Multihulls ~ Sailing meet in the Rance

Jean-Michel hosted a meeting on the Rance, near St Malo, France

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It all started under the sun. Wind, sun and waves were very present in Erquy, and I only sailed when Dirk and Elizabeth joined me in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc Thursday. Friday was a slow start, with the high tide only around 1330 hours. Luckily my mooring and clearance allow Tigaki to leave port 3h and a half before high tide. With Dirk We zoomed eastward to the Cap Fréhel with a nice breeze (F4), and averaging 10 knots we arrived there pushed by the stream in 45 minutes. The only event was that my Petit salé aux lentilles, that I had prepared following Joel Rebuchon's Recipe, suddenly decided to jump from the stove down the bottom port hull. Do I have to go through the story of cleaning? No.

Anyway, not much of it was lost so we were in a light mood. We made the Chenal de la Grande Porte, and the Grand Jardin light house in 2 hours and entered the St Malo sound in 2 hours and a half. We then had to tack endlessly against the breeze to make around the Cité d'Aleth. A lot of Cargo ships, pilots, ferrys and few sailing boats. We decided to take a look inside the Anse de Solidor beach (with the tide up, no problemo) before deciding where to beach. We zoomed all sails set in between the small fishing boats, a very well maintained Muscadet, a number of undecipherable ships, directly towards the beach. Quite a sensation! We tacked and went back. I decided we had not had the time to see really anything with our speed, so we reefed down the main and rolled the front. I now have a system with pulleys for lowering and holding up the engine on its Plastimo «chaise» (bracket?) so it is now a charm to do it, when last season it had been a nightmare.

Gently idling to the beach, I could not make my mind. The place where the Iroquois was landed seemed ok, but too far for this tide. And next to the pier I knew there were some nasty rocks.

A man on the beach shouted to us to take his mooring for the night, which we did.

And next to them were Vicky Sanders and Mike Turney: they had made the ferry trip to Cherbourg overnight and motored to St Malo by car. We took all there gear onboard: I have a Bombard AX4, that seemed heavy and big when I brought it back home ON MY MOTORCYCLE four years ago. But It takes little space, can be inflated in 10 minutes and carry four people plus luggage. Next month arrives a Honda 2 HP OB 4 stroke to rest our arms! My friend Annette, living in St Servan had made a reservation for us at La Corderie restaurant, a very fine place. The view is unique over the Solidor tower, inside the St Malo sound with the power plant in the distance, the menu is terrine de maquereau, soupe de poisson, and fromage. With one bottle of the only possible Pouilly Fumé, ie La Doucette. An appropriate name for un vin très doux et sec...

We slept on board and had to make an early start from our very close to the beach mooring in order to be able to catch the tide later. Mike I am sorry I had to wake you up, especially after the night you had had before.

Dirk joined us and we went to the lock of the power plant. Locks I have had adventures into them, and I want to look good and do «la belle manoeuvre»; so I had briefed each one and placed them much before hand. The last time I had been reaching that lock, the wind was south and locks are tunnels of wind as you know, I am sure. So here I was, motor idling, and doing more than 8 knots only with the windage pushing us. Shouting sailors («Freinez, freinez! Bon Dieu!») had me reeving backwards the engine not to stop into a 35 ft monohull. I did not want to experience again such a shame. But this time the wind was north and we did exactly as planned. Once in the Rance, I ordered crew into the La Richardais bay. We moored and had a nice and hot breakfast all four in the lifted pod of Tighaki. That little contraption is really exactly what you need in a camper coaster!

That morning, the monster in the starboard hull was sound asleep. We prudently did not wake it up yet.

We then started, almost stopping in the mud because I had taken a short cut around two buoys.

We set sails and started a long tacking and tacking and tacking experience all morning. We went around the La Passagère cap. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims took a boat from the left bank to the right. The pilgrims of the Tro Breiz had to visit around Britanny, in less than seven weeks, the seven founding fathers of La Bretagne (among them St Malo, St Pol, and others in Dinan, Vannes, Quimper, St Brieuc). If you could not make it, the legend is that you will endure as many centuries of «purgatoire» as missed length of your coffin after your death. Brrr!

We passed around the island and the Les Zèbres red buoy (each year in June, there is a very disputed Les Zèbres Regatta, and we saw Sunday boats racing in a trial regatta near by). We passed through La Landriais, Minihic sur Rance, and St Suliac. Then 2 things happened: wind was down and the rain came. Rain drops like my forefinger started to fall upon us. We reefed down and motored across Mordreuc, with the idea of crossing rapidly the Chatelier lock: a very wet ride, with one seal looking down on us from the muddy bank. Another sailor was going down the river and shouts at us, showing his fingers:«3». I am asking to myself «3knots?» «3 boats in the lock?». I was nowhere near: the lock was closed until 3. In the Rance river, the movements of water are not entirely dictated by the outside tide. The Electricité de France direction may decide to launch water when power is needed. But if you call the lock of the power plant on the radio (channel 9) they will let you know. Don't try the VHF on the Chatelier lock, the lockman has no radio!

So we went back to Mordreuc. We decided not to wake up the monster. Instead, Dirk called Elizabeth on the mobile, and we moored and went ashore, for a nice lunch at La Vicomté sur Rance: They have there a very nice little house and Dirk has an immense shed for boats! We had the luxury of Showering, drying our clothes near the stove and spending a good time around a table!

Then with spirits lifted, we went back to the boat. I must confess, that our spirits were so lifted that I approached too close the bank of the river and we suddenly were stuck in the mud. But the recipe is simple: put 2 crew members aboard the tender, oars in hand and they will free the boat. This time the lock was open and we went into the fluvial Rance (yes the Rance is a fleuve, not a river. It ends directly in the sea through the power plant, so it is a fleuve). The sun came out and we enjoyed the ride upstream to Dinan. We had foreseen that with this kind of changing weather, we would have the Port de Dinan for ourselves! Ah! The place was clogged with those ugly white plastic things with huge engines, chromed (!) anchor beds ( I hope they have a .... or someone for furbishing twice daily the damn thing) and beer abdomen abominable men of Hamble, couched on white leather, feet on teak decks. You know what I mean. Sorry for honourable Hamble men! Anyway: we found miraculously a place, «à couple» with guess what? Yes an Heavenly Twins. The boat is probably finishing her life here, pity.

Elizabeth came by car to join us, and we all went for a promenade through the meideval town. You wouldn't believe that some of the houses are five centuries old! Then Dirk had a call on his mobile. Gilbert was here. Gilbert lives in Plouguernau (near the Aber Wrach on the Granit Coast), has had a Bob cat, sold her, and is seeking to buy or build a Tiki. We joined him at the boat. Since I had so many crewmembers at my disposal, I decided perhaps it was a good time to wake up the sleeping monster. So we did.

The monster is a deck tent by Jeckell's, and I am pretty sure I have already told on the forum my misadventures with it. Apparently, British engineering (I write under the control of Dirk and Mike, two engineers) lies only in two categories: brilliant and not. I do not know who designed the thing but let me tell you not a sailor. It has 5 inox rods (15 ft each) that go through pockets inside the fabric. The heavy monster itself is a 50 kilos amount of fabric and plastic, 15 feet across the hulls and perhaps 12ft aft to fore. It took 5 of us, almost 45 minutes in the very still port of Dinan, in a calm evening, to domesticate the monster. I suggest it would be impossible at anchor, in an open mooring with a small surf, with some wind, for a crew of 2 to do it. Once set, the deck tent is a plus: your cockpit is transformed into a lounge, dry and devoid of wind. In the morning, it has none of the moisture that lies outside. You can have dinner with seven in the cockpit; I am sure you could even put a petrol lamp attached to the central rods for an after dinner nice shot of whisky with friends. But I need another system, if I may.

Anyway, that night, we were seven to share the petit salé aux lentilles, a nice crumble pommes poires, and a good shot of Bordeaux. And our spirits were once again lifted. If they needed to.

Next morning was not an early start. Breakfast, showers, taming the monster back into its bag, and off the boat (inside Gilbert Truck). We had to be fast since the Chatelier lock was to close at 1130 am until 1600pm. So we motored our way down stream to the lock. There, a number of motor and sailing boats were acting like formula 1 racers just before the start of the Grand Prix. We entered the lock, did exactly what we had intended to, and...watched around. One motor boat was revving back and forth trying desperately to reach the pier. Another monohull just behind us has a crew member miss the vertical rod with his rope at the at end. The boat went nicely into a 90° ride and we had to push her to avoid my rudders being hurt. Unable to have a crew rush on the pier and run a rope from the back to pull back the hull in position, the skipper decided to enter the lock... Backwards!

We went down to St Suliac and joined there with Nadia on her Hitia 17. At last two Wharrams! We found in the harbour a mooring and three boats (there was a Dufour monohull 1800 with us) joined for lunch We were 8 in Tigaki's cockpit. With plenty of room. Dirk had the night before, built a small stool that fits exactly into the vertical panel of the pod just above the compass. It has two functions: you can sit backwards facing your guests à l'apéritif! Or you can sit upfront and do the navigation, keeping an eye on what's up in front or the boat. Thanks Dirk!

The afternoon was uneventful: we tacked our way down stream facing wind, and reached the lock around 6pm. Another motor boat tried to sink us, with no luck. We slept at Solidor. Monday was more windy with south wind. Dirk and I zoomed our way down the St Malo sound, back to the Hebiens Island, and into the Arguenon river. We tacked again and sailed our way upstream almost to the naval yard. We had to work our minds and arms to get Tigaki into a four buoys stop on the slip. I will be back ASAP, to sail her to Jersey weather abiding, at the end of June. I plan to go see Dave Yettram with a crew of four....I will let you know.

Many thanks to Vicky, Elizabeth, Mike, Dirk, Gilbert, Nadia, Marc and Veronique. (Gilbert sent photos below)

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