La Trinite 2025
The next morning it was more of the same strong winds ect. I jumped in for a brief swim between tide at "slack" water but even then there was quite a flow so I only did a couple of laps of the boat being careful not to end up down stream of the boat. We had both had enough of being blown into next year so we decided to go to La Trinite Sur Mer, I had been last year with Graham and met Robert and Jane Vose but as son as I arrived we had drinks on board and then went for a meal, I had no time to look the place over. This time We would both be able to have a look around. The forecast for tomorrow was for two very calm days so it we go to La Trinite today we can then spend some nice calm time in Houat.
We left the Morbihan and we decided to have lunch in the lovely anchorage outside that we had found a few days before, we thought it would be nicer than going into the harbour… this might have been a mistake. We dropped anchor and Linda made some lunch it was lovely and so protected from the wind. We both decided to have a swim, we could have stayed all day and night but we had to go because it is expensive in marinas so we have to maximise our time there.
The sail was fantastic, the winds were strong and we flew along, in fact we went so well the sail was really short, it was under six miles in any event so it was always going to be under an hour.
As we entered the river I said to Linda that as the tide was flooding we would rig the fenders n the starboard side and I would turn the boat around, that way we would have full control as I was expecting to be put on the long pontoon… As we approached the harbour I called the marina and they said we would be met by their launch and so we were, We were in luck he said a biog racing boat has gone out so you can park on his pontoon. What we hadn't quite noticed was that no only did we have four knots of tide underneath us but we also had seventeen knots of wind blowing us off that pontoon. Well this was the scariest docking ever and as I came in accelerating to keep steerage and then having to stop the boat suddenly to stop us hitting the dock… as soon as I stopped the boat the wind blue us off and there was no way Linda could get ashore with a line. I had to back out quickly, normally this would not be a problem as we had fenders out on our port side but the next door boat had foils. Foils are horrid protrusions from which there is no protection. If you hit one the damage to both boats would be thousands. As I started to reverse we were being blown on to the foils, disaster was about to strike. I had the boat in full reverse and I use the bow thruster to push the bow away from the foils, we were about four feet from disaster. The harbour master saw what happened and realised the problem and said please wait I will get some more help and within seconds there were four people on the dock to grab lines as we came in. This time it was relatively easy because as soon as we got close enough they were on the boat and we were not going anywhere we were tied on. This is the first time in seven years of ownership we have needed outside help. I had a double beer to steady my nerves i really deserved it. Perhaps if we hadn't stopped for lunch and a swim we would not have arrived with such a strong tide.
That evening Linda and I found a lovely restaurant and enjoyed a good meal together and after that we explored the town. Tomorrow we will go to Houat and there is no wind forecast.
We left the Morbihan and we decided to have lunch in the lovely anchorage outside that we had found a few days before, we thought it would be nicer than going into the harbour… this might have been a mistake. We dropped anchor and Linda made some lunch it was lovely and so protected from the wind. We both decided to have a swim, we could have stayed all day and night but we had to go because it is expensive in marinas so we have to maximise our time there.
The sail was fantastic, the winds were strong and we flew along, in fact we went so well the sail was really short, it was under six miles in any event so it was always going to be under an hour.
As we entered the river I said to Linda that as the tide was flooding we would rig the fenders n the starboard side and I would turn the boat around, that way we would have full control as I was expecting to be put on the long pontoon… As we approached the harbour I called the marina and they said we would be met by their launch and so we were, We were in luck he said a biog racing boat has gone out so you can park on his pontoon. What we hadn't quite noticed was that no only did we have four knots of tide underneath us but we also had seventeen knots of wind blowing us off that pontoon. Well this was the scariest docking ever and as I came in accelerating to keep steerage and then having to stop the boat suddenly to stop us hitting the dock… as soon as I stopped the boat the wind blue us off and there was no way Linda could get ashore with a line. I had to back out quickly, normally this would not be a problem as we had fenders out on our port side but the next door boat had foils. Foils are horrid protrusions from which there is no protection. If you hit one the damage to both boats would be thousands. As I started to reverse we were being blown on to the foils, disaster was about to strike. I had the boat in full reverse and I use the bow thruster to push the bow away from the foils, we were about four feet from disaster. The harbour master saw what happened and realised the problem and said please wait I will get some more help and within seconds there were four people on the dock to grab lines as we came in. This time it was relatively easy because as soon as we got close enough they were on the boat and we were not going anywhere we were tied on. This is the first time in seven years of ownership we have needed outside help. I had a double beer to steady my nerves i really deserved it. Perhaps if we hadn't stopped for lunch and a swim we would not have arrived with such a strong tide.
That evening Linda and I found a lovely restaurant and enjoyed a good meal together and after that we explored the town. Tomorrow we will go to Houat and there is no wind forecast.
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Paul checking out the book exchange