Stargazer races east in the grey of the pre-dawn twilight. Hatches sealed against a deluge from the skies. Her skipper on his hands and knees scrubbing the decks. Grateful for the free freshwater power-wash, in this summer of hosepipe bans.
A gusty sixteen to twenty knots propels Stargazer, under all plain sail, from her quarter. With tidal assistance we are making eight knots. Les Sept Iles are a smudge on the rain blurred horizon.
Soon we are upon them. Slaloming around two Dutch flagged forty footers. Which are sedately trundling downwind under genoa. With no sail set aft of the mast.
Today there is to be no scenic sunrise. Towering clouds roil and boil overhead. Bearing a fair wind for Stargazer's passage.
We round the point, off Ploumanac'h. The hues of its wild Granit Rose crag-scape, the golden Men Ruz tower itself (One quarter in. Left hand horizon) reduced to mere monochrome silhouettes.
Stargazer flies on. Surfing the swells. Into the mouth of the river Jaudy. A mighty squall sweeps through. Stargazer double reefs her main. Rolls her jib. Visibility falls further, in the ensuing cloudburst. Speed rises, despite the reduction in sail area. We hop our way from one channel marker to the next. Much aided by the plotter screen.
High banks rise around us, warding off the wind. The waters smooth. Warming sunshine begins the task of drying oilskins. We sight 'the chateau,' on the last bend before Treguier.
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