Position:  48:35.97N 04:33.70W

L’Aber Wrac’h, France

I have to admit, we were all pretty tired after our trip from Treguier and a late afternoon on the beach, and I gave Sarah the opt-out of not setting out again, despite the weather looking settled,  However, she was keen to push on and get to somewhere where we could stop for a few days, so we agreed to push on to L’Aber Wrac’h, some 50 miles along the coast, and the last stop before rounding the corner into Biscay.

They have a nice custom at some of the French marinas of having the local boulanger come along to the marina in his van to sell baguettes to the yachties, so at 0800 Sarah was up at the top of the pontoon buying fresh bread for breakfast.  We then filled up with diesel – 108 litres - the first fill-up since we re-launched Nutmeg in Shoreham in May.  We seem to average about 2 litres/hour (1/2 gal/hr) and we have 280 litres (63 gallons) capacity in total, which means we have a range of about 5 days or 600 miles if required, which is comforting.  Just a shame we didn’t fill up in Guernsey, where it was 72p/litre, vs Trebeurden which was 1.60 Euros/litre…

The sail to L’Aber Wrac’h was effectively along the coast with no major hazards, but I set a course which took us quite far offshore, in order to try to avoid the tidal race off Ile de Batz and any other land-induced nasties.  The swell was still pretty horrible and the girls all stayed in bed for most of the trip.  Along the coast we have encountered quite a lot of floating islands of seaweed – thick stringy stuff often with other bits of flotsam floating within it.  I think it is because we are coming up to Spring tides so it gets picked up off the beaches.  Well, we sailed into one of these – I only saw it when it was too late – and as Nutmeg sailed over it, I heard the engine revs drop and so did my stomach. I quickly knocked it into neutral, and then back into forward after a few seconds, and it seemed to be OK.  But what a horrible feeling – I lay awake that night wondering what would have happened if we had caught something round the prop in that hideous swell.

At least the tides were at sociable times, meaning we left at 0900 and arrived into L’Aber Wrac’h at 1700.  As seems to be normal for Breton harbours, there was a small armada of sailing school dinghies from Oppies to Hobies all buzzing round – is it any wonder the French are producing such a lot of talent when they have a sailing school in every town? 

We berthed just behind a British yacht called "Trombone", and met a lovely couple named Dennis and Margaret, who were returning home after a cruise in South Brittany.  They invited us aboard, and very kindly gave us information about various places to visit further South.  Their boat was bristling with Tacktick instruments – the first cruising boat I have seen with mast repeaters! It turned out that their two sons own and run Tacktick and they use their parents as guinea pigs for their new equipment.  It was uplifting to meet some friendly people, I think we needed this after a couple of uncomfortable sails.

Bathtime

Even the dolls get a bath!