Position: 47:37:72N 03:24:71W

Il de Groix, Southern Brittany, France

The short sail to Isle de Groix was most memorable for brushing up on our sailing techniques.

The wind was light and coming from the north west and we were sailing south ie. from behind us. Time to practice wing on wing sailing and our new ‘pole’. (For the non-sailors, wing on wing is putting a sail out on each side of the mast and having the wing ‘push’ the boat along. The sails act as no more than big obstacles against the wind. The ‘pole’ is about 3 meters long and is used to hold the sail out rather than collapse all the time as the wind dies.)

I have always found that ‘wing on wing’ sailing is very stressful and requires more concentration than I am normally prepared to give! But I have to say this boat holds it’s line very well. But the real lesson was the ‘pole’. Although a very simple concept and a simple operation to employ, anything other than the lightest winds on the genoa with the pole attached can become wild to say the least. We had never used a pole before so a few practices were in order whilst the winds were light and whilst we had a whole ocean between us and any obstacles.
Wow! The ‘pole’ really works!
It probably increased our downwind speed 60%.

We reached Isle de Groix during the late afternoon and looked for a suitable anchorage. Brittany gets really busy in the Summer and this was no exception – wall to wall boats at anchor! However, I overcame my natural instinct to go somewhere else and found a cosy spot whilst hoping we all had the same chain lengths on our anchors.

then..
a boat takes it’s freedom and the chase is on!