Dandelion 49

 

Stargazer storms across the outer reaches of the, wide mouthed, Loire. Making just short of eight knots. Surfing the swells. Eighteen knots of breeze on the quarter. Carrying all plain sail.

The shipping channel, for cargoes bound to St Nazaire and Nantes, is behind us.

So too is the 'channel,' between the submerged Plateau de la Banche reefs. . . .

. . . .and the, crescent shaped, Banc de Suerande wind farm. Stargazer hugs the outer line of pylons. As more visible than the lurking rocks.

Ahead, the twin towers, lit by a chance shaft of sunlight. Marking the tip of the Ile de Noirmoutier.

Stargazer rides the rhumb line. Whilst her skipper begins laying out lines and fenders on deck. A task that I like to complete between five and ten miles out. The better to concentrate on navigation, in the final approaches.

Our landfall, Port Joinville, on the Ile d'Yeu. Stargazer has arrived in the Vendee.