11th - 12th July - Jersey to Trebeurden and then Aber Wrac't

Posted at 9:08 PM, Sunday, July 12, 2009

The guy from Fox Marine, Peter, was absolutely superb.  He not only sorted our issue (yes it was a starter relay) but also explained everything he did as he did it – so an educational exercise to boot.  Lovely chap who really does know his stuff and if you’ve ever an electrical problem in the Channel Islands – call him direct.  Aquamarine Electrics Tel +44 9979722359.

We skipped out of St Helier early Sunday close to high tide and picked up the ebb running out back towards Trebuerden.  With a lot of south in the wind it allowed us to hoist sails and cream along at 7 – 9 knots to get back where we’d been some four days before.

The entry into Trebeurden Marina can only be completed 3 hours each side of high tide, and the course to follow meanders close by rocks until one does a hard 90 degree turn and edges in over the sill in the harbour mouth.  Three hours after high tide they raise the sill and trap the water inside keeping all the boats afloat.  And three hours later at lowest tide, you can peek over the edge of the harbour wall and see the exposed beach being scavaged by locals gathering shellfish.

Sue took Swagman in and it was only after she’d parked up with a ‘phew’ did the harbourmaster compliment her on doing it so neatly.  The place he allocated to us barely gave room to swing a cat let alone a 46 foot yacht, especially as Sue had 20 knots of breeze blowing her in unexpectedly faster than we wanted, and a cross current kicking in to make it even harder.  ‘Bon skipper’ he said.  All I could do as first mate and cabin boy was nod.

Here you can see how Swagman tends to dwarf the other yachts in the spot he gave Sue.

Trebeurden has a lovely holiday feel to it.  Sort of Amity in Brittany. Lots of sailing schools. Lots of youngsters.  Although the weather has not been good today, nor those few days back when we came before, it never seems to stop the kids hitting the beach and splashing in the ocean.

Even the fishing boats look like they are on vacation.  I'm sure I had one like this in my bathtub many years back.

Left at 10 am Sunday after picking up newly baked bread, and again made sure our timing put us onto the ebb tide flowing down Channel.  The wind was exactly on the nose so the engine never went off the whole way.  As we cleared Roscoff one could feel for once the power of the open Atlantic in the building swells, and by 4 pm we just got into Aber Wrac’t as the tide turned back up Channel.

I’ve said it before but getting the tide times right is as important – maybe even more important -  than picking the weather in this region.

Here we are parked up on the outside of Aber Wrac’t marina.

It is actually quite a large facility relative to the small township it serves.

And the town itself is reminiscent of those smaller coastal towns you find in Devon or Wales. Strong enough to withstand some fierce winters.

Anyway, this is our last port of call before rounding the corner into the Channel de Four and Southern Brittany.   We've slid past this cape twice before but well offshore.  Tomorrow we're taking the inside route via the Chanel and with 20 knots of breeze on our nose once more,and maybe 6 knots of tide pushing us into it - it promises to be a day to remember. 

I'll update you when we get in.

Love and kisses

JOHN and SUE xx