En France 51

 

Stargazer treads a rose tinged dawn, past a somnolent Les Sables d'Olonne waterfront.

Out into the Bay of Biscay.

Where our west wind awaits us. Stargazer shoulders her way through the swell. On a northwesterly course, just free of a beat.

Crossing the Mini 6.5 metre Class fleet. Which is still making its way back into Les Sables, from the Azores. Reaching under improbably large spreads of canvas, at speed.

Up past the Grande Barge light, Stargazer flies, over steel blue seas.

Between Ile d'Yeu and the mainland. The breeze easing, into the afternoon and backing a little south. So reducing our apparent wind, as well as our true. Progress slows.

But the windshift has put Stargazer onto a close  reach. Now able to hoist the cruising chute and regain her passage making pace.

Inshore I can see three sails, cutting inside Les Boeufs west cardinal, off the tip of Noirmoutier. They are transmitting on AIS, so their tracks show on Stargazer's chartplotter. Allowing me to identify the gap, in the reef, which they are aiming for. Stargazer follows them through. Saving five miles (an hour) on the rounding. Two new course waypoints entered, for future reference.

The fishing fleet are heading for home, as the sun sets and Stargazer broad reaches east, toward the Breton shore. On a zephyr.

A slender white church tower, set among the scots pines, our daymark.

To make landfall, in the waterside village of Pornic, at sunset.