I'm not sure I can do justice to today. It didn't look promising at seven this morning but by the time we were underway the sun was getting hotter, the sea bluer, and the wind was picking up.
Our first challenge was to get through the Raz de Sein, a small gap in the reef that connects the Ile de Sein with the mainland. It's known for it's very strong tides and potentially dangerous overfalls. The tides were running fast, it being one day after springs but we timed our arrival for the thirty minutes of slack tide, and the sea was slight with no significant atlantic swell coming in. We got through with only whirls and eddies of current to deal with. It was reassuring to be part of about 30 other sailing boats doing the same (the French do like to sail).
After a couple of more miles on a fast broad reach we got to our next obstacle, the Toulinguet passage, a relatively narrow gap between the mainland and another reef bounded by impressive rocks. Then it was up the Goulet de Brest, dodging a large oil tanker and numerous small naval craft into the marina next to the naval base.
The marina berth was a tight squeeze with a very short wobbly finger (seemingly a common feature of French marinas) but we made it in without mishap. A very welcome hot shower followed after three nights of not getting ashore.
Distance run 30 miles.
Saints Evette in the morning
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| Entering Brest |
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| Our track |
