Mel and Nick

P7270084, originally uploaded by melandnick.

La Belle Isle was beautiful, I suppose the clue is in the name.
3 nights on a mooring in a slightly rolly but very picturesque anchorage were pleasant.
I managed to get the wind charger rigged and working and I had my first dive of the trip coming back with a nice sized golden mullet for dinner.
The mullets head went into our crab pot and I threw it over the side for the first time.
In the morning we had a 1 meter long conger in the pot and a few small crabs.
Since the monster conger I shot a couple of years ago, Mel will not cook them as the smell is BAD.
So it went back.
Next morning, another bloody conger, a little smaller but still, enough! At least we know the crab pot works, though it should have been sold as a conger trap.

We were still happy to be on our way though and heading South.
The trip to La Rochelle was pretty uneventful apart from the fish.
I always tell people that Borne is a very lucky boat when it comes to fish.
If I put a line in there will always be something on it when I reel it back.
But I still get majorly excited when the line starts to run.
Mel had never seen anything other than mackerel being caught while sailing and she was more excited than I was.
This time, we were racing down wind with the genoa poled out and 6 knots plus showing on the log.
I could not reel the fish in, the pull was so strong so we hove to and stopped the boat and I reeled the line back in until Mel could see the fish under the water.
She called it correctly. It was a gorgeous Bass, Mel’s favourite fish and at about 2.5kg it’s a perfect size for us.
We only catch to eat so the line stayed out of the water and Mel cooked the fish last night in white wine, rosemary, lemon and some other stuff I can’t remember. It was delicious!

We arrived at Minimes marina just after lunch. One of 3000 or more boats berthed in this massive marina just outside of La Rochelle.
I fluffed the approach into the berth. It was tight and down wind and I had very little sleep on passage. They are my excuses anyway and I don’t mess up very often but a English couple on the boat next to us took our lines and we eased in.

At the risk of being branded a xenophobe, I would like to share my observations about the French.
In the last 2 weeks or so that we have been sailing in French waters, I don’t think I have seen anyone smile.
For them, it’s all about the attitude.
And Hair…lots of hair….like , big, bufty, long, permed hair…..on the head but also elsewhere for all I know.
So they seem to walk around with a permanent pout and a cigarette hanging nonchalantly from their fingers.
Don’t get me wrong, they have all been very pleasant and helpful but enough with the attitude.
Now I know why older French women all still have that great unblemished complexion……no laughter lines.
However, they also have so much going for them.
They take food sooooo seriously, and we like that a lot.
We walked around La Rochelle today and came across what has to be the most amazing market I have ever seen.
Fresh fruit, veg, meat, cheese and fish. Displayed on hundreds of stalls in such beautiful arrangements that it seemed a crime to take something and destroy the symmetrical perfection.
We were literally dribbling.
In the UK, a fruit and veg stall at the market will have its produce still sitting in the boxes, some a little over ripe, some a few days away from being edible but here everything was perfect. When we asked for some nectarines she asked how we like them and then tested each one with delicate care to make sure that it was just as we wanted.
And then there is the bread, why can’t we get our baguettes that crunchy in the UK? and the cakes and buns and, and, and its making me hungry writing this.
Something else we have noticed is that they seem to have a much more relaxed attitude to sailing and it’s something we could learn a lot from.
Go into any marina or anchorage and you will see old, cheap, hard chine, plywood or plastic boats with young families on board. Mum and Dad pouting away with cigarettes still hanging nonchalantly from their fingers and a couple of young kids all out enjoying the water together in a very relaxed atmosphere.
Talking to Mel about this she tells me that she doesn’t ever remember seeing kids on a boat in the UK. Here it seems that they are part of standard sailing equipment.
It also seems to be OK here to sail a scrappy old boat if that’s all you have….no shame, no need to aspire to a new shiny Tupperware yacht. They really don’t seem to have the class hang ups that we have in the UK where its assumed that you are upper class if you have a yacht. Maybe it’s because they have no upper class having cut all their heads off?
Anyway, time to sign off as we are about to leave now and head to Bilbao in Spain. Should take us a couple of days and the forecast is for very light winds so we are likely to spend most of the time motoring.
We will post again when we get there.
Love
Nick

P7220012, originally uploaded by melandnick.

Having arrived in L’aberwrac’h much relieved and tired, we spend a day or two relaxing waiting for a huge low pressure weather system to pass. It turned out that the storm blew for 6 days which meant we were stuck in the marina with rain and high winds keeping us company. I’m sure when the sun is out, L’aberwrac’h is a delightful place, but by the time we left, Nick and I were very pleased to see the back of it.
Whilst we were there, we did meet up with a friend from Portland, ‘H’, who’s waiting for a friend to accompany him across the Bay of Biscay. ‘H’ has a yellow steel boat called Vaha, which is cavernous inside, and has been built and fitted out by him and his partner Eve over the last few years, to take them cruising around the world. ‘H’ helped us put up the wind charger and set up the wind vane, two valuable things that needed doing to clear some room on the boat, and make our sailing much easier. I’m sure we’ll meet up with ‘H’ and Eve soon, to share more sailing stories, until then we wish them happy sailing and fair winds.
We left L’aberwac’h on the morning of Thursday 21st July. The sea just outside of the rivermouth was very rough, caused by the strong winds over the previous week, so it was a bit of a bumpy ride to begin with and a fair amount of our carefully stowed food/equipment was on the floor within an hour or so being tossed around the boat. By the time we’d got to Chanel Du Four (where the tip of Brittany nearly touches Isle D’Ouessant) the seas had calmed and we passed through the channel with no dramas. The same can be said for our passage through Raz de Sien just as the sun was setting.
One quiet night at sea later, we could just about see Le Belle Isle on the horizon, and, upon arrival our first impressions are that the place certainly does live up to it’s name. We also saw our first dolphins of the trip! At around 9am we said hello to a small pod of dolphins that were swimming in the opposite direction to us, but were leaping out of the sea just a few yards from the boat, it was very cool!
We’re moored just off a beautiful little place called Sauzon, and we’re surrounded by clear water and we’re less than 50 meters from a couple of little beaches. Sauzon, is full of picture perfect French scenes. It’s a small village lining a river mouth which has beautiful houses, shops and restaurants along the harbour, and lots of fresh fish and ice cream vendors! It’s been quite good fun rowing in and out of the harbour in our little dinghy for showers and to buy bread  – The sun is out too!!!
For dinner tonight I will be treated to a Golden Mullet speared by Nick this afternoon whilst diving! We also lifted up our crab net from the side of the boat to find a meter long Conga Eel in there! After dinner Nick’s going to put him back, we were hoping to get some shrimp which the conga has probably eaten already!
Our plan is to leave here tomorrow and head south again for a couple of days to La Rochelle, as we still want to spend the vast majority of August in Spain so that we can explore the Ria’s and catch our breath for a few weeks.
Lots of love to everyone!
Mel x

Despite being in Portland longer than originally planned, really enjoyed our stay, and we wanted to post a little bit about the people we’ve spent time with.

Firstly we must mention Tim, Denise, Jerry, Ryan, and Will from Clarks Boatworks. Borne has been at the yard since leaving the garden, and Tim and the team have been hugely supportive in getting her to the point where she’s floating and ready to go. Not to mention making us laugh on a daily basis! Thank you!

Over the last few weeks we’ve got to know Aaron, a local crab and lobster fisherman who’s boat, Red Rose, was tied up next to us on the quay at Portland. We’ve traded some rope with Aaron in exchange for a fresh crabs and lobster, and Aaron was so generous that we also enjoyed a wonderful Bream the night before we left Portland, that’s my favourite and tasted great roasted in our new Tailors paraffin cooker! Aaron also has given us sound advice about the state of local waters which helped with our passage planning.

We arrived in Alderney at 3am on Monday morning, it took us 10 hours to sail here. It was very good sailing and the sky was clear and I’ve never seen so many stars!!! A clear blue sky greeted us when we awoke, so we had a picnic on the beach and spent the day relaxing which was a welcome break and has made us both feel that the trip has really started now. The plan is to leave here tomorrow morning and be at sea for around 36 hours to get us around the point to Brest and even sunnier skies!

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P7070002, originally uploaded by melandnick.

It fits & we’re off!!!

In our last post you will have seen that we have been delayed by all manner of things which has meant that we’ve yet to leave the UK. Thanks to those of you who have been in touch with words of support and encouragement, you’ve kept us going this week!

To update you on progress, Borne is gradually becoming more and more like home; we have a tap with running water, a loo, and a fridge which all seem like luxuries. Yesterday we finished loading everything onboard, and we’re pretty much set to go!

This comes as a huge relief to me, as I have discussed with many of my girlfriends, I’ve been rather anxious about whether or not (all of) my clothes would fit into the single locker that is available for these all important items. I’m very, very pleased to report the fantastic news that all my clothes fit, with room to spare – hurrah!!!

For those following our posts more interested in news that is a little more sailing related, we are due to set off later this morning!!! The swell has died down now from the stronger winds earlier in the week and the sun is shining so we’re offski and starting our journey at long last!

The wind will be coming from the South West, blowing at around 10 mph, so we’ll have to head straight south (our ideal would have been to head South West), meaning our first port of call will be either Alderney or Cherbourg, France. Later in the week the wind is due to swing to the North, which will be good for us to head west and around to southern Brittany

Thanks all for your support and good wishes, hopefully we’ll get good at Cherbourg/Alderney so will have a chance to catch up on emails and posts etc.

Lots of love to everyone,

Mel x