Cruising in Company - camaraderie and drama combined

We arrived in Port Louis on Sunday afternoon as planned, after a most enjoyable sail eastwards along the coast. There we met fellow members (and their boats) of the Cruising Association with whom we were to 'potter' around this beautiful part of the South Brittany coast for the next couple of weeks. Most of them have been cruising here for years and know all the good places to go, see and eat. As the new kids on the block, we have been eager to pick up as much local knowledge as possible so this is a golden opportunity. That evening everyone was invited to a pot luck supper aboard Tudora - a luxurious 'Gentleman's Yacht', now converted to a permanent live-aboard home for its owners and kept in pristine condition. Tudora is a 51ft all wood motor yacht and has been beautifully restored to a high standard over the last 21 years. She is a 25 Ton twin screw motor yacht built in 1964. Amazingly there was enough room for 16 people to sit or stand below for supper.

Port Louis is one of 6 yacht marinas within the port of L'Orient, which is a natural harbour, now much industrialised and not dissimilar to Harwich on the east coast of England. Port Louis itself is a walled town on the east bank near the entrance, once famous as the home of the French East India Company. A brief history and some good photos can be found here. On a Monday in June, however, it was the very antithesis of a commercial centre - every shop was closed except the Boulangerie and the Pharmacie.

It had been planned originally to go into the River Etel on Monday but the forecast swell - a significant feature on this coast - was to be 2.5-3.0 metres. Since one of our number (Tudora) was a motor launch for whom that amount of swell would make for a very uncomfortable passage, it was decided instead for the 'fleet' to sail instead to Port Haliguen on the south eastern tip of the Quiberon Peninsula. On the very tip of this rocky promontory there is an amazing chateau!

Once again the weather conspired to frustrate the plan to sail to Belle Isle the following day so we stayed another day, and explored Quiberon, an overt tourist town now but the old original part still has charm. Another convivial evening was had in company aboard Tudora to share some traditional Breton cakes washed down with Breton cider - delicious! We are amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge amongst the party - ask any nautical question and someone will have the answer!

On Wednesday 12th June the fleet moved on to La Trinite further into Quiberon Bay. Here we had our first serious encounter with megaliths, menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs and the like, for Carnac is only a short bus ride away. This is the site of an alignment over 4 km long of 4000 menhirs set up between 5000 and 2000 BC in Neolithic times. The photos below do not do justice to these amazing prehistoric monuments.

Again the weather prevented the fleet moving to Belle Isle as planned on Thursday afternoon but on Friday the majority of boats made passage south to the small island of Hoedic (The Duckling). Very small and shapeless it is the last in a string of islands and rocks stretching 13.5 miles south-east from Quiberon. Though we had to tack all the way down, it was a sunny, warmish day so it felt good to be on the water. Once there, four of our boats (Follyfin was one) joined one other French boat moored bows-to on one of four large 'tonneau' buoys, each of which is supposed to take up to 20 boats daisy-wheel fashion. It seemed a good idea at the time with the sea calm and the wind in the south west.

We went ashore and explored the tiny island. No roads, no fences, no pavements, no cars; it is another world, so peaceful and silent ...

... until the small hours of the following morning that is. Having entertained a couple of ship mates to dinner that same evening, we retired late knowing we would need to get away with the tide at around 07:30 the following day. But no sooner than we had laid our heads on the pillow than the wind got up and started shifting our boats around, more and more alarmingly. Being all tied together at bow and stern, one boat could not move without its next-door neighbour feeling it. Then, horror of horrors, the wind moved from SW round to NW, meaning that our previously sheltered position was now exposed to the incoming swell and wind. By 03:30, having not slept a wink, we got up to see what could be done to alleviate the awful motion and noise. By 04:00, everyone was up and dressed and trying to decide how to extricate ourselves from an increasingly dangerous position since by now boats were rolling and banging together and occasionally masts were crashing together. To make matters worse another French boat had joined our daisy wheel during the night, so we had 6 boats tied together, one unable to move without its neighbour moving first. Luckily we were all of the same opinion: to escape as quickly as possible to limit the damage! This we did and by 05:15, all had left and were heading north towards Crouesty and the shelter of the Golfe de Morbihan. Unfortunately two of the fleet sustained minor damage to masts and rails requiring repair, currently underway in Crouesty. Luckily Follyfin only had minor damage to the wooden toe rail and some scraped paint work, both easily repaired by us. She had a wonderfully fast sail that morning, making up for the lack of sleep the previous night.

So Saturday morning saw us entering the Golfe de Morbihan, a huge and fascinating inland sea (yes there are still tides and currents to worry about) where we have taken refuge for the weekend. It is a wonderful cruising ground, about double the size of Poole Harbour on the south coast of England, and has many islands, islets and rocky outcrops as well as an extremely intricate shoreline. Too tired to go ashore yesterday, we anchored at the north end in a quiet corner.

Today, Sunday, we moved south and east to another anchorage on the east coast of the Ile d'Arz and went ashore. It's another lovely sleepy place with charming little houses, several pumps and an ancient windmill restored as a holiday house.

Tomorrow we all meet up again in Crouesty for another pot luck supper and to plan the final few days of our Cruise in Company. Let's hope the weather improves!

A : See Details(Google Map)