Zen Again 133

 

As theatrical entrances go, it is hard to trump: The red hatted Grand Jardin light rising from the reefs; the city intra muros beckoning, beyond.

It took a party of (willingly) press ganged Frenchmen to extract Stargazer from her berth. For the, otherwise welcome, twenty two knots of north wind was seeking to blow her down upon her neighbour. But with diligently deployed lines, and a vigorously applied throttle, Stargazer came away cleanly.

For a short beat up the coast, to clear Harbour island and associated hazards.

That done, Stargazer cracks off onto a flying fetch. Spray, and the occasional wave, cascading along her decks. Steering due east, into the dawn.

We spear between the two Lejons: Grand et Petit.

Stargazer romps on, through the morning and into the afternoon. Holding a steady course. Both reefs shaken out, as the breeze drops, first to eighteen, then to sixteen knots.

The tall cliffs of Cap Frehel flash by. Stargazer making six to seven knots, riding an east going tide.

Stargazer sweeps in, beneath the Grand Jardin, on a dead run. Jib furled, to slow her exuberant pace sufficiently, to allow her skipper to pick out the channel marks with confidence.

For there is much scenery to admire, and to keep Stargazer clear of. A great deal of it sharp and granitic, by nature.

Some embellished by human hand.

Stargazer stands in beneath the historic city walls. I will not say ancient, for the city intra-muros was faithfully rebuilt, following heavy World War Two air bombardment.

Spires and gables peer over the battlements. Beneath them, matchstick sun worshippers mill on the beaches.

Stargazer makes for Saint-Malo harbour entrance, at the head of the channel.

Zen Again 132

 

The north wind is with us still. Today, touching thirty knots. To stir up a lively seastate. 

The shriek, of the wind, and the bullwhip crack, of ensigns, fills the air.

It is a day better suited to a clifftop walk, than to sailing. Tomorrow, the breeze is forecast to ease. Before light and fickle easterlies reassert themselves.

The timing, of that reduction in strength, will decide whether Stargazer can profit from the favourable wind angle. With a day on passage.

Zen Again 131

 

Stargazer is locked in a day-long duel, with a Django, of the Glenans Sailing School fleet. A boat of a similar size, but different design philosophy, to Stargazer. The Django being broader of beam and flatter of bottom, to promote planing. In a similar way to the Pogos (see Zen Again 106 &107).

We both leave Treguier an hour before low water. With the aim of departing the pontoons when the coursing current (which flows diagonally through them, to add extra piquance) is relatively slack; yet benefitting from that powerful flow, to see us out of the river.

With the wind in the north, it is a beat to seaward. Stargazer eases her way past the Django. Despite a crew of six being summoned to sit on the high side, racing style, to add righting moment. A task which Stargazer's heavy lead keel bulb accomplishes, without need of assistance.

Both boats are making better than seven knots, over the ground, by the time we pass Les Heaux de Brehat. Riding the eastbound tide. Which runs hard across the craggy protrusion. The Django is starting to ease away, as we bring the breeze more abeam and begin to surf on the swells. The Glenans boat's lighter weight, flatter bottom and beamy aft quarters counting in her favour. 

With that, the race is run. Tide torn Les Heaux falls astern. Stargazer dives south. The Django steers east, ahead by four boat-lengths.

We are bound down the eastern side of the peninsula. Past the Ile de Brehat. Slaloming through its outer islets and reefs.

Past L'Ost Pic light. Which stands sentry, at the entrance to the sinuous, and silty, Paimpol channel. The port, which is in the centre of town, is a firm favourite. But, alas, too tidally constrained to suit our opportunist passage making tactics. Seizing favourable weather windows as they occur.

On we stand, under the lee of the Ile Harbour. Whose light, cum refuge (for any mariners not heeding its warning, to keep clear of the semi-submerged reefs, on which it is built), guards the eastern flank of Saint-Quay-Portrieux.

No sooner has Stargazer secured, and her skipper stowed the sails, than a thundery deluge, which grey and loudly grumbling skies have threatened since morning, descends.

Zen Again 130

 The river Guindy is not navigable by keel boat. But may be crossed, on foot, by the Passerelle Saint-Francois.

I set off, from Treguier's market square. With its richly painted half timbered buildings.

The winding roadway drops away steeply, beneath my feet. Stone houses huddle close at either hand.

Until I reach the valley bottom. Where cottages cluster, to dip their toes in the fast flowing waters of the river.

Back in port, a crowd has gathered. The German flagged Boreal, Sunflower, is being lifted, for the winter.

Her centreboard configuration allows her to be simply floated, onto an hydraulic cradle, at high water.

Before setting off, straddling both lanes of the main road, the short distance to Chantier Boreal. Mast raised. Sails still bent on.

Zen Again 129

 

The peal, of cathedral bells, dispels any doubts about the condition of the ancient tower, in which they are housed. Filling the town square with a joyously uplifting sound. This Sunday morning, as I fetch Stargazer's daily baguette ration. Doubling up, to see us through the boulangerie's day off, on Monday. Or, perhaps, through a day on passage.

There being some uncertainty on that point. For, whilst tomorrow's tide is fair, the robust weekend wind seems inclined to stay on into Monday. That it is easterly has become less of a concern. With Stargazer (red chevron) now able to angle south, to gain a favourable slant. Post Brexit, the option to angle north, to the Channel Islands, is denied us. Due to the need to depart Schengen at a ferry port (Roscoff, Saint-Malo or Cherbourg, on this stretch of coast), in order for passports to be ceremonially stamped.

In the harbour, a brace of purposeful looking Boreals is assembled. Lower and leaner than the Alubat (Ovni) and Garcia interpretation of the, quintessentially gallic, aluminium hulled, centreboard, expedition yacht brief. The craft newly launched, to judge by the shiny silver, of their hull patina, lie on the pontoons, awaiting their owners. A stone's throw from the yard which built them. (See Zen Again 78

for the inspiration behind this unique boatbuilding genre.)

One, a trifle greyer and more travel stained than the rest, appears overnight. Perhaps after a sea-trial cruise. Before making the trans-Atlantic trip to her port of registry. At any rate, attracting the attentions of two Douane officers. Out for an amiable stroll and a chat, in the sunshine. . . . .whilst inspecting passports, aboard non-Schengen flagged vessels. The length, of Stargazer's skipper's stay, causing some disquiet, until his Visa de Long Sejour is discovered.

Picture Credits

Stargazer chart screenshot courtesy of Garmin Navionics.

Zen Again 128

 

A fiercely fought, Saturday morning, battle of petanque rages on the Treguier river bank. Although one would not know it, from the silence in which it is conducted. The only sound, to be heard, is the clash of the polished steel boules. It is left to body language, to convey the ferocity of the combat.

At sea, an easterly gale blows. Thirty knots, or more, churning the seas high. Whilst, in the midst of the rolling Breton countryside, an occasional gust sets the broadleaf branches swaying. Its passage marked merely by a catspaw of ripples, fanning across a tranquil river Jaudy.

Stone cottages cluster on the river cliff. In a scene which could as easily come from the English West Country, or Wales. 

Whence Saint Tugdual fled, in the face of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of his homeland. Founding a monastry, where the waters of the Jaudy and the Guindy join, at Treguier. In turn giving rise to a mediaeval cathedral, built on, what had by then become, a site of pilgrimage.

The distinctive piercings, of the cathedral spire, are best seen during the walk up to the village square. From within, the brightly lit shapes, set agaist the darkly shadowed masonry, must have something of the fascination of the night sky to it. (I did try to put this theory to the test. But, whilst the body of the church was open, access to the tower proved not to be possible).

Zen Again 127

 Stargazer swoops from crest to breaking crest. Two reefs in the main. Seeking the gap in the reef, through which she must pass. The height of the seas, and the salt caked upon her skipper's spectacles, serving to obscure the buoyage.

Our day, of scenic and sailing superlatives, began with a martian sunrise. Lighting a sea ruffled by twelve knots of easterly breeze.

We beat east. Our tacking angle flattered by, the power of, a favourable spring tide. Which courses around the Cote de Granit Rose, at between three and five knots.

Les Sept Iles are lit by an ethereal golden glow. Fitting colouration, for the main island, which I call Aslan. For it reminds me of a recumbent lion.

Stargazer stands close in, beneath Men Ruz. The gateway to the pink granite wonderland, of Ploumanac'h. Where a Tolkienesque castle forms the centrepiece of an amphitheatre filled with nature's granite sculptures. In a fantastical landscape, which is rock and water, in equal parts.

Stargazer tucks the first reef into the main. The breeze eigthteen knots, gusting twenty. A wind-over-tide sea beginning to build. Salt spray starting to fly.

We take our second reef, as the wind increases to twenty two knots, making better than seven knots over the ground. In preparation for Stargazer's entry to the river Jaudy. Which has a wavebreak of reefs and islands at its mouth, that confuse a stranger's eye. Even with the benefit of modern navigational aids. The more so, when the locals take to a rock girt shortcut.

Within, peace reigns. Wind and sea quelled, by the topography of a majestically meandering watercourse. Which sweeps sinuously beneath high banks, clad in rolling corn fields and wooded dells.

Around one last bend, a tall perforated conical steeple stands proud, upon the river cliff. Stargazer has arrived in Treguier.

Picture Credits

Stargazer track screenshot courtesy of MarineTraffic.com