Maree Haute

 

Trawlers fill Paimpol harbour, on a wind torn sunshine and showers day. Seas too stormy for fishing.  

The Glenans Sailing School fleet, too, has returned to port. Tomorrow new students will arrive. Before they do, there is preparation work to be completed.

Space is running short. Caused by a combination of boats arriving for the weekend and boats, previously at anchor, running in for shelter. A forty foot flybridge angler is manhandled alongside Stargazer. We are putting the breeze to good use - a line full of washing dries on the foredeck. 

It is not just the winds which are high. Today's is a full, eleven and a half metre, spring tide. This morning water lapped just one masonry block below the top of the harbour wall. The floating pontoons, to which Stargazer is secured, level with the pavement. Normally the lock gates shut at high water, to maintain the depth. Today, they are still open two hours after high water. To reduce it.

A spring tide means not just the highest of high waters (maree haute), but the lowest of lows. In just six hours, the water level will drop by almost ten metres.

Leaving only puddles at the feet of the lock gates, by the time low water arrives.

And only wading depth, for a seagull, in the entry channel. 

On the horizon, a glittering necklace of seawater adorns the first of the islands. Channel markers high and dry, in the foreground.

The barometer is slowly rising. A sign that the low pressure, which has brought this stormy weather, is easing away. The large scale chart of the Ile de Brehat is spread on Stargazer's saloon table. Pencil marks showing possible anchorages, according to wind direction. Often, a day or two of north to north easterlies follows a south westerly gale. If they do, on this occasion, Stargazer is ready.