioning engine off we went back to France, this time further West, to Brittany. We found lovely uncharted anchorages, and here in the river sails past a traditional schooner on its way into Morlaix harbour.

 We spent two days anchored in the mouth of Aber Benoit, and here was an active dinghy sailing school to keep us entertained.

Another 180 degree picture: from the boat back to the shore line from our anchorage.

Rounding the point on the way to Camaret...

where we tied up in the Marina and walked into town past the "Boat Cemetery".


Best to all,
John and Nancy

At Laast.....St. Vaast!

For you geographers: from Amsterdam we sailed to Schreveningen; then Ostende  in Belgium; and into France at Dunkirk, Boulogne, Dieppe, Fecamp; and today (18 July) we were going to Deauville: but the favorable and rare Easterly wind easily persuaded us to ride it some 50 miles further westward to St Vaast.

Dunkirk, now that was a happy stop! At the Yacht Club Marina we were greeted by Isabelle, the harbourmaster, and her helper Penny. They were waiting to take our lines on the visitors’ pontoon. Later they were literally running around the docks to help other visiting boats. Then, at check in, we were greeted by a happy sign: “Order here for delivery tomorrow morning your fresh baguettes and croissants!”  Now it must be said that ashore Dunkirk is no Harlingen: but the warm greeting made up for the lack of charm.

Dieppe is one of our favorites, because it is an efficient “all states of the tide” harbour, with a helper on the dock to tell you where to go and to take your lines: and the marina sits in the old harbour surrounded by a charming town scene with restaurants, bakers, butchers, greengrocers and typical French cafés.  And the small supermarket is only a couple hundred yards away.

From Dieppe a quick four hours away westward is Fecamp:  but no help there to find a spot or to tie your lines: and though we had a super lunch at La Matelotte (“The Lady Sailor” - had to take Nancy there!) we found the town otherwise to be unappealing.

So here we are in St Vaast, our favorite French port so far.  Here’s why:

 On the way downwind to St. Vaast:  main and jib at wind angle 145.

We arrived in good time to celebrate Nancy "Bedhead"'s birthday!  Thanks to Zahava at Hideaway for the ideas and the wrapping!

Don't want that fishing boat falling over into the mud, do we?

But here is something falling down a throat: a tasty plump Number Two Royal oyster!

The Bike rides in St. Vaast take you along the seaside, but also into the countryside.

Aha! What have we here?  An expert seamstress repairs some stitching on our Cutter Staysail. Great work, Nancy!

Sunday morning tradition in Normandy: the farmers come into town and set up wood-burning racks and barbecue chickens, lamb and pork.  What a treat!

St Vaast has everything, including an active fishing fleet and a pretty harbour front....

...and even dresses up the town and the spotless marina with joyous flowers.

Adventuress in a lovely spot on B pontoon.

Best to all,
Nancy and John