Ad Lib 109

 

Stargazer takes the broad main channel out of Pornichet's lagoon. Twelve knots of breeze on her quarter.

Her skipper able to amble about her deck. Stowing lines and fenders. Between taking swigs from a coffee mug wedged, betwixt outhaul tail and hatch runner, by the companionway. The autopilot holding a steady course for Pointe de Penchateau.

To seaward, a similar sized boat tracks us on a parallel course. A hooded figure at the helm, although the morning is polo-shirt-and-shorts warm. Speaking of an early start. Perhaps out Pornic or L'Herbaudiere.

Both of us bound west in these gold tinged hours. Maintaining our distance, from the low cliffs, out of respect for their outcrops. Which lurk beneath the innocent indigo waters. Often witnessed by a pot buoy (Three quarters right. Orange dot. At cliff foot)

Stargazer finds just enough breeze to make her full five-and-a-bit knot cruising speed. Where our chrome companion cannot. By the time we reach Croisic Corner (Pointe du Croisic, officially) she is lost astern.

Pair trawlers waltz in unison to our south. Before an appreciative audience of wind turbines. Which wave their arms in applause.

Stargazer hardens her sheets and beats north. Unexpectedly finding an eddy of fair tide. Giving us seven knots over the ground. And causing her skipper to hurriedly check that we shall have sufficient water on the cill.

A flurry of exiting boats confirms adequate clearance. As well as suggesting vacant berths. Within, the Capitainerie dory crews are taking a mid morning break. After the exertions of managing the exodus.

The thirty-footer berths have the wind blowing into them. Which makes it more difficult to stop and secure the boat. Cheekily, I ask for one of the forty-footer berths. Which are facing into the wind. (Harbour Masters will generally put boats on the smallest possible berth. In the hope of higher fees from a long boat arriving to fill the larger ones)

"Abracadabra!" Stargazer's wish is granted. We are slotted alongside a Beneteau Oceanis. Which is so broad of beam that only a slim, Stargazer sized, vessel can be accommodated alongside.

Our weekend in Piriac, that most rustic and relaxed of Breton seaside villages, has begun.

Ad Lib 108

 

Steadily, through the day, the high winds have moderated. By afternoon, in the lee of Pornichet's 'condo-cliffs,' beach cats, crewed by school-children, are out at play

Tomorrow, Stargazer hopes to put to sea once more.

Meanwhile, her skipper has been on a pontoon prowl. Having noticed a Beneteau First 30. The smaller of the latest two, Seascape built, Sam Manuard, First designs. (See Ad Lib 102)

My curiosity initially piqued by the juxtaposition of a racy carbon bowsprit and aft-stepped mast with the cruising-comforts of a spray-hood plus stack-pack.

Nearby, is a craft focussed solely on speed. A foiling Classe Mini 6.50. Scow bowed of course. Her water-wings retractable, in the interests of berthing practicality. Her nearest nod to luxury.

On the hammerhead, lies an Ocean Fifty trimaran. Capable of sustained thirty knot speeds with forty knot peaks. Prone to inversion unless handled with skill and respect. The crew cuddy a necessity at sea, given the velocities. (Think, driving at a dual carriageway pace, through water.)

Although, an even wilder machine lurks across the fairway. Making no concession to crew protection whatever. Whilst sporting a similar sized carbon rig.

Ad Lib 107

  

A four mile sickle-moon of sand, surveilled by all-seeing lifeguards (in season), forms the northern shore of Pornichet's lagoon.

It is no surf-spot. The Biscay swell is turned back by the strict doorman of a reef. To leave a protected lido, for swimming and small craft escapades.

The Breton beach is soft between the toes. Unlike the sharp white shell sand of the Vendee. Enticing to the eye but abrasive to the skin.

White 'cliffs' of low rise 'condos' line the shore. With legacy beach-houses, remnants of less egalitarian times, left squeezed between their rectilinear ranks.

Pornichet's original harbour dries.

The all tide marina, in which Stargazer lies, is a man made atoll. Built from giant granite boulders.

Connected to the shore by a bridge.

Ad Lib 106

 

By reputation, Hobie beach cats enjoy the dubious distinction of being capable of capsize in all directions. Forwards, backwards, diagonally, to leeward and to windward. Due to their high rocker (banana shaped) hulls.

Today's conditions offer a perfect opportunity to establish if this is fact or folklore. Within the shelter of Pornichet's reef-ringed lagoon.

The sudden appearance of an anchored ski-boat, combined with a powerful gust, provide all the ingredients required to trial the classic leeward capsize.

Which is successfully executed. Providing a firm basis from which to build up to the more exotic variants.

Ad Lib 105

It was no Saturday evening club race, which Stargazer stumbled into last night. (See Ad Lib 104.)

But a J-Cup match racing championship. Held in  J-80's. Built, by J-Composites, in the home of the Vendée Globe, Les Sables d'Olonne.

Which explains why the start line was laid across the marina entrance: The better for shoreside spectators to enjoy the weekend-long spectacle.

Which is fast and furious. As the final elimination rounds are fought out through Sunday.

In a blistering twenty five knots, and more, of breeze.

Much to the delight of the J-Crews and their supporters.

RIB riding on the water referees ensure that, whilst the battle may be ferocious, it is scrupulously fair.

With umpires stationed strategically at the turning marks. 

And straining to keep pace, with the flying J’s, on the full throttle downwind sectors.

Ad Lib 104

 

Flushed with the success, of shooting the pass in Pornichet's outer reef, at seven knots on a thundering broad reach, Stargazer's jubilant skipper is brought down to earth. By the sight of a race fleet coming up fast from astern. Causing him to realise that the two buoys ahead are not newly laid channel marks, but their finish line.

Stargazer left Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie heartened to discover that the forecast has improved overnight. The predicted strength is increased, from a marginal eight knots, to a properly-powered-up twelve becoming sixteen. A good day's sailing is in prospect!

Wind direction remains north easterly for the morning. Backing to north westerly by afternoon. Meaning that Stargazer will potentially be on a 'fetch' (wind angle sixty to seventy degrees) all day. One of Stargazer's fastest points of sail. Particularly in winds below fourteen knots. Due to the fact that sailing slightly into the wind boosts its strength.

Stargazer sails steadily north west, through the morning. Hugging the shallows. Both to shorten her course and to stay out of the south going tide.

By lunchtime the twin towers, at the tip of  the Ile de Noirmoutier, are in sight. They remain so for an hour. Whilst the wind takes a siesta and the tide slowly turns in our favour. Soon the breeze is back. From the northwest. 

It is time for Stargazer to tack north, for the mouth of the Loire. Toward which the tide is also rushing. Pushing aside the anchored shipping, in its headlong hurry. Mutely, the leviathans swing on their heavy chains.

The pass, in Pornichet's reef, was a new discovery last year. Which we cautiously explored under reduced sail. Confident in our waypoints, today we whistle through at full bore. Before putting in a swift series of gybes to clear the J-Boat fleet. In whose midst we have appeared.

Before us, the beach resort of Pornichet. Stargazer is back in Breizh (Brittany)

Ad Lib 103

 

Stargazer must leave town. If not on the next train, then on the morning tide.

Or face the perils of the Ponton Visiteurs. On a high season Saturday evening at springs. 

Which can, all to easily, degenerate into something akin to a tidally assisted ‘demolition derby.’ Once the white knights of 'Le Zodiac' (that, confusingly, is not a Zodiac at all) have gone home.

The owner of the finger berth, which Stargazer has been borrowing, is hurrying home early.

This news causes Stargazer's skipper some consternation. For, on a Saturday night in summer, both the local boats (of working folk) and we, in the cruising contingent, compete for places in port. 

Particularly on the popular Vendeean sunshine coast. Stargazer, therefore, generally opts to stay put mid-weekend.

To meet the current situation, Stargazer’s Ad Lib strategy will be to beat a retreat to Breizh (Brittany). Targeting the harbours from which the Vendee visitors have originated.