| Current Position 48:35.98N 004:33.72W
36 hrs later we have completed a trip of ~250nm.
The crew this time is; Me UK Tony Agar UK Graham Dowling UK Alain Bardouil French all provided by Yacht Delivery Ltd (Thanks Stephen) and all having 1'000's of sailing miles under their belts and bags of delivery experience. Below are our ugly mugs at Mercury Yacht Harbour just before we slip the lines at 06:00hrs yesterday morning.
The Team - (From left to right) Graham, Tony, Alain, Mark
We made great progress on Day 1 (Tues) covering some 160nm which is fantastic. We left the Hamble River with a superb sun rise (see below)
Sun coming up over Warsash Nautical College, Hamble River
The wind was from the NW, although not the best direction, it was better than the previous SW on the nose all of the time. We made great way out pass the Needles (my 3rd time in under 2 weeks - hopefully the last time now for 6 months, at least). With this wind direction we made westwards as much as we could trying to avoid the dreaded Casquet TSS. The wind started to turn West, as forecast, which slowly pushed us down into it. At first no problem, we went with the flow of the West traffic lane but once in-between the East and West flows (call this the Central Reservation when thinking about Motorways!!!!!) we were forced to motor along it into the wind until out of the heavily regulated area........then it was SW again and into the night.
This time we had the moon for half the night - night time on the water in the middle of the channel with no moon is pretty scary. Commercial shipping looks and sounds HUGE. When the AIS showed a miss by 0.4nm, they looked pretty close for my liking. We worked Watermark IV through the night, winds were light and we had to spend some time on the engine to push on westward
Alain brought his French cuisine into play. Out of bilge water and a few herbs and spices he delivered Chicken Coq Au Vin. I can't do that at home let alone on a yacht heeled over at 30 degree's. He goes straight into HERO status as far as I am concerned for that one.
Looming was the NW tip of France and the major TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme) of Ushant (this one is 4 lanes not just 2 like Casquet) - what to do? Much discussion was had and Tony took the decision that L'Aber Wrac'h was the best place to go. He'd been there before, we could refill water and fuel and anything else we wanted and since leaving the UK there was a DESPERATE lack of Mayo on board!!!!! (We never though of that one Cathy!!!!!). It seems that the delivery crew can do anything so long as there is Mayo.....
On the subject of food, it's amazing how 50ft of boat can hide things. For a while there was a major prize for finding the bread. No joy. We had to break into the strategic reserve's - the Ginster Pasties...... Of course, as soon as we downed them, we found the bread!!!
We again though about pushing on for Brest but the tides where very close and we could hit the Channel de la Halle at the wrong time meaning it would be 04:00hrs before we got to a marina and a fuel barge. Not ideal, everything would be shut!!
So we headed in to a small port that looked tiny on a chart, would probably have sailed on by if it hadn't been for Tony's recommendation. The entrance is interesting as you can see below looking back through where we had come....
Lots of rocks, breaking water, cross tides and a narrow channel.
I hoisted, for the first time, a courtesy ensign for France on Watermark IV. A real feeling that we were travelling somewhere now, see below;
So, I find myself moored up in this wonderful little port - never heard of it until today, surrounded by small Brittany sand beaches and sat in a bar playing "Stairway to Heaven" on the Accodian, feeling great. Sailing is a real leveller and is going to force me to RELAX in a very different way.
We leave late tomorrow morning for Leg 2 (of 3) of this adventure - around Ushant and into the Bay of Biscay. We expect this to be about a 3 day crossing and looking to get around the NW corner of Spain. La Coruna if things don't work out, Bayona if they do.
On the next leg, the satellite phone gets tested, if all works I'll try to update half way across.
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