En France 66

 

The wind has swung south now and is blowing at the stronger end of expectations. Stargazer's barometer falls steadily. We are fortunate, by dint of our compact dimensions and early arrival, to have secured a snug finger berth. One of only ten available to visitors.

Larger craft, and later arrivals, must raft three and four deep, on the visitors' pontoon. As was Stargazer's fate (outermost boat) three years ago, stormbound for a week in Scheveningen, returning from the Frisian Islands. When last she met Blue Moon (innermost boat) and her crew, now sheltering in Brest, two fingers down.

Summer 'swallows,' like us, returning from their cruise south, for the northern European winter.

Boats of all denominations and nationalities run in as, through the day, the wind's whistle steadily builds first to a shriek and then to a deep resonating roar.

Necessity makes for strange bedfellows : A French Class 40 is lashed alongside a vintage British motor yacht. The one a minimalist carbon fibre racing machine, her weight shaved to the bone. The other created for opulent, gentlemanly, lounging. Adorned with burnished brass and varnished mahogany.

The Netherlands

Germany

Poland

Denmark

Finland

Of course France

Even landlocked Switzerland, are all represented. For the most part, bound south. To over winter in the Mediterranean ; or to make an Atlantic Trade Wind crossing, to the Caribbean.