Bourgenay to Ile de Re

Andy Riches

Night before we had tapas in the Balcon bar with Paul and Michelle from Ditto. Nikki had a terrible nights sleep and I woke up at 420. Decided to get up 0620 and go. Ditto left about 0630. Beautiful morning light Easterly. Not a cloud in the sky and already warm. Took code zero down as would be close hauled and prepared lines for exit. Went very smoothly and proceeded slowly around S bend out of Marina. Ditto was 3.2 miles ahead by the time we got sails up and settled down to a close fetch in around 10 knots of Easterly. Good speed at up to around 6 knots. Wind came and went and became a close haul. We closed the gap on Ditto to 0.7 miles before the wind dropped off and we motor sailed just after 11 off Ile de Re and headed towards the Bridge before winding in the jib. Followed Ditto over the shallows which seemed about 0.6m less depth than Navionics indicated, and under the bridge. Took main down and anchored in 5.5m off the beach by the bridge. Anse de loubye. Of