Passage to Brest, France

Nav passage plan

After an extended 11 days in Guernsey the weather was finally favourable to depart for our passage south. Our first planned stopover was Camaret, France with the option of continuing if the weather was favourable. 

This passage started with excellent weather in 15-20 kts of breeze but as we neared the Channel de Four the wind increased and headed us (wind on the nose).  The passage through the 20 mile channel was the most challenging so far with 45kts on the nose (bow) with wind against tide and a cross swell through the channel!  Unfortunately, there was not enough room to sail through this narrow channel with the wind dead on the nose so we had to motor-sail with short tacks straight into very rough seas (classic wind against tide producing short steep seaway) for the last 7 hrs to get through the channel - literally just crawling our way south.   John thought we may have to bail and head back but we finally turned East into the Brest port entrance- just before the tide turned and pushed us back out the channel!! Phew!!!  


Our sailing log recorded a 204NM passage over 34 hours with five hours at Force 8, technically called 'a fresh gale' with winds up to 40kts. 

Hard to spot this fort

  This was not predicted but provided a good opportunity to test the boat, our ability, and our resolve!  It would have been much easier if the wind had turned SE 20-25 kts as predicted but unfortunately it held dead Sth and continued to increase.  While initially the trip was relatively comfortable with a good sailing breeze and large Atlantic swells, these conditions deteriorated as the wind increased and visibility reduced as the rain and breaking waves developed.  These conditions were incredibly fatiguing with team work critical as we worked our way through the channel in 40kts in minimal visibility.  We finally arrived at our planned anchorage off Camaret at about 2200hrs wet and tired but safe! 

So many to choose from

The one positive was this passage has certainly increased our confidence in Sabbaticus as she can really handle the weather which is comforting.  It is just the crew that need to improve now!  We both suffered bouts of seasickness this time which takes the fun out of the sailing.  One moment of anxiety experienced was during Leanne's watch in the early hours of the morning she had finished updating the log and went to make a brew - all of a sudden an alarm sounded and the auto pilot failed.  After bolting to the helm and yelling loudly to John who was sleeping, and a few moments to think when getting the boat back under control, Leanne realised she had mistakenly turned off the auto helm on the switchboard in lieu of turning on the gas switch (we normally turn the gas solenoid off when not in use as an extra safety preoccupation).  The 24V switch board has 30 different switch's so no surprise the wrong switch may inadvertently get turned on at times. Thankfully this was an easy fix to turn the auto helm switch back on - much to John's relief!

After two days at anchor to recover we then moved to the Marina du Château in Brest.  Of interest was stepping ashore and seeing the walk of fame at the marina for the Jules Verne trophy winners including Peter Blake and Robyn Knox-Johnson for their record circumnavigation of the world in 74 days, 22hrs, 17m, 22 secs in 1994. If you are interested see the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_Trophy
 

Brest Castle behind Marina du Château

Brest has significant maritime history with impressive fortifications entering the harbour, and the second largest military port in France opposite the marina, with the Brest Castle looming over the marina. During WW1 Brest was the disembarkation port for US troops to the front lines and in WW2 the Germans had a large submarine base at Brest. In 1944 the city was almost totally destroyed during the Battle for Brest and has been rebuilt into a relatively modern city with lots of parks and tree lined streets. Of note the Brest harbour is now an important base for the French nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines (John was quite excited over this!).  I guess we shouldn't be mentioning the Rainbow Warrior here! 

 

After seven days in Brest (waiting for weather) we have had plenty of time for walking around, visiting the Brest Castle and Maritime Museum, catching up on domestics, enjoying the baguettes and pastries, and attempting to find a local red wine that equals the Australian reds.  While we have appreciated the French fashion style we dislike the dog poo - taking a bag and  cleaning up any mess seems a foreign concept here.

So far France has the record for Custom Officer's visiting Sabbaticus - five turned up on our third day to visit.  Thankfully they did not come onboard and only required us to present our passports for a stamp in their office. The marina had previously called Customs for us and confirmed we did not need to visit them.  Maybe it was a case of 'lost in translation'.

We can't miss the opportunity for some military history. This photo shows a German Navy Seehund Midget Submarine which were built in 1944 and had a crew of two with average mission length of 7-8 days.  At the end of WW2 the French Navy found some abandoned midgets and salvaged four. This small French fleet conducted 858 missions before decommissioning in 1953. 


We are now both keen to get moving again and cross the Bay of Biscay.  The forecast is favourable for Mon with light winds so our next stop is hopefully La Coruña in Spain. 

Guernsey - Channel Islands

Route to Guernsey

We left Torquay with a forecast of Force 6 (up to 27kts) occasionally 7 (up to 33kts), which resulted in a fast passage in strong winds with a confused 3 - 4 meter swell.  This was uncomfy with the big swells lifting the stern and after time spent below in the galley and doing the log caused Leanne to suffer a bout of seasickness. The only relief after being sick over the side is feeling slightly better as there is nothing left in the stomach to heave!

Castle Cornet from the visitors pontoon

Arriving at St Peters Port we passed the impressive island Castle Cornet which has been guarding the entrance to the harbour since the 13th century.  The castle has been occupied by the French in 1339 and then the Germans during WWII. Interestingly during WWII half the island population, approx 20,000, evacuated to the UK during the occupation. The island has a 16 forts and 58 batteries erected during Napoleon's reign and then enhanced by the Germans.  The island also has an underground military hospital that was built in 1944 for the D-Day landings for the expected German casualties. The hospital covers 7,000 square metres and was built by slave workers but never finished. 

We had planned to only spend 1-2 nights at the marina and then visit the different Channel Islands. However, the weather has been appalling with the first of the winter gales compounded by spring tides (assessed as dangerous in these conditions resulting in turbulent over falls).  As a result our stay was extended to 8 days.  
 

High tide ....

Low tide...

The Channel Islands have the fourth largest tidal range - 10 meters during springs - in the world so careful passage planning is required.  

Sill entrance at low tide

We were fortunate to have the last berth in Queen Elizabeth II marina which was entered via the sill. The sill traps water within the marina at 4.0 meters above chart datum. This means entry for us is high water +/- 90 mins.  Even then Sabbaticus only had 30cm at low water under her keel.  However, the marina was far better than the visitor's pontoon that had no power or ability to walk ashore.

Little Chapel

Very colourful!

We have been to a few tourist attractions including possibly the smallest chapel in the world which is a miniature version of the famous basilica at Lourdes in France.   At only 5 mtrs long and 3 mtrs wide it is certainly tiny and decorated with seashells, pebbles and colourful pieces of broken china - definitely a labour of love for the Brother Déodat who built it in 1914.  If you like mosaics this is the Chapel to visit.

After a trip into town we had just arrived back on the boat to have lunch when we heard a knock on the hull.

Checking out Freddy

Sniffing out the pantry (under the seats)

It was three Customs Officer's and a dog. The  Customs dog had walked past the boat and had stopped indicating there was something of interest onboard.  Needless to say after a 45min visit and search by the handler + dog, going through every cupboard,locker and lifting every floorboard nothing was found. Leanne was not too impressed with the dog who (enjoying the 'game') drooling everywhere, walked over the table, beds and salon and then took a liking to Freddy (the cat) no doubt he couldn't work out the lack of response - Freddy, and all the floors, needed a wash afterwards.

 

Always good to see friends

One of the bonuses of our extended stay in Guernsey was an opportunity to catch up with some friends - Spider (ex-RNZAF AEOP) and his wife Viv who were visiting for the RAF 201 SQN reunion.  Hopefully we may see Spider and Viv in the Med for some cruising.



One of the first job's before departing was motoring around to the fuel dock for diesel.  We took onboard 350 litres, at 78p the price is considerably cheaper than the UK. The water tanks are now filled and  we are now ready for our Bay of Biscay crossing and plan to depart tomorrow - if the forecast is favourable.

We now have 600 litres of fuel onboard - redundancy for our crossing if we lose the wind and have to motor.

 
Some more photos from St Peters Port which was a picturesque and friendly place to have an extended stay in:)

View from Sabbaticus today - wet and raining and the forecast is getting worse with Force 8 now predicted. Thankfully we are not under any time pressures so we will wait for the wind to decrease before heading south.

Passage to Torquay

'Front door view' at Torquay

The trip to Torquay was 82NM, with the assistance of the tide we had a fast passage with the wind reaching 28 knots with short lumpy seas which Sabbaticus loved - reefed down  thrusting into the seas and taking waves over the deck. (Leanne reached 10 plus kts with a favourable wind and tide!).  We both enjoyed time helming in the heavier weather which gave Tommy (our auto helm) a break.  Although we would prefer not to have a self furling main, the ease of reefing the sail was a major plus with a push of a button and very little effort we had two reefs in the main sail and no time spent out on deck to achieve this – a real plus when short handed sailing to reduce fatigue.  However, operation of the main sail furler has to be just 'right' otherwise we end up with problems with the potential for damage to the sail and running rigging a real concern.

The stopover in Torquay was to collect our new aluminum hulled RIB (Rigid Inflatable Dinghy).  Like everything on a boat this ended up being a bigger task than we expected.  Our planned four days in the marina turned into seven days whilst we awaited extra parts to enable the RIB to be secured to the davits – thank goodness our timetable is flexible! The ordered RIB was damaged so we ended up being offered a slightly larger RIB at 3.25meters for the the same price as originally agreed.  Although larger than we preferred it is a very light RIB and therefore achieves our goal of reducing the weight on the davits (the arms on the stern that the RIB is pulled up from the water and is stored on).  The original RIB was GRP and also had a centre console, auto-tilt, and a 15hp 4 stroke motor - all of which we have effectively removed from the davits - overall weight will drop from approx 150-180kg to approx 80-90kg with a 8hp 2 stroke outboard! Fitting the new RIB necessitated another few day’s delay as we re-measured the davits before we accepted the larger RIB and then ordered, received and fitted the additional parts required to modify the davit arms to secure the RIB.  After several frustrating days for John, including two trips for Leanne to the marine chandlery which was a 30 min ferry ride each way across the harbour, and then waiting two days for spares to arrive the RIB is now secured and the previous cover fits which was a real bonus (and relief).  

 

Finally the RIB is installed

This RIB required our newly installed life raft to be moved along the back rail.  While a relatively simple job it still required two sets of hands and small fingers to tighten the nuts which ended up being another half day job. 

English Riveria ?

Torquay was an easy destination to stay in and is marketed as the ‘English Riveria’ although this is a picturesque town I think this is a bit of a stretch. Torquay used to be a major tourist destination in the early 19th C and has a beautiful large bay and lots of B&B, pubs and cafes.  We enjoyed the local delicacy of fish n’ chips for dinner which was a nice treat.  For a bit of history - the marina we stayed at had these huge concrete docks which were used for the D Day landings with 23,000 American Troops departing from the docks to Germany in June 1944. Torquay is also home to the writer Agatha Christie.

Next passage is to Guernsey, Channel Islands.