Robin
Well-known member
We transited the Raz some 28 times, in ALL conditions both day and night, clear vis and fog, calms and winds, our boats were always well maintained and we only used engine power if we absolutely had to. On the day referred to above, we had sailed out from being anchored in Camaret, sailed ALL the way with no engine assist ( never did that) to just off the Raz, making around 4 knots in lightish winds but we had a very slippery cruiser/racer that sailed well in both light winds and heavy. IIRC the forecast was for winds up to F4 but were actually F3 SW. there was a swell from the west that rolled wind out of sails very efficiently, especially near to the Raz. Our engine was a very reliable Yanmar 44hp 4JHE that had been serviced professionally just before leaving from Poole for S Brittany some two weeks earlier, and we did motor half of our first leg trip from Poole to Dartmouth non-stop. when we ran out of wind in the Raz we naturally started the engine which failed with overheat alarms going after 5 minutes because a drain tap had vanished releasing all the freshwater coolant. This was a drain tap mounted at the rear of the engine hidden under the exhaust that we did not know until then existed as it was inaccessible from normal engine access points and there was another available and very accessible in the front. When the French engineer arrived in Audierne and we had one person looking for the leak point whilst the other was refilling with water it was easy to see but not so whilst being rolled around in the swells off the Raz. Incidentally whilst trying to sail our way out with SWMBO on the wheel, we were 'overtaken' by a raft of floating weed and netting whilst theboat did a full circle pirouette with no steerage. We were in fast running waters too deep to anchor even with our 200ft of normal all chain rode. We only call the CG requesting a tow clear of the Raz when we realised we were now being swept back by the new tide towards the rocks. The CG asked any vessels in the area to assist but only a very large fishing boat responded and came to our aid. The fishing boat toed us towards Audierne but unknown to us had asked the CG to arrange for Audierne lifeboat to take over the tow. Possibly the fishermen was concerned that we were struggling a tad whilst being towed at their speed and were yawing wildly whilst surfing at times over 10kts on the swells. THe fishermen shouted across to me ( I was on the foredeck lashing the tow rope into the bow roller to avoid it wiping out the forestay) that 'another boat would come and take over the tow'. That 'other boat turned out not to be a local seastart equivalent but to be the Audierne lifeboat (the big one called Admiral something or other) which duly arrived and passed us a tow line with a pre-made bridle to easily attach on board us, plus they had an effective heavy duty elastic shock absorber system set up in their tow line to reduce snatch and jerk when towing in big seas. At the point of handover maybe we should have said , OK guys don't need you now we will drift around until some wind returns, we are clear of the dangerous bit, that would have demonstrated our self sufficiency even if a bit churlish.
Anyway, enough of this, I will go hide my head in shame. Incidentally we were RNLI offshore members back then in the UK for 30 years or more,albeit not relevant, and now in the USA do have Towboat US insurance coverage for when required.