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Published: July 30th 2013
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View Near Our Anchorage
A view of the fortifications located near the anchorage we were at until leaving for Roscoff. We thoroughly enjoyed our 8 days in Camaret, but just after noon on the 9
thday we left the marina and joined our friends, Louise and Fons (S/V Aju) who left a little earlier headed to an anchorage about an hour away in Anse de Bertheaume. The reason for this very short hop was to shorten the trip the next day and to make it easier to leave at 2:30AM the next morning, rather than at 1:30AM. The things we do to go with the tide! We had a beautiful sail over to the anchorage – it was so nice we hated to stop, but we also knew that the next day was going to be a long one and we needed to get some sleep before that happened.
We have been very fortunate to have Louise and Fons to travel with. If you remember, we met them in A Coruna, Spain and crossed the Bay of Biscay with them. We have been learning a lot about the tides and currents and how to use them to our advantage from them. The trip from this area to Roscoff (our next stop) entails going through what they call the Chenal du Four.
Early Morning Departure
Leaving at 6:30AM was good as we could already start to see the outline of the navigational lights and the rest of the trip led into a beautiful morning sky. Because of the extremely high tides (over 35 feet in places) in this part of Europe the current switches direction along with the tide. This means that if you plan your trip correctly the tide can add several knots to your boat speed. For those of you who are not sailors there are two ways to measure the speed of a boat, speed through the water and speed over ground. If the water is dead calm and there is no current both of these will be the same. If however there is a current of one knot going with you your speed over ground will be one knot higher than your speed through the water. Any place where water is forced through narrow channels or shallow spaces the speed of the water will increase thus creating currents. Chenal du Four is one of several places along the French coast where this situation occurs. They are extremely well marked and there’s a great deal of information available on what is the best time to pass through. The Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida is somewhat like this except that it does not switch directions every 6 to 7
A Calm Chenal du Four Passage
We couldn’t have asked for a calmer crossing through this area that is also known for wild seas and fast currents. hours. The one thing you must always avoid is what they call “wind against current”. If the water is moving north and a strong wind is blowing south it creates a very rough sea with short high waves. As a result of these warnings it is important to wait for the right weather to pass through this area. We now had the perfect time to go.
We pulled the anchor up at 2:30AM and headed up to Roscoff. The sea was flat with very little wind. Not good for a sailboat normally, but for this passage it was perfect. It was a dark night, but there were numerous navigational lights and we saw Aju’s lights ahead of us for most of the trip. Without changing the rpm’s on the engine we got up to 7.3 knots/hr. as the current was with us. At our usual cruising speed of 5.5 knots the trip to Roscoff would have taken us 11 ¼ hours but we completed it in 9 hours. We had a good teacher to help us through the first of a few “races” that we need to negotiate as we travel north.
One other thing we are learning
to deal with more is fog, luckily it wasn’t too thick so we were able to see some outlines on the shore (most of the time). We know that there are a few lighthouses along this route, but it was too hazy to see them (except for their light of course!)
The marina in Roscoff has recently been expanded and re-opened, but it is obvious that they still need to do more to complete all that they planned to do. The best part was that they had plenty of berths so we were able to get one easily and would not have to raft up with other boats this time. We said our good byes to Louise and Fons as they were pushing on the next morning toward Holland. We needed to stay one more day to receive a package sent by Janice’s sister, thanks Sue. This gave us a day to explore the town and do a bit of hiking.
The village of Roscoff itself is quite small, but only a short walk/ride away. They also offer a complimentary bus ride that goes from the marina into town and around to a few other spots. Instead of
taking our bikes off the boat for only 1 day we hopped on the bus and set off exploring this village. We found at the tourist information stand that they had a walking trail that took you to numerous markers telling of the historic buildings in the village so used that as a rough guide. The weather was beautiful so the tourists were out in full force that day. The main downtown street was packed with people, so we got off the beating track soon and had fun exploring the various small lanes and alleys. It was so foggy that early on we could not even see the nearby island of Batz, but by the afternoon we were able to see it from shore. We enjoyed our walk around the village, then did some re-provisioning of basics at a store before heading back to the marina.
Roscoff was a handy place to stop, but it is obvious that it is a quick stopping place for most that pass through here. It was made into a deep water port in the early 1970’s when Brittany Ferry started transporting Breton agricultural products and car-based tourists back and forth to
One of Many
Through the heavy mist we were able to see the Isle of Batz lighthouse which meant we were getting close to Roscoff. the UK and Ireland. This gives access to both sides of the channel easy from this location.
After our day of exploring we were ready to leave as well and on July 16
th we left the marina in very light fog at 6:30AM for our exit from France and travels to Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.
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