Position:  48:01.38N 04:32.25W

Audierne, France

We left Morgat on Friday.  I had a funny feeling about the day – not enough to prevent us from leaving, but in retrospect there was something funny going on.  Perhaps I should listen to the old superstition about not setting off on a Friday.

Within an hour of leaving, the visibility closed in and we motor-sailed in a small world of dull grey, about ½ a mile in radius.  I switched the radar on and we watched the rain showers move towards us on the radar, and with the windscreen wiper going, practiced buoy-spotting for all the lobster pots dotted around the sea.

We cleared the Crozon peninsula and headed on in the mist towards the Raz du Sein, the second hideous headland we needed to round (after the Chenal du Four).  This is another of those ones where the lighthouse has been photographed with the waves breaking over the top of it, or with masses of ship-smashing rocks being pounded by huge waves, with white water everywhere.  It is basically a long ridge of rock above and below the water, and the tide means that the water gets squeezed through a set of small gaps between these rocks, with fearsome currents and waves.

I suppose I had got a little bit complacent after a couple of days of sunshine and whilst I had timed our trip to pass through the Raz at around slack water, I hadn’t given it too much thought as the wind was still very light.  However, as we neared, the swell, which had not been apparent up to now, started to kick in in a confused manner and it got quite uncomfortable.  The tide also appeared to be against us despite us being to plan – we suffer from not having a local tidal atlas and having to “guess” a little from the Reeds Almanac.

Raz du Sein in mist

We inched round the lighthouse and eventually turned East although it felt like forever.  It was a day for staying in bed, and the girls all crashed, J & S falling asleep together in the saloon.

Off watch.  Note the DVD player – essential kit for passages

Further on, a ferry came past, kicking up a monster wash.  I turned into it, but it was huge and for the first time, Nutmeg slammed after taking off over the first wave.  We must have been pointing a good 30 degrees up by the bow as a lot of stuff fell backward in the boat.  Quite frightening, a ten-ton boat is not designed to get airtime!

Eventually, we arrived at Audierne about 1 ½ hrs after LW, and followed the instructions on getting in. The town is about a mile up a shallow river and you need to follow very precise instructions on getting in to avoid the bar and various shoals.  The guide did say that for a first trip you should try to go above half-tide, but we were keen to get in – and how difficult can it be? 

Well, quite difficult, actually.  We followed the first set of leading marks until it felt like we should be turning, so I started to turn onto the second set.  In the meantime, the depth below the keel dropped rapidly from 2.5 metres to 0.5 metres.  With ¾ knot of tide pushing us on and the revs down low, it all got a bit stressful and the depth went 0.5, 0.3, then Nutmeg hit the bottom… She bounced twice and was then off into deeper water.  I don’t think it was against something too abrasive but urggh – what a horrible sensation. 

We had a couple more stressy moments coming in as we blundered out of the narrow channel before finding our way back in, but eventually tied up on one of the hammerhead pontoons right in the centre of town and had a cold beer.

Afterwards, we walked along the breakwater to see where we went wrong but it still wasn’t clear, and when we left (at HW!) it was still tricky to stay in the channel and the depth varied wildly.  I suspect it may be a while since it was dredged.  We also watched another boat try to come in at LW+1 and they hit the bottom twice before giving up!  So that made us feel a little better.

Audierne is a lovely place, with the best market I think I have ever been to.  It was literally at the end of the pontoon and there were stalls selling beautiful blue lobsters and huge crabs (all live), other stalls with massive rotisserie racks of chicken, whole roast pigs, plus cheeses, flowers, spices, honey, clothing, you name it!  The smells were out of this world and we had to try very hard to restrain ourselves.  We did manage to get a couple of superb steaks and some juicy prawns which we barbequed on the pontoon.

The rest of the day was spent on the lovely beach, about half a mile away from the town, where some advanced hydrological engineering was employed to create a paddling pool in the sand for the girls (and Mum!).  It has to be said, Dad is probably at his happiest digging holes on the beach.  Early senility or just never grown up?