To the end of the world

Saturday, 16.8.2014

This was again a shopping day. I needed a screw clamp (Schraubzwinge) in order to glue the tiller. The joint between the three parts it is glued together from at the end where you hold it had became open. I had epoxy glue but needed a screw clamp Luckily there was a Do-it-yourself-market within walking distance from the port. But as always the things I needed were almost all sold out, but the simple and therefore cheapest ones were still available.
Next door was one of the huge French super markets as well as a Lidl, so I stocked up with some food here as well.
Back at the boat I glued the tiller and the magnifier of the radar screen which got damaged when I fell against it in the moving boat in the waves. It needed real laminating with glass fibre, otherwise it would not hold. And after 15 years having it I glued the handle of one of the navigation triangles to it. It kept falling off although it was supposed to hold by tension in its hole, it never really did, even when it had been new.
After cooking a dinner I went to the Place de Gambetta where a Fete de Noz had been advertised. I did not know what it was, from the poster I had only understood that it was something with dance and music, that was enough for me to check it out. And right I was, there was a man teaching people how to dance traditional Brittany dances. They were mostly group dances but also pair dances. It looked like good fun and for the later evening a concert had been advertised again with dance.
So I went back later and really there was band playing Celtic music and the square was full with mostly village people but also many tourists, dancing to the music. At first I stood aside a bit shy because I did not know the dances. But after a while I found that many people were just doing rythmic movements and trying to do the right steps. So at one point I took all my courage and just joined it. And it really was not too difficult to follow the steps. So we all danced until one in the morning when the band stopped playing. That had been a really great evening!

Here are two little movies of the party: Dancing lessons and Party on the market square

Sunday, 18.8.2014

This morning I sanded the glued tiller and varnished it with epoxy. It looks quite good now but still needs some more sanding and varnishing. But that is only to make it look and feel nice, the substance is secured now.

At lunch time Jacob, my new Swedish crew member currently living and working in London,  arrived by train from Roscoff. I showed him around the boat and afterwards we had dinner and did the course planning to go to Treguier the next day. In the evening we strolled around the city, had a crepe and then bumped into what later turned out to be a very nice live music gig. An Englishman and a french woman were playing cover versions of blues music. Already in the Creperie I had tried the local craft beer Philomenn, of which I had already seen people wearing T-shirts. It is a local brewery in Treguier and the Tourbee version was very tasty. We were very happy to read that the brewery was in the place we had planned to go the next day anyway. We had some aim there already.

Monday, 19.8.2014

Going out of Paimpol was not difficult as I now knew the way. We had to tack our way around the headland. Thanks to strong 4 to 5 Bft. wind from a more or less useful direction we made a quick journey and after some short hours at the approach to the Treguier river. We could sail almost all the way up to the town.

Rot-weisser Turm Rote Tonne Treguier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treguier River

Treguier River

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The false anchorage

The false anchorage

I had read about moorings and also had understood the chart that there is an anchorage right at the city. When we came up we saw a waiting pontoon and some small bouys that might be moorings. There was an area of water next to the fairway which looked suitable for anchoring. After having decided for a spot were to anchor I wanted to check out the surrounding depths. As to no surprise closer to the shore it got shallower and shallower, but suddenly it was only 1,7m deep and the next moment we were stuck in what felt like mud. „OK“ I thought, „put the engine in reverse and straight back to where we came from“. But after we had started moving off the shallow piece we heard a slightly grinding sound which sounded as if we had hit a rock! Even worse, it felt as if we had hit it with the rudder, I was very worried. So I put the engine again in forward to get away from the rock, but we again got stuck. „Shit“ I thought, it is not even low water (it was one hour before low water), „will we sit on this stupid rock and may eventually fall off it?“ We waved at the harbour master who was already dashing at us in his motor boat to pull us off. But the moment he wanted to start towing, we noticed that we were free already. I do not know why, but some how the ebb tide had pushed us over the shallow piece. After this shock I gave up the idea of anchoring here and gladly accepted the offer from the harbour master for a place in the marine. Later I learned that anchoring was alltogether forbidden it this harbour, even in the places where an anchorage was marked in the sea chart.
After berthing I immediatly put my short neoprene suit and my diving goggles on to dive down to the rudder to see if I was right that we had hit something. Luckily I found out that there was no damage.

 

Tauchen

 

 

 

 

 

Alles klar

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably the steel keel got some marks but that is nothing to worry about.
When I checked on the sea chart I noticed that a look into it earlier would have prevented this little desaster as the rocks were clearly marked on it. Damn it! Always double check your memory, I thought. I had looked into the chart something like two hours earlier when we were still sailing up the river and thought I remembered the chart correctly, but obviously I did not. So the lesson learnt is to always double check. I know this is not a dramatic lesson but the sea always reminds you to do even of the simplest things.

Tuesday, 19.8.2014

After sleeping in (ausschlafen) we got ourselves croissants and bread from the next boulangerie, took a shower and that walked around the very nice historic city and its big church.

Stadttor Treguier Strasse Roscoff Kirchgasse Treguier Inside church of Treguier Fachwerkhaus Treguier Fachwerkhaeuser Treguier
The afternoon we went to that said Philomenn brewery for a tour and beer tasting. It turned out to be a really smal brewery in an old locomotive repar workshop and an very basic shop. At the bar we could taste three of their usually six veriations of the beer. But they were run out of the tourbee version we had like the other eveing in Paimpol. So we only looked through the window of the brewing room but did not buy any beer. We are hoping to find some of it in a shop in the next villages we are coming to. But we had the red version in a Creperie at the harbour in the evening.

 

 

Church of Treguier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philomenn brewery building Philomenn brewing room Shop Philomenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, 20.8.2014

This day welcomed us with morning temperatures of low as 10°C, a clear sign to head south as soon as possible! So we left Treguier at 9:30 and after motoring down the river we set sail at the mouth of the river. We were tacking against a slow tide of 0,5 knots. Suddenly two dolphins showed up and accompanied us, showing us their back and white bellies. But the anyway not strong wind almost died and the tide pushed us back so we again turned the engine on. That appareantly put them off, at least they stayed behind. The higher the sun was rising the warmer it got, so eventually it turned out to be a nice sunny day, not for T-Shirts, but for pullovers and sun glasses.

With the last light we got into the brand new Roscoff Marina.

Thursday, 21.8.2014

We went out to explore Roscoff. It is an old town and the old harbour is drying out. Some yachts there have legs so they do not lay on the side at low tide. Here are some pictures of Roscoff, it is actually a very nice and pittoresque city.

Maerchenturm Roscoff MaerchenturmRoscoff

 

But it is very touristic, it is so touristic they do even not have a proper supermarket. There is only a small grocery shop where could get the basic things.
The afternoon we spent on a little beach near the yacht harbour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, 22.8.2014

We started very early at sun rise at 7 am to go to L´Aber Wrac´h (Don´t ask how this name is pronounced correctly, it is so celtic it could be anything). It was again a nice sunny day. We had to round the Ile de Batz. Although it was a moderate wind we had quite steep waves when we rounded the island, probably again due to tide against wind and close to the coast. So we got a lot of water on deck, more than ever before. I got afraid that water might get through the ventilators under deck so I took them off and screwed the watertight lids on.

We made good way with the tide pushing us but after the tide had turned and the wind almost died we did not make any headway. We had to round one last rocky field so we turned the engine to motor for one hour. But after that we had a perfect evening sail into the fjord of L´Aber Wrac´h with a light wind from the back and the tide pulling us in.
Here we picked up a mooring and rowed ashore. After a couple of beers in one of the many bars in the small village we went back on board because we wanted to start again early the next morning. It was one of the quietest nights because there was almost no wind and no waves. Only in the morning when it got busy with motor boats it got a bit shaky on the boat.

Saturday, 23.8.2014

Going from L´Aber Wrac´h to Brest we had the choice to go through a furnace or hell. We chose the oven. The passage between the Ile d´Ouessant and the french main land was called „Chenal du Four“. Coming from L´Aber Wrac´h it was the shorter one. The other option is good when you come in from the north west and is called „Chenal de la Helle“ (Helle does probably not mean hell but that is what it can be in strong winds against the tide). The problem with the passage along this coast is that at Le Conquet the tidal stream can be up to 5 1/4 knots at spring times. That you do not want to have against you. But we were a little late so we had to motor all the way to this strait to avoid the full tide. It was clear that we would have some tide against us, but the question was how much. Well, eventually the strongest current was 3 knots against us. This was for about 1 hour, than we were through the worst and after we had rounded St. Matieu Lighthouse we had wind and tide pushing us into the bight of Brest.

Jan vor Leuchttuerme Brest Jacob Leuchttuerme LAber Wrach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 5 hours we could turn the engine off and sailed up to the marina where we found  a good place.

Brest

Brest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We quickly went shopping and had a very nice dinner of lamb with rice with sage (Salbei) and parmesan and zucchini with lemon juice and egg.

Dinner

Dish of the day: Lamb with salvia (Salbei) and Zucchini with lemon

Jaccob cooking Companionway in cooking mode

Strong winds in the Bay of St. Malo!

Friday, 8. August 2014

This day was simply a rainy day. And because there is actually nothing to do in Carteret on a rainy day I took the opportunity to lay new cables to the fore ship. The toilet, the wardrobe and most important the front cabin did not have any light any more because apparently the cable somewhere on the way by corrosion did not conduct any electricity any more. After all it took me 11 hours to put in the new cables and to connect the lamps. Many panellings (Wandverkleidungen) had to be removed, the insulation at the cable ends had to be removed and so on. And because it is a boat and not a house, most time I spent on figuring out on how actually to get to a certain spot or where the heck to lay the cable along so that afterwards it still looks nice. The actual cabeling was the least problem. But afterwards I was very glad that it all worked but I also knew why I had pushed it for so long. I knew that it would take a lot of time.

Saturday, 9. August, 2014

This day was nice and sunny again so I walked the 2,5, km to the supermarket in the next village to stock up for the week with Wilko. Because I bought a lot to drink I took a taxi back to the boat. Actually the best way to do big shoppings. It saves you the trouble with your own car.

Sunday, 10. August 2014

Today my friend Wilko from Hamburg arrived. Because Carteret is quite a remote holiday resort it is not well connected by public transport. He actually arrived the evening before but could only get up to Valognes, about 30 east of Carteret and the last bus went already at 17:00, so he had to spend the night there and take the first bus the next day, which was 13:00!

Sailingwise it did not matter because there was very strong wind out at sea and I was not in the mood to sail in it. Instead we did a beach walk and here you can see how strong the wind was at times:

Wind in the face in Carteret

Wind in the face in Carteret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilko is leaning against the strong wind.

Wilko is leaning against the strong wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked down to the beach and up the cliff to the Carteret light house which naturally makes a good land mark.

Lighthouse Cap Carteret

Lighthouse Cap Carteret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and got a phantastic view over the beaches, the harbour entrance and the harbour channel:

Beach at Carteret

Beach at Carteret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harbour channel of Carteret

Harbour entrance of Carteret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harbour Channel of Carteret

Harbour Channel of Carteret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, 11. August 2014

This day we left Carteret as soon as the gate was opened with destination St. Helier on Jersey. It was still quite strong wind and wavy water, but sunny and not cold. The Wind was alright and the currents did the rest so that we almost did not have to tack and got to Jersey quite quickly.

Here is a little video: From Carteret to St. Helier

Wilko and me on our way from Carteret to St. Helier on Jersey.

Wilko and me on our way from Carteret to St. Helier on Jersey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived there in the late afternoon and went straight for a fish and chips but we picked the wrong fish and chip shop „Sunhill Fish and Chips“ I have to admit, it tasted from old frying fat“) and therefore needed a good English Ale afterwards.

There we met two nice guys who were there with their catamaran, a Wharram catamaran. After the pub I had some whiskies with them on the boat during which time they showed me their boat and we talked a lot about building boats, sea worthiness and anchorages.

Tuesday, 12. August 2014 and Wednesday 13. August 2014

This day we both were a bit sleepy and did not much except for walking around town, taking a shower and the like. On Wednesday we went on a bus tour around the island so to say together with our french neighbours who were rafted up (im Päckchen liegen) next to us.

St. Helier Marina from seen from the mast

St. Helier Marina from seen from the mast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SeaBelow in St. Helier on Jersey

SeaBelow in St. Helier on Jersey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By conicidence they had the same idea. A generally speaking funny guide talked us around island. We again saw a lot of Wehrmachts-Bunker from WW II, more interesting were the unique Jersey towers all around the island, typical jersey style house and all the time I was stunned by the vast areas of seabed uncovered at low water. The water was literally miles away and although I knew it intellectually it is still a thing that amazes me everytime again that in six hours at the latest it will all be covered by water and the boats afloat again.

The coast of Jersey

The coast of Jersey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jersey

Jersey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A typical Jersey house with a typical door arch

A typical Jersey house with a typical door arch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 14. August 2014

This day we left at 7 am to go to Paimpol on the Brittany coast. The wind was still quite strong and we had over 40 nm to sail. At first we had the tide pushing us side ways in the same direction the wind pushed us against we sailed up. But after two hours as calclated we had slack water (Stillwasser / Tidenkenterung) and when the tide had reached its full speed it was pushing us back so that we could steer a direct course to Paimpol although our course to the wind was pointig much further east. But even though it was a long day, 13 hours. It rained quite a bit, we got many showers from the waves flying over the deck and we were very happy after arrival in Paimpol.

Oyster catchers at low water in the approach to Paimpol.

Oyster catchers at low water in the approach to Paimpol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inseln bei Ebbe

Islands off Paimpol at low water

Einfahrt bei Ebbe

The aproach to Paimpol at low water

The approach to Paimpol at low water.

The approach to Paimpol at low water.

Fahrwassertonnen im Schlick

The fairway marks (Fahrwassertonnen) lying in the mud at low water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach swimmin pool on the beach at Paimpol

Beach swimmin pool on the beach at Paimpol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as a reward for the hard sailing we treated oursevelves to a dinner in one of the many restaurants around the harbour.

Friday, 15. August 2014

We had to get up early because Wilko needed to catch his train at 8:35 to Paris. I afterwards cleaned the boat and walked along the cliffs at low water and saw what had been under our keel when we came in the day before.

Sunshine sailing!

As I am meeting more and more non-German speaking people I will from now on post in English. Apologies to my German friends, that is a tribute to the internationality of my trip.

From Dover I sailed to Eastbourne and this was the worst leg so long. I started in a wind of Bft. 5-6 directly onto the nose, so it meant a lot of tacking (Kreuzen in German). I knew that but what I did not know was that it would later be replaced by a complete calm (Flaute) and heavy rain! It happened at one of the places with the worst reputation of the English Channel: At Dungeness! There is not only a nuclear power station on the tip of the land (which makes an excellent navigation mark) but also the western tides and the easten tides meet here. So here Neptun left me without wind, poured such a heavy rain over me that I could see barely more than 500 metres and lightning!. I had hoped that the wind would come back after the rain but it didn`t. As I did not want to spend the whole night out there I had already turned the engine on and continued. But there were still the waves from Bft. 5-6 plus the meeting of the two currents which made a very chaotic sea and sometimes the boat banged really hard into the waves so that I often turned the autopilot off and hand steered through the worst waves. Besides this there are also the stupid bouys of the fishermen marking where they have put their nets on the ground. You do not want to catch any of these with your keel, rudder or propeller. So I had to keep a sharp look out.

When night fell I could only hope that I would not hit any of these. Luckily I did not. One hour before Eastbourne at 1 am the wind picked up again and I could sail the last bit through the moonlit night. I easily found the harbour entrance at night and the lock (Schleuse) was already open for me. When I came through the lock to my berth (Liegeplatz) a young quite drunken couple actually wanted to welcome and help me but especially the girl was absolutly wasted and could barely hold herself on the shaky jetty. She said “ Oh, we didn´t want to be weird, we just wanted to be your friends“ and tried to give me her hand and would have hugged me if she wouldn´t have to hold on to the boat in order not to fall into the water. But she started asking questions like “ Did you pick the name?“, „Where are you from?“ and while I was busily jumping around trying to tie my boat to the jetty I tried to answer the questions. It was very nice of them but the problem was that instead of helping me they were in the way and distracting me. So when the boy asked “ Can I ask you a very personal question?“ I assertively said „NO“ because that question sounded like real trouble and at 2:30 pm, my boat almost floating around in the harbour, tired, thristy, hungry and sweating like hell in my oilskin I really could not take such a discussion. They were so drunk they just did not get that their questions were in the wrong time. 5 minutes later everything would have been fine. So when I had answered NO they retreated to their fish cutter and continued drinking until they left an hour later.

So I slept in until noon the next day and then explored the vicinity. The main advantage is that the Marina is very quiet. In the afternoon a German couple arrived in the neighbouring berth who are also on a long term trip and had started three weeks ago from Wilhelmshaven. We had a nice evening in their cockpit over beer and some nice stew.
Otherwise there was not much of high interest I have to say. The marina is a newly developed housing area with a big shopping centre like they exist all over Europe.
The next day I spent with some repairs and the day after that I started together with my neighbours to Brighton. But I was about an hour earlier in Brighton then them. It was marvellous sunshine sailing and it was a joy to live. Here is a little video: Video Eastbourne to Brighton

I had arrived just in time to be at a barbecue on the beach of Brighton with some Couchsurfers. Afterwards we went to the local weekly Couchsurfing meeting. There I met Ewa with whom I went to the art gallery the next day and afterwards we together explored the little shops and streets of Brighton.

 

On the Brighton pier

On the Brighton pier

The same evening I was again invited to a BBQ with other Couchsufers.

On Friday I sailed to Portsmouth, It was actually again a very nice day but the wind was directly from the front, instead from the side as the weather forecast had promised. Anyway, I made it there almost all under sail, only the last 10 nm I had to motor because the wind had died completely and the tide was already pushing me backwards out to sea and as it was already 8pm I did not want to spend the night at sea so close to the harbour. I went to the Royal Clarence Marina which is very calm and nice on the Gosport side. And with 18 Pounds much cheaper than the usual 25 Pounds I had paid in the other Marinas.
Also here I stayed two days. One day I replaced the halyards (Fallen) by the new Dyneema halyards which I had been carrying around for four weeks already and they were flying around the cabin all the time and lay in my hammock:

In the hammock in Gosport

In the hammock in Gosport

On Sunday I met my old friend Kathleen and she showed me around Portsmouth and its nice new cafes

On the market in Portsmouth

On the market in Portsmouth

and also the house she bought with her husband.
On my way back I came along the Portsmouth Sailing Club, which is on the Portsmouth side and saw that they have an own jetty. So I just popped in to ask at the bar whether one can berth their. And they said “Yes, it is 15,75 Pound for your boat”. “Great” I thought, it was a little cheaper than the other marina and so to say on the right side, meaning the more interesting side. What I did not know is that even at night it is a very busy part of the harbour: The Isle of Wight ferry calls every 30 Minutes, the pilot boats picks up the pilot, fishing boats come and drop crew and fish on land and some people seem to have even slipped their motor boats there at night. And during the day after school the school boys where jumping madly off the quay into the water competing who could make the biggest splash, just as we used to do at that age. They did not care about that the water was full of rotting fish and other debris.
The next evening, after I had taken a shower in the sailing club I went up to the bar and the bar keeper told me that she knows a very experienced chap who would certainly sail with me across the English Channel. I hung around to wait for him to come. His name was Chris Smith and he was really nice and by the way the compiler of the navigational information for the Cap Verde Islands in the latest Imray pilot At the same time I had already met Drew at the bar and he was very enthusiastic to sail with me, he only had to get home to make sure that he has no work obligations and of course to check with his wife. Drew called me later that he would be able to sail with me the next evening from Portsmouth to France. So Chris was not needed any more about what he was very happy because he was actually preparing to sail for a year or more himself and had to supervise repairs on his boat.
So the next day I shopped some food and got the necessary sea charts for the Channel and the French coast.
At 4:30 p.m. Drew showed up, I gave him a run through of the safety items on board and at 5:20 we left Portsmouth. Because there was literally no wind we had to motor for the first half of the crossing. Fortunately one of the electric autopilots had decided to work again so we did not have to hand stear all the time.

On the English Channel to France

On the English Channel to France

Drew did the first watch which was actually the more difficult one because during the time we were crossing the main shipping line in the middle of the Channel. But honestly, coming from the Elbe estuary the traffic here is quite modest, you always have enough time to figure out what kind of ship you see, where it is going and whether you are on collision course or not. In the middle of the night the wind came back and we could sail the second half up to Ouistreham. Already under engine when we were approaching the waiting pontoon before the lock a couple in a little motor boat waved their hand with a rope indicating that they need to be towed. Obviously they had a problem with their engine. Because we were the closest boat to them by we took their bowline and started towing them. I had never done this before but it worked well. Soon another motor boat came along and took over the towing. They went to the same waiting pontoon and were very thankful for the help. It goes without saying that you give help to other people at sea. You never know when you will be in need of other people´s help yourself On the pontoon we had to figure out when the lock opens the next time. So I went up to the display and thought to be happy that the next opening would be in 10 Minutes. Luckily I asked the other people on the jetty and they told me that the next opening would be at 11:45. I was irritated and asked whether there wasn´t any opening at 10:30. People looked irritated back until Drew reminded me that I was still on English time and that in France the time was one hour ahead. But the result was the same, meaning that the next opening would soon.
In the lock we went up a long way, something between 3 and 4 metres. In the marina just outside the lock we rafted up (im Päckchen liegen) next to a nice Belgian J 109 and had a beer and than another beer. After having slept not much during the last night, not eaten much and hot sun burning down on us, I got a bit dizzy. Drew had to catch his ferry in 1,5 hours so we started to walk the roughly 1 kilometer to the ferry terminal. We started in time because we knew that we might be distracted on the way. And so it was, at the local yacht club we had another drink, but for me this time only a coke. And at the ferry terminal we had another drink, again just juice for me. After Drew had left I walked to the beach but stupidly I had brought my purse and mobile phone so could not swim because I did not want to leave those things unattended on the beach. I payed a short visit to the town of Ouistreham but have to admit that besides the beach it is not worth going there.
Back at the boat I just fell asleep and slept until midnight when my neighbour come on board to stick a note at the companion way (Niedergang) saying that he would be leaving the next day to Honfleur. I thought, yes why not book off that early. I have seen it all here in Ouistreham and only came there to drop off Drew at the ferry and I wanted to go to Honfleur anyway. So next morning at 7:15 we together left the marina for the lock at 7:30. When we came out of the look we found very hazy, almost foggy weather with only little wind from the wrong direction. Oh Shit, I thought, that means motoring all the way. And so it happened. The visibility improved a little and it got really hot during the day.
At noon I was in the lock of Honfleur and half an hour later moored in the Avant port at the jetty.

Au pittoresque Honfleur Avant Port

Au pittoresque Honfleur Avant Port

I quickly tried out for the first time the sun cover for the cockpit because the sun was burning down now so much you could not withstand the direct sunlight. The sun cover turned out to be easy to set up and gives enough shade for two persons.

 

La vue au dessous le parasoleil

La vue au dessous le parasoleil

 

 

 

L` interiuer d` eglise á Honfleur entierment du bois

L` interiuer d` eglise á Honfleur entierment du bois