Bringing her back from Brittany

CRUISING
Ploumanac h
MANCHE
brittany
Lezardrieux
Trebeurden
Treguier
L ABERWRAC H
St. Cast
to Hamble
Erquy
Le Moutin Blanc
Chanel
du Four
Camaret
Roscoff
L’Aber Wrac’h
St BRIEUC
Portrieux
PLOUER
St. Malo
Morlaix
Ile D’Ouessant
St. Brieuc
Le Conquet
Morgat
Brest
Camaret
Treboul
Raz de
Sien
Loctudy
Dahouet
Paimpol
Quay
TrebeurdenSt.
Benodet
Combrit
Port-La-Foret-
Audierne
Doelan Clohars
Lorient-Kernevel
Quimper
Loemiquelic
Benodet
Concarneau
La Trinite
L ile
aux Moines
Lorient
Iles Glenan
Arradon
Ile de Groix
Vannes
Morbihan
Crouesty
La Trinite-sur-mer
Quiberon
Le Crouesty
Belle Ile
Saint Nazaire
Le Croisic
Nantes
ATLANTIQUE
la
Pornic
Pornichet
Pornic
Main photo: The harbour
at Audierne where we
visited – reputedly – the
best restaurant in Brittany
at the Hotel Goyen.
Below upper: Dorothy Lee,
the author’s 1984 Hallberg
Rassy 352 in Pornic.
Below lower: flying the
tricolour of France.
Prefailles
This strange angularL Herbaudiere
shaped boat had no
markings.
‘
The beautiful
La Teignouse
Lighthouse.
C40
Imray
West Coast
France -
to
Le Croisic s d’Olonne
Les Sable
ntine,
de Frome
,
aire, Goulet ne, Le Croisic
, St-Naz
d’Olon
inville, Pornic ie, Les Sables
Plans Port-Jo es-Croix-de-V
St-Gill
Port de
e
L’Herbaudièr
C33A
English
l
Channe
Channel
Fécamp
G
CHERBOUR
St Vaast
Caen
Atlantic
BREST
C31
TrouvilleDeauville
St QuayPortrieux
St Malo
C33B
T COAST
Brittany
THE WES
Morgat
C36
Audierne
C37
Ocean
Bénodet
u
Concarnea
Lorient
C38
Vannes
I de
Groix
C39
Le Croisic
Nantes
Pornic
Ile
d’Yeu
Bay
-de-Vie
St Gilles-Croix
d’Olonne
Les Sables
C40
La Rochelle
Ile de Ré
of
T TO
CE - BRES
OF FRAN
FRANCE
Morbihan
St-Nazaire
Belle Ile
Ile d’Oléron
Biscay
C41
Pte de
Grave
Royan
Bordeaux
Bassin d’Arcachon
cartography
b Digital ed clarity
improv
ion of depths
ced definitareas
b Enhan
shoal
to define
Bringing her back
from Brittany
Having finally found the boat he always wanted, after
shopping in France, Duncan Wells rustles up a few
chums, stocks up – and sets sail for Blighty.
I
spent around two years tracking down Dorothy
Lee my 1984 Hallberg Rassy 352.
She was owned by
a Breton and berthed in
Pornic just south of Nantes,
on the west coast of France.
Over several conversations with
the broker and owner – and one
visit – I’d come to like these
Bretons. They were unlike other
French people I’d met. For a start
they didn’t have typical French
80 Sailing Today February 2010
names but were called Laz, Wydaw and Loik.
Hardly French at all. Anyhow, we all got along
extremely well and without much ado
the deal was done.
I flew in to Nantes, courtesy of
Air France with two friends, Big
Nick and Martin, excited at the prospect
of taking possession of my new boat and
ready to enjoy the trip, sailing her back to
the UK. Michel, the ex owner would come
with us. He’d taken control of operations
and being French had planned each leg
of the passage around food.
Interestingly Michel who at
the time was 70 but looked
much younger and had sailed
all his life was about to buy
an aeroplane and turn his
back on the sea. Tales of his
unscheduled landings in various
fields throughout South Brittany
are now legion.
Michel met us at the airport and we
piled into his Honda which I noticed had 320,000
kilometres on the clock. Which reminded me that
France is much bigger than the UK and relatively
uninhabited so they have to travel huge distances
to get anywhere. Michel who lives on the Ile
de Noirmoutier and thinks nothing of driving
30 miles for washing up liquid was in a hurry to
transport us from the airport to the boat, dump our
gear and get to the Netto Supermarket before it
closed in order to stock up for the journey. Like
any Frenchman, Michel’s driving is characterised
by much gesticulating and turning round to his
passengers as he engages them in conversation with
barely a glance at the road ahead. But being France
of course we saw no other cars so we had the road
to ourselves and could quite
comfortably use all of it, both
carriageways if necessary.
As we raced round the Netto
a complicated calculation was
made to establish how much
bottled water would be needed.
“None for me; I don’t touch the
stuff,” I said. To no avail, however.
“But the water in the tanks it is too
old” explained Michel – we piled 2 litre bottle
upon 2 litre bottle into the ever groaning trolley.
Quite why we needed so much, given that we
would be no more than a few hours from a port of
refuge, I still have no idea. He also insisted that we
buy Pate Hennaf and proceeded to give us a history
lesson. It seems a Breton, called Monsieur Hennaf,
having decided to produce something cheap and
nutritious to give to the poor, proceeded to crush an
entire pig into a tin. But apart from being nutritious
and good value for money Pate Hennaf also has
magical properties, apparently. It prevents you
from being seasick, they say, and is used by all the
Breton fishermen and sailors. I imagined that it
was probably so disgusting as to make you sick as
soon as you ate it and thus leave you free from mal
Water
resistant
paper
RON
D GILL BAR
MIKE AN
Granville
x
Lézardrieu
Ouessant
C10
LE HAVRE
Carteret
Jersey
PerrosGuirec
Morlaix
North
North
Biscay
Dieppe
C32
Alderney
Islands
Guernsey
C34
C35
ISING CLUB
TION
ROYAL CRU
E FOUNDA
PILOTAG
Imray
DATUM
WGS 84
1:110 000
C42
GNIS
MCA RECO
ED
Seventh
Edition
Charts
and pilots
Imray Charts C39 Lorient
to Le Croisic 1:80,000
and C40 Le Croisic to
Les Sables d’Olonne
1:110,000.
Both £17 each.
The Pilot Book is Imray’s
North Biscay, Ouessant
to the Gironde Estuary
– 7th Edition by RCC
Pilotage Foundation with
revisions by Mike and
Gill Barronby – £35
BOOK OFFER
10 per cent off to ST
readers who quote this
article when ordering
the pilot from Imray on
01480 462114
www.imray.com
February 2010 Sailing Today 81
UX
BORDEA
CRUISING
THE ONE-HANDED
BOWLINE
Here are two ways of
tying a one handed
bowline. The first is to
take the rope around you
from right to left so you
have a working end and
a standing part (Pic 1).
Then place the working
end across the standing
part with your left hand
(Pic 2) and with the left
hand palm down hold
the working end and the
standing part (Pic 3)
and turn the hand to the
left so that it is palm up,
taking the standing part
with you so you turn the
standing part over on
itself and create a loop
(Pic 4) with the working
end poking up through
it (Pic 5). Now you have
your hole (the loop in the
standing part) and your
rabbit (the working end).
Feed the working end
behind the standing part
(the tree) (Pic 6) with
your fingers and back
down the hole (Pic 7).
Pull tight and you have
one bowline (Pic 8). You
can of course do this
the other way round by
taking the rope around
you from left to right and
placing the working end
across the standing part
with your right hand. This
method of forming the
bight and then laying the
working end over the
standing part and turning
the standing part over on
itself to form your ‘hole’
is another way of tying
the bowline and doesn’t
have to be a one handed
method only.
Spray over the deck of
Doroth Lee. The Hallberg
Rassy incorporates
distinctive glass windows
which complement its
canvas sprayhood.
83 Sailing Today February 2010
BRITTANY
1
2
3
1
2
3
4
“ It was a
beautiful day and
to pass the time
we ran over a
couple of knots”
5
4
5
6
6
7
8
7
8
9
de mer thereafter. In fact, as I discovered later it’s
really rather good, although probably a bit savoury
for breakfast, when you’re supposed to eat it.
We also loaded on plenty of Bolino which is
quite the most brilliant boat food of all. To say that
it’s like a Pot Noodle is to undersell it woefully. It’s
much better than that. Sure, it’s a powder with bits
in that you rehydrate and then add a knob of butter
to – but you end up with a delicious mashed potato
with goodies, such as little strips of beef or peas or
carrots. Boiling water goes into the pot and after a
couple of minutes, you lob in the butter. Voila, job
done. One unspillable, hot meal.
I enjoy all things French which Michel must
have realised when I met him for that first look
at Dorothy Lee. I couldn’t wait to get stuck into
the food, so was delighted when he suggested that
first evening that we dine at one of the restaurants
within the marina which sports three restaurants
and two bars. Our English marina which is bigger
than Pornic runs to just one restaurant with bar,
where in the English manner, customers are
generally considered to be a nuisance. Once, after a
spectacularly long delay for our pudding, the waiter
arrived with the dishes and declared,
“Chef sends his apologies and says that the Tarte
Tatine is a little over caramelised”
By which he meant burnt.
“Don’t worry”, said I, “the payment for the bill
will be a little under capitalised”.
By which I meant short.
I prefer the French emphasis.
I chose roast crab, garnished with oysters – my
favourite. “Could you save one of those for me,”
asked big Nick, “I’ve never had an oyster before.”
“No, problem.”
Well of course I forgot. I realised my mistake
only after the plates had been cleared. I promised
Nick that I would have oysters the following
evening and that he would get a chance to sample
them. Martin told me not to bother since he was
allergic to them.
In the meantime Michel, our host, had been
making calls in such rapid French that my
‘plume de ma tante’ version was left well behind.
“Tomorrow we dine with my friend Andre Wydaw,
the broker of Hallberg Rassy in Trinite,” he
declared. “He has a beautiful maison, you know.
And he sell me Dorothy Lee, new in 1984”.
Planning ahead
Before all that, of course, we had to finalise our
passage plans. Michel had very cleverly broken the
trip down into four legs.
The first would be from Pornic to La Trinite, a
run of some 45 miles – a suitably short passage to
get everyone eased in. We would then make a long
run of 80 miles up to Audierne where we would
be poised to round the Raz de Sein and head for
Camaret which would set us up for the passage
through the Chenal du Four and the long leg - 37
hours in all – around the Gulf of St. Malo, across
the channel, to the Needles, up the Western Solent
and home to the Hamble River.
We left Pornic on the Saturday morning, hoisted
the main and the No 1 Genoa, experimented with
the trim and checked out the systems on the boat.
We managed a creditable 6 kn through the water
in a Force 4 apparent, on a close reach, at the start.
Later, the wind died and we motored. The Windex
gave us apparent wind speed and direction which
we convert to True using a piece of paper, a pencil,
a rule and a simple diagram. Of course, True
wind is the speed and direction of the wind we
experience if we’re standing still. Apparent wind
is what we notice when we start moving or sailing
and is made up of the true wind plus our speed
over the ground which allows for the tide. (See
Wind Diagram, Page 85)
It was a beautiful day and to pass the time we
ran over a couple of knots like the One-Handed
Bowline and Rustler’s Hitch (as described on Pages
82, 83 and 84).
Andre, met us at the dock in La Trinite and
drove us to his house which was indeed beautiful.
We were shown to the drawing room and served
champagne with radish and salami nibbles, quite
different from the peanuts and crisps we normally
eat at home. Madame, a most elegant lady, very
Parisienne, and the epitome of the chatelaine, swept
in and we were introduced. She disappeared and
in a while we were called through to the dining
room. Madame re-appeared from the kitchen with
a large silver salver piled three high with oysters.
I beamed. Martin’s face dropped. Madame then
fetched a slightly smaller salver from the kitchen
also piled three high with oysters. This was going
to be a belter of a feast. Martin was starting to look
wild eyed. What should he do ? Madame made
one more trip to the kitchen and returned with a
plate of smoked salmon which she placed in front
of him. Michel told me that even in France it’s not
naturally assumed that everyone likes oysters so the
hostess will usually check the guests preference.
That’s what Michel had been talking to the broker
about on the previous evening. Madame asked
if we woudn’t mind speaking French because
her English was too weak. I discovered that
>>
The second way is to
take the rope around your
body and (Pic 1) with the
standing part on the left
and holding the working
end in your right hand,
cross over the standing part
(Pic 2), lower your wrist
and bring it up towards
your body (Pic 3), inside
the standing part and up so
you create a loop, your hole
(Pic 4), then you need to
feed the working end (Pic
5) around the standing part,
the tree (Pic 6) and, with
the working end between
your fingers (Pic 7), pull
your hand gently out of the
loop, the hole (Pic 8) and
you will have tied a bowline
(Pic 9). It’s important to
keep the standing part of
the rope loose because, if
there is any tension on it,
you will find it very difficult
to get your wrist back
through the hole when you
finish off the knot, unless
you are particularly dainty.
From top down: You know
you are in Trinite because
of all the racing boats;
flat calm as we left
Trinite for the long run
to Audierne; the narrow
finger pontoons, literally,
that nearly had Martin into
the drink.
February 2010 Sailing Today 83
CRUISING
THE RUSTLER’S HITCH
The key to the Rustler’s
Hitch is that the rope never
actually goes around the
rail you are attaching to.
First lay a bight of rope
underneath the rail. Then,
lift up the bight (Pic 1) reach
through it with your fingers
and pick up the standing
part of the rope (Pic 2) and
draw this through the bight
to make a bight of its own
(Pic 3) and pull tight
(Pic 4). Then, reaching
through this bight, (Pic 5)
pick up the working end of
the rope (Pic 6) and draw
this through the standing
part bight (Pic 7) to form
its own bight (Pic 8) and
tighten by pulling on the
standing part (Pic 9) and
you have one Rustler’s
Hitch. The standing part
will tighten the knot if it is
tensioned but the knot can
be undone by pulling on the
working end and it collapses
off the rail.
The boat
Hallberg Rassy 352
Year: 1984
Hull No: 357
Rig; Short rig - I set of
spreaders
Length: 10.54m
Beam: 3.38m
Draught: 1.63m
84 Sailing Today February 2010
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7
2
5
8
it wasn’t and indeed was considerably better
than my French which ran out fairly early in the
proceedings. Andre the broker had switched to
English to try and persuade me to buy a Hallberg
Rassy 43 which he said was “Fantastique !” and
would cost me less per month than the leasehold
price of a Volvo estate, although perhaps between
my rusty French and his weak English something
got lost in translation, like a couple of ‘noughts’.
I pointed out that he had just sold me a Hallberg
Rassy 352 not two weeks earlier and what
would I now do with a 43 that I couldn’t
possibly afford? Undeterred he armed me
with all the brochures and spec sheets. Still,
at least Nick got the oysters I’d promised.
What’s more he loved them. We must have had
at least twenty each.
In the morning we set off for Audierne. I see
from the log that we began some two hours
after HW. The coefficient for the day was 87
– somewhere between Springs and Neaps or Vive
Eau and Morte Eau as they say in France. If you
sail round the French coast you’ll be familiar with
coefficients. It’s an instant way of appreciating the
strength of the tide. Mean Neap coefficient is 45
and Mean Spring is 100. So at 87 we were 20 per
cent more than midway between spring and neap
Left: La Trinite is famous
for as a racing and
cruising venue.
Above: A proud owner
with his new boat in
Audierne.
Below left: Sailing was
a bit lively on the way to
Audierne.
3
6
9
rates. In the UK as you know, we establish the
height of high tide and the height of low tide – and
therefore the range – and then apply that against
the Mean Spring and Mean Neap ranges before
applying that to the tidal rates. The Coefficient is
a much quicker system. It was a lovely, sunny
April day with not a breath of wind, so we motored
South to get round the Quiberon peninsular,
between Basse Nouvelle PHM and NE Teignouse
SHM. As we went by I filmed the famous
Teignouse Lighthouse about a mile off. We carried
on through the Teignouse Channel, round Goue
Vas Est and Sud and then turned WNW to head
for the Iles de Glenan and the Bay of Audierne.
There were very few other craft around but we
were passed by a strange grey boat with no ensign,
no marking and rather angular in shape.
LAST ORDERS
Michel had promised us the chance to visit,
reputedly, the best restaurant in Brittany at the
Hotel Goyen in Audierne. But the passage took
longer than expected and at 6.30pm we still had
17 miles to go. Michel called the restaurant to find
out when last orders would be. The answer was 9
o’clock. There was no way we would make that,
even though we’d handed the sails and had the
engine at 3,000 rev, fair shaking its mountings to
bits. Michel negotiated with the restaurant which
agreed to ask the staff to stay on for another half
an hour, so assuming we made it to the marina
by 9.30pm chef would collect us from the dock
and take us to the restaurant. How different from
our local shore-side eaterie where arrival after
9 would be met with a triumphant, “I’m sorry,
you’re too late; the chef’s gone home”.
We were approaching Audierne from the South
East with the wind rising and the sky darkening;
distinctly different weather from the morning
and afternoon. I was keen to see how Dorothy
Lee would handle the conditions and was very
impressed. The spray-hood and windscreeen kept
the cockpit totally dry, while the bow cut through
the spray and cast it aside so very little came on
board. She really is a very dry boat.
Because of his local knowledge Michel had
worked up the nav. Apparently the approach
to Audierne was to line up the white house
on the hill with the Spire of the church in the
town. This would keep us to the West of West
Gamelle. Martin was the ‘eyes’ of the ship and
had identified the white house, dead ahead, some
distance off, but not the spire. Then Michel
shouted out, “Voila! There she is, the ‘Eglise’ the
spire of St.Peter’s,” and pointed off the port bow,
in quite a different direction to the one in which
we were heading. Nick observed, “If those two
are supposed to be in line, we’re way off track.”
“Yes we’re heading for the rocks,” confirmed
Michel. Only a minute before we’d received
what we thought was a wave from a fishing boat.
Thinking about it, of course, fishermen don’t
generally wave, so perhaps they were warning
us. We then realised that somehow the auto pilot
had been switched off ! Hard a-port and we
high tailed it out of there. Of course we had a
GPS but no chart plotter. We could have put in
a waypoint and checked the cross track error to
stay on course but we didn’t. As it is, nowadays
every boat has at least two chart plotters and all
the crew each have their own handheld version as
well. Michel was on the helm as we hammered
up the Goyen, completely ignoring any speed
limit – although I never saw any notice. And after
we’d glanced off a couple of fishing boats, slotted
ourselves between a motor cruiser and a sliver of
pontoon, and come close to losing Martin who
leapt from the deck to the 9 inch wide finger berth
and very nearly carried on into the drink, it was a
little after 9.30pm.
On the shore we could see chef standing with
his arms folded, waiting. We raced along the
dock ‘Bonsoir’ed’ and ‘merci’ed’ and piled into
his van with Nick and Michel in the front – and
Martin and me in the back with the vegetables
and open tins of jam. Nick turned round and made
gestures that suggested the chef smelled heavily
of something – alcohol, or BO, or perhaps both.
Being tossed around in the back as we screamed
round the Audierne one way system I assumed it
was alcohol. At the Hotel Goyen the staff were
waiting on the steps to welcome us and shake
our hands as though we were royalty. Of course
nearly losing Martin as we came alongside
reminds me that we’re accustomed to more
substantial pontoons in our UK marinas. We also
get ‘T’ shaped cleats which are a delight to use as
opposed to the French hooped cleats which aren’t
nearly as flexible as ours. Mind you, the way
some people attach their boats to the dock is very
complicated indeed. More next month!
Course
6 knots
Apparent Wind
15 kts at 35ϒ
True Wind
10.5 kts at 54ϒ
OUR WIND
DIAGRAM
The Windex gave us
Apparent Wind speed
and direction which
we converted to True
using a piece of paper,
a pencil, a rule and a
simple diagram.
Of course, True Wind
is the speed and
direction of the wind
we experience if we’re
standing still.
Apparent Wind is what
we notice when we start
moving or sailing and
is made up of the True
Wind plus our Speed
Over the Ground
which allows for the tide.
85 Sailing Today February 2010