Position:  47:22.57N 03:13.07W

Sauzon, Belle Isle, France

Well, today was a classic “let’s just carry on for a little bit longer” sail, which I will get to in a minute. 

Jeremy Vines had sailed his Dufour 345, “Pickle” out to Lorient and had been about a week ahead of us as we headed down the Brittany coast.  He had flown home and Genie, Ed and their son Sam had driven out to take over the boat for a 2-week holiday.  We had been trying to arrange to meet up for a couple of days now, and after texting each other we knew that they were on Belle Ile, about 20 miles south of where we were.  We had tentatively said that we would meet them there, but the forecast posted at the Capitainerie at Port Louis indicated that the winds would be South 3-4, increasing possibly up to 7 by the evening.

This wasn’t our idea of a good forecast, so we decided to go out anyway, throw a couple of lines over the back to catch our dinner, and head the short distance over to Port Tudy, the main town on Ille de Groix, which would be sheltered from the South.

Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting (how do you know if it is technique or luck?) so after an hour or two, we dropped the sails and motored into Port Tudy.  Despite it being mid-week, and arriving at midday, Port Tudy was full!  The only space was on a fore-and-aft mooring in the outer harbour.  However, the space between the buoys was about 4 feet less than the length of Nutmeg so after having a go, we bailed out.  I may have mentioned it before, but I am sure we will lose our self-steering gear before the year is out!

The wind was in the South but it was quite light in the lee of Groix, so on sailing out of Port Tudy and not really knowing where to head for, we thought we would just stick our nose out past Groix to see what the wind was really like.  Finding that it was only a F3, we decided to put the motor on and point towards Belle Ile, 20 miles to windward. 

The swell increased and the wind swung around a bit, allowing us to get to a point where we could beat towards Sauzon, a small harbour on the NW tip of the island.  The last hour got quite breezy, with 27 kts over the deck and a nasty chop on top of the swell (influence of the corner of the island), so we were glad to get into the lee of the island and after sailing 30 miles since leaving Port Louis that morning, we arrived at Sauzon.

At Sauzon, you either dry out on the sand, raft up to other boats on visitor’s fore-and-aft moorings, or take a buoy in the outer harbour.  We saw the good ship Pickle on a buoy, and managed to get onto a buoy just in front of them, our stern swinging about 2 feet from their mooring buoy (the buoys are all very close in all of these harbours) with a few fenders strategically placed.

Very soon, Ed, Genie and Sam were on board Nutmeg, the kids were all playing happily in the aft cabin and the adults got stuck into the Pimms and a bottle of wine.  Within 30 minutes of our arrival, the wind got up to F7, so we felt lucky to be in shelter.  Ed ferried us all ashore in Pickle’s dinghy, and we went for a very pleasant meal at one of the small restaurants along the harbour (this restaurant was literally Mum cooking on an Aga and Daughter doing the serving – very small!).  Really great to catch up with Ed and Genie, and to pick their brains on long-distance cruising. 

(Ed and Genie Webb sailed around the world on their Rival 38 Wandering Dream in four years, returning a couple of years ago.  They were certainly a big inspiration to us in our planning phase and at one point we were seriously considering buying Wandering Dream for this trip.  They are the only people of our generation that we know of who have pulled off a trip like this)

Genie, Sam and Ed Webb – sailing legends

More ice creams!  Sam, Emilia, Jemima, Ollie

An accordion player was playing in the street, so Sarah and the kids danced with the French children – very enjoyable to watch!

We spent a very rolly night on the buoy.  Not the best when you have drunk the best part of a bottle of wine each.  I got up at about 0400 to check all was OK – there were lots of bumps and bangs, mainly as the buoy banged into the bow – and saw Ed up on the bow of Pickle doing the same.

In the morning, after Genie and Ed kindly delivered us some bread and pains au raisin, we sailed in company along the Northern side of the island, all the way to a long sandy beach (I don’t know the name) on the Eastern end of the island.  We tested out our DSC radios en route as neither of us had used DSC before!  We anchored and spent the rest of the day in the sunshine on the beach with Genie, Ed and Sam.  A lovely day.

Sam, Jemima & Millie on the beach at Belle Ile

Ollie, Ed, Genie

Around 1630 Pickle headed back towards Lorient, promising to get the kite up en route (we never saw it! :o), and we sailed NE through the Passage de Teignouse with the wind and swell behind us, before hardening up for a lovely flat-water 3-sail reach to Port Haliguen.