Atlantic Adventure
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Atlantic Adventure News | |
Pinball was launched in early April and is in good shape. After sailing trials it seems that the boat is drier than it has been for at least 10 years. All the instruments were working and the boat was ready for restarting the Atlantic adventure.
A number of further improvements have been made, including:
Sunday 27/4/2003 Loch Tudy to Port Tudy – 31miles
At last Pinball is about to leave her winter berth in Loch Tudy on completion of repairs and several shake down sails by David and Susan. We are all desperate to leave Loch Tudy behind but the forecast for Monday is not good, so the plan for today was a short hop to Concarneau with the option of Port Tudy on the island of Ile de Groix.
Once out of Loch Tudy the winds were not as bad as forecast (SW Force 4/5) so decided to head for Port Tudy on a beam reach to put in some good sea miles in case we get storm bound tomorrow. With 3 to 4m seas today we did not see to many other yachts. Though when we passed within 100m of another yacht and all we could see was the top half of her mast when we were in the troughs I think we all felt a little nervous after so long without some serious sailing.
The bad weather came through over night and David does the gentlemanly thing (sucker) and walks into La Borg for bread and croissants in the pouring rain, while Mike and Susan have a well deserved lazy morning.
The weather brightens up in the afternoon and we decide to visit Lorient. The navigation up the river past the old fort and the WWII submarine pen was straight forward and we managed to get a berth right in the heart of the town.
Today we became spectator sport trying to get out of the berth, but once underway we encounter some really big seas again when we left the protection of the estuary. We head for Le Palais on Belle Ile closed hauled in a force 6/7.
Within sight of Belle Ile, we decided to motor sail to get a better heading for Le Palais but the engine fails to start. We head back to Port Tudy because of its easier entrance and fortunately we managed to get the engine started before entering Port Tudy. The problem was a bad battery connection.
Great sail today, maintained over 7kn on a beam reach in a south westerly F5/6 and glorious sunshine. Susan gets soaked several times by breaking seas while she’s on the helm, the rest of us had learned to duck!
On arriving in Le Palais we picked up fore and aft mooring buoys at the first attempt, to much relieve because it was a first for all of us with this mooring method.
We had a great lunch on deck and get a chance to admire the impressive fortress that guards the harbour. Apparently the British captured the fort under Admiral Kepple during the Napoleonic wars and 6yrs later the British swapped Belle Ile for Nova Scotia. The Marines earned the ‘laurel’ in their cap badge for their part in the capture of the fort. Goodness knows where Mike collects all this USEFUL information!
Some how Susan and David decided that Mike should cook steaks for dinner this evening, but Mike manages to steer them clear of all the butchers’ shops in town and we ate ashore once again. Much to the embarrassment of the absent-minded skipper who returns to find his dinghy and new outboard hanging off the harbour wall. (see picture)
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Another great sail today and we averaged over 6kn to Le Crousety as Susan shows off her navigation skills and takes us through the many rock and shallows south of the Quiberon peninsular. Arriving at the massive marina complex it was a bit of a culture shock to find the place mobbed with tourist for the May Bank holiday.
Planned trip to explore the Moriban abandoned due to gale force winds today, so it’s a day for odd jobs and boat cleaning as we prepare to leave Pinball tomorrow.
Author: Mike Clarke
