Diah Gunawan

Set off in NNW 12 kts but wind dropped to 6 kts and we dropped sails 2 hrs in. It was misty along the coast around Nazaré but cleared as we approached Peniche and the wind picked up to NNE 18 kts. We were running with 2 reefs in main and jib. By Cabo Raso we had 26 kts and 3 m seas and had to go to 3 reefs which was tough given the conditions. We need to look into single-line reef at least for reef 3 to make it easier and safer. About an hour later the wind had died down to 10 kts and we shook out the reefs and continued with full sail until we reached Sines. We motor sailed for a couple of hours before the wind picked up to 14 kts. Again a pod of dolphins came and played in our bow wave when we had 18 kts and were doing 6-7 kts.

We started out with little wind at 16:25 and motored for 2 hours roughly SW to catch some wind. At 18:45 we had NNE 10 kts and set the spinnaker. The wind was variable thereafter with us changing every few hours few hours between sailing (mostly with spinnaker), motor-sailing, and motoring. The seas were calm to moderate and we had some clear sky most of the time. The first night was spectacularly clear and for the first time I saw Uranus, easy to find with binoculars and just visible with the naked eye. There were plenty of meteors and satellites too. A large pod of dolphins came and played for a while on the first day and we had frequent revisits by smaller groups all through the voyage except when we were off the continental shelf. Off Viana we responded to a call from John on Alenbar (?) as they were receiving unwanted attention from a group of orcas. Alenbar lay silent in the water and after a while the orcas left with the boat unharmed. We arrived off Figueira da Foz before dawn so killed a couple of hours sailing out and back arriving at the marina at 9:55 local time.

Having rested 24 hours from the beating we took the previous night, we weighed anchor at 1105 and set sail with 1 reef in a pleasant NNE 14 knot wind. The sky was clear and sea calm within Baie Bourgneuf. Outside the bay heading south between the wind farm and Île de Noirmoutier toward Pont d’Yeu SCM the wind freshened to 18 knots. We had one 10 minute gust of 24 knots in the late afternoon and went to 2nd reef. During the night the wind weakened and we gradually shook out the reefs until by 4 am we started motoring. After tracking down the coast until 0720 24/9 off the entrance to Bordeaux by which point the wind had eased to NNW 8 kts we heading out SW to chase the wind. Further offshore the wind was NNW 20 kts around noon but then weakened until by midnight we had to start motoring in 5 - 10 kts. We motored the rest of the way helping with sail as the conditions allowed. During the first night we passed many relatively small fishing boats fishing individually. On the second night we passed through groups of larger vessels which appeared to be trawling together. We encountered several sail boats when crossing Biscay to Santurtzi mostly sailing in the same general direction. Unlike the earlier passages around the coast of Bretegne, we did not see any dolphins.

We intended to leave Le Palais as soon as the wind turned from S to NE which was forecast to occur around midnight. However, it had already turned and strengthen to NE 17 kts by 23:10 when we slipped lines from the mooring buoy. We set sail with 3 reefs in anticipation of the predicted strengthening and by 0144 we had NE 25 kts. We struggled on in poor conditions with a choppy sea, rain squalls and occasional lightning flashes. By 0535 the wind had veered to ENE 22 kts and we were not able to make 128 T which we needed to clear the wind farm so we decided to abort and seek shelter in Bay Bourgneuf. We tried to anchor off Prefailles but the bottom was rock so we move further SE and found sand in end of the bay before Pornic.

West 16 knots for first 6 hours and moderated to 13 knots towards the end. The sea was choppy 0.5 - 1 m initially but became more regular after we passed Basse Jaune. Swell predominantly from west. Sky cleared in the evening and we had a starlit night passage. We motored out from the estuary and set sail with one reef in La Forêt Bay. We kept one reef in the main the whole way but during periods when the wind moderated we let out the jib and taking in a reef again when the wind picked up. We kept the boat speed above 5 knots for most of the way sailing. Diah was visited during her watch by a pod of dolphins. We arrived off Le Palais at 0600 and picked up mooring buoy #32 in the dark without problems as we could pick out the mooring buoys in the glow from the town.

We had light to very light winds, initially from the north and ending SW. Because of the light winds we did very little sailing. We had 2 m swell on the north Brittany coast but it died away until by Friday afternoon it was almost calm. During one of my night watches a pod of dolphins came and chased the boat for about an hour before disappearing. We planned to stop in the Rade de Brest area on Friday to shelter from strong S to W winds on Saturday but decided to squeeze through Raz de Sein before the N-going stream really started and make for Port la Forêt which we did before sunset. Looking forward to some more amenable winds in the coming few days.

Low wind at the anchorage but about 8 kt from W after we left an islets. Sea was calm with slight swell from East. It started cloudy but cleared up by 11:00. Due to the headwind we motored all the way to Morlaix bay.

Cloudy with no wind when we started but we picked up 8 kt from N after half an hour and sailed across Rade de Brest. In the channel out to the Atlantic the wind dropped and we motored out to the S entrance to Channel Le Four. We had timed our departure to arrive at channel Le Four as the tide turned N at ~15:30. At his point the wind suddenly picked up to 17 kt from the N (perhaps we were in wind shadow before?). We decided to take down the sail and motor to avoid tacking in le Four. At 18:40 we cleared Bass de Portsall and set sail again on a close reach to the entrance to L’Aber Wrac’h which we reached at around 19:50. We anchored in 7m at Toull an Trebez.