There is a flurry of activity, as Stargazer closes Trebeurden. For the cill has just opened. Admitting a turbulent torrent of water, together with a fishing fleet keen to be home. Whilst a squadron of speedboats is unleashed from within. 'Calme à dix minutes,’ comes the wise counsel, from the circling capitainerie dory.
After the morning's false start, and electrical excitements, equilibrium is swiftly restored, aboard Stargazer. By fourteen knots of breeze on the quarter. Anticipating a smooth ride, instead of stowing fenders, Stargazer's skipper sets them up, on deck, for an easy evening arrival. Before sitting back to enjoy the ride.
The scenery, of Morlaix bay, slips by through the afternoon. All of it charted. The buoyage largely laid to the north (seaward). Encouraging mariners to stay out of the craggy labyrinth. But the rhumb line lies within. Requiring an attentive eye to be kept on the, well zoomed-in, chart plotter
High speed, aquatic, joy riders skim out, from the coves of the wave-nibbled eastern shores of the bay. Scything across Stargazer's track. Making twenty knots or more. Gleefully swooping over the swell.
Stargazer stands into a horseshoe bay, surrounded by smoothly sculpted Granit Rose. The dipping sun embellishes the pink of the rock; the yellow of its lichen mantle; the shadows cast by the wrinkles in its weathered skin.
The wind is stilled, the sea calmed. The cill opening flurry is soon over. Small craft bob at their moorings. On the slipway, teenagers teeter on the brink, of a daredevil high dive. Along the visitors pontoon, the air is filled with a low murmer of voices, the clink of cutlery and savoury scents. As sailing-sated crews sup, whilst watching the sun set.
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