In this second leg of the journey towards Brest, we set off from Roscoff the following morning, having had only 1 night's sleep. The wind and weather looked promising and we did not want to miss an opportunity as the overall weather was deteriorating as the autumn progressed.
Jonathan was feeling much better and the prospect of some light winds from the right direction and a good sail perked him up. We set off with a full main sail and a full Genoa to catch as much of the light wind as we could and so we headed off towards L’Aber Wrac’h as our next destination. Other than one squall where the wind picked up from 15 to 30 knots, the journey was quite comfortable. Unfortunately, during the squall, I saw our Windex fly off from the top of the mast and dive into the sea with a small splash. Fortunately, the instrument is only used to indicate the wind angle relative to the boat. It has no electronic function with respect to the autopilot or the navigation – it is just a helpful tool that you look at (quite frequently as we found out) to make sure that the boat and sails are correctly positioned relative to the wind direction. The downside was that I knew at some point I would need to be hoisted up to the top of our mast (22m above the water) to make the replacement.
L’Aber Wrac’h is a pretty little marina down in a very rocky inlet that looks almost impossible to navigate on paper, but quite easy in reality as long as you follow the red and green buoys. The sun was out as we sailed down the little ria and the coastline was just gorgeous.
On arrival we were told that we had to moor up on a buoy outside of the marina – all 30 were free as the season is over now, so we could make our own choice to which one we wanted. Jonathan and I had no idea on how to attach our mooring lines around the metal ring on top of the buoy, especially as there was not a line that we could pick-up with the boat hook to allow us to catch the buoy. Stuart, with his experience and long arms was able to show us how it should be done. He seemed to be able to reach down to the water from the bow of the Ocean Deva (1.5 meters above the water) and thread the line through the ring. I did need to hold onto his legs to make sure he did not get too close to the water and in spite of Jonathans best efforts to keep the buoy out of his reach with the boat hook, somehow the job was completed with (apparent) ease. I wish I had some photos of this
Ingrid was not happy that we moored just outside of the camera angle, so she was not able to keep an eye on us during the night and make sure we were up to any mischief.
There was really no need as we had a good night on board and managed a few drinks and a delicious dinner before disappearing off to our beds at 9.00pm, exhausted but happy for a good day’s sailing – there was no energy for any mischief.
The following morning, the harbour master came to pick me up and take me to the office so I could pay for our night's mooring. It was at this point that I was caught on camera and Ingrid could again see what I was up to !
