Adventures of a Cabin Boy

Cousin Jim, self-styled cabin boy, joined the crew of Follyfin in Vannes. He is a seasoned sailor so we wanted him to see her put through her paces. And anyway he was here for the sailing and not for the beer, wine, or fresh croissants, baguettes and somewhat delicious French food. Or maybe he would like a bit of both?

Regrettably we couldn't organise a gale for him but the 6 days sailing did afford everything from downwind sailing with the now not-so-new, colourful Gennaker sail on the first day to Île Houat on the southern rim of Quiberon bay, through a lively fine reach 50 miles SE to Port Joinville on Île d'Yeu during which the wind gusted to 26.2 kn (force 6), to flat calm motor-sailing all the way on the final day from Sauzon on Belle Île north to La Trinité.

We enjoyed local produce and sunset whilst anchored off Houat,

and we caught an eel (sadly inedible without smoking or jellying facilities on board) in the creel whilst anchored off the south coast of Belle Île, as well as two very large mackerel on the final day whilst motoring through the rocky Teignouse passage back into Quiberon bay.

There was also time to enjoy the high life at a quintessentially French restaurant (The 09) on Île d'Yeu where they served both crab and lobster in wonderful arrangements ... Cabin Boy did very well choosing that one! We also ate out in Sauzon - grilled sardines, the speciality of the area - before heading back on the final day. You can see Follyfin moored fore and aft in the middle and on the right of the picture below.

All too soon it was time to bid farewell to our cabin boy, but not before a celebration on board on another perfect evening in La Trinité. All in all, it has been a most enjoyable and action-packed week.

Yesterday we departed from La Trinité and are now berthed in Port Tudy on the Île de Groix, just 5 miles south of L'Orient, a large city on the mainland. Time to do the chores!

Time Out

Apologies to those of you who have been hanging on my every word ;-) We have had visiting crew aboard Follyfin since my last post, so there has been no time for blogging in between sleeping, sailing, fishing, eating, drinking etc. etc. You get the picture?

We have had superb sunny and warm weather since arriving back at Follyfin. With Wendy and Kevin we enjoyed a leisurely trip down the Vilaine river from Redon, then out to sea and across to Hoedic island, visiting Rieux and La Roche Bernard en route. Unfortunately one member of the crew suffered from mal de mer en route to Hoedic, not helped on arrival by a slight centre-temps with a couple of fishermen with whom we 'discussed' (in best pidgin French) who had priority on a particular pontoon berth. All adverse events were dissolved by a brisk walk to the west end of the island the following morning.

All too soon it was time to say farewell to our now competent crew - it was their second cruise with us - as we waved them off on the bus to Vannes, from where they could catch a train back to Redon and retrieve their car.

In the next post the adventures of Mr James Dash, aka Cabin Boy, aboard Follyfin will be revealed ...

Wedding wind-down

Following a hectic week of clearing up after The Wedding of our daughter in Yorkshire, Skipper and Mate are now back aboard Follyfin at Arzal, Brittany, her current home.
Brittany very warm and sunny on arrival Monday morning but relaxation had to wait awhile as the Engineer had to make a small repair under the keel before Follyfin was lifted back into the water ... with only 24 hours in which to do it. The repair involved squeezing into and working in a very small space under the floorboards, disconnecting lots of wires, unscrewing several giant and reluctant bolts, cleaning up the rust from the area, applying anti-rust paint and then doing all that in reverse.
Quite a marathon especially since both of us have been hit by an unnamed bug (virus?) causing flu-like symptoms - possibly caught off our 7-month old grandson Noah who came down with something similar during the wedding weekend. Not that we are blaming him of course! We persevered and managed to prepare Follyfin for launch just in time. And now it is time to recover as we lie at anchor a few miles up river in peace and tranquility, just RELAXING!

NOTE: Sorry Folks, no pretty pics in this post yet ... since I last posted 'they' have done something to the app that I use and at the moment I can't figure out how to get round it. Hope to add pics later once problem is resolved. FB.