The decision outlined in the previous blog was made for us at about 10.00am on Friday morning. The wind fell away, leaving us rolling in a big sloppy sea; not comfortable at all so we fired up the engine. The tidal gate at Ushant was closing fast – that's to say the favourable south-going tide was going to be replaced by a fast-moving north going flood in only a couple of hours- so we studied the chart and decided that the settled conditions made the rocky 'harbour' in the Ile d'Ouessant a possibility. We had to fight the beginning of the adverse tide as we reached the entrance (guarded by La Jument lighthouse that you may have seen in a brilliant photo where the keeper stands nonchalantly o his 'doorstep' whilst whit water froths around him) so had some interesting white water to negotiate (tides run at 3 knot here) but came into a lovely sheltered anchorage. it would be completely exposed in a south westerly but in a slight northerly it's brilliant.
Peter and Heidi in Stormvogal were an hour behind us as we approached the island but, such is the cruelty of tidal gates, they got stuck in the tide race (at one stage going backwards!) and arrived at the harbour 4 hours after us, picking up a mooring buoy alongside.
The 3-day forecast shows practically no wind in Biscay so we'll probably stay here Saturday and explore the island before heading south. I have to climb the mast as well to find our why our VHF radio is sometimes giving poor transmissions; we're using the emergency back-up aerial in the meantime.
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