Camaret sur Mer 48:16.7N 04:35.4W

Stargazer
Andy & Jo
Sun 26 Jun 2022 11:21

We left Falmouth at 1815 on Wednesday 22nd June 2022. Our fiend Ian saw us off, as did John and Pat, the parents of our friends Martyn and Chris. Or at least we saw some ‘mad’ people waving from Pendennis point, so we assume it was them!

 

Our voyage was mostly light winds, however the Channel lived up to expectation with some rain and poor visibility half way across. About 2000 the Mate took her first ever watch alone, out of the sight of land and I’m pleased to report what a superb job she did. So after settling into our watch systems we aimed Stargazer 180 degrees, due south, pointing towards the north west tip of Brittany. The night, although short, was dark as there was no moon and the Channel itself was surprisingly busy with shipping. ‘Thank goodness for AIS’ cried the Mate. I agreed, remembering what it was like to cross the Channel before such marvels existed.

 

                 

 

Morning arrived with a beautiful sunrise on the Mate’s watch.

 

 

So, after a slow-ish 24.5 hour passage to cover the 135 miles to Camaret, we arrived at the marina in time for a sundowner. Mind you, it would have been poor passage planning on my part if that wasn’t the case!

 

 

Port Vauban in Camaret is a very pleasant place, with very helpful staff. We were greeted and shown onto a berth on the outside of the outer pontoon, not the most sheltered spot, but the staff said we could move inside to another berth in a day or two (as is was busy at the time). That said, having seen some of the boat handling going on inside the marina – we think we’ll stay where we are…

 

Camaret itself is a very pleasant seaside town with plenty of bars, shops etc on the front, but step one street back and you could be in any small French village. As it’s only a short trip from Brest, then it would be worth a look for anyone visiting Brittany.

 

We are keeping an eye on the weather with a view to our Biscay crossing. It seems that we’ve got some more stormy weather coming soon – not the sort of thing for a first time Biscay crossing – so our current plan is stay put in Camaret and wait for a good weather window. We’ll need about three days of decent weather to make La Coruna on the northern Spanish coast – surely that shouldn’t be too much to ask in late June/July… should it??

 

The Mate would like to insert a summary of the Channel crossing – here she is…

 

 

Tea bags shipped                             1200

Distance travelled                            135NM                

Dolphins spotted                             115 (plus 2 harbour porpoises)

Hitchhikers picked up                     2 racing pigeons

Babybels consumed                       9 (mostly Jo!)

Weather experienced                   Sun, rain, little wind and from the wrong direction!

 

 

See you soon,

Andy & Jo