A glorious day sail and Bénodet
Lochmarin
Sun 24 Jun 2012 13:06
What a perfect day's sailing! It was lovely sunshine, and the wind was in the right direction for a change as we came along the Brittany coast. We hoisted the mizzen staysail, a lightweight sail that fits in between the mizzen and the main, it fills the gap beautifully and gives us some lovely drive (I'll post pictures when we have internet!). We bowled along at 8 knots or so, enjoying the sunshine and watching the coast and the other sail boats go by, looking out for pot buoys and bird watching as we went. I'm particularly enjoying the juvenile gannets, often following their parents in tight formation, looking awkward: their wings too narrow and their tails almost non-existent.
Making use of the hot water from when we ran the engine to motor out of the harbour, I washed up and tidied a little, but otherwise we did nothing but sail all day, it's a lovely feeling, lazy but not passive, keeping watch, trimming the sails, checking position, keeping the log and just watching the world slide by.
Having started early, we made it into the river mouth at Bénodet with daylight to spare, and a helpful harbour master pointed out a mooring buoy for us to use so we had an easy end to a long day. After putting the sails to bed, tiding away the lines and so on, an easy supper and tumble into bed ended our day.
The river is pretty, with lots of cafes and lovely old houses ashore on the Sainte Marine side, but has quite a different flavour to the other places we stayed. I think perhaps because I've only seen one fishing boat. It's a holiday place rather than a working port, but looks like it will be fun to explore upstream.
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