The predicted weather forecast for the next 5-7 days is 'Low' followed by another 'Low' and if we're really unfortunate, another 'Low'. So, having missed our opportunity yesterday, we declared that today was 'the best day' to move onto Vannes.

We left Port Haliguen in drizzle which turned to heavy rain staying with us for the whole day. It was a miserable grey, damp and very wet day indeed!

We sailed across the Quiberon Bay with genoa and staysail only as earlier on during the day, as we were about to hoist the mainsail, the wind took hold of the halyard (rope) and before we had chance to react, took it forward and wrapped it around the radar reflector....well out of our reach!

We arrived at the narrow entrance to the Golfe slightly earlier than planned so we did experience some rather large wind over tide breaking waves (as Bruce put it, "Lets go shoot the rapids!"). Within 15 minutes the tide turned in our favour and was with us all the way up to Vannes. Not at what could have been the 7.4 knots, but at a reasonable 2 knots - good Captain!

Unfortunately due to poor visibility we didn't really 'see' any of the islands that are spread within the Golfe (an area of 50 sq miles with approx. 60 islands of all shapes and sizes). The visibility was just good enough to spot the port and starboard markers as we passed Ile Berder, Arradon and up to Vannes.

Access to Vannes is only accessible via the Kerino swing bridge and a tidal gate which opens only at certain times of the day, depending on the time of high tide, the sailing season etc. If you arrive early there is a waiting pontoon to tie up to.

As we approached the waiting pontoon Drummer gradually ground to a halt (we were only 1 meter away from the pontoon). The depth was less that 1 meter so we reversed back slowly, churning up an awful lot of mud and silt and headed back towards deeper water. We decided that we probably needed another half hour or so before there would be sufficient water to moor up,
so we took a buoy further down river and had lunch.

An hour later we left the buoy and were back moored on the waiting pontoon along with a couple of other yachts and motorboats all waiting for the bridge to open. Whilst waiting, we took the opportunity to retrieve the mainsail halyard from around the radar reflector (it's happened a few times before so we've got a retrieval routine which doesn't involve us having to climb the mast but instead makes uses a combination of the spinnaker pole and boat
hook on full extension!).

The entrance up into Vannes is lovely. The channel is narrow with layered stone walls either side. Along the river bank there is just a single line of berths facing a tree lined boulevard that follows all the way up to the Marina.



We moored up on the west bank (on the opposite side to the 'Capitainerie') in front of another HT named 'Tapestry' where the owners John and Dominique kindly took our mooring ropes. Later, we popped over to thank them for their help and ended up stopping for a glass or two of wine :-)

Total distance this season: 415.80 nautical miles