Winter in Redon

After stopping off at Arzal and la Roche Bernard, we were beginning to wonder if we would ever find a winter berth. Then, after 3 hours motoring up the River Villaine, we arrived at Redon.

Roger, the Capitainerie, welcomed us and offered us a contract till end of March. So we settled on Berth 61. This was where we then met up with Megan & Jim off Magnet, and Maggie and Paul on Avanti.

Megan and Jim, from Northern Island, had built "Magnet" in their back garden over a 10 year period. (I guess that is where the name came from, they must have been attracted to the idea). Like us they have taken retirement and exploring wherever the wind takes them. So far, it drove them up to Redon.

Magnet at rest in Redon

Maggie and Paul hail from another island - the Isle of Wight. Their boat "Avanti" had the same name as a Legend 36 we looked at buying. Their boat is a Morgan 38. This is their second year exploring France and they spent last winter in Vannes.

We stayed in a local hotel the Queen Serenity Hotel for a couple of nights whilst we bedded the boat down for the winter. It was an interesting hotel with themed rooms; we had the Chinese room.

Our Chinese Room

Then on the 28th October, we caught the train to Nante to seek a warmer climate and a change of scenery.

By now, we were both looking forward to some sun in Spain, as it seems to have scooted their at the expense of Redon.

I think we all started to associate Redon with "Rain".

A Dreamy Day

We dreamed of hot sunny days laying on the boat at anchor in beautiful bays, but until today we had been in ports hiding from storms. Since our short August exploration into the Morbihan the weather has not been brilliant. Nice sunny days in between several days hiding from the the storms and rain in Port Crouesty and Haliguen.

Our 7 days in Le Palais on the Belle Isle were nice but some cold evenings and not the dreamy days.
Now we are anchored up in one of our dreamy bays off the island of Houat (pronounced what!) and we had a lovely time going ashore to see some of the 300 inhabitants, a lunch and afternoon sunbathing on the boat.

Now the sun is setting and tomorrow promises to be as good.

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The Final Lap

After a few days rest at Port Tudy we had to press on to get to Port Crouesty and meet up with the rest of the Fareham-Vannes Twinning Event.

We had a couple of days with George and Jill Pickburn and their boat "Stormbird". George, the "Vannes Driver," I think his official title was Fleet Captain, had other arrangements, so they left before we did.

The deadline was 30th June at Port Crouesty, so we gave ourselves an extra day and left today. The film shows us arriving at Crouesty, meeting up with the other 18 boats and 50 crew. It also shows the flotilla procession up to Vannes on the 1st July, our negotiating the road bridge and the welcome we had from the french pipe band.

Beating the Tides

In L'Aberwrach we berthed next to Archimede, a Fisher37, and it French Owner  Jean-Luc and his American partner, Karen. They had advised on going through the Isle de Batz Channel instead of a long haul around the island and it had worked out well.

We had a few drinks on their boat and then had a snack in the local restaurant before going off to bed.

Next day we went for a walk to the town only to find that it was all shut up. Our first realisation that the French don't believe in 24/7 opening. They shut between 1200 and 1500hrs and so we came away empty handed and had to go again later in the day to get some supplies - Vodka and Bread!

In the meantime we went and had a meal.

Next day it was time to leave L'Aberwrach and tackle the strong tides of the Chenal de Four (Top Red line).

If all went well it was our plan to carry on and tackle the Raz de Sein (Bottom Red Line) as well and save an overnight stay in Camaret.

This would take us to Audierne and put us a day ahead of schedule. 

Did we make it? 
Did Maz & Taff survive the ordeal? 

Find out in this short 6 minute video. 

The Dodgy Bits

Brittany is a beautiful coast but there are some dodgy bits that need special care.
The main two are the Chenal de Four and the Raz de Sein. Both are channels of sea that run between the French mainland and islands off of them. This creates a narrow corridor that the sea rushes through. Get your timing right and it's a doddle. Get it wrong and you can be pushed by strong tides or winds into pure granite rocks.
Of course we decided to do both in the same day!

Here's the plan
Originally we were going to do just the Chenal de Four and head for Camaret (Line 9), but as their was no wind and we were motoring, I worked out that we could just get to the Raz in time (Lines 11-14). We had to be at the Raz de Sein by 1530hrs. You only have 30 minutes leeway and we got their just right.

Here's the chart plotter view of our approach to the Raz. "X" marks the places we need to be to avoid the rough water and rocks. Believe it or not, the blue coloured section of red spots (dangerous rocks) in the top right, have people living on them.
This change of course meant we were now heading for Audierne and the problem their was the shallow entrance. Another tide calculation showed we would just make it in time for a rising tide.

We came into port and were tied up by 6.15pm with about 0.9m below us at the entrance.

You can see the video of this part in the blog post above or click here

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Midnight in the Oasis

Well it's almost midnight and being in the middle of the English Channel is a wet form of oasis. The sun is setting and the night is drawing in.

Pauline is having her turn at sleeping, well it an hour or so past her normal bedtime (smile).

It is quite eerie and natural at the same time, the sea still flows, the wind still blows but the sun has moved on and you are sat in a room of darkness. In fact it's more like a room with a candle as you can still see things.

We are 43 nautical miles from Roscoff and making good progress towards our 0700 planned arrival time. The wind has been good to us so far. We managed to average 5.6 knots going from 4-7 knots from just an hour out of Dartmouth.

These long hauls are not our favourite sails but Pauline has her audio books and I have my music. In between we take it in turns to plot our position. A necessity at the moment as the instruments circuit breaker has cut out three times in 10 hours. The plotter is brand new so not sure what is causing the overload.

Guess overall it's not a bad way to start your retirement!

More later my friends.

Our Route

 

Sun setting on us and a passing ship

 

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Tally ho

Finally it was time to leave Dartmouth and make our way south. We had some 300 miles to do by 30th June (11 days). 

At 5 miles an hour we could do it in 60 hours or two and a half days non stop, but with just two of us, it was not either a safe nor a desirable option. Besides, we wanted to see some of France and enjoy the trip.

A rough plan was to to do it in short day hops but first we had the 100 mile English Channel crossing with no options.

Time and tide wait for no man ( or woman), so our plan was to fill up the diesel tank and depart at midday. This would give us plenty of daylight to start and arrive in; always reluctant to enter a strange port in the dark.


Pauline made sure our mascots Maz and Taff were secure below before we set sail, as they had not crossed the Channel before and it was a long journey. 






The 6 minute video shows you what happened on our English Channel Crossing and trip round to L'Aberwrach.

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Dartmouth at Last.

Having tried for many years we finally sailed into Dartmouth Harbour and against all odds found a berth. At first we were told Visitors Berths all taken but having tied up innocently on a reserved landing state they found us an idyllic spot.

We started out this morning at 0800 hrs this morning we had a great sail till after midday when the sun started to shine and the wind started to slow. So, to keep the wife happy, on went the engine. Hence it took 10 hours rather than the planned 13 hours.

Sailing from Portsmouth to Dartmouth

Here is our second video showing the trip from Portsmouth to Dartmouth.

Preparing for our Adventure

Here is a short video (6 minute) on the preparation we did for our sailing adventure.

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Final Touches

Some final touches with a Solar Panel that will fit on the Bimini and keep the batteries charged. Especially useful as Pauline loves her coffee!

Then of course she needs somewhere nice to sit so I re-varnished the stern seats.

Note the coffee cup holder.

Now no respectable boat would look right without fender covers so found a brilliant place up north (Fendequip) that could supply the covers and put our boat name on a terrific price (£1.20 for the name plus your cover).

To make sure the fenders did not get dirty we gave the sides a good polish.















And last but most importantly we gave the propeller a thorough clean and service.

Maintenance for the Med

Well it's nearly the end of May and things are coming together. Took the boat out at Port Solent and had the engine fully serviced. At same time had the sail drive hull seal changed as overdue (they say 7 years in the book).

Then mate John helped me clean and paint the hull. Pauline came along and polished the hull. Also cleaned up and greased the propeller.

Cleaned the bottom

First Coat of Antifoul Paint

Second Coat Antifoulling Paint

Pauline helping with polishing

Nice one

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