En France 18

 

The Arpege family gathering has sailed. Only to be replaced by other familiar faces.

Pen Duick ll hoves into view.

Quickly followed by Pen Duick V.

Securing ahead of Stargazer and diligently setting about their chores.
 

Aboard Stargazer exciting news is arriving.

Daryl and Shirley text that Dream Catcher, their Bavaria 42, has arrived in Viveiro, on the north coast of Spain. Three days and six hours out of Plymouth. Recounting that they “sailed the whole way. . . . with a lot of wind and some very large seas, at times." A Biscay baptism to be proud of.

And the JPK yard, in Lorient, e mails an invitation, to come aboard a JPK 39 Fast Cruiser, to "see what all the noise is about."

First though, I have fresh patisserie to consume. . . . .

. . . . castle walls to admire and my sixtieth birthday to celebrate.

Picture Credits:

Bavaria 42 courtesy of Kiriacoulis.com yacht charter

JPK 39FC courtesy of Yachting World

En France 17

 

The colourful pavement cafes. . . . .

. . . . .and picturesque harbour setting. . . .

. . . . .caters to the needs of we (fortunate) silver topped tourists. Free to wander, or rest, as the fancy takes us.

However, beyond the saliva inducing temptations of the patisseries, 'serious' supermarket groceries are hard to secure. For those I must make my way to 'the other side.'

For across the harbour entrance, from Stargazer, lies the residential Concarneau.

Out on the point, bright white seaside villas form a daisy chain around the bay.

Their dinghies secured to drying moorings. Ready for a sail, whenever the tides suits.

Freshly painted fashionable apartments front the harbour narrows.

Further inshore, as I navigate my way to the Intermarche Super, the streets are matured to, an inimitably French, shabby chic perfection. Which borders on the louche.

I cross, from the postern gate of the Ville Close, by an eerily silent electric foot ferry. The early morning sun washing both sea and sky an impossibly deep blue. On as scenic a supermarket shop as it is possible to imagine.

En France 16

 

From my vantage point, on the battlements, I sight a familiar yellow hull. Moored in a hitherto hidden corner of the harbour.

Eagerly, I set off, along the top of the walls. Seeking a route to get closer.

Threading my way through the fish quays. To find Charlie Dalin's challenger, for the 2024 Vendee Globe race.

We last crossed wakes off Lands End. Stargazer inbound from her Scilly sojourn. Apivia on her way to IMOCA class line honours, in the 2021 Fastnet Race.

Charlie Dalin's campaign, it transpires, has its base here in Concarneau. Under the auspices of Mer Concept. (A company created by 2012 Vendee Globe winner Francois Gabart, in his pursuit of ocean racing excellence).

The most modern of ocean racing designs: broad quartered planing hull, concave decks, enclosed helm, deck spreader rig and yellow scimitar foils; lies beneath the medieval city walls. Ancient and modern juxtaposed. Each is designed to achieve victory.

There is something in the waters, hereabouts, which breeds radical yachts. Pogo Structures, in Benodet, offers an 'off the peg,' production, foiler. For any member of the public to own and sail.

Here in Concarneau, Maree Haute, builders of the Django range, offers a quartet of fast cruisers. Based on race proven, principles.

An approach also taken by Jean-Pierre Kelbert, founder of the JPK yard, in Lorient. Designer of  the winner of the 2021 Fastnet Race (and many another prestigious event), the JPK 1180 Sunrise.

As well as the JPK 39 FC (Fast Cruiser). A slinky contemporary take, on the traditional cruising concept, with performance in her DNA.

What forces have caused this flowering, of unorthodox design, in this most (outwardly) orthodox of settings?

Perhaps it is that, as Soichiro Honda observed, "racing improves the breed." And here racing, particularly short-handed offshore racing, abounds.

Picture Credits

Pogo Foiler courtesy of  Pogo Structures

Django 1270 courtesy of  Maree Haute

JPK 1180 Sunrise & JPK 39 FC courtesy of  JPK Composites

En France 15

 

Fond farewells are said. The Saint's Day sailors prepare to return their home ports.

Motoring out, through the channel. Sails hoisted, in the hope of a breeze later, on a still morning.

The medieval battlements standing high above them.

Truth be told it is a better day, to discover the secrets of the Ville Close, than for passage making.

A palpable excitement emanates from the arched entrance.

Within, restaurateurs prepare for the day. In the cool of the morning shade. 

Amid sun dappled alleyways. Close set with cottages. Their gardens a riot of vibrant colour.

Rapiers are drawn, in the glare of the midday sun, on a parched grass square.

A battle scene is in rehearsal ; or in creation. With much debate required.

The granite walls look on unmoved. They have seen swordplay, musket fire and the advent of automatic weaponry. Blood spilled for real, over ten centuries, or more.

In a pool of evening sunlight, an accordion player chuckles pleasurably. Whilst he softly regales us with a tune.

En France 14

 

The surf rears high, around the base of La Veille lighthouse. One by one a stream of passage-makers skirt its feet. Bobbing and curtsying, on the swell. Making our obeisance, for safe passage through the Raz (pronounced 'Raah,' as in sun god of ancient Egypt) de Seine. 

Angling inshore, past the bumble bee striped La Platte, for the flattest water.

Crossing the 'border' into sun soaked Southern Brittany. A coastline especially designed to delight sailors: (generally) slack tides, improbably craggy shorelines, and an abundance of islands and inlets.

Stargazer sailed from Camaret in a clearing drizzle and a breeze ideally suited to our purpose. Just enough force (eight to ten knots) to make progress, over the tide; without being strong enough to stir up breaking seas in the Raz. 

Stargazer takes the inshore passage, between Toulinguet point and its polo-mint perforated offshore islands.

She beats down towards the Raz. Seemingly alone, crossing the Baie de Douarnanez. Until the hour of slack water, in the Raz de Seine, approaches. (This is when the seas will be at their mildest; and explains why Stargazer has chosen to sail against the tide, to reach it). Whereupon a fleet of boats materialises. All converging on the channel at the feet of La Platte.

All of us first gaining ourselves a good offing. Beating out to the Ile de Seine. Before freeing sheets, onto a easy going reach, that is like a sigh of relief.

We feel the tide go slack beneath us. Then to rocket us forward, as we swoop down, past the Pointe du Raz. 

The impromptu flotilla disperses. Each of us going our separate ways. Melting back into the vastness of the ocean. As at all great tidal gates.

Stargazer has a fair tide beneath her and will have for the next five hours. With kite drawing she can make one of the Benodet Bay ports (Benodet itself, Loctudy or Concarneau) before nightfall. 

Through the afternoon she reaches across the Baie d'Audierne. Gybing off the Pointe de Penmarc'h in the evening sunlight.

Closing the shores of Benodet Bay. Reaching, under white sails in sixteen knots apparent. Crossing the fishing fleet, homeward bound for Lesconil and Le Guilvinic. Ports concealed among the crags and markers lost in the inshore heat haze.

Dusk is falling as Stargazer sweeps past the Iles de Glenans. Now eight miles out from Concarneau. She is making six knots over a weak tide. Nightfall is in two hours, by my reckoning. That means we are going to be in before dark. A relief because Concarneau has a narrow and rock bound entrance.

But the sun bows out early. Thundrous clouds blot it out. Leaving only a coppery sheen, on the heaving sea, to remind us of a golden day. Night falls almost an hour earlier than I had anticipated.

Happily, in full darkness the leading line (pecked line running diagonally from bottom left to top right), into Concarneau, proves (almost) easier to follow than in daylight. By making use of the coloured sector light (circle surrounding the green post mid picture); followed by two powerful white leading lights (top end of leading line diagonal). Neither, of course, visible by day.

This stirring view, of the medieval battlements of Concarneau, welcomes me to Friday morning. 

The scenic splendour, however, has one price; which is popularity. Last night the harbour was full. Thursday May twenty sixth is Ascension Day. Marked, in France, by a four day Saints Day holiday (think UK August Bank Holiday weekend). Boats have flocked here from far and wide. For half an hour Stargazer circled the pontoons, in vain, seeking a space to moor.

Until, a hailed greeting echoed across the darkened harbour. "Over here, mon ami. Come alongside us. Ici.” Stargazer rafts among a fleet of ten or more Dufour Arpeges (classics from the dawn of accessible GRP boat building). Boats cherished, and cruised, by true sea folk. Keen to hear about our passage, tell of theirs (they are off to Pont Aven, home of Gauguin, next) and to share a bottle of wine.

Photo Credits

Final picture courtesy of Dufour Yachts.