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

Posted with Blogsy