La Moira, Sunday

Sunday 21 August 2011: We watched a couple of yachts sail out of St Gildas bay. They set sails in a lively breeze, so we very soon followed them out. We had planned to head east to La Turballe today, but unless we had favourable winds all week we mightn’t then get as far as Belle Ile later in the week, something I had really hoped to do. We therefore decided to cross the Baie de Quiberon northwards to Le Crouesty, on the Presqu’île de Rhuys.

We put a reef in the mainsail and worked our way out past the mussel farm. The wind progressively withered. First the reef came out, then the engine had to go on. It was barely lunchtime when we reached the entrance to the Le Crouesty channel, but we were very bored, so skipper went below to radio the marina and ask for a berth. As he did so, the wind suddenly picked up – he ignored my attempts to attract his attention from the helm – and by the time he emerged we had a steady 12-14 knots. We told Le Crouesty we’d changed our minds – they seemed untroubled by this – and turned round to have a little sail. We plotted a course to round North Banc de Quiberon mark, although in the event we didn’t get quite that far. It was fun to do our first real sailing with La Moira, but the wind faded again and we headed back to Le Crouesty. With hindsight we should have put into Port Haliguen, but we’d been there (twice) many years ago, and I wanted to see somewhere different. This only goes to prove that I’m not always right, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

We were allotted a berth in the huge marina at Le Crouesty, and a zodiac appeared to lead us in the right direction. He buzzed off at the end of the pontoon and left us to find the berth and tie up. Two spaces were free, either side of a finger pontoon. After a couple of failed attempts to get into the one we had been allocated, we moored in the adjacent one with the help of a couple of locals from a nearby boat. We had failed to understand the current, understandably, as it was racing in to this part of the marina even though the tide was ebbing. We were warned that when leaving at flood tide a lot of welly from the engine was needed to fight the current, which is then flowing outwards. Confusing. Still not quite happy with the idea that “moving slowly” and “low revs” are not the same thing!

When we went to check in at the Harbourmaster’s office we were told we couldn’t stay where we were as the owner had just called to say he would be back during the night – from Les Sables-d’Olonne, where he had been watching his son set off on the last stage of the Solitaire du Figaro race! With the help of the zodiac, a couple of marina staff and our pontoon neighbours La Moira was swiftly tied up to the correct berth.

Our walk to the Harbourmaster’s office had revealed the full horror of Le Crouesty. There isn’t much there except for the marina edged by a long row of tacky souvenir shops, bars and fast food outlets, with loudspeakers everywhere repeatedly broadcasting offers of cut-price lingerie. Candyfloss would have been too posh for this place. The supermarket was closed, it being Sunday, but fortunately we had provisions aboard. We ate pasta all’amatriciana with a drop of red, and fortunately the techno music stopped at a civilized hour so the evening turned out better than expected.