bbg
Well-Known Member
First, thanks to all those who provided advice on my first passage through the Raz. Obviously I made it, as I'm writing. I'm sure this isn't novel for a lot of people, but it was a trip with a lot of firsts for me. First solo overnight trip, first trip through the Raz.
I had anticipated northerlies ( I was northbound), so left Lorient early (08:30) with a view to finding a bouy at St Evette to time my approach right. But as it turned out the southerly didn't switch to the north as early as anticipated, so I was really flying towards the Raz, and thought I might go through one tide early, fighting the last of the southbound current and punching through as the current dropped and changed. But at the speed I was going, I would arrive about 4 hours before the change, I really didn't want to try to fight a south current with strong southerlies, and St Evette didn't look good in a southerly breeze.
What to do? Well, the breeze was so good I thought I'd just go round the outside - shouldn't be a problem, I thought, so continued towards the Chausee de Sein - for about an hour until the breeze shut off.
Change of plans again, as I motored back towards the Raz. I'll add here that my motor is an outboard 2.2 hp with only a a 1 litre tank, so I get maybe an hour before I have to top up again. The wind picked up and I spent an hour or so trying to go slowly towards the Raz - I was shooting for 23:00-23:30, or maybe a little earlier in the expectation that punching the last of the tide would get me through as quickly as possible. - I'd fight it while it was strong and make headway as it eased and changed.
As the wind dropped again I found myself motoring slowly towards the Raz - and worrying. If the wind stayed light, I'd have to motor through. But with my small tank I really didn't want to have to either run out or refill in the crucial part. I refilled early and throttled back, expecting that I'd have a chance to refill again before I was right into it.
Then the northerly came. Not bad, at least I had enough wind to sail, and as of 22:30, as darkness fell, it was still wind with current. I was fighting both, but at least the seas weren't too bad. Then the wind built, to the low 20s, with variable gusts. My track for the next 45 minutes and 3 tacks shows me going more or less East-West, with no northing (even getting pushed back south a bit sometimes). By about 23:15-23:30 I was able to make some headway and tack away towards Douarnenez. I did notice, however, that even in that short time, the seas had become noticeably steeper with the (now northbound) current against the northerly wind.
After that it was, literally, plain sailing as I was able to progressively crack off after each waypoint. Total trip time for the 85 or so miles just a shade under 19 hours, including at least an hour and a half against some current, an hor or more wasted as I went towards the Chaussee, at least an hor of deliberately going slowly so as not to arrive too early, and nearly an hour with virtually no headway.
As I say, this might not be interesting to all, but it was a big deal for me!
I had anticipated northerlies ( I was northbound), so left Lorient early (08:30) with a view to finding a bouy at St Evette to time my approach right. But as it turned out the southerly didn't switch to the north as early as anticipated, so I was really flying towards the Raz, and thought I might go through one tide early, fighting the last of the southbound current and punching through as the current dropped and changed. But at the speed I was going, I would arrive about 4 hours before the change, I really didn't want to try to fight a south current with strong southerlies, and St Evette didn't look good in a southerly breeze.
What to do? Well, the breeze was so good I thought I'd just go round the outside - shouldn't be a problem, I thought, so continued towards the Chausee de Sein - for about an hour until the breeze shut off.
Change of plans again, as I motored back towards the Raz. I'll add here that my motor is an outboard 2.2 hp with only a a 1 litre tank, so I get maybe an hour before I have to top up again. The wind picked up and I spent an hour or so trying to go slowly towards the Raz - I was shooting for 23:00-23:30, or maybe a little earlier in the expectation that punching the last of the tide would get me through as quickly as possible. - I'd fight it while it was strong and make headway as it eased and changed.
As the wind dropped again I found myself motoring slowly towards the Raz - and worrying. If the wind stayed light, I'd have to motor through. But with my small tank I really didn't want to have to either run out or refill in the crucial part. I refilled early and throttled back, expecting that I'd have a chance to refill again before I was right into it.
Then the northerly came. Not bad, at least I had enough wind to sail, and as of 22:30, as darkness fell, it was still wind with current. I was fighting both, but at least the seas weren't too bad. Then the wind built, to the low 20s, with variable gusts. My track for the next 45 minutes and 3 tacks shows me going more or less East-West, with no northing (even getting pushed back south a bit sometimes). By about 23:15-23:30 I was able to make some headway and tack away towards Douarnenez. I did notice, however, that even in that short time, the seas had become noticeably steeper with the (now northbound) current against the northerly wind.
After that it was, literally, plain sailing as I was able to progressively crack off after each waypoint. Total trip time for the 85 or so miles just a shade under 19 hours, including at least an hour and a half against some current, an hor or more wasted as I went towards the Chaussee, at least an hor of deliberately going slowly so as not to arrive too early, and nearly an hour with virtually no headway.
As I say, this might not be interesting to all, but it was a big deal for me!
