Position:  47:35.44N 03:01.52W

La Trinite, France

The wind was still blowing hard on Sunday but it was an easy 8 mile downwind sail so despite limited visibility, we unrolled the genoa and pottered downwind.  There was a large fleet of dinghies off to port so we went to investigate – 50 or 60 Equipe dinghies presumably racing out of Carnac – the visibility was so poor they could have been from anywhere.  I have never seen so many buoys as in Quiberon Bay – fishing floats, racing marks and God knows what other paraphernalia floating around, which kept us awake. 

Coming into La Trinite was like coming into the Hamble or Lymington – a steady stream of boats of all sorts heading in.  As we came to the town a little way up the river, we passed some of the legendary boats of our time – Idec, Sodebo and one other 60ft trimaran.  They are simply immense, amazing bits of kit. 

There were a lot of boats with Biscay Triangle Rally flags on the visitors pontoon, but we got put upriver on another pontoon, which miffed us a bit – we like being on the visitors pontoon as you meet lots of interesting folk.  We hopped in the dinghy instead and went to say hello to other British yachts.  Most British yachts are heading North.  We have only met one other boat which is heading down to Spain.  I suppose most boats will have taken the more direct route from somewhere further North direct to La Coruna, which we decided not to do – firstly because there is so much to see in Britanny & Vendee, but also because we don’t fancy a 3-day passage just yet.

We are undoubtedly a “weak” crew.  I think that we are actually weaker than a singlehander because of the need to care for the children as well as the boat whilst on passage.  If Sarah is ill, I really am torn between watchkeeping/looking after the boat, and ensuring the kids are OK.  They are very low-maintenance kids anyway, and on passage Millie normally reads, listens to a story CD, or watches a DVD – or sleeps.  Jemima normally needs to go to bed for an hour or two to get over feeling sick, and then watches DVDs or role-plays with Millie.  Sarah is still suffering from seasickness a little – whilst she is not usually physically sick, she gets very cold and lethargic and normally dozes in the cockpit for most of the trip.  Whilst Nutmeg is a very easy boat to sail, there is no end of fishing floats to keep watch for on these waters, and you don’t get much rest on passage.

The weather on this trip has been worse than we had expected.  Perhaps this was naïve of us – we are only a short distance away from the English Channel and still feel almost the same effects from the depressions which sweep in from the Atlantic.  I suspect it may be NW Spain before we feel we have escaped from the Lows.  The weather in between the Lows is nicer and a bit warmer – but we have been stuck in a number of ports because the wind is howling in the rigging, which I suppose I didn’t expect.  There has also been a fair amount of rain.  We spoke to one local who said it was a poor summer, similar to last years.  I wonder what it is like in England?

Ironically, we have also motored a lot more than I had anticipated – the wind either blows too hard or not at all.  This is fine, but despite the soundproofing I fitted before we left, the engine noise in the cockpit is still quite loud and it can be quite tiring to sit in the cockpit for hour after hour.  I am encouraging us all to try to spend more time on deck, as it is lovely up on top.  We had a tidy-up and cleared all the junk off the aft deck, so it is lovely to sit there in the sunshine and breathe in the fresh air.

One of the reasons for going to La Trinite was to get the engine serviced.  I wanted to have someone with more experience than me have a look at the engine and if necessary tell me if there were any problems.  So on Monday morning, a friendly Volvo engineer arrived and got to work, with me watching.  He was very good and quick – the type of engineer who doesn’t even get his hands dirty!  He agreed with me that the freshwater circulation pump needed replacing but on getting the price and finding out we would have to hang around for it to be delivered, I decided not to order it.  Lesson learned (again) – get any engine parts (or indeed any chandlery) sorted in the UK.  It is much cheaper.

We spent an afternoon in the dinghy, floating in on the flood up to a sandy beach in the estuary, which we all enjoyed.  Then, with a good forecast, we decided to push on.

Cookery lessons

Jemima finds a use for the beer box