Roscoff - Morgat

As with all good plans they are subject to change. We left at a leisurely 10:15 because I wanted to buy a fleecey jacket from a shop and it didn't open until 9:30. It might have been better to have left an hour earlier or so but I don't think it mattered too much, as we wanted to get the tide down the Chenal du Four. As we passed through the narrow channel between the mainland and Ile de Batz we found ourselves in a lumpy sea with big Atlantlic swells coming at us from a quartering direction. It wasn't really a problem but you do finding it wearing after a while. After an hour or so the size of the swells moderated and we were more comfortable. We were not able to sail beacuse the winds were so light we would have made only 3-4 knots and that would mean we would need to break the journey at 'Aberwach but as out time it limited on this holiday we didn't want to do that. For us the priority was to get around the corner to get to the god weather so we motor-sailed. The initial plan was to go to Cameret or Brest, Brest is a long way inland and means a long way back out the next day and we didn't want to go to Cameret because the anchorage is exposed to winds from the north so a decision was made to head for the anchorage at Morgat. This has several advantages, firstly it was protected from the north, secondly we had never been there and lastly it is further south so if we press on we will have fewer miles to do the following day.

More phones buzzed, I had a message on the app Navily. (When we had arrived in Guernsey a number of boat moored up around us and on of those was called Songlines. We had a leisurely start and left at 6:30 but the other boats had all left between 4:30-5:30. As we headed to Roscoff we recognised the names of four boats who had all left earlier on AIS (A digital identification system) and one of those was Songlines. As we approached Roscoff Songlines started sending us messages, where are we going , what route would we take… I just sent them a message when we came in to come and have a beer and they can ask me as many questions as they like.) It was Alex from Songlines thanking us for the hospitality.

Soon we had a visit from the dolphins which broke up the day nicely and wasted a few minutes. As we rounded the corner to enter the Chenal du Four the winds picked up and we were able to deploy the pink sail. As we were going to Morgat we had an additional ten miles to sail but we didn't mind as it was so nice to switch off the engine. We creamed along nicely until we reached Cap de le Chevre where we had to snuff the pink sail and pull out the genoa as we headed north to the anchorage… Soon we had 26 knots apparent and I was furling the sail in favour of the jib. It was a blast but the water was quite choppy, but up there in the corner tucked away was our planned anchorage. What a welcome sight we had done enough sailing for the day and were looking forward to dinner.

We dropped anchor and it was bliss, it was protected, shallow and good holding and plenty of space in fact a perfect anchorage for a good nights sleep.