Getting Underway: Anse Pen Hir to Audierne

The plan was for us to leave Anse Pen Hir at a time to link up with Nanuk on her passage from Camaret.

The forecast was for a settled morning F2 to 3 with wind increasing in the afternoon. The journey involved sailing through "The Raz De Seine" rounding La Vieille - a large lighthouse on the headland. I have included here a picture of the chart for the area which clearly shows the headland and the off-lying rocky islands. When the tide rises here the Atlantic water fills up the bay to the north and south of the headland and islands and forces water to rush through the gap either northbound or southbound causing over-falls. This is where the tidal flow gets turbulent being caught and funnelled through the gap and for yachtsmen you need to time your transit to coincide with slack water.

The Raz De Seine

Cardinal at the end of the Raz

La Vileille Light House

We weighed anchor and motored on our course emerging from the bay just as Nanuk was clearing the headland and we sailed along quite nicely until we reached the overfalls. The wind had risen a bit but we made a smooth transit emerging south of La Plate West Cardinal mark just in time for the sea breeze to kick in increasing the wind to a good F4 from the south. We turned east along the south coast of the peninsula towards Audierne and had a cracking beam reach all the way there. Audierne is a short way inland up a river so we took a mooring buoy at St.Evette - a small yacht haven just in the entrance of the river protected by a big concrete sea wall. We were met by the berthing master - a young man called Antoine who was a language student and he took the opportunity to practice his English on us and was very welcoming and exceedingly helpful. The mooring at 6 euritos including a free water taxi was probably the best value for money so far.

St.Evette harbour from the sailing club beach

We read in the pilot book that it was feasible to make the journey up to Audierne in the rubber-dubber so we got it out and inflated it and put the outboard motor on it which promptly refused to start so we asked Antoine where we could get it serviced and he said there was a marine mechanic by the bridge in the town so P & C offered to tow us there using their rubber dinghy to see if we could get it fixed.

TT Nanuk towing TT April Dream

The mechanic spoke zero English so between Carla and Chris we managed to explain and asked if he could look at it - No problem, Carburettor he announced and said come back later at 1800. So we went away and did shopping, had lunch in a Creperie, looked at the boats, Chris and I went to look at the old church on the hill and sat and watched a film about a local artist painting a picture of a cabbage - WEIRD I know but what can you do? It was cool in there after the blazing sunshine outside. Pete and Carla were doing their own thing but they also ended up in the cabbage painting audience for a time!

After a bit we went back to the mechanic who greeted us at the door with parts of our engine all over his bench. He said he was working on it so we waited a bit but it was obvious that he wasn't going to be ready any time soon so we said we would return in the morning. Pete towed us back down the river - we must have looked a complete hoot. The river was flat but when we got outside the end of the sea wall there was quite a chop in the water and Chris got soaked by the bow wave while I hid behind her using her as a shield. In the morning Pete and I returned around noon, did a bit of shopping and then went to the mechanic again who said he was still working on it and come back at 1800. So we decided it was beer o'clock and went to a bar. After killing time all afternoon we went back again and this time we thought he had cracked it but he said NO C'est Casse at this point I said we'd have to take it back off him and =get it fixed when we got home. He agreed - I was worried about the cost of all of this but he wouldn't take anything. I think he was upset that he had failed to fix it so I gave him some euritos and said at least have a few beers on us for trying. FRUSTRATING.

S and P in TT Nanuk going to get the outboard

While we were killing time Pete and I talked about stuff and laughed as I remembered a story that when I was a young guy working for my dad (who was a builder). He used to send me out to do drains tests for local estate agents. One of these was quite a large house so he sent a labourer (Peter Jellett) with me to help. Peter was an older guy and always wore a boiler suit to work which his elderly mum washed for him every day. To do a drains test you have to open the man hole cover and plug the pipes using an inflatable sausage. Once plugged you then fill the drain with water up to the gully say by a kitchen window and wait to see if the water level drops. If it drops it leaks if it doesn't it's good. When the drain serves an upstairs bathroom there is no gulley to look in so you just fill it up tapping the pipe with a small hammer and when you think the note changes and sounds like the pipe is full to about 300mm above the ground you estimate the level and put a pencil mark. then come back after 30mins and estimate the level again and compare pencil marks. On this occasion we left the tap running to fill up the stack pipe but forgot to turn off the water. When I tapped the pipe I realised that the water level was about 10ft up the pipe and peter was standing by the manhole. I called to warn him to get out of the way but before he could do anything the pressure blew the plug out of the drain and a column of foul water shot up out of the man hole, about 6ft in the air all over Peter's clean overalls. He just stood there and raised his arms like a scarecrow with gossamer wings. I don't think he ever forgave me.

While Simon and Pete went to sort out the engine, Chris and Carla decided to go for a swim in the inky blue sea. By goodness ,was it cold, but very refreshing.