Route: La Havre – Chreburg – Gernsey – Jersey – St. Malo – Saint Quay – Rostoff – Aber Wrac’H – Brest
Date: 09-23.07.2022
Miles / hours: 385Mm/81h
9-07-2022 Saturday to Chreburg
We leave at 6:15. We are leaving in three persons on deck, rest of crew is slipping . At the beginning the wind is rather weak, but from the right direction. The weather is sunny, 18ºC, the sea is smooth, and the whole crew is comming the deck. We eat breakfast on the deck. After breakfast, the wind turns 180 degrees and we sail free. The windmill get its propellers (new crew bring them), unfortunately, it was not balanced, so we stop it. We eat lunch in the cockpit. For dinner, a casserole with vegetable and potato. Very tasty. After 3 p.m., the wind finished and the current changes its direction as usual. We turn on the engine. After 4 hours, we run out of fuel in one tank, so we switch to another. In unused tank was a lot of water which is collecting in the water separator and the engine protests. We remove this water. We reach Cherburg at 10:15 pm. We have been looking for a free place for a long time – all places in the guest Y-booms are either occupied or barred by tape. Finally, we moor the longside to the last pier. We go to the marina office which is open at this time and pay for staying. We stay for 2 nights. In the evening we tell stories by a glass of wine.
10-07-2022 Sunday Cherbourg
After breakfast, washing the deck and bathing, we go visit the city.
We saw the cathedral, climb up to the fort, from where we admire the view of the city and go to the maritime museum. There, we look at the collection of underwater vehicles and after then we returned to the yacht. Dorota, who came back earlier, had already started to prepare dinner. We drink a glass of white wine with dinner. After lunch, we take off the windmill and try to find the cause of the bad balance. After 2 hours of fighting, he finally succeeds and the windmill returns to its place. The marina starts to filling up with regatta boats – there will be regattas in a week’s time. Regatta yachts are monohull, catamarans and trimarans. Each one has a number and colored stickers.
11-07-2022 Monday Gernsey
We leave at 7:15 am. The current is in the right direction, but there was no wind. We’re going on the engine. Before Guernsey, the wind rises a little so we set sails. We notice a large inflatable wheel, so we make an approach to the wheel – we have a next treasure.
The average speed is 5.5kn. We reach Guernsey at 3pm. A motorboat from the marina comes to us and shows us where to wait for admission to the marina and gives us the entry form for customs to be filled. It is 2 hours before high water, so theoretically they should let us go in, but there are about 20 yachts waiting for the place. The marina staff is distributing the yachts in the marina. There are monitors on motorboats which display free and occupied places. We hang the yellow flag. We are waiting for the entering for 2 hours, but finally we moor in the marina. I go to pay, and on the way I throw the entry form into the yellow customs mailbox. Electricity is £ 2 and the rest is included (water, showers, toilets). We get a code for WiFi and a shower. There are 2 taps in the sinks – both can be pressed, but the showers have thermostatic faucets.
We’re going for a walk around the city. The city is ancient, the tenement houses have stone facades and the streets are clean. Left-hand traffic. We return to the yacht for afternoon tea. After afternoon tea we go to see Cornet Castle near the marina and check the fuel price.
In the evening, on low water, we see the entrance to the marina – there is a large concrete block in the heads and a threshold – all above the water – it is now impossible to enter or exit this way.
12-07-2022 Tuesday to Jersey
In the morning we ate breakfast at 7:30 (local time) – we are almost 3 hours after high water, so right after breakfast we go out, we have 3 meters under the keel. We go to a gas station – it’s open. We go to sea at 9:15. After hour and drinking coffee, we set sail. We sail 4kn with 8kn of wind. There are no waves and the sun is shining, so we turn on the washing machine. We hang the laundry on the dryer at the stern and wash the next batch. We don’t have time to hang this before the port entrance. To the marina of St. Heiler on Jersey we come at 4:15 pm. We are standing in the place for guests at the entrance to the marina. This time they do not want any declaration and the lady in the office is satisfied with the prescribed passport numbers. We hang another wash and go sightseeing around the city.
Te town is bigger than St. Peter on Guernsey and more “urban”. More lights at the crossings, more “modern” houses after visiting the city, we go for a beer with live music. In the evening, when we return to the yacht, the water is low and we see the yachts standing in the mud with different types of supports.
13-07-2022 Wednesday Jersey
In the morning, after breakfast, we start a trip to the castle.
We walk along the sidewalk that is just coming out of the water. Those who do not want to wet their feet or do not want to wait are driven by amphibians. We pay for admission for £ 70 – we get a 10% discount for a group of 6 people. The castle is quite big. Sightseeing takes us 4 hours, including an hour of historical tale and a musket and cannon shooting show.
There is a board next to the ticket office which you can walk dry on the land. We also go back on foot – not this time we wet our feet. We are going to dinner at the market hall. We choose a tapas pub, everyone is satisfied.
Coming back, we also buy bread and sausages. At 7 pm we go out on high water. Ahead of us is a night at sea.
14-07-2022 Thursday St. Malo
The night is lovely, the moon is full, and in the morning you can see Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. To St. Malo we come at 7:15, we change the time and it’s already 8:15 :-). The water is high and the port is full. We stand longside to the top of the pier. Szymon goes to buy some baguettes, and the rest of the crew wake up and are surprised to find that we are already in the port. Today is a holiday, so the shops are open only until 1pm. After breakfast, we go to the old town and make a tour of the walls, visit the cathedral, enter the forts, which can be entered with a dry foot at low tide – unfortunately there is some private party and they do not let you enter.
Tomek stays on the yacht and checks ventilates the steering column. After returning to the yacht, we heard that at least 3 yachts hit in us (they did not manage with the current), 2 slipped over the fenders, but one scratched the side of us. So we call the port service and move to the next pier. After lunch, we play cards, read books and look at photos – in other words, free time. In the evening, we watch a fireworks show on the occasion of the demolition of the Bastille (14 July). We go to bed after midnight.
15-07-2022 Friday Saint Michel
In the morning, just before we leave, a French man comes to us and asks us to change place, because a charter yacht is expected to arrive at the place where we are standing. The staff finds a place for us on the guest pontoon in Y-boom. We moor the boat, go to the previously ordered taxi and go on a trip to Saint Michel. The taxi driver takes us to the bus loop taking people to the monastery. The bus is free and stops almost to the walls of monastery.
The monastery is worth seeing, the entrance to the monastery itself is 11 € per person. We also get a leaflet in Polish. After sightseeing, we go to lunch. We’ve been waiting for a long time, and the dinner is so-so. After lunch, we go for a walk around the walls – there is a low water, so it is possible.
We return to the parking lot on foot. On the way, we stop for coffee and ice cream. We call your taxi driver to ask her come earlier. After arriving at the yacht, we do grocery shopping.
16-07-2022 Saturday St. Malo
After breakfast, some of the crew go for the rest of their groceries (water and vegetables). It turns out that the vegetable market is open only on Fridays, so we buy vegetables at Carefour.
Tomek goes to see the old town (he didn’t se it on Thursday). After lunch, we take the city bus for a tour of the head sculptures. Admission is € 2.5 per person, but it’s worth it. There are various heads carved in the stone, animal figures – it is impressive, and all with a beautiful view of the sea.
We go back to the city by bus (the final stop is in the old town) and go to a pub for dinner. A very nice place near the marina. It turns out that the waiter once had a girlfriend in Poland, but not long enough to learn Polish.
17-07-2022 Sunday Saint Quay
After breakfast at 10:15 am we go out on high water. A lot of yachts and a ferry go out with us. The weather is lovely, the temperature is 25ºC and the wind 15kn, the current is perfect. We go with the wind. We realize that we will be too early (on low water) – the marina is OK, but the route goes through 1.5m deep areas. We decide to slow down. First, we drop the mainsail and ride on the genoa itself. We are slowing down a bit, but not enough yet. We roll the genoa and slow it down to 3kn on the water on … a sprayhood . :-). We enter the port an hour after low water. A motorboat from the Harbor Master’s Office comes in front of us and asks how we want to stand – bow or stern and from which side the Y-boom should be. He chooses a place for us by the pier which is not welcoming and close to the toilets. He moors the motorboat, picks up the mooring lines from us and then gives information about the port, tells where the toilets and the office are, and asks if we need help with the taking off. Great service. The marina office is the window in the container where the nice lady resides. Everything except washing machines is included in the price of the marina.
After embracing each other, we go for a walk around the city, we enter the “island” which is first a peninsula, and when we come back, it is already an island. We visit two viewpoints and return to the yacht for dinner.
18-07-2022 Monday to Rostoff
In the morning we have breakfast and at 9:10 am we go to sea. It is warm, the sun is coming out and the water temperature is 21ºC. We sail free on 3 sails (genoa, seals and mainsail) and the speed exceeds 8kn.
We take off the sprayhood and put a small roof in its place. We go with the current, which sometimes reaches 4kn. In addition, the wind is 20 knots, so sometimes we sail 11 knots. We reach Rostoff at 19:40. The port is full so the harbor master puts us longside to the catamaran in front of the pier. We are 3 hours before high water and there is a strong current, which is indicated by the boards at the entrance to the port.
Everything (except washing) is included in the price of the marina. The toilets are on the main pier and at the marina office. We supply a card with a magnetic stripe to open the door. It is not needed for the toilets on the platform.
19-07-2022 Tuesday Rostoff
After breakfast and waiting for the rain to stop, we set off to explore the city. There is a free bus to the city (every 15 minutes). The bus goes around town. We arrive at the Republic Square and go for a walk around the city. The old town has several streets. There are stone houses along the streets.
We walk the streets, visit the cathedral and eat ice cream (the seller has a Polish wife, but he doesn’t speak Polish himself), then we go to the bridge to nowhere (on the low water it reaches a cardinal) and then we go to the pancakes. We meet Szymon and Gosia in the pub. Before that, they finish eating and go for a walk on the bridge, and when they come back they buy fish for dinner. We return to the yacht by bus. The fish is delicious. And it is prepared quickly. After lunch we go to the tropical gardens near the marina (admission 6 €). The gardens are beautiful. It is, in fact, a botanical garden with a marked out itinerary. We spend over an hour there. Then we go to the nearby beach and admire the marina at sunset.
20-07-2022 Wednesday to Aber Wrac’H
After breakfast and embracing the yacht, we leave at 10:15. It is 1.5 hours before the high water. It is cold (about 15ºC) and we are sailing among the rocks on the engine. On low water, we wouldn’t pass that way.
Then we set the sails and sail on the wind, so not only when we are banked, we are also swinging. It’s cloudy, but it’s not raining. Dolphins accompany us for a long time. To Aber Wrac’H
We enter at 19:15 and we get a longside seat to a large motorboat. A nice lady gives me a list of marinas worth visiting.
21-07-2022 Thursday Aber Wrac’H
In the morning we wait for the ship to which we are moored to move into its place. They were supposed to leave around 10 a.m., but if they don’t leave until 11 a.m., we ask what time they plan to leave and it turns out that they stay one more day, so we go for a walk along the shore. The walk is about 13 km, but the views are wonderful, white beaches and blue sea.
In the city, we do shopping (only the missing things) and go to a restaurant for pancakes. It’s a bit funny because the waitress knows only a few words of English and the menu is in French. Finally, we manage to place an order. Pancakes are very tasty. After returning ne yacht Dorota makes pizza (4 different types). Great dinner. After dinner, Ewa and Szymon go on a trip to the view point (semaphore) and the rest takes over the yacht and goes to the shower. Then we do the laundry and hang it in the mess room and in the drying room.
22-07-2022 Friday to Brtest
Porridge for breakfast. A lot of things have dried up overnight, but not everything, so we put damp things in the cabins. We leave at 9:10. We sail through the bay on the engine, and after passing the last cardinal, we set the sails. We are sailing free, so despite the opposite current, the speed through the ground is 4.5kn. For dinner there is a mushroom stew and dumplings.
After the turn to the south, the wind weakens, so we decide to take the shorter route closer to the land, turn on the engine. After turning into the bay to Brest, the wind returns again, so we put our genoa.
We enter the port before 6pm. A lady from the port service on a pontoon shows us the place in the Y-booms and helps us to moor.
23-07-2022 Brest
After breakfast we go sightseeing around the city. We see one of the highest drawbridges raised parallel to the top (25m), then we take the cable car to the other side of the bay (ticket 1.6 € / person), On the other side we go through the queue hall with shops and exhibitions and turn into Saint Malo street full plants and various nooks and crannies. Finally, we go to the maritime museum in the castle. It presents the history of sea discoveries in the original interiors of the castle.
Upon our return, we have dinner (roast romaine) and escort Dorota to the bus.
24-07-2022 Sunday Brest
Klar on the yacht, packing, cleaning.