Blog
I have made it across the Bay of Biscay and instead of writing I have made a little film and recorded my own music in my “boat studio”. All this writing, picture taking, filming, recording and editing is great fun but it is also getting a bit out of hand time wise… so entries might be a bit more scarce from now on.
I still need to repair things on the boat and generally need more time 🙂
Absolutely no wind today.. as forecast. But I needed to get to Camaret which is only 35 miles away in order to be able to catch my weather window to cross Biscay. It’s all looking very good for a Wednesday departure.
I had waited out the storm and left with the tide to pass through the somewhat scary Chenal de l’Île de Batz. Once inside it wasn’t as scary as on the chart. The wind was supposed to be variable and very little but we made good progress under sail. After a while it died completely and we motored for a bit but the wind came back. Out of the west of course. But we had the tide with us and no real waves (except for some large atlantic rollers that were a welcome change).
After having accompanied Zissi to the bus I went back to bed for a few hours, did some grocery shopping, filled one of the jerry cans with diesel and got ready to cast off with the evening tide.
The wind was weak and coming out of the wrong direction but the next days weren’t looking much more promising and so I wanted to make the 60 mile passage to Roscoff overnight and expected to arrive some time the next morning.
Another great sailing day. We raised the anchor when it was still almost dark and then made our way through the anchorage and out to sea. We were soon flying along with the wind and the tide and the 48 miles went by faster than expected so that we were able to reach St. Quay Portrieux in the afternoon. Instead of having to raft up with lots of other boats we were able to grab a finger berth to ourselves and were soon exploring the beautiful town.
A French couple we had met in Sark had told us that this here (Sark) is all very nice but the Îles Chausey are their paradise. So we thought why can it not be our paradise, too and a plan was made for getting there. In order to make the best of the tide we would have to leave St. Helier at a time when we wouldn’t be able to cross the bar. So we left the evening before and anchored in Belcroute Bay next to St. Aubin’s Fort. It was a place with a nice view and quiet at first but for some reason it got really rolls overnight and we couldn’t sleep again. I have yet to figure out where that swell came from.
We got up at 5 a.m. The anchor went up at 5:30 and we were underway. The forecast was for force 3 out of the west at first and then becoming very light. We wanted to catch the wind and the tide. We got both and it was great sailing in the rain and fog. On the way we were accompanied by three dolphins who put on a little bit of a show until they got bored with us and left.
The forecast was for force 5 to 6 from the west. That meant having the wind from aft of the beam almost all the time and it was only a short sail anyway. The anchorage that we had chosen was supposedly very well protected from anything out of the west.
Casting off the lines from the Mary Winnifred by myself was a bit daunting because the tide was already running fast but in the end it turned out to be rather easy. I was passing the pier on the shore of the river on a sunny day with kids saluting and waving. It felt great.
After having passed the bar the sails came up and we were able to go in the desired direction with a nice breeze from the northwest. The sea was smooth except for a large swell coming out the southwest but that didn’t bother me. We were making 6.5knots through the water and close to 8 with the tide. It felt like the first really nice sailing day without having to beat into the wind and pound into the waves… It was exhilarating. The Isle of Wight was on our starboard beam, I had never been this far west into the English Channel with Amy and things were looking good.
I had a very short weather window the following morning. I needed to be at the entrance to the river Arun as close to high tide as possible. And I wanted the morning high tide, not the evening one because then there would already be too much wind again.
That meant getting up at 2:30 a.m. and casting off at 3:30. And … you guessed it…. Going against tide and wind.
The waves were still up and it was soon clear that sailing was no option. I would never make it in time. But motoring turned out not to work either. So we were tacking our way against the weather and the tide with sail and motor and were very much delayed at first but fortunately the waves diminished and we were able to go in a straight line.
