The Pertus Breton
La Rochelle to Ars-en-Re
Ile de Re
Monday, 8 July 13
La Rochelle now behind us. We saw 3 films at the Festival – one a silent called TABU – partly written by Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North) and set in the South Pacific – Bora Bora.
It was accompanied by a player using a martenot and some other instruments. The next film was a documentary about the martinot – so interesting – possibly the first electronic instrument with its own sound, launched in the 1930s by its maker and used in film scores, as well as specially composed music.
On the last evening there was an outdoor showing of FINAL CUT, LADIES & GEMTLEMEN – a clever compilation of shots from features. A bit of a one-trick pony, but fun for an outdoor screening.
The weather is still consistent, with clear days and NE winds. Yesterday we left at around 0945 on a falling tide. Plenty of water in the old harbour channel and a good hour or so of tacking to get under the Re Bridge under sail. F4 but with a fresh feel so put a reef in the main to balance the working jib. What to do when the boat just wants to carry on, but you want to stop and have lunch? Heaving too still left us with 2.5 knots, although it was quite comfortable. Opted to keep sailing on a reach with another reach back – an opportunity to test the wind-vane steering – which mysteriously held on one tack, but not the other! Sometimes boats don’t seem logical. Maybe an effect of the wind / tide. We bore down on our waypoint – checked and re-checked since our destination – Ars-en-re is pretty much surrounded by drying areas. One problem with waypoints is that they are usually areas of open water – and as Lesley Phillips says in the Navy Lark, one bit looks just like another! Waypoint alarm is set at 0.2 miles so continuing to the exact spot depends on observing the GPS… anyway, it became clear that we weren’t quite where we should be – less depth than we should be seeing. Al muttered about about turning back to La Rochelle… I pretended not to hear and asked him to have a look at the get-you-out -of-trouble cockpit plotter. Safe water and the channel appeared to be on the starboard side and we soon had a friendly green buoy in sight. Must be Boucheron. On we went, on the bearing as specified in the pilot book until we reached another green, clearly marked ‘BOUCHERON’. This is a consequence of being too mean to update the charts! (I know, free updates on the Internet, but there are slews of these, mostly not relevant.) Like most entrances things became fairly obvious as you approach and apart from the leading marks that are completely invisible, the pilot book instructions work.
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| The sea feather working in a F4 - working jib & one reef in the main |
COMING SOON: Ile de Re
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