Aber towards Aber (but nowhere near Wales)

The boat inside us on the pontoon said yesterday that they were thinking of going at 08:00, so we were up and ready, but no one appeared until nearly nine. They then reported they would not leave for another hour, so Julian and I went for a walk to the village to buy milk and bread. It felt good to stretch our legs a bit.

Once back at Robinetta 45 minutes later, the small boat that had rafted outside us had gone, and our inside neighbours were obviously ready too. We cast off as soon as the engine had warmed up, and let them get away.

What we should have done is tied up on another part of the pontoon (which was now mostly empty) and done some in depth passage planning. Instead we just headed out of L'Aber Ildut, knowing we were way too early for the north going tide.

Once we were clear of the harbour approaches the next three hours were rather unpleasant. The inside (any possibly calmer) route was closed to us, because the tide funnelling through it would be too strong to make any head way, so we had to go round the outside of all the off lying dangers which added miles to the route.

Swell on the inshore rocks

The swell rolled in from port, the tide pushed against us at nearly 2 knots. What little wind there was came from dead astern. Robinetta rolled horrendously, and we had to get the sail down as there was not enough wind to hold it still against the swell... Julian could not take the smell of the diesel exhaust, so I did most of the helming while he stayed below and did some work on the new mount for the fuel shut off cable.

No other boats were going the same way as us, but at least 50 were racing in the other direction, using the tide and wind effectively. It made our plodding progress seem even slower.

As we got closer to the Portsall cardinal buoy the swell wavelength shortened, and the swell was “complemented” by waves raised by the light wind over tide. The result was not quite overfalls, but it made sense to me to steer clear of the areas of seabed that were marked as shallower. As a result we went almost all the way to the buoy before changing course to head towards L’Aberwrac’h.

About quarter of an hour later I noticed that the swell had decreased. I could see it breaking on the rocks to port, and the reefs there were taking the worse of it. It had also settled back into a steady pattern, so much easier to deal with. Even better, the breeze was on the stern quarter, rather than directly aft, and we could see it in the courtesy flags and burgee. It was still very light, but Julian is always desperate to sail so we got the main up. The swell still threatened to gybe it so I asked for a preventer and Julian was just about to rig it when his phone rang. It was a work query, but they were happy to call back in 5 minutes.

With the preventer rigged and jib flying I could make a good course steering directly for Ile Vierge lighthouse without the use of the engine. As soon as I suggested this to Julian he turned the engine off. We were still making about 2½ knots, the same speed we had been making all day. He took his phone call, then the helm, to give me a rest as I had been helming most of the day.

We ended up having a rather delightful sail, nearly all the way to the marina at L’Aberwrac’h. Julian did not want to stop sailing, so we decided to go up river to Paluden. That would put the wind directly behind us, and the risk of gybing constantly in an unknown river seemed unacceptable. Julian proposed lowering the main, and going up on foresails, so we went head to wind to get the main down, then turned back and were blown up river with the tide at a relaxed 3-4 knots.

Sailing always feels better than motor, and it was simple to tack the jib whenever we needed to. We were looking for the dumbell moorings that the Cruising Association Almanack gives as being available to visitors, but when we finally found them they were a bit daunting. We went round the trot a couple of times, looking for the right place, but when we picked our spot and went along side actually mooring to them seemed very complicated (although the tide held us there very solidly while we thought what to do). 

Robinetta on the correct mooring!

A man shouted to us from the shore. Apparently these were not the right moorings; as visitors we should be taking one of the four swinging moorings slightly further up river. We extricated ourselves with difficulty, having to cast Worm off as she got caught up in the mooring lines. Luckily she came to rest against buoy on the other side of the trot and we motored round and picked her up. The man on the shore shouted again, probably thinking we were trying to moor up on the dumbells again!

The view upriver from the mooring

Once we were where we should be, on a swinging mooring rated for 8 tonnes, Paluden turned out to be a lovely spot. We paid our mooring fee, then ate on board before going for a walk to the nearest town in the evening. A very pleasant end to a trying day.