Beating back through the Raz

Simon Tong

Yesterday we were on the Pte de Sein watching yachts heading through the Raz. We had caught a bus out there in order to walk back along the coast path to Audierne, but also scope out timings for the passage north. The issue was we ideally wanted a southerly wind with the flood tide, but we are in a period of consistent northerlies, so needed to avoid the spring flood running against the north wind- how early could we be through the raz to make sure we avoided wind over tide, without having too much of the ebb against us? Having watched a dozen yachts pass through about an hour ahead of schedule, and managing to make way against the ebb we planned to be there around 12 today rather than 12:50 as would be normal. It was reassuring that we had several other boats with us leaving Audierne, although with a steady F4 on the beam and a following tide we had to put in 2 reefs to slow us down so we didn't arrive too early. As we approached the Raz the sky cleared, and we shook out both reefs so we could make better headway as we tacked up past La Vielle light under full sail with only a slight tide against us in bright sunshine. Glorious. Once through we were on a lovely reach across to Morgat, the only mishap being my hat flying overboard in the strengthening wind, gusting 18kts at times. Anchored in the bay, where we will stay for a few days and meet up with family once again. Great day.