Free anchorage ???

Camaret is a lovely little town with a good visitors marina protected by a huge breakwater from all winds except easterlies. We were going to stop for 2 days but ended up staying for 3, mainly as our friends Nick & Carol on “Sea Spine” were heading down. The marina fee was 33.66 euros per night including “tourist people tax” whatever that is ! We met Sea Spine in the middle of the bay and sailed together down through the Raz de Sein in perfect flat seas (phew) into a lovely designated anchorage at Sainte Evette just outside of Audierne. It is possible to pick up a mooring there but the balls are very close together and as there was no wind forecast, we and Sea Spine decided to anchor. The high speed vedettes which are large passenger boats stopped running giving us a very peaceful night. In the morning we noticed we’d swung around over 90 degrees which wasn’t an issue. Our next destination was Port la Foret near Concarneau so we wanted to get going with all of the favourable tide. Nick’s anchor came up BUT ours didn’t! We’d laid most of our chain out as there was plenty of space and due to the tidal range. Unfortunately only the first 10 metres came up and the bow dropped along with the windlass straining. It was clear the chain was caught. We tried many different manoeuvres but in the end I dived down and found a huge rock. In a final attempt, I tried to locate the anchor so at least that could be saved …. just as the first vedette came in creating a huge wake and swell. Decision made on safety grounds & nearly 3 hours, we cut the line losing everything, leaving nearly £2,000 of ground tackle behind. Extremely hacked off but the right thing to do. This was the most expensive free anchorage we’ve ever been to.

Now in Port la Foret we’ve got the replacement chain onboard and the new Rocna anchor should be with us in a couple of days. The marina trolley only just made it with all the chain in it!

The weather has improved and I can officially declare its shorts time !

On a brighter note, Steve & Helen on Allegrini have now left their home port and are on their way ! We hope to meet up in the next few weeks which will be a great reunion. They are also bringing out a new mppt controller for our Rutland ……… more on that in a later post.