Sunday 25th and Monday 26th August
This leg should be our first long sail, 150 miles with a night at sea. We had initially planned to reach Audierne, 110 miles from l’Herbaudière. This would have allowed us to calmly adjust our departure the following day for Camaret, by negotiating the Raz de Sein at the best time of the tide.
If the sky is blue, there is no wind and the engine is started.
Leaving l’Herbaudière at dawn
Having left at 08:00, in the middle of the day Bruno notices worrying movements of the foremast top in the swell. At first glance, the mast has some play in its passage at deck level.
Paradox’s masts are self-standing, that is to say they have no shrouds and are only held by their attachment at the bottom of the hull (the mast step)and their passage through the deck.
Eric incidentally points out to us that it would be better to finish our trip with our 2 masts, so we set about making wooden wedges, which we forcefully insert around the mast at deck level to limit the play.
Damned! Missing bolts, loosened nuts…
But the cause of the problem lies further down, we discover with amazement that the bolts that fix the mast step to the hull are all loose!
To access this part of the hull, we have to move the entire forward cabin contents, occupied by Bruno and Christian. We then have to contort ourselves to be able to place wrenches on the nuts and bolts, in the very small space of the forepeak, upside down, tossed about by the swell… If this does not seem to bother Eric, whom I am assisting in this operation, I quickly feel nauseous and have to abandon my post to get rid of my breakfast in an inelegant manner.
At the foot of the mizzen mast
I give up on continuing to tighten the bolts under these conditions. It is decided to make a technical stopover at the port of the Crouesty, to carry out the repair in calm waters.
Moored at Crouesty at 6:00 p.m., we leave again at 10:00 p.m., once all the bolts have been tightened.
As we approach the Crouesty, chance has it that we cross paths with a sailboat on which François and Valérie are, friends of Bruno who, recognizing the junk sails, immediately call him to ask if it is indeed the boat he is sailing on ! They visit us on board during our technical stopover, but we are eager to leave and have to give up spending the evening with them.
After this short stopover, we decide to cancel the stop at Audierne, and chose to sail directly to Camaret.
This first night navigation proves to be pleasant, we establish 3h30 watches with always 2 people on watch.
Under sail to Camaret
The wind cooperates and we are fortunate to sail downwind for a good part of the course.
At 7:00 p.m. the next day, we are in the port of Camaret.
Following a somewhat chaotic mooring at the fuel pontoon, Bruno sets himself the mission of having us adopt the fore-spring-line mooring. The following days will demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique, which we will practice for the rest of the trip.