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Back to the water for Saltimbanque after close to one year on land. And so we start our long journey to the North...
More pictures from this preliminary leg can be found in our page "Pictures".
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480 milles sailed
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That's it, holidays are here at last! Time to fly to Lorient where we
get back to our dear little Saltimbanque. The crew of the shipyward
where it was stored since we came back from our one-year trip craned it
back to the water just a few days before.
We spend the 2 first
days in rigging back, filling up the cupboards again, and have a
bit of fun with our propeller packing gland which struggled to wake up
after 10 months up and dry. And it's time to leave the bay of Lorient
pushed by a gentle wind. By pure chance we sail by our friends the
"Pingouins Tropicaux" in the channel . Last time we had seen them, it
was in Pointe à Pitre in March 2012.
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Saltimbanque is back to its normal liquid element after 10 months on the dry land
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Saint-Matthieu's head by Brest
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We
enjoy stable conditions on the first days: moderate wind from the
North-East (4-5b), bright sun, and a temperature closer to the one of
more tropical latitudes. We glide down the wind wearing shorts and
asymetrical spinneaker from Lorient to Lesconil, where we moor on a
buoy for the night. Very friendly small fishing harbour.
Then we hop to Audierne on the next day where we drop the anchor in a magnificent - if ice cold - water !!
Crossing
the "Raz de Sein" - a famous race with strong current - is easy, but
the next one called le Four is very bumpy with this Northeasterly wind
now blowing at a good 20 knots against the current. We reach the bay of Porsmoguer to the south of the Corsen head and grab a much-welcomed mooring buoy !
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We
sleep for a few hours waiting for the tide to turn, and at 2 am we just
hoist the sails, let the buoy go, and silently leave towards the second
part of "le Four" channel. The wind has dropped a bit, but hasn't
changed much in direction. All sails up, Bob - our wind vane- steers Saltimbanque close
to the wind. We just have to enjoy the raising sun, after all we are
not in a rush !
The cost line passes by: the
ile Vierge lighthouse, the cardinal beacon of Aman ar Ross, the isle of
Batz... The wind keeps dropping inexorably. It's flat calm, it's
beautiful... We continue towards Trebeurden in an agonizing wind under
the not less dying sun. In slow motion we skim past the rocks even
pinkier than usual and reach our former home port. |
Quiet landing at Trébeurden
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wind at all but a bright sun, we spend a bit of time on a mooring buoy
at Trebeurden, just gazing at these landscapes so familiar and that we
still love so much. The local old gaffers make a festival for us in
between the winding granit. |
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| Trébeurden - Newhaven |
The
wind is still on holidays, the trip to Guernsey is mostly covered
motoring. Mot notable event being the fireworks everywhere onshore for
the National Day on July 14th. The anchorage place under Castle Coret
is like a mirror.
We leave again at 3am
with the tide change and still with the engine, taking the Little
Russel channel. The mist falls down on us right when we get out of the
narrowest part and we'll keep us blind sailing for 3 long hours. Still
motoring, we take the Alderney Race for our very first time ! And yes
we were right at slack water and yes the tide coefficient was very low
(53), but still the current whirlpools are extremely powerful.
Pushed by the current we sail at 7-8 knots to Cherbourg.
Cherbourg...
A city with a harbour as big as the center ! We have to wait for the
wind to pick up and share our time between ship chandlers, an
exposition in the city, and nostalgic discussions with our neighbouring
boat: he is heading to his home port of Boulogne-sur-Mer back from his
4th Antlantic round trip.
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Guernsey, still beautiful boats, still no wind...
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To convey our boat we tack and tack again... there are simpler ways !
| Departure
at midnight towards England still in very calm conditions. Then the
wind finally picks up - from the North East- and we quickly reach the
South of the Isle of Wight. And the wind drops again, and picks up, and
drops, and picks up again, and miraculously takes a more East - South -
East orientation so we can sail 20 milles on the intended course. Then
it drops again, and picks up right from the direction where we need to
go... We tack and tack for the entire night, there is only 15 milles
left in a straight line.
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At
6am, the wind picks up quite much, we reduce the main sail by 2 reefs
and swap the genoa for the jib. It's ok we still know how to do this
:o) And we sail in Newhaven harbour with the sunrise.
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The entrance of Newhaven |
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Low tide at Newhaven
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The harbour is nicer under this sun than in our greyish memories from
last spring. But a small surprise awaits us, the management of the
marina has not registered our berth demand... But we find a solution by
the end of the day, and we finally moor Saltimbanque onto its new home
berth. At low tide the keel sinks into an extremely soft mud, but the
other sailboats in the marina don't sem to suffer from this. Freeky
feeling though...
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The
surroundings are very steep: white cliffs of chalk and a few pebble
beaches. Very few anchorage possibilities so our trips that summer can
be summed up to a few round trips in front of the harbour, and very
adventurous expeditions to remote Brighton, 6 miles to the west. It's time
to get back to our fjord...
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The famous 7-sisters
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