Sailing to Douarnenez Maritime Festival 2018

I have a bit of a sad history or not getting to Douarnenez Maritime Festival!

• In 1986 we set off from Essex but for various reasons I only got as far as Cornwall.
• In 1988 most of my friends went. I was sadly confined to land.
• In 2016 my crew mutinied! After crossing the Atlantic they did not want to set sail again.

It was now 2018 and I really wanted to get there this time. 

But work had to come first. Looking at the diary over and over again. It just did not look like it would work out. Then we came up with a plan. We would sail the boat over early. Leave her at Douarnenez. Go off and work and come back to join the in festivities. This would mean we would have to leave the boat in Douarnenez after the festival and return latter to collect her. This was the idea, but things did not quite go to plan!

I just love sailing!

We left the UK in early July and had a glorious overnight sail across the channel to France. The wind was perfect a NE force 4/5. Island Swift was sailing fast. She was light after we had taken out about a ton of books. I was so happy. Night sailing is so special and a dolphin danced around the boat making patterns in the phosperesance. We arrived on the French coast at dawn, perfect time to sail through the dangerous Channel du Four with the tide with us. 

Then the wind dropped! No problem we started the engine. Simon had overhauled the engine this winter and it had been working really well. After about 10 minutes we realised that the engine was overheating!!! No water was coming out of the exhaust.

Oh no! Not good! Not in the dangerous Channel du Four!

So, here we were in the entrance to the Channel du Four, no wind, no engine and the current was drifting us onto the rocks! Thats me being very dramatic. They were in fact quite a long way away and we were in no immediate danger.

Simon 'fixing' the engine

The whole situation was rather comic. Maybe I was not destined to ever get to Douarnenez Festival?

Simon got to work, engine cover off and we started to problem solve. I sat on deck in the sun, watching the rocks getting closer, with engine books: reading and suggesting things. But we could not find out why no water was coming out of the exhaust and therefor cooling the engine. We checked everything but with no luck.

At least we knew we could start the engine to get ourselves out of trouble. But there was still no wind! So we got the dingy off the foredeck. Simon had a plan, he was going to row us through the channel. That was rather entertaining, and as you can guess did not work at all.
Then we remembered we have our little outboard motor. We hardly ever use it as we mostly prefer to row. Towing a 10 ton boat with a tinny outboard... that did not work either.
Then I had an idea and we tied the dingy along side. This worked!
We were now moving through the water at a stately pace of 1.5 knots.

Towing Island Swift

It was now slack tide and we were making way nicely towards L'Aber Ildut, where we could anchor. We had the main anchor ready to go at a moments notice, as well as the kedge. There was still no wind. We could always warp our way in with our kedge and main anchor until we are snug and safe, that was the back up plan. But we needed to get to shallower water first.

Then a motor vessel, headed in the same direction, offered to give us a tow. A very kind 'old man of the sea' carefully towed us into the estuary. Mindful of international regulations we provided our own line. It was at this point that a light breeze picked up and and the tide started to run. We would have been ok, but it was very nice to be offed a tow. Before long we were on a mooring buoy and working on the engine again. We came to the conclusion that the exhaust elbow was blocked and therefor would not allow water out the exhaust and new water to be pumped in to cool the engine. We went straight ashore to see if we could find a new part. No luck, it was Saturday and France was playing in the world cup.

We did not have much time. We needed to get back to the UK on Tuesday. It did not look like we could get the spare part until Tuesday, so reluctantly we realised that we would not get to Douarnenez. I could not believe it! So close....

Sunset at L'Aber Ildutas we realised we could do no more

We arranged for the boat to stay here until we could return in a few weeks. On Sunday morning Simon woke with an idea! He checked the exhaust pipe and found that because it had got hot, it had caused the lining to come away, and block the pipe. He cut the damaged bit of pipe off and re attached it. We started the engine and some water was coming out! Not enough, but enough to allow us to use the engine for a short time without over heating. Long enough to get into and out of port.

The wind was good! The tide was right!
We hauled up the dingy and set sail for Douarnenez. Wow, I could believe it! Well done Simon.
We had a  truly wonderful sail. Perfect conditions to sail through the Channel du Four for the first time, across the bay and east along the coast to Douarnenez as the sun set behind us.

We had a wonderful sail along the coast towards Douarnenez

We sailed as far as we could into the harbour, then started the engine and motored in to moor up along side the pontoon. Phew! We had done it!

The first part of the complicated plan was complete!

What happened next?

Douarnenez at last - boat cemetery 

July 2018