We
sailed right past l'Aber Wrac'h to the head of navigation, at
Paludin, where we had a choice of visitors' buoys - clearly end
of season - and tied up at 16:10, now in good visibility and
hardly any wind.Dropped the mooring at 11:20, and crept out with the dagger boards and rudders half up.
Outside, we found an Easterly F2, which soon got up to F4, to give us a nice reach up the Chennel de Four. We considered taking the inside passage by Portsal, but there was a leg due East we wouldn't be able to lay, and we had a favourable tide anyway, so we stayed outside.
As we drew level with le Four, the wind suddenly backed to North East, and got up to F5/6. At the same time, the visibility closed down to around half a mile. We dropped in a reef (although we'd almost forgotten how over the previous 6 weeks) and headed North at around 7.5 to 8 knots. Opposite the Grande basse Portsal buoy, we tacked inshore, which was a mistake, as the seas near the buoy were very lumpy. The next tack North took us into smoother seas, and the wind eased to F4/5. Finally, we tacked to head just South of East to lay Libenter, the entry buoy for l'Aber Wrac'h.
Looking down river from Paludin
We
sailed right past l'Aber Wrac'h to the head of navigation, at
Paludin, where we had a choice of visitors' buoys - clearly end
of season - and tied up at 16:10, now in good visibility and
hardly any wind.
Later, we went for a walk ashore and met the crew from the other boat moored in Paludin, an English couple who'd sold up and were taking their heavy wooden cruiser down to Portugal for the winter. Maybe we were going the wrong way.