Sailing, océan Atlantique, Gulf of Morbihan

3-6 April 2018
Back in January, in our Florida beach condo, as Gerri was planning this tour of France, I was remembering a year ago when there was a very remote possibility of renting/chartering a particular model of sailing catamaran in the far northern reaches of the Netherlands.  This possibility was way off our itinerary path, so I dismissed it.  But here in January 2018, I was surfing around the internet and stumbled upon another shot at this model of sailboat (Catalac 9M) - and alas, Gerri was able to "stitch" it into our plan for France.  Below is a Google street view look at the boat (farthest right) I scoped out, after seeing the charter offering - it really exists!

Before we left our condo in February, we secured the deal for a charter with Ilya, lived in early years in Russia now living in Finland.  We would be his first charter customers - so an adventure was in the making.  Before I go on with the story, I must say Ilya learned some from us as first clients - and we learned much more from him.  Ocean sailing isn't all that scary, tides and their inland currents are to be taken seriously, and exploring the unknown (to us) is as much fun on water as it is on land.

Here is Ilya's boat, the Hippo, placed by him for easy access by us from the marina (versus a rubber boat tender - more on that later).  This is the day before our trip - we met Ilya and went together to get fuel and supplies from the local supermarket.

Then, also the night before, we toured Auray France, Ilya's homeport for this particular boat (he has another in Finland).  Another special place whose photo would make a great jigsaw puzzle.

And then the morning of departure dawned.  We must leave close to 9am, before the tide takes half the water away.  Auray is actually 11-12km (6-7miles) inland from the major Bay of Morbihan, but with 5-6 meter tides, much affected by ocean influence.

Here's Ilya, explaining the details.  We found Ilya an excellent captain throughout this charter - explaining many  details, and being an excellent host for this style of touring.

As it has for much of our French travels to date, the rain continues.  However, the weather forecast promises better things to come for much of our trip with Ilya.  Below left photo shows rain on the cabin windows.

Ilya has only ported his boat in this area for 6-8 months, with only a handful of trips.  Just below we approach the port of Lomariaquer, new to Ilya as a stopover.  We had to pick our way carefully, with the navigational markers, through numerous oyster beds on either side of a curving channel.  Ilya suspected if we were to hit someone's oyster bed, there would be serious consequences ($$$).  We were given confidence that we were in the right place by the sight of outgoing fishing vessels, like the solo blue fisherman in the photo.  In below right photo is what we were seeing - where to go once we reached the mooring areas and marina docks?  As luck would have it, the marina harbormaster happened to be standing right at the location he wanted us to head, and even caught our dockline. 

We had a bit of lunch - Russian borscht - and then headed to shore for some exploring.

Neolithic burial ruins.

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Look, our first European geocache, at the foot of the town church.  Gerri looking smug - she's thinking maybe she let me make the find.?

Ilya had returned earlier in our shore reconnoiter, and met us seeing our amazement - as if someone literally pulled the drain plug from the bathtub.  The tide, right on schedule, has drained the marina leaving all boats sitting in mud for a couple hours.

A couple hours later and we're underway again.  More Neolithic remains for our viewing pleasure, from the Hippo underway this time.

The tide continues to pour into the inner bay waterways.  We'd left the last marina, and with the harbor master's advice on a course, we explore the Bay of Morbihan in a looping path to our overnight harbor.  In the last couple of kilometers, we find the tidal current, pouring into the bay, still a bit wicked.  We spend about 20-30 minutes motoring at say 1 mph made good, against a 6-7 mph current, but nevertheless arrive in good time at our first overnight spot.

We see sailboats moored well outside the immediate marina area at Port Blanc.  We sort it out and find a nice spot on a floating barge dock (not connected with shore).

It's "Miller Time".  Or in this case "Saison Saint Medard Time".  Gerri keeps a typical French Bagette company, which she bought in the stopover marina (they don't even wrap it there, she just sauntered aboard with a load of bread in hand).  And she crochets a cap for herself - thinking it will be handy when we hit the high Atlantic swell tomorrow.

In the morning Ilya preps the Gennaker sail - easier here than rolling about at sea.  And as we exit the area, an antique sailboat drifts by us.

Gerri still crocheting away.  We witnessed young sailors at sailing school.

Here's how the other vacayer's see the water - on the sightseeing boat, nice but no Hippo.  And recreational fishermen trying their luck in the middle of stronger current.

We then headed out to sea (oceana Atlantique) and are now able to hoist sail, free of current and hidden shoals.  Gerri is eased back into the sailboater's reclined pose.

We sailed for some time, and then decided, with the wind coming nearly directly from our destination (Houat), we should bring down the canvas and motor directly to our next port.  More mysteries await us - but Ilya did have his trusty port guide which warned us of what to look for.  We'd seen a few sailboats moored outside the inner harbor wall, but decided to round the lighthouse and have a look.  Many commercial fishing vessels, but we decided that some mooring spots out near the end looked promising.  We picked a spot, and with what seemed like a harbor official tending to some mooring maintenance and saying something to us which did not sound altogether discouraging, we tied up.  Just as we hooked the mooring line, a large ferry rounded the lighthouse, and luckily we were clear of his progress at that point.  We determined the harbor guy was telling us "watch out, the ferry is about to round the point."

Our view of calm water inside the harbor wall.  Ilya and Gerri getting the first going to shore ride in the dingy.  I was a bit nervous for my ride, but Ilya assured me in that he's taken his whole family of four aboard this mighty dingy.

Ilya, Gerri and I then strolled around the isle community to see what was happening.  At the community bulletin board; a hen pheasant at the edge of town (we'd seen her hubby further out, maybe 200 yds away).

Time to head home.  Aha, the Hippo is still riding nicely at her mooring (see far right, second row).

Ilya returning for me.  To the right below, the Atlantic swell breaking along the rocky shoreline.

We saw the ferry returning several times during our stay.  And this sea gull which hung around a bit hoping for a handout (probably the same one which pooped on our seat cushions while we were ashore).

Here's the first use of a panoramic photo shot in our blogs.  I think our last camera had this function, but we never bothered to use it.

The next morning, the wind is still generally out of the same direction, and now heading home, Ilya is able to hoist the Gennaker sail.  We're able to make nearly the same speed as with the typical throttle setting with the diesel engines running.  We see a monohull making good progress under sail.

Naptime for Gerri.  I get a fair amount of helm time at this point.

Now back into the bay and then heading upriver to Ilya's home port for the Hippo in Auray.  Many sights abound.

Auray lies just beyond the bridge now.

Time to enjoy a successful voyage, with a fine French craft beer of course.  This beer, "Old Man Winter", is a collaboration with a brewery we found in northwest France near the Belgium border, and a brewery in Boise Idaho of all places.  It poured out with a mighty froth, almost creamy in appearance.

Our trip with Ilya and his Hippo is complete.  Our expectations for a very alternative look at the French maritime culture was met and far exceeded.  Ilya is as fine a charter captain as we've known.  We hope someday he is able to join us for some time on the Great Loop back in the states in a few years.