It says Roche Douvres and Ile de Brehat at the start of the video. Did you get to the Roches Douvres in the end? I've been there a couple of times myself; it's an impressive lighthouse, that's for sure.
Yep we got all the way to Roches Douvres. Benign conditions as seen on vid! Camped on Brehat that night then met up with dad on the Sunday before we headed on. We made it all the way to Ushant on the westernmost tip of France. Quite a trek, went slowly outbound, but did it with just the one night in Roscoff on the way home.
Even though the sky may not have been blue much of the time, the sea was absolutely balmy! The world renown Chenal du Four was like glass!!
Yep we landed. One of the others brought along a little beach paddling inflatable toy. He seemed very intent on using it even though I had the tender with engine on board!
Here are a couple of Ushant, we only stopped for five minutes to have an ice cream but setting up the tender etc takes a few minutes and it qucikly turned into an hour.
We did 85 miles + that day, setting off from L'Aberwrac'h at 1500 due to poor vis earlier in the day, we were on Ouessant within 1h10 then we cruised back to Roscoff where we spent the night. Before coming home the following day, the 95 miles broken neatly for lunch. Overall Sat - Weds we covered 365miles at an average of 28 knts. The sea state has been brilliant
Are there any visitors' moorings at Ushant? I might try and go there myself next year.
Yep, loads! Look in the background of pic number three. All those yachts are on visitors buoys. We just picked one up and pottled in on the dinghy. There is a small inner harbour (pic) where you could dry out the RIB, but we just tied the dinghy up to the steps. The coefficient was so small at the time that the RIB probably wouldn't have dried out at any stage that day. It would have to at least be a two night trip though. Although the distances are relatively small, 100miles/day we find tends to be the limit.
Right, that's interesting. I wonder if I could get there in one push from Jersey; I make it about 130nm. Maybe if there were two of us we could take it in turns to helm. I have a friend who's a keen birdwatcher - you'll meet him on Monday. He'd love to go to Ushant as it's probably the best birdwatching spot in northern France. Incidently, did you get to visit any of the lighthouses (Créac'h, Le Stiff etc)?
Right, that's interesting. I wonder if I could get there in one push from Jersey; I make it about 130nm. Maybe if there were two of us we could take it in turns to helm. I have a friend who's a keen birdwatcher - you'll meet him on Monday. He'd love to go to Ushant as it's probably the best birdwatching spot in northern France. Incidently, did you get to visit any of the lighthouses (Créac'h, Le Stiff etc)?
To do 130 nm in a day you would really have to have glorious conditions like we have had these past few days. At 30 knts that is a minimum of 5 hours ish (including stops), of solid blasting. As soon as you can't do 30knts then it suddenly becomes a whole lot longer. I don't think we would be up for that sort of distance.
Whenever we told people that we met along the way that we were en route Ouessant they didn't seem to excited about it, it is a bit boring tbh, nothing like the CIs for visitors. Maybe for twitching it is a little different. We spoke to Simon (Anchorhandler) before we left since he spent much of the summer out there, and he said that they much prefer Molene to Ouessant because it is much more beautiful. If we had pressed on to Camaret or Brest rather than making it a day trip we would have definitly gone to Molene too.
Do you have your track recorded for the way in to Roches Douvres? What was the tide doing?
No track but there will be when the official CB report is put online, probably very shortly. We essentially left St. Malo bound for the "Grand Lehon" lighthouse in the middle of the St Brieux bay then headed north west to Roches Douvres where we had lunch. We simply headed straight in and anchored and then one boat took us in. Last year they did it without a tender...
Matt - I can take you to the Roches Douvres if you want to go sometime. There is a small harbour on the west side that looks inviting but is a no-no as it has a rocky bottom. The best place to be is anchored close-in to the lighthouse on the west side. There's about 6ft of water at low tide and not too many rocks. The whole reef is pretty trecherous so someone on the bow watching for heads would be a good idea. The only good thing is that the water is crystal clear unlike MSt.M as you'll see on Monday.
Matt - I can take you to the Roches Douvres if you want to go sometime. There is a small harbour on the west side that looks inviting but is a no-no as it has a rocky bottom. The best place to be is anchored close-in to the lighthouse on the west side. There's about 6ft of water at low tide and not too many rocks. The whole reef is pretty trecherous so someone on the bow watching for heads would be a good idea. The only good thing is that the water is crystal clear unlike MSt.M as you'll see on Monday.
I just followed them tbh and it didn't seem too bad at all getting in and out. Seemed a fairly isolated reef, not much outlying stuff. We went all the way round close in in the boats, once at high when we arrived and once later when it was much later.
Frankly theres not much to see, but I suppose you have to go there once to make that call.
Into the Red
Ro Row
Is that last one lifted off the floor by the motor?!
