The 250 Ton cargo vessel TK Bremmen (Valetta Malta ) which went aground at Erdevan plage during the last storms to lash the Breton coast is now being broken down for scrap recycling.
Erdevan plage it on the Estuary entrance to the Ria d’Etel. Major concerns were raised immediately after the ship went aground after oil was lost polluting local beaches. The region is a centre for oyster beds and is an important part of the local economy,
Click on the above link to download the amendment. A quick glance through does not show any significant changes, certain craft are now defined with specific instructions. There appears to be a general acceptance of Electronic Charts and compasses ( waterproof) and electronic readers with explanation of the bouyage system.
Having flown back to Bangkok and taken a couple of days off, I arranged a drop off in Tourist Van at Chon Buri to start my next paddle
I was dropped off late afternoon Bang Saen, it was still very busy with small cities of deck chairs and umbrellas at the head of the beach. The tide was out and has deposited huge amounts of rubbish at the top of the beach. It was really quite depressing and I was close to turning round and heading back to Bangkok
It was too late to build the kayak and push off, I decided to sleep over and await the next high tide.
The following morning saw the arrival of the clean up team, half a dozen labourers working with tractors to load a huge trailer, really hard to understand.
I was happy to leave as early as possible, my plan was to paddle past Pattaya during the evening / night time which is the safest time considering the number of fast speed boats, and jet skis. It was going to be a bit of a slog.
The first stage was from Bang Saen to Si Ratcha, A little over 20K and then sitting out the hot day on a small beach.
Once again the rubbish was awful, I’d started photographing the beach to highlight the amount of damaging plastics evident, but just got so depressed with it all that I had to stop. I really was surprised at how much waste was on the coast, in fact whenever close enough it was plain to see. I’d done just 22K. but already boats were tearing around, and time to stay off the water, I found another 7 / 11. along the road and restocked my food
As well as being a particularly long paddle I had already seen that Laem Chabang was a huge industrial area with New Cars parked up for shipping as well as the many large shipping containers, I was also wary of trying to navigate under the many long piers, I could not see underneath and with even a small amount of swell could prove quite disastrous in a PVC boat
Finally clear of the heavy shipping I was able to relax and enjoy the cool night air, another 38k was to see me arrive at the rural suburbs of Pattaya district
After some much needed sleep I tucked my boat out of sight in some grasses at the head of the beach and took a short walk into the village to resupply. the choice was simple, fresh fish or dried fish, the nearest 7 11. was a taxi ride away and I was not really keen to leave the boat for that amount of time, so it was a packet of dried fish. Unfortunately, the smell was such that I just could not bring myself to eat it. I did manage to get some apples though, ( incredibly expensive) but would do for my lunch
My original intention was to explore the islands to the South of the Rayong headland, but closer viewing of the charts revealed a large Thai Naval base and Exercise area. The small print on the chart indicated that the Thai authorities would announce any training of note, I decided to check with some locals, and learnt that there was very little activity to the North of Rayong and that the locals used the area very much for fishing
My next destination was a small island about 10 K from the mainland, I set off on my bearing and after an hour or so I could discern a nice looking beach which left me feeling optimistic for a good landing spot and hopefully somewhere suitable for a bivi
As I got closer to the beach I could see a good number of animals on it, at first I thought dogs, but then I saw they were monkeys
There were loads, with a few actually in the water, I had never thought of Monkeys being swimmers, as I approached rather cautiously, their interest in me became apparent
They started to swim towards me, so I split one of my lunch apples and tossed it to the nearest, he stuffed it straight into his mouth and very nimbly climbed up on the deck of my kayak
He sat there quite happy eying up the rest of my lunch
A quick ‘hip flick ‘ of the boat put him back in the water when another came for some fruit
This one stayed on the deck even after paddling 50 or 60 meters ofshore, was not at all bothered.
A few more of these monkeys visited me on the boat, posing for photos in return for some apple
I landed away from the group of monkeys, 60 or so meters along the beach, but was soon joined by a youngster who clambered up the deck and tried to steal my water bottle, I had secured under some much upgraded elastics and he missed out
I subsequently found a Monkey free zone at the opposite end of the Island to land and then bivi.
That evening was to be my last on this side of the coast. I was very disappointed with the amount of trash and here large parts of the coast with what appeared to be oil. I decided to head back up to the mainland the following day and make arrangements to get back to Bangkok.
The interaction with the monkeys really salvaged the trip for me and was quite a lift after the continuing problems of pollution.
With the wind a little high for a paddle on the coast, I decided to get the sail out on the local river where it opens up to a good sized lake. I set the Sail up on my viking, and was looking at getting some fair speed in this BF 4 wind.
All was going well when without any warning the mast snapped.
The Mast is in 3 Sections, a Foot, a lower tube, and an upper tube. They are made of anodised aluminium. The foot, and Upper tube is cut from 16mm o/d tube with 2mm Wall thickness. The Lower tube 19mm o/d. with internal diameter of 16mm So just a 1.5mm Wall thickness
The Lower tube slides over the foot, and the upper tube slides into the lower tube to rivet stop. A Stainless steel saddle clamp is riveted to the Lower tube to fix all the mast stays too Its clear to see that the mast has snapped where the saddle clamp has been riveted, drilling the 1.5mm wall thickness has caused considerable weakness.
The upper tube slides inside nicely
1.5mm instead of the original 1mm
I believe the mast assembly cost around 70 Euros, I decided to source a length of tube to replace the broken section, but to increase the wall thickness. I picked up a length from my local Metal suppliers for the modest sum of 3.60€.
I mounted the saddle using 4mm screws, and screwed in a Stop screw at the upper end.
The mast foot is now ready for the Folding Kayak, so in the days to come when the wind is right I’ll try the mast on the folding kayak.
Thailand is a remarkable destination for kayakers, the obvious sunshine and warm waters look wonderful, the tropic islands with coconut trees look idyllic, then add some amazing culture and delicious food, compared with the February weather in France and I started planning in ernest.
The first major issue to resolve was sourcing a kayak, I soon exhausted any prospect of hiring a closed cockpit Sea Kayak in Thailand that I could use autonomously. I did not need to look at the cost of cargo for a full size glass boat, but certainly a folding kayak could fit the bill.
The end of a period of research led me to purchasing a Nortik Argo. It has proved to be a very capable kayak, certainly worthy of a separate blog entry.
The kayak weighs in at around 20Kg. My intention was to take this kayak to some exotic destination for warm water paddling, so my next step was to check out the Baggage limits for different airlines. This turned out to be the most difficult bit of the research, from past flights I knew that a 23Kg limit was common. The more limiting factor that changed with different Airlines was the maximum cumulative dimensions. However the. end result was an Airline that offered 30Kg (1 or 2 Bags ). checked, and another 7 Kgs Cabin. I managed to fit boat, and all paddling kit, together with hammock, cooking and bivi kit into checked bag, and in my Cabin bag, 1 spare set walking out clothes, all my navigation kit, and repair kit.
The checkin was no problem, with the boat sent across to the oversize bags, and while it did attract some curiosity there were no delays going through security checks.
My outline plan was to Kayak from Krabi in Southern Thailand across the Phang Nga Bay and end the trip on Phuket island. The next destination was then Rayong to explore the islands there.
Some of these limestone rocks reach up 300 meters from sea level.
The limestone is subject to erosion, both from the sea and waves
creating stunning overhangs around the base of the rock. Further erosion
comes from rainwater penetration into the rock and dissolving the
limestone, often forming caves and eventually opening up to the sea.
There are good internal flights to both Krabi and Phuket, making it a very simple journey from Bangkok and the return.
My start was not how I had planned, firstly my flight to Krabi was
delayed which and meant shopping for rations would be put off to the
following morning. I took a room about 1.5 K from my launch point on the
River ‘Pak Nam Krabi’ , I thought a short taxi ride would get me there
early allowing a couple of hours to assemble the boat, go shopping and
pack. I just couldn’t get a taxi to come out, So it was a walk in, 30Kg Boat pack and 10 Kg holdall. In 34° heat it made for a sweaty start.
My first day was already half gone , but I was not overly concerned, I expected to exit the river and planned to stop somewhere along the southern coast. Looking at the chart, I could see there was a deep well defined channel leading out through the estuary, high tide was midday, so I would be exiting on the ebb, I very nearly got left dry on the shallows, the water level dropping much quicker than I expected.
The dog leg in the middle of my GPS trace shows my urgent back paddling to get water underneath me.
I soon came across this shell fisherman in the shallow waters.
In the background behind the fisherman, you can see the coast is
mostly rocky with very little beach, It meant landing was not easy, I
began searching out somewhere to overnight. Without any warning the
skies opened and it rained, it was difficult to see through and the
water bouncing off the boat was deafening, happily it lasted just a few
minutes.
Ao Nang is quite densely populated, however I did spot a long section of beach with jungle reaching down to the sand.
On my left tucked into the small peninsular was a small fishing port, with a few long tail fishing boats, I landed about 300 meters West.
The high tide mark was at the head of the beach, I only 1 or 2 meters before the jungle got really thick, but I had some good sized trees for my hammock
Landing was a little difficult, with a weight in excess of forty kilos, I was going to have to unload most of the boat, but this was really quite quick. I was soon erecting my hammock, and with another fall of rain predicted during the night I also hung the bivi sheet
I decided not to cook, I had a small brushwood cooker but with so
much dry wood and grass the risk of starting a major fire was much too
high. for my first day I had lots of fruit and nuts, and lots of
cornflakes, milk and coconut milk. I ate well.
I had not anticipated seeing so much wild life, my first visitor was a rather large Monitor lizard, not much short of 2 meters. I heard a loud rustling in the undergrowth, I guessed it was monkeys, but then this enormous lizard came crashing past me then making off across the sand.
KRABI TO PHUKET Day 2
It was a disturbed night, the tide ascended far higher than I expected, in fact it was possible to touch the water from my hammock, but I had taken the precaution to tie everything.
However amongst all the noises keeping me awake were thieving monkeys, my zipped closed holdall which contained my walking out clothes and food had been emptied all around my camp. All my fruit , nuts and cereals were gone and bizarrely my Thai silk walking out shirt, clearly monkeys had been responsible. All they left me was Milk and coconut milk which just about was enough for breakfast.
I was now leaving the estuary and the appearance of the karst was now developing its unique appearance, the limestone shaped into magnificent structures through erosion. At this point beneath the cliffs I had a welcome break from the rising sun. As the day was to progress, I was to suffer a bit from headaches and later the runs, most likely due to dehydration. I was being a bit too conservative with my water.
This day was to be relatively short, it being the route to the start point for the crossing to Ko Yao Yai. It was also going to take me into a more inhabited are, making a bevy harder to establish
I finally settled at a small stretch of beach, it was after a very well groomed beach which I later discovered was maintained by the Sofitel hotel. No chance to sling up a hammock, and it would be a night on the sleeping mat.
The Sunset was great, the temperature dropped to 29°. and a cooling breeze blew across the beach.
KRABI to PHUKET Day 3
I was happy with my progress, my biggest concern was the temperature, I had not any time to acclimatise going from 2° in France to 34° in Thailand. I started my paddling trip just 4 Days after arriving in Thailand. I still was not ready to eat but did get plenty of fluids in with ” Dioralyte ” which left me feeling ok.
Todays trip was the crossing to Ko Yao Yai, via Hong Island
The sea was flat, barely any wind and it was going to be an uneventful crossing. In the photo on the right hand side is Hong Island, the kayak is pointing to Ko Yao Yai over to the left and much fainter in the centre of the photo you can see Phuket mainland in the background. Theres a few beaches exposed on Hong Island at Low tide, but they are covered quite quickly. Certainly no prospect of overnighting.
My interest was in the lagoon, which has just a small entrance. I was hopeful that my early start would get me there before all the tourists arrive
My interest was in the lagoon, which has just a small entrance. I was hopeful that my early start would get me there before all the tourists arrive
Leaving the lagoon, again the undercut limestone revealed many caves, but with tourists arriving it was time for the second leg of the trip to Ko Yao Yai. Another open crossing but on completely flat water. The wind had increased slightly to give a nice comfortable cooling breeze.
The Northern point of this East coast looked idyllic, white sandy beach with many tall coconut trees rising up, but the topography meant at low tide there would be around 1 Km of beach.
Instead I head a little further south, as I got closer I could
identify a couple of beach type resorts, It was already going through my
mind that a night in a comfortable bed and a shower would be good, I
made for the resort.
As I approached it was quite simple timber structures, straw roofs,
and in fact looked a bit storm damaged. There was a sea wall along the
front so I paddled to the edge just outside, a very rocky beach but also
full of rubbish, very sad to see.
I nearly fell over when I was given the price … they wanted 60£ for the night. so it was back to the boat and out to look for tonights bivi.
A few hundred meters along the beach I found a neat clearing and some stout trees for the hammock, at least I ll sleep good.
KRABI to PHUKET Day 4
The night had been terrible on Ko Yao Yai, I had set up camp in an area full of vicious biting red ants. They started as soon as I erected the hammock, fortunately they all disappeared come dusk. But at first sign of daylight they were back again.
happily, there was no lasting effect from the bite, just very painful when they struck
high tide was just after dawn which was good, I needed to make an early start with a trip of around 38 Kms today
Todays route was round the Northern tip of Ko Yao Yai then South to Coconut Island.I decided to do the trip in 2 legs, paddling early morning and evening to avoid the hot afternoon Sun
It was around 18K to Ko Nakha where I planned to sleep over the
afternoon which then left around 20K to finish the trip to coconut
Island. The first part of the trip went well with the high water
allowing me to paddle direct to my various waypoints, the sea was
rippled by the wind but really insignificant
Ko Nakha and in the distant background on the right Phuket island, the scenery was always amazing, I often found estimating distance difficult with nothing to reference the size.
After a decent rest on Nakha I pushed on South to coconut island. Navigation was a little more difficult with numerous islands around.
Coconut island is not far from mainland Phuket, and gets many visitors, I’ve found in this situations every inch of habitable space is used, but after 38 k I was going to be happy sleeping anywhere. I soon found a quieter area of beach on the West coast for my last bivi on this trip.
KRABI to PHUKET Day 5
It was in very good spirits I departed from coconut island, not least because I was leaving behind the burrowing hermit crabs that objected to me making my bed on top of them. The navigation was going to be testing with the greater number of islands and care would be needed if I was not going to add more kilometers to my route.
My plan was to leave coconut island South East to round Koh Sirethen to continue South to the East of the Tapao islands, and rounding the point of cape Panwa. From here my final destination on Rawai beach would lie directly behind Ko Lon.
My condo lay across the Southern end of the beach across the road, I was looking forward to the luxury.
This completed my first Navigation on my Trip, this passage being 120 Kms
My planning included venturing round the Southern point of Phuket Isle to venture up to Karon Beach and beyond. However, the weather was going to deteriorate and an attempt at rounding the point later found me facing a 2 meter swell with an increasing Westerly wind speed. Not all was lost, there are a good number of small islands to explore in much better conditions in the lee of Phuket
This trip takes place around the Western reaches of the Golfe. Brittany in general is well known for it’s Megaliths Cromlechs and Burial Mounds, and the Morbihan department has many, then include a low spring tide into the mix and you know you will enjoy a good days paddling. The plan was to launch on the ebbing tide and to tour the smaller islands during a trip out to the small island Meaban situated outside the Golfe in the Bay of Quiberon.
The start point for this trip was Cale de Bilouris. (Cale = Slipway ) This particular slipway has been the starting point for many paddles on the Golfe. It is accessed by a short lane from a car park. Recently the local authority have carried out improvement works installed new WC’s. but also included paymeters for July and August. It also Bans Camping Cars which translates to Motorhomes (They are directed to use the designated Camping car Aires nearby)
Alongside the slipway is a small beach ideal for loading the boat and launching from
Our route route was from Bilouris North up to Île de Jument working the current to avoid being pulled between the intervening islands, the co efficient of 79 ( mean Spring tide = 95 ). meant this was not at all difficult. At the Northern tip of Île Jument a small race exists and is a useful play spot for practicing moving water techniques, a few members from Vannes were there, we had a little chat sending regards to mutual friends
Then continued to our first point of Interest, Île Gavrinis. This involved crossing the 300 meter wide straight that lays between Île Berder and Île Gavrinis. This is the major channel that drains the larger part of the golf and on the Ebb the current races through. Looking at the Tidal Stream atlas give mean Spring and Neap rates as 7.1 knots and 4.6 Knts using the adjustment chart a corrected Rate for a 79 Coefficient returns a speed of 6.4 knots.
Looking at google earth its clear this is a fast moving stretch of Water. We crossed the straight and broke out of the mainstream into an eddy to catch our breath and look at the next section, it’s a bit like running a river. Next Stop Île Gavrinis, the straight opens into a much larger body of water, but still the current flows at a decent rate a corrected rate of 5.1 Knots, so again practising more moving water skills we broke out of the main stream into the eddy alongside the Cale
there is Public access to visit the tumulus, but is organised with a boat crossing included in the price, on one occasion we tried to join a visit after the boat delivered a fresh bunch, but were told we had to arrange via the ferry boat, so to date it still remains unseen
Looking South, We could see the stone circle at Er Lannic was displaying its usually submerged Stones, so we decide to go view once again. It involved another large manoeuvre to cross the ebbing current
To the right of the photo are the remaining stones situated above high water, and those much darker on the left are the submerged stones
Its interesting to view this on google earth, in addition to the stone circle that can be viewed, there exits a second circle completely submerged, its just discernible on Google Earth directly below the visible circle to form a figure 8
Er Lannic is a bird sanctuary so for a large part of the year landing is forbidden, this has led to the island becoming overgrown so sheep have been introduced to manage the growth. The sheep are the famous Black sheep of Île Ouessant
Our journey continued moving north back into the ebb flow leaving the Golfe to the Pointe de Kerpenhir
Statues of the Madonna with child appear all over Brittany and not uncommon at ports and harbours to ensure a safe return for fishermen. At Pointe de Kerpenhir the statue is quite recent
The first statue was destroyed during the German occupation. At the end of the war, Locmariaquer town commissioned a new statue to be carved by Jules-Charles Le Bozec, and in 1946 it was installed in the local church. It was not until 1962 that it was relocated to its current position
From Pointe de Kerpenir it is just 3 Kilometers to the island Meaban. This island too is a Bird Sanctuary and access is restricted There’s not a lot to the island really except of course its status as a protected area, access is forbidden during the breeding season from April to September. The nearby Port of Crouesty with its enormous marina has come into conflict with the Protection organisations for organising power boat and Sail racing events.
The next leg was to visit Port Navalo to call into the nearby Port Cafe for a coffee, so after a short paddle back to the port entrance we could see the cafe was shut, so on again to Pointe de petit mouton.
This is the white painted marker at Pointe de Petit Mouton, another playspot
There’s a very short clip of video taken on the other side of the Marker where the speed of the flow can be seen. This was less than an hour after slack water so the tide is only just beginning to rise
the corrected rate working out to 2.2 knots at the time if the video, in approximately 2 hours this would have increased to 4 knots which taking into account the increasing volume of water you can understand the Need for the prominent marker
Our return retraced our outbound route taking us along with the flood, as we approached Er Lannic we spotted more paddlers, we thought at first it was the group from the Vannes we met that morning, but no. We greeted Alexander and friends, an informal group of paddlers on their annual news years paddle. Alexander was carrying a large cooking pot strapped to his rear deck, he explained they enjoy a communal lunch of Stewed Deer on this first trip of the year, nows thats winter kayaking !
now to the Race at the Northern point of Île Jumment. The race was developing nicely and we bounced through the small waves. Very quickly the flood took us straight to our launch spot Cale de Bilouris
A tidal streams atlas is essential to be safe and get the best out of the Golfe, and The SHOM Chart for the Golfe is No. 7034L
Most of my paddles on the Golfe are circular routes making use of the high or low tide to take a short break. During the summer months with long periods of high pressure its not too difficult to find a day where a circular route works, but winter with fast changes of weather often means that planning can only happen a day or two before the proposed trip. So after a massive storm out in the Atlantic a very narrow window appeared where the wind would drop, the rain would break and a promise of some winter sunshine.
Thats a pretty good forecast for the end of November
Here’s the tides for the 30November, High Tide at Vannes 12:30 midday, travel that morning excluded a circular route, so a one way was settled launching from Sené. The last figure is the coefficient of the tide, which describes the state of the Range of Tide
( The coefficient ranges from 20 to 120 with 45 = Mean Neap rate & 95 = Mean Spring rate).
After parking up the shuttle, we returned to Sené and launched from the Slipway at the end of rue Eric Tabarly, it can get really busy here in the summer, but no issue in the winter. A small beach next to the slipway makes it easy to get loaded
The sky was a little grey, but patches of blue look promising Just a couple of minutes after launching and suddenly the cloud parted revealing a blue sky and a rainbow appeared, the green boat in the centre is the same one in the pre-launch photo. This rapid change in conditions was going to be the routine for the day
here the ‘Marle’ flows down to enter the Golfe du Morbihan, upstream it has a lock and continues up to Vannes as a canal. The sky was looking brighter with a wind a low 3 Beaufort
A bout of cramp in my foot saw me leaping out of the kayak to adjust the footrest, at which point we had entered the golf and rounding the Eastern shore of the Island Boëdic.
There are just a few buildings on Boëdic, but they are rather grand, the island is privately owned so landing should have permission after rounding Boëdic we set out across the North eastern stretch of the Golfe headed for Île aux Moines. There we were going grab a bite to eat and a coffee. The wind had increased slightly and against the tide just raising the surface water, the sun was out sky blue
The dark mass just above the red bow is the small island of Drenec, our route was to takes us to the left of this island to the more distant Île aux Moines. Its still a blue sky with sunshine from the left
about 500 meters short of Drenec and very quickly the sky darkened, a squall was heading straight for us, wind had increased to the top end of BF4 and the rain was heavy and thick.
There was a point where we thought it may pass us by on the right, but it completely covered us.
It was very dramatic with a very clear line of the front and a fine display of a double Rainbow. Now the wind was driving the rain straight at us so we headed direct on to Drenic to wait it out in the lee of the island. But as quickly as it had approached after 10 minutes it had blown over.
As the dark clouds blew over the sun came out and we continued our journey
Landing at the harbour on Île aux Moines is not so straight forward, the large bay at the top of the island empties on the ebb through the harbour, it runs out at about 4 knots across the end of the slipway. its quite clear in the photo the fast stream flowing out
We overstayed on the break, and chose to continue the trip down the West side of Île aux Moines, at the narrows round top of the island opposite Aradon I was making 9 Kph without paddling.
It was really important here to keep quite close in to the island, and avoid getting swept along with the tide. The red GPS trace ends at our destination, had we allowed ourselves to stay in the deeper fast running water we would have been swept past our destination resulting in a very difficult 1 kilometer paddle searching out the eddies. along the southern coast
Reaching the Southern tip of Île aux Moines is the crux of this journey, the crossing from the island to Pointe St Nicolas is a little over 400 meters, but the current runs fast with a race just off St Nicolas Pointe. so a large ferry glide is the order of the day with a determined sprint across the race to finish, afterwards its a very easy paddle across the bay to Bilouris slipway
We finished at sunset, a really good journey under amazingly fast changing conditions
Mardi 30 août, marée haute à 4h13 à Concarneau. Pour rejoindre les Glénan depuis la Pointe de Mousterlin, l’idéal serait de partir à 5h30 mais comme la navigation de nuit est interdite aux kayaks en France, on partira à 6h45.
Les kayaks sont chargés la veille au soir et le matin, on embarque sous les yeux d’un spectateur qui nous suit avant de partir à son travail grâce à la webcam.
Merci Ronan pour cette capture d’écran qui montre le lever du jour sur la mer.
Nous laissons les Moutons sur notre droite, ils sont pratiquement à mi-chemin de notre traversée. Plus loin, nous croisons la route de 2 groupes de marsouins, pas loin de 10 individus en tout. Ils nous ignorent complètement.
Après 3 heures de traversée, nous débarquons sur Penfret pour prendre notre thé matinal dont nous a privé notre départ aux aurores.
Ensuite, ré-embarquement pour une balade entre les îles avec nos traînes. On espère ajouter un maquereau ou deux à notre dîner. Pas de chance, on restera bredouilles. Un avion (Falcon 50 ?) survole l’archipel à basse altitude en décrivant des cercles. On le reverra le lendemain.
Nous finissons par abandonner la pêche et nous allons à Saint-Nicolas prendre un verre mais il y a beaucoup de monde, les vedettes n’arrêtent pas. On n’a jamais vu autant de touristes et de plaisanciers lors de nos précédentes visites.
Nous regagnons à 18h notre coin de plage pour le bivouac de la nuit.
En débarquant, nous voyons un monsieur venir vers nous d’un pas décidé. C’est sûr, il veut nous parler. M. Cap nous pose plein de questions sur nos balades, notre équipement…, il veut tout savoir car il a un kayak, un Anas Acuta, un beau bateau.
M. Cap et son ami nous aident à porter les bateaux en haut de la plage, on n’en revient pas. C’est vraiment exceptionnel que quelqu’un nous propose un coup de main. Et ça ne s’arrête pas là! Ils nous offrent des prunes Reine-Claude du jardin et pour finir, ils nous donnent 2 tacauds de belle taille pour améliorer notre dîner. Rencontrer des gens d’une telle gentillesse, c’est rare et ça rajoute beaucoup à une balade. Merci beaucoup. On a cuit nos tacauds à la vapeur sur lit d’algues.
tacauds sur lit d’algues
M. Cap, pour vos trappes de caisson qui se fissurent, je pense que le magasin Bekayak de Brest qui vend aussi en ligne devrait avoir des trappes de remplacement (Valley ou Kayaksport). Pour être sûr d’avoir le bon modèle, le mieux serait de leur téléphoner ou d’aller au magasin.
Et autre chose : votre nom peut se traduire en anglais par “course” mais aussi par “bearing”, on avait oublié de vous donner cette 2è traduction.
Bye bye Mr Cap and his friends
On a eu droit à un magnifique coucher de soleil et à une très belle nuit étoilée une fois de plus. Il n’y a pas à dire, on est gâté! Et comme ça n’est plus la pleine lune, on peut les voir toute la nuit.
Le lendemain, mercredi 31 août, on embarque à 12h, soit une heure après marée basse à Concarneau. 3h de traversée, belle mer, très peu de vent, les deux derniers kilomètres avec du surf et le vent qui s’est un peu levé juste après notre arrivée.
Pour la préparation, nous nous sommes reportés à l’atlas des courants de marées du SHOM qui utilise Saint-Malo comme port de référence donc les heures de marée indiquées ci-dessous sont les heures de marée de St-Malo. Nous embarquons à la Cale d’Hacqueville à Granville le mardi 23 août, à 13h30, 2 heures après la pleine mer.
Météo France prévoit Beaufort 5 mais Magic Seaweed (Magic Seaweed) donne Beaufort 4 faiblissant 3 puis 2 de même que YR, site norvégien (Site Meteo Norwegian).
Arrivés à la cale nous vérifions l’état de la mer et mesurons le vent. L’anémomètre indique un vent de sud-ouest à 14 noeuds et dans la baie on peut estimer l’état de la mer à 2. (Sea States) ,cependant cette eau agitée est générée par les hauts-fonds qui entourent la baie et le port et on voyait qu’elle était plus calme là où il y avait plus de fond. On decide donc de partir.
Chausey at 10 Km
On a fait la traversée de 17 km en 2h20, traversée confortable et tranquille. A mi-chemin le vent était tombé et à peine perceptible et on a bénéficié de l’aide du courant. On a débarqué sur Aneret à 15h55 et avons rencontré 4 kayakistes, Florence, Alain, Bertrand et Pascal, qui avaient fait la traversée la veille depuis Donville-les-Bains.
Comme il était tôt, nous sommes allés sur Grande Ile prendre un verre au bar de la Sirène. Il y avait beaucoup de touristes en attente de leur ferry pour rentrer à Granville. Il faisait très chaud, Météo France avait raison à propos de la canicule.
Après avoir dîné sur la cale nous sommes retournés à Aneret pour y passer la nuit, nous avons monté les bateaux tout en haut de la plage. Aneret a perdu beaucoup de sable ces dernières années et l’érosion est visible. Avec un coefficient de 89 il ne reste pas beaucoup de place à marée haute.
Nous avons pris un verre avec le groupe de 4 kayakistes rencontrés plus tôt, avons parlé de nos randonnées et expériences respectives. Nous partageons le même goût des traversées vers les îles, vivre dehors dans un bel environnement. On gardait un œil sur la marée pour être sûrs de pouvoir rejoindre notre bivouac à pieds secs.
On s’est endormi sous un superbe ciel étoilé mais dans la nuit la clarté de la lune a atténué la lumières des étoiles.
Our Bivi on the Beach
Au réveil, après le petit déjeuner nous avons chargé les bateaux, les avons portés à l’eau et après avoir souhaité une bonne traversée à Florence, Alain, Bertrand et Pascal, nous avons embarqué à 9h, soit 3h avant la marée haute. Très bonnes conditions, des pointes à 12km/h avec les courants, nous avons effectué la traversée retour en 2h20mn. Un peu de surf à l’arrivée mais rien de méchant, pas beaucoup de monde, nous avons tout rangé et chargé les bateaux en moins d’une heure.
On n’était pas retourné à Chausey depuis plusieurs années, ça a été une balade très agréable et on a été très heureux d’y être retournés.
Flat Earth Kayak Sails
Les amis de Roch ar chaor