The storm that had engulfed the Isles of Scilly had passed but another one was on its way across the Atlantic. It was forecast to split up over Biscay with half of it hitting Cornwall and southern Ireland the other hitting Brittany with predicted winds of 40 knots plus.
Our choice was to either head 50 miles west for Brest or stay in Roscoff, which is somewhat of an exposed marina. We had a 36 hour window of calm weather before the onslaught and so we ran for Brest knowing the marina would be shielded from the strong northly winds.
We set the alarm for 6am in order to utilise the high tide at Roscoff and to make best use of six hours of west bound tide in the hope of getting through the Chenal du Four before the tide changed. The timings required taking the shortest route which in this case necessitated taking the Canal de L’Île de Batz which is the gap between the mainland and the island.
The Canal at Low Water
The Canal is a zig-zag route around endless clumps of yacht munching rocks which conveniently sit unseen just below the surface of the water. Cardinal posts mark the extremities of these rocks but it does still need navigational skill to thread between them, especially when the tide is pulling you through at 3 knots. Nina took on the challenge and as we transited through. It didn’t go unnoticed that the depth of water constantly switched between 19 and 3 metres as we repeatedly went from deep to shallow water until eventually we were released into the open waters of the North Brittany coast.
We were then picked up by the tide and following another lengthy day at sea pulled into Brest. It seemed we weren’t the only boat looking for shelter as by the evening the marina was full of rafted boats awaiting the inevitable.
Father’s day was celebrated in ‘Salon Le Jouannet’ as the rain hammered on the roof and windows for the next 24 hours. The bottle of wine we were saving for dinner somehow opened itself at lunch time and the remainder of the afternoon was a predictable cycle of our guilt saying no to another glass and the weaker side winning.
The next morning saw skippers and crew emerging from sodden hatches like mammals emerging from their winter hibernation. Rapid blinking and hands held across brows was the only way to fight the intense glare of natural daylight not seen for over 24 hours.
It was time to leave.
17 June 2022
Total Mileage 2884 miles