The Morbihan 2025
I set about doing some boat jobs quite successfully, I made some boat bread, I fixed the hatch and did a lot of work on the list of jobs that never make it to the top of the list… I need a break when Linda said "be careful with the Sika Flex (Glue) you are getting it everywhere"… see photo.
We left Port Haligan once we had returned from the beach and I was sad to go, but on Sunday there is market that Linda and I were keen to visit and and that meant we had to be in the anchorage off île Longue on Saturday night. The tide to enter the Morbihan runs very strongly in both direction so when we left Quiberon we headed across the bay to a lovely anchorage to wait for the tide to be turn in the right direction. We didn't have to wait long and probably didn't need to anchor at all but it was lovely. We anchored off a beach with a sailing school and all the children were being given lessons and each group were in a different coloured dinghy depending upon age or ability it was a lovely spectacle.
île Longue is a lovely anchorage but it has a few difficulties, firstly it is between two distinct sets of Oyster Beds and is narrow only has room for a few boats and the area was full of small motor boats that arrive just for the day. I found the only space I could knowing that later the boat would go and we might be able to re-anchor in a better spot but then there are more sailing boats arriving for an overnight stay… Anchoring was a challenge because when I dropped the anchor I could not back down on it to make sure it was bedded in because there was a boat close behind and by the time the boats had left we had an altogether different problem. The tide was flooding but the wind was coming from the opposite direction and not the boat is "sailing up the anchor chain" this means that the keel of the boat points the boat into the tide but the wind blows the boat in the opposite direction i.e. forwards and now the anchor chain is behind the boat. You can't motor forward against the anchor or you will scratch the boat and there are other hazards such as the possibility of catching the chain in the prop.
As soon as it got dark the boat re-positioned itself further towards the entrance which concerned me as we seemed to have moved a long way but with 30m of chain and the boat being 19m with dinghy it can be one heck of a swinging circle. I was not sure if we had stretched the chain or it had slipped, we never will but i was unsettled. Linda sent me to bed and said she would stay on watch until the tide changed again.
On Sunday morning we were up early because the market opens at 8:30 and it is low tide at 2pm and we needed to be back before the tide when out or we might have to wait 4 house for the tide to come back in again. The market was lovely and I bought some giant peaches and avocados, we tried to buy some fish but by the time we got there is was sold. Linda bought strawberries and raspberries. We walked back to the boat and stopped for a welcome drink at a bar, we were the first there and soon the place was humming.
We returned to the boat and found that the wind had swung around and we were now stern to the shore and only half a boat length off the Oyster beds which had now become a lea shore. it was pretty clear that our anchor was holding well but I was concerned that if the winds picked up we would stretch out our chain further and might end up on the shore. Linda was pretty adamant that we were find and in reality we probably would have been but I had a better idea. If we went further into the Morbihan we could anchor off île des Artz and we would be in the lea of the island with loads of swinging room and there is a long beach there and we could go for a swim.
Well when we arrived with the best of intentions things just don't work out. The tide was flooding and the wind was now coming from the south… yes so now the boat is facing north ands the with is coming from the south; great. I was not popular and that is how it was until it got dark and then we swung around but by then it was too late. We didn't go to the beach the wind was strong and the sea was choppy with a strong tide.
We left Port Haligan once we had returned from the beach and I was sad to go, but on Sunday there is market that Linda and I were keen to visit and and that meant we had to be in the anchorage off île Longue on Saturday night. The tide to enter the Morbihan runs very strongly in both direction so when we left Quiberon we headed across the bay to a lovely anchorage to wait for the tide to be turn in the right direction. We didn't have to wait long and probably didn't need to anchor at all but it was lovely. We anchored off a beach with a sailing school and all the children were being given lessons and each group were in a different coloured dinghy depending upon age or ability it was a lovely spectacle.
île Longue is a lovely anchorage but it has a few difficulties, firstly it is between two distinct sets of Oyster Beds and is narrow only has room for a few boats and the area was full of small motor boats that arrive just for the day. I found the only space I could knowing that later the boat would go and we might be able to re-anchor in a better spot but then there are more sailing boats arriving for an overnight stay… Anchoring was a challenge because when I dropped the anchor I could not back down on it to make sure it was bedded in because there was a boat close behind and by the time the boats had left we had an altogether different problem. The tide was flooding but the wind was coming from the opposite direction and not the boat is "sailing up the anchor chain" this means that the keel of the boat points the boat into the tide but the wind blows the boat in the opposite direction i.e. forwards and now the anchor chain is behind the boat. You can't motor forward against the anchor or you will scratch the boat and there are other hazards such as the possibility of catching the chain in the prop.
As soon as it got dark the boat re-positioned itself further towards the entrance which concerned me as we seemed to have moved a long way but with 30m of chain and the boat being 19m with dinghy it can be one heck of a swinging circle. I was not sure if we had stretched the chain or it had slipped, we never will but i was unsettled. Linda sent me to bed and said she would stay on watch until the tide changed again.
On Sunday morning we were up early because the market opens at 8:30 and it is low tide at 2pm and we needed to be back before the tide when out or we might have to wait 4 house for the tide to come back in again. The market was lovely and I bought some giant peaches and avocados, we tried to buy some fish but by the time we got there is was sold. Linda bought strawberries and raspberries. We walked back to the boat and stopped for a welcome drink at a bar, we were the first there and soon the place was humming.
We returned to the boat and found that the wind had swung around and we were now stern to the shore and only half a boat length off the Oyster beds which had now become a lea shore. it was pretty clear that our anchor was holding well but I was concerned that if the winds picked up we would stretch out our chain further and might end up on the shore. Linda was pretty adamant that we were find and in reality we probably would have been but I had a better idea. If we went further into the Morbihan we could anchor off île des Artz and we would be in the lea of the island with loads of swinging room and there is a long beach there and we could go for a swim.
Well when we arrived with the best of intentions things just don't work out. The tide was flooding and the wind was now coming from the south… yes so now the boat is facing north ands the with is coming from the south; great. I was not popular and that is how it was until it got dark and then we swung around but by then it was too late. We didn't go to the beach the wind was strong and the sea was choppy with a strong tide.
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"Careful with the glue Paul" -
Tide what tide? -
Not forgetting the cheese -
Boat Bread