Bob's gap years

15/08/2022


Left Port Launay on the 6th Aug with mixed feelings. I achieved what I wanted, a tremendous amount of boat maintenance, but as the month there progressed the enjoyment factor increased as I got to know people. Was invited to a canal side evening crepe/galette evening. Everyone took contribution foods and drinks, placed on a massive table, then you just helped yourself to anything (suited me) There was no reservation as to whether you were eating your stuff or someone else’s. A very communal and good evening. The road (very limited traffic) was used for a game similar in some ways to pétanque but played at short distance with heavy metal tablets thrown onto a 1/2 metre square board. It was taken pretty seriously. Forget what it was called. Had a lovely cycle ride 15 km up the canal. Utterly beautiful and so incredibly tranquil. Kept stopping just to soak up the peace and quiet, watch and listen to the wildlife.
I rather casually suggested to several people a drink on board Ben More on the eve of my departure. About 20 turned up for what was a great evening, somewhat boozy, and a late night. Great! Leaving at 10 in the morning there was an amazing send off. Many of the boat people stood on their decks shouting ‘we’re so glad you’re going’ or something like that. Thanks guys for making me welcome. What followed was a sail 14 miles down the twisting river to the Rade de Brest with just the jib up. Sunny, slow, and peaceful. Heading for an anchorage off Roscanvel 4 miles S of Brest things livened up. Wind increased to 20 knots plus and the sea became pretty choppy. The anchorage off the lovely little village was untenable so diverted for Brest instead. First night there was interesting when I woke up in alarm. There were cats on board. They had come through the windows. Quite a shock. In the morning the Belgian owners nearby were hugely apologetic for the alarm caused on several boats.
On the 10th Aug I sailed the 40 miles to L’Aber Wrach. I had some concerns because there were due to be strong NNE winds in the Channel with ‘lively’ seas. My boat is big and being single handed preparation is essential especially as I was having reliability problems with my electronic self steering. I did a packed lunch, thermos and set off with 2 reefs in the mainsail and my smaller jib up. Heading north up the Chenal du Four past the island of Ushant was ok and I was in company with a French yacht and a large historic and traditional smack on the way. Then, surprisingly, fog came in with Very limited visibility. The main danger was these other boats tacking and coming straight at me out of the fog (apart from other possible ships) I kept tabs on them on radar. Oh for a large crew to help! Eventually and quickly the fog dissipated and things got a bit wild tacking east along the Brittany coast. Thank goodness for my conservative sailplan. The boat did great, that’s what it’s designed for and the French yacht (a Dufour 40) was close with me the whole way and it was lovely to meet them in the harbour after arrival. Throughout the sail I used my wind vane steering in lieu of problems with the electronic.
So. A good day in L Wrach and decided to treat myself to a meal out. Went to a pizza place and never having heard of one before ordered a pizza soufflé. It appeared looking like a rugby ball on the plate. I deflated it and have to say it was lovely. This followed by another chocolate Liegeois and coffee.
Another quite hard and long sail followed to Roscoff where Nick from Topsham joined me on the 14th. We immediately left, having a meandering sail in very light and variable conditions with the cruising shute up across the Morlaix estuary to Trebeurden.
Next is back to Roscoff for customs clearance and U.K. return.

Today’s photo is over the stern of my boat in L’ Aber Wrach with a rather lovely sunset.
Wishing Lucas, my niece’s son, a good recovery after a truly awful accident.
See you soon

Bob

01/08/2022

After enduring a week of temperatures up to 41* the heat shunted north to the U.K for you to enjoy! I heard that around Exeter it wasn't tooo bad. My deck work is complete. Over the years the teak planking on the decks slightly shrinks and the rubber non slip caulking between the planks stands proud and gets 'scuffed' out by footfall. There is over 1/2 kilometre of this and with the aid of 30 razor blades I cut it all back to teak level. My fingertips were pretty scratched and finger recognition was useless for some time on my iPad and phone. The locals (resident population of Port Launay = 300!) became used to opening their shutters in the mornings and seeing me kneeling on the deck as if in prayer. It took over two weeks. Also many teak plugs hiding the screw heads had to be replaced then the loose caulking removed and refilled. It looks great now.

I have to apologise as there have been no incidents, disasters or Maria Italy to lead me astray and get me into trouble. Don't worry, there's still some time to go! Don't give up on me. My 6 months stranded in La Gomera was one of the most interesting times of my life and taught me how things pan out when in one place for a long unplanned time. Here in P Launay there are few foreign yachts and mine is undoubtedly the smartest and clearly equipped for ocean sailing. Few People spoke to me for the first week but I was aware of people walking by talking about this strange Englishman and stopping to look at the boat. I always gave a polite Bonjour. Friends made on other boats, some resident here, asked what I was doing and this obviously spread to the other 280 residents, probably via the pub which is the ONLY commercial business in the village. I wanted somewhere calm and quiet to do a mass of boatwork. They began to stop, chat and take an interest in work in progress. I have since enjoyed some lovely evenings with canalside bbq's and informal evening meals at tables placed under the trees by the quayside. It was at one of these that I produced my jar of pickled walnuts. I buy these, and other delicacies whenever I come to france as a conversation piece as, despite what you may think, there are many culinary things we have that just do not feature over here. It produced much interest and a level of caution that we might give to some still squiggling seafood. back home. Given time you learn so much more about people. It's been a good and productive stopover, however I do look forward now to getting back out to sea and am making plans for my return before I run out of Schengen days.

Today's picture is the blacksmith at work in the yard where I worked for a while in Duarnanez, with the bow of the boat just visible. It was amazing to watch him making /shaping keelband nails out of steel rod as it was done a century or so ago.

Well done the England girls. An example for the mens teams!
Cheers
Robert

15/07/2022

After a good 5 days in Camaret, enjoying much time with Jean Pierre we had a great meal on my boat before he left for Ireland the second time and J.P. very kindly gave me a bottle of Breton whiskey, made with buckwheat, and what I thought was a bottle of Breton wine. He warned me not to spill it on any paintwork and to take it very carefully. It’s 40% proof. Gawd knows what it really is. My friend Roger who I have skied with wouldn’t even get tipsy!
Sun 3rd April I set off the shortish distance for Brest leaving at 7am to get the tides right. But, every sailors nightmare (1 of many) came true - the anchor was fouled with a discarded heavy steel cable. That’s what’s called a safe anchorage, you don’t drag but you can’t leave! With all the mess near the surface I got two ropes round the cable made them fast and then dropped the anchor. It worked. Then a beautiful sail in a gentle breeze to Brest.
Brest is a big city and one I have only stopped at briefly in the past to collect/drop off crew. Did much cycling and surprisingly liked it. Spent some time at Oceanopolis, a marine scientific exhibition relating to deep sea research, foods (non fish) that the sea provides, drugs and medicines from its plant life (I can guarantee something you’ve eaten today will have had something slimy in it!!) and as a source of hydro energy. It was all superbly presented.
On return to the marina there were Fiona and Will (last seen in Duarnanez). They had an interesting story of their time in Morgat that I had previously been in (fortunately it didn’t turn out to be a serious accident) A large German boat (Chartered and with relatively inexperienced crew) was coming in to berth, with a lady on the deck with a mooring line to throw to Will. She threw it so hard it hit Will in the face and she went overboard herself through the open gate in the guardrails and was between the pontoon and boat. Will held the boat off while she was pulled out before (possibly) being squashed. At this point it’s worth pointing out that there are many potential risks/dangers on boats and pretty scary to think that anyone who has never even been to sea can buy a boat and just head off without any of the skills to keep safe. We all have these stories over the years and laugh and learn from them. If risk scares you consider all the dangers of driving. Finally I assure anyone who may sail with me in the future that I have gained a fair bit of sense and experience after more than 30,000 miles of sailing and taking care brings things down to a safe, enjoyable level.
From Brest I wanted a quiet place to do a mammoth job of work on my teak decks so on Friday 7th I sailed east down the Rade de Brest and motored 12miles up the beautiful river Aulne through a lock to Port Launay at the end of the canal system. It’s a small village with a bar and not even a boulangerie! It’s been in the 30’s most days. The sun doesn’t hit the boat until nearly 10 with all the hills around so I start work early and stop about 1100 rather than roast alive and a back on the deck after 2130. Local life has proved so interesting. More later.
At last I’ve just heard again from Mercy Ships again with more information requests so hope is still with me!
Todays picture is of the boat with its sun awning in Port Launay.
Keep well folks and take care with what sounds like some serious heat coming your way.
Cheers
Rob

01/07/2022

An interesting time for the last 2 weeks. An electrician on board to fix a problem. When he had finished offered him a cup of tea ( how English). No merci. Tongue in cheek then offered him a glass of scotch.. oui, oui! Crazy! So of courses had one myself, then Jean Pierre came rolling down the pontoon with 8.6 % alcohol beers in hand and that was the day over (again) for me. The boatyard job has finished now and the new replica sardine fishing boat has been launched. I enjoyed the time spent helping.
Friday 17th June turned out to be very memorable and dramatic. To set the scene for non sailors a marina is generally sheltered by high breakwaters and very safe and sheltered inside. The Duarnanez pontoons are in the open river mouth so very susceptible to direct wind and swell coming in the river mouth with little to protect the berths against their strength. Late in the evening direct winds of up to 40 knots were forecast (they actually only reached 30 knots, a force 7 gale, thank goodness) With the Frenchman Jean Pierre ( who has a resident parrot on board) and a wonderful English couple, Fiona and Will ( who had a delightful, but deaf, dog on board we decided to start early with drinks and nibbles on the English boat. Very nice and good company. BUT. The gale came in early and violently, and In a short time the pontoons became borderline dangerous. They were writhing up and down like a demented snake ( they are hinged in sections to help absorb shock) and care was needed simply walking up and down them. Boats began pitching and rolling violently. Our boats were on the inside berths and reasonably ok. I have a superb video of the berserk pontoons and of boats pitching so violently their rudders can be seen. Two boats came in from the anchorage for better shelter but were barely in control in the conditions when they had to slow down to turn or manoeuvre. No serious damage was done thank goodness. However one large yacht was berthed broadside to these conditions on a single access pontoon and was being smashed about with a very frightened crew. A line was taken 30 metres from his bow to my boat and we pulled, winched him off. It took a lot of people. J.P. and I then checked other boats that were unattended. No doubt some of the inadequate mooring lines would have snapped so we used our own heavy duty lines to make them more secure. It was now about 2230 and the four of us went to JP's boat for a recovery drink, more nibbles and a sensible conversation with his parrot. No one had had a meal so I suggested we all gathered up what we had that was edible and came to my boat for a late supper. Fantastic. Meats, cheeses, salad, dips, ham and hot oven cooked bread. Plus booze of course to say nothing of my exquisite speciality Italian dessert. (always modest) We started eating at 2350 and finished at 0230 when, thankfully, the wind had eased a little. This is holiday?
One not amusing thing about this evening was a very small yacht whose lady owner had asked her aged mother down to see the boat. A long time getting her safely on board and settled in the cockpit. Then the gale. It was too dangerous to attempt getting her off. The poor old lady was clearly not happy and was desperately trying to keep her false teeth in. In the end they went up the river to get through a lock into calmer waters. Hope they made it. Never saw them again.
Three days later JP left for Dublin (nonstop) and Fiona and Will to continue their cruises.
On Tuesday 28th I left for the 30 mile sail to the Brest area. A lovely day, sunny and a fresh SW breeze. BUT. had a real run in with the French navy. Passed a warship about two miles away doing exercises, turned East for the Brest approach channel and there was another warship heading direct for me about 2 miles away. No problem so continued on my course to safely cross his bows until he changed course in the channel and again was coming straight at me from about 1 1/2 miles. No problem, observing the collision at sea regulations I turned to starboard so we would pass each other on our port sides. At this point I was heading for distant dark coloured cliffs. Everything was ok until a navy helicopter came whizzing over and took station just behind me about 80 ft up (messed up the nice wind flow over my sails but it was quite exciting) A nice man was sitting in the open door and was waving to me so I waved back and went below to get my camera for a picture. By now he seemed to be a bit excited about something and I realised he was waving me to go to the right. Oddly no VHF contact. Then I saw it. A submarine conning tower emerged from the backdrop of the cliffs. Although some distance away they, as any navy, are very protective about their subs navigating in restricted and shallow waters. Course change, a friendly wave from the chopper and off he went. Another coast guard ship was trailing the sub about a 1/2 mile behind.
The surprises didn't end there. I was beginning to think of a gentle cruise up the Thames! Decided to go to Camaret and approaching the anchorage I got a call on the VHF. It was Jean Pierre. He should have been in Dublin but had to turn back for damage repair. I went to anchor close to him but the hook wouldn't hold in the freshening breeze and nor would it after 3 attempts. JP was also having problems so we re anchored just off the town. He is off again to Ireland tomorrow after a very enjoyable couple of days of good company. Bon Voyage.
Picture of the sub. Taken with magnification so looks much closer than it actually was.
Next I will probably be going to a lovely quiet village up a canal to the East of Brest to do some deck planking refurbishment. Days of work and hopefully no great dramas.
Hope you are all enjoying some good summer weather.
Bob.

15/06/2022


Here we go again. The 90 day Schengen shuffle clock is ticking.
Arrived in Roscoff with Tomasz Thursday 26th May after a blast of a 100 mile sail from Plymouth with a 20 knot Westerly wind, including crossing busy shipping lanes during the night. Daunting but enjoyable. A day later I sailed single handed the 77 miles west to Ushant then down the notorious Chenal du Four past Brest finally stopping at Morgat in the bay of Duarnanez and stopped there for a week for a super chill-out in the glorious weather. I have to apologise that you have been used to hearing of all the less savoury situations that I have got into (stranded up mountains, shark attacks, trying to teach English to Senegalese who can’t read or write, getting used to Italian cooking (sorry Maria - I loved it!) and driving ambulances down the wrong side of the road etc etc. Well up to now I have been Mr normal.
Morgat was very sociable, the second evening a French boat rafted alongside me. I casually suggested a glass of wine and was immediately boarded by the crew. They did contribute some lovely garlic sausage. I became quite friendly with a Belgian, formerly in the armed services, and very much a loner, however, he did like scotch whisky and rolled down the pontoon one day with his bottle. I can hardly cope with alcohol in the evening let alone before lunch but didn’t want to be unfriendly. One glass of his then two of mine and that was the day finished. Also a good meal out one evening with another crew, and an unusual number of people taking great interest in the boat and all its gear coming on board for a look-see. Finally went out to anchor in the bay for a day then a lovely sail to Duarnenez 10 miles across the bay where I am still at. Not everyone’s favourite but I like the place.
I’m berthed behind Jean-Paul, French, who ‘zut alors ’ (don’t know what that means but it sounds good) loves his whisky. He came on board one evening for a meal. Gawd - a beer, bottle of wine then whisky until 2 am! Also a wonderful Sunday lunch, 2 1/2 hours, moules, crisp white wine and the best ever Chocolat Liegeois. Love it.
Best of all I have a (voluntary) job at a local traditional Breton boatbuilders who are building a century old design fishing smack using only old techniques, down to hand stitched sails and molten tar being poured into the seams. Many amazing craftsmen and fascinating to be part of it. Maybe I shouldn’t have said my best exam result ever was for woodwork. (So talented!) The workday is 9am to 6pm or later with, of course, lunch A Table as a ritual. The launch is on the 21st June and it’s going to be quite an occasion for the town. I will be staying here for it. I hope they don’t have a Breton pipe band!. I am also doing many jobs on my boat, re varnishing the woodwork and teak deck maintenance.
I have finally heard from Mercy Ships with a medical questionnaire and look forward to the next step until which everything is a little uncertain, but heyho c’est la vie.
Todays picture is my boat at sea.
Great weather here and hope you are all enjoying it back home.
Cheers
Rob

11/06/2021

Back home. How lovely, the summer to look forward to and friends to catch up with.
The sail from Horta, Azores was 1,407 sea miles taking 10 days 8 1/2 hours at an average boat speed of 5.7 knots which to non sailors may sound somewhat slow but was a pretty good average. The track was N. East so the ideal would have been winds from the Southern or Western sectors. Apart from 3 days it came from the Northern sectors. Bit of a bummer. The first 3 days were spent tacking against the wind and taking care to avoid hitting the islands of Pico, Sao Jorge and Terceira. They have very hard rocks around them. All the time we were trying to favour the port tack to take us to the East making the predicted Easterlies later in the voyage easier to handle. During this time the winds did not exceed 16 knots but still meant we were always at quite an angle of heel and the boat very lively as we punched through the seas. This, for days, as we lost Terceira astern, became tiring. Cooking becomes an athletic exercise and you are using a lot of energy simply keeping your balance, however, you are very snug in your sea berth and sleep well. (2 hours on and 4 off for 12 hours 2100 to 0900)
What followed for the next 3-4 days was winds from the West to S. West ranging from 12 to 32 knots. A great angle and terrific, fast sailing with the wind on the beam, although with some very big seas coming in from storms In the NW Atlantic and occasionally sweeping the deck. Great progress. Things then got a bit confusing for the rest of the trip. Some very light winds with many hours motoring and becoming more easterly. Frustrating to slow up as we got closer to home. Finally approached the Eddystone light off Plymouth early evening Sun 30th May changing to Port tack and with the tide turning in our favour ( VERY lucky but actually brilliantly planned by the, very modest, skipper) we swept round Start Point arriving at Brixham at 0230 on Monday 31st. This stop was necessary to get a marina invoice to show the boats return to UK waters, thus clearing EU ‘residency’ laws, before getting back to my mooring on the river Exe Monday afternoon on what was a brilliant summer’s day.

The final photo of this blog series is of a beautiful sunset one evening during the calmer weather on the voyage.
To all who have read my ramblings over the last 9 months a big thank you and your posted comments were great and helped me feel in contact with home.
Watch this space. It doesn’t end here. Already planning my return to the EU after clearing Schengen complications.
Great to be back
Robert