How fast did you say…??
Off to La Trinité-sur-Mer
We departed Concarneau at about 0800, the first of a swarm of boats making space for the big regatta that was to start the next day. The winds were light and so initially we ambled along pleasantly over a smooth grey sea. Once we made the open sea though the wind picked up a touch and we were able to turn SE and start a long, fast run, goose-winging under full main and a poled-out genoa.
Goose-winging, or ‘melkmeisje’ in Dutch, in perfect conditions.
Happily goose-winging along…
While most of the boats astern of us kept close to the shore, presumably because they were on their way to Lorient more to the E than our destination, we headed further offshore and passed outside Île-de-Groix before rounding the Quiberon Peninsula and heading up to La Trinité-sur-Mer. It was a splendid day of sailing, fast and easy with winds in the mid-teens less than 1 m waves. We managed to an average speed of 6 kn. We goose-winged for five straight hours and at times even managed to outpace the Australian catamaran, CathayOz, though it turns out that they were trailing a crab pot which would have slowed them down.
…but not quite keeping up with the French
At one point, I (D), was feeling very chipper about how fast we were going, I looked out behind me and got a bit of a reality check. Sure, we were zipping along at 7 kn and sure that might feel good but crossing our track a mile or so behind us was a sailing boat that looked like it was going very fast. I grabbed my binoculars and, oh yes, it was going fast – so fast that a rooster tail of water was spurting bright white out behind it! A check on the AIS gave us a name, Gitana Maxi 17, and reported a speed of 38 kn! Good grief. The voyage was listed as a solo training run. Yikes! An internet search found that the same trimaran had done a solo circumnavigation in 51 days! Unbelievable. Anyway, feeling just a little deflated we carried on at what now felt like a very, very sedate 7 kn. Weeeeee (soto voce).
Finally! The entrance to La Trinité-sur-Mer. Who knows where the Gitana Maxi 17 was by now…
A Mikado-marina
As we turned north around Quiberon the wind picked up under big black storm clouds and was soon up into the high 20s and backed into the North meaning that we ended our long day of running by beating into a stiff breeze and under threatening skies. Not to worry, we got to where we wanted to be and ended the day an easy motor into the biggest marina we’ve been in yet – big enough that they have three sanitaires distributed at big intervals along the harbour front. More yikes.
