Six DCA Rallies in one – 9 to 15 September 2024 

• Frédéric Lopès – Marc’h Mor, Jouet 17 
• Anthony Chadwick – Novalis, 14′ Cabochard
• Miles Dent – The Water Rat, 14′ Whisstock gaff cutter 
• Patrick Hay – Salvo, 16’6” Tricorn
• Mark Smith – sailed with Frédéric
• Bob Pierce – sailed with Patrick, with Frédéric and with Miles  
• Michael Pierce – sailed with Frédéric and with Patrick  

The original plan was for each boat to be provisioned for several days so that we could sail to the Île des Moutons, the Îles des Glénans, the Odet river, Beg Meil, and other harbours and anchorages with limited chances to re-stock.  Strong winds forced some changes to the schedule, but with the exception of Île des Moutons all the objectives were achieved.  

Bob and Michael decided to not bring Bob’s newly acquired Wayfarer (Whiskey) as originally intended because weather conditions seemed unsuitable for a maiden shakedown cruise.  Instead they sailed on board the other boats.

Monday 09/09 

by Anthony Chadwick

After a miserable windy and rainy Sunday in the port of Loctudy, Frédéric’s boat Marc’h Mor and Patrick’s Salvo were launched in their turn from the excellent but shallow-angled slipway. Miles would arrive later in the week to join us in time for our passage to the Glénans. A study of the forecast convinced us all we would have to adapt our sailing plan to the weather conditions.  On this Monday, it was mostly dry, but there was a strong north-west wind. If we stayed near the coast, we would be largely sheltered from the Atlantic swell and chop. 

 We were joined by Frédéric’s charming American friends, Bob, already a DCA member, and his brother Mike whom we recruited to membership during the course of the rally. Bob joined Patrick on Salvo for the day while Michael sailed on Marc’h Mor.  Mark, who had come over from England without his boat, sailed all week with Frédéric. 

For the first time ever, I took in both reefs in my mainsail and mounted the smallest of my three jibs (I don’t have a furling jib). We were all cautious with this cool and sometimes severe north-west wind that would persist until Friday morning. Until then, the wind would moderate each evening only to return by morning and blow strongly in the afternoons. 

We sailed to Sainte Marine at the mouth of the Odet River where we moored to the visitors’ pontoon and let ourselves be guided by Frédéric around the pretty village where his grandfather had taken him sailing and fishing as a boy. A prominent pink building in a 1920’s architectural style turned out to be the Abri du Marin seaman’s refuge charity hostel.  It reminded me of the equivalent building in Douarnenez.  Brittany is full of these testimonies to solidarity with those who needed a good rest after their labours as fishermen. Their working conditions were and still are dangerous and exhausting. We had a welcome drink in the “Café de la Cale” that had once been a fisherman’s house. This day would not be one of long distances sailed. We had a picnic lunch on the pontoon as we were all stocked with food for self-sufficiency. 

 We sailed back to Loctudy and went for a steak dinner at the restaurant “La Boucherie”. Our attitude to the sea this day had to be one of modesty and carefulness. The short trip brought a welcome change from being moored to the pontoon on Sunday with the boom tent up all the time to keep the rain off! As we found our places on the pontoon, my tent came out of its bag and went over the boom. I had adapted it from a plastic garden tarpaulin by sewing hems and attachment points. It has lasted well. The night was quiet in the calm water of the sheltered harbour, just right for a night’s sleep in my little cabin.

Tuesday 10/09/2024

by Mark Smith

Tuesday, our second day of sailing, was a longer trip. And without Bob and Mike who were exploring other parts of Brittany by car.

Setting out again from Loctudy the first part was a repeat of yesterday’s trip to the entrance to the Odet river. Our route went past long sandy beaches with the occasional rocky bits to avoid.

After a few hours Frédéric suddenly announced that it was “time to fish” and produced a large box containing his fishing tackle and a long line on a reel with several hooks. To my surprise we soon got our first big mackerel, after that there were a few that got away, but it didn’t take long to get the 4 we needed for lunch. Incidentally, although DCA rallies are not meant to be races,  Salvo and Marc’h Mor don’t seem to know this! Salvo was usually first to reach our destination but I should point out that Marc’h Mor often had reduced sail, as Frédéric tells me that you can’t catch mackerel at more than 3 knots! 

We then sailed further East along more sandy beaches towards the Baie de la Foret. Rounding the headland  (Pointe de Beg Meil) Frédéric warned us not to take photos of what looked like a coastguard watchtower but apparently had a secret military role.

Once in the bay we sailed to the lovely seaside town of Beg Meil. We didn’t land (not all our boats were happy on sandy beaches) but all three boats rafted up on a buoy where we had a tasty fried fish lunch cooked by Frédéric on his little stove. This place had happy memories for Patrick as he had swum there as a boy 65 years ago! From our buoy we could see Concarneau on the other side of the bay and were entertained by an assortment of boats from the sailing schools of Beg Meil.

After lunch we sailed under jib further into the bay towards the harbour town of La Foret Fouesnant. This has a very large marina with a very interesting selection of boats – old and new, big and small – and is the base for several of the French yacht racing teams. We tied up to a pontoon at the far end of the marina next to several of the Imoca 60 boats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMOCA_60). These were really impressive with a mainsail of 180 sq.m and a draft of 4m and dwarfed our little boats. Even more impressive was that these big boats were sailed single-handed across the Atlantic; and not all by men – Violette Derange is only 23 years old. We were lucky to be able to talk to some of the crews and to see one of the boats sailing next day.

Patrick and myself treated ourselves to a meal in one of the marina restaurants while the others cooked on board. I was lucky to find a grassy place to put up my tent right next to our boats.

Wednesday 11/09/2024

Part 1

by Patrick Hay

After a wet night in La Foret Fouesnant marina the occupants of Marc’h Mor, Novalis and Salvo emerged from their respective shelters to a grey morning with a wind of 12-15kn from the NW.  Though our vessels are all compact, Frédéric’s and Anthony’s at least have cabins with windows and hatches.  My living space on board Salvo offers little more than an access hole through a bulkhead leading to a tiny dark cave under the foredeck.  Or at least, that’s how it feels when you have to creep out of it into a cockpit where everything is wet and there’s an inch of water on the floor.  I even felt a little jealous of Mark who had spent the night in his micro-tent a few yards away on a grassy spot at the edge of a car park.

We all made efforts to spread stuff out to dry a little before stowing tarpaulins and other damp gear back on board. We were just three tiny boats among the dozens of ocean racing behemoths which brazenly flaunt their sponsors’ brands on hulls, sails – and even backup crew uniforms, each of which probably cost more than my boat is worth.   

No such flagrant commercialism adorned our three little craft as we slipped out of the marina on our route southwards along the coast to the small fishing harbour of Trévignon – with a planned stop for exploration and lunch at Pouldohan on the way.

The following wind freshened as we headed southward.  Salvo, with only her mainsail set, was able to comfortably outpace the other two boats.  Sometimes her speed is a bit of an embarrassment when sailing in company but on this occasion I received my comeuppance for ‘showing off’ when one of the foil assisted swinging keel IMOCA racers swept past me at 4 times my speed.

Frédéric in Marc’h Mor led his flotilla into the bay of Pouldohan and then even further up its picturesque creeks which dry out at low water.  Anthony was constrained by Novalis’ draft, but Salvo and Marc’h Mor ventured under motor through a dramatically narrow gap between spectacular rocks guarding a hidden reach of the Minahouet river.  The ebb had already started, so we backtracked out to the bay where we picked up moorings for a lunch stop.  

The wind had increased considerably and the moorings were exposed to the wind and swell from the NW so, though safe, it was not a comfortable place. After lunch Frédéric led the departure for Trévignon just as I heard from Miles, who was out at sea in The Water Rat, heading to meet us on the way from Loctudy.  So instead of following Marc’hMor and Novalis I pointed Salvo’s bow in the direction of the little red sail I could see on the horizon.  Not long later The Water Rat and Salvo were close enough for a couple of shouted greetings and both headed off to catch the others.

Wednesday 11/09/2024

Part 2

by Miles Dent

I was unable to join the rally on the Monday, as my wife and I had the funeral of a close friend to attend on the Tuesday. I was determined, however, to get there as soon as possible, so left home at about 2030 on the Tuesday evening for the 500km drive to Loctudy.  I stopped just over half way and slept in the car for 4 or 5 hours, arriving at about 0930 on Wednesday. At the capitainerie I bought my pass for the slipway (15€ parking included) and launched and loaded The Water Rat for a 3/4 day cruise.

I had a trip of 14/16 NM to do, across La Baie de Fouesnant, to catch up with the rest of the fleet, mostly in an ESE direction. I was lucky to have a B3 NW wind – so motored out of the port and quickly hoisted full sail. I had the paper chart SHOM 7146L and a  few waypoints entered in my GPS – the first being ‘La Voleuse’, a S cardinal about 6NM away bearing 106° which I reached at about 1300 – my old Garmin 72H handheld GPS delivering me to within 100m of it.

My next waypoint, and destination for the night, was the little port of Trévignon on a bearing of 100° about 8NM away. After about an hour I received a VHF call from Patrick to say they were just leaving Pouldohan, a little inlet just S of Concarneau. I altered course to 90° to try to intercept them on their way SE to Trévignon.

The wind started to really strengthen so I stopped to reef and continued much more comfortably but soon had to roll up the stay sail as well. Patrick had spotted me and came out to meet me so we could continue SE together towards Trévignon. The wind strengthened even more and we dropped mainsails to run down under single headsails only. Salvo is always so much faster than The Water Rat so I used some motor to keep up. There are several rocks to the N of the entrance to the port marked by the worryingly named W cardinal ‘Le Dragon’ !  We picked our way around them and aimed for the entrance to the port – now with motors running. Quite an alarming sight greeted us with waves breaking against a huge concrete mole – but once inside all was calm and we found places on the last row of buoys with our anchors run out up the beach.

I have to mention the highlight of the rally for me which was next morning sailing through a school of dolphins halfway between Trévignon and Île de Penfret (the largest of the Glénan islands). What appeared to be family groups of adults and juveniles were jumping and playing around my boat in the beautiful clear blue water.

There’s a lot of talk these days about ‘mindfulness’ as an antidote to stress, anxiety or pain. After a week of dealing with the death of a close friend I found dinghy cruising to be the perfect therapy.

Thursday 12/09/24

Day 4: Trévignon to the Îles Glénan

by Bob Pierce

Everyone had come on this cruise with the goal of getting to the Glénan Islands that sit almost 9 miles offshore of Trévignon. A few in the group had personal experiences here in their youth, which made the trip especially important. As for me, I was looking to simply survive the rally with body and spirit intact. I had brought along a non-sailor brother with whom I had not spent meaningful time in approximately 40 years; and this would be my first sail offshore in a small boat. 

The islands are famous for sparkling white granite sand and turquoise water. They host a bio-preserve designed to protect the Glénan Narcissus (Daffodil) flower. Among sailors, talk about this place is filled with lore, especially about a famous international sailing school that has its expert training ground here. 

During our passage, the last of the previous week’s foul weather hit us in squalls, the occasional strong gusts hitting us at our beam. On Water Rat, after his crew became paralyzed in the face of adversity, Captain Miles took matters into his own hands by single-handedly bringing the main under reef.  Notably, his reefing system uses an efficient and tidy dual-line-and-bungee trick taught by Chris Waite, so he was done in a wink.

About half-way to our destination a radio call came from Anthony in Novalis. “We have dolphins!  A pod of dolphins surrounded the boats and even swam with us. Sometimes jumping into the air at nearly arm’s length. 

Once on shore, we took a walk to the far side of the island and heard about edible plants from Miles who taught science during his noble career.  We chewed on sea cabbage (aka Sea Kale), a voluminous leafy affair on shore; err, yum. We also had wild spinach (aka Sea Beet), similar, but less yum. Then a few bites of “sea grapes,” a kind of kelp found in large quantity along the French west coast; much much less yum. I’m sure commando Frédéric eats it all for dessert every night.

Man does not live on salty vegetables alone, so we settled into the island’s quite well-visited bar, populated by a mix of ferry tourists and local sailing and scuba diving instructors. A few rounds of cider for everyone and sleep came easy.  

Water Rat, Marc’h Mor, Salvo and Novalis moored off-shore. For me, a simple sleeping bag on the beach, staring at an intensely star, planet, and satellite-filled sky all night was profit enough.

Friday September 13 2024

Îles des Glénans to Benodet

by Frédéric Lopès & Patrick Hay 

A cold night but the reward for spending it in the Glénan islands had been a spectacular show of stars in a dark clear sky.  Our four boats lay moored to visitors buoys in the anchorage known as La Chambre, sheltered from the northerly wind by the islands of St Nicolas and Bananec.  The tents of the shore-sleeping party could be spotted above the high water mark on the beach.  

As Marc’hMor began a ferry operation to recover the three campers, the harbourmaster called to collect mooring fees.  After hearing an explanation of the DCA and the cruising objectives of our little fleet, delivered by Anthony in fluent French, the kindly official decided to waive any harbour dues on the grounds that our boats were “too small”!

Today the marina at Benodet, an attractive holiday town at the mouth of the Odet river, was to be the destination.  The wind was still in the north but much lighter than we had been used to all week, so reefs were shaken out. With the forecast for a moderate breeze from the NNW at first, veering to ENE but dropping further and ending the day with light airs from the SE, Frédéric, Anthony and Miles opted to depart the archipelago by way of the Chenal des Bluiniers taking a route to the west over the drying sands between St Nicolas and Ile de Drenec then threading their way through a channel flanked by many rocks, some visible, many others lurking just below the surface.  Patrick, with Bob and Mike sailing Salvo, chose to exit the islands by way of a shorter channel known as La Pie which led northward towards the rocky reefs of Les Pourceaux and Les Moutons.  His passage plan, to pass East of these, was stymied when the wind shifted to the ENE much earlier than expected so Salvo tacked onto starboard to go west of them instead.  Happily this put Salvo on the same trajectory as the other three boats, although some distance ahead.

The breeze dropped as forecast so that motors were needed to negotiate the approach to the Odet.  Benodet marina found enough space on the end of a visitors pontoon for all four DCA boats to moor close together.

Once again Frédéric had caught enough mackerel to feed the whole party.  He prepared and cooked them and we ate a late lunch together sitting on the pontoon.

In the evening Mike treated us all to an excellent dinner at a waterfront restaurant.  The Breton pastry dessert called “Kouign Amann” was discovered and enjoyed, and one or two limericks were recited by those who could recall the words.  Back to the boats, except for Mark who pitched his tent in a park next to the marina, for another cold starry night.

Saturday September 14 2024

Benodet – Odet River – lunch at Anse de St Cadout – Loctudy

by Mike and Patrick

It had been another cold night, but the sun was shining and the day was warming as we prepared to explore the Odet river.  Miles had had some outboard motor trouble and decided that the river trip might be pushing his luck a bit.  He decided to go straight back to Loctudy to get an early start on his drive home.  The rest of us waved him off and sorted ourselves out among the remaining 3 boats.  Mike sailed on Salvo with Patrick, Bob joined Mark and Frédéric on Marc’hMor while Anthony singlehanded Novalis.

The Odet is a most attractive river running, mostly placidly, between thickly wooded banks.  On its wider lower reaches some magnificent chateaux and grand houses stand on manicured lawns sloping down to the water.  Moored yachts line both sides of the broad channel.  A mile or two upstream it narrows, running faster in short zigzags with no room for moorings.  The banks seem more densely wooded here, with big houses occasionally partly visible but mostly hidden discreetly among the trees.  

There was not much river traffic, but in one of the narrowest stretches we moved aside to allow plenty of room for a large tourist trip boat to pass from astern.  Many of the passengers gave us a jolly wave, and we returned their greetings.  After a while the river broadened out, the city of Quimper became visible in the distance and the steep banks receded into a more meadowy landscape.  We had spotted an interesting looking creek on the left bank so, it being lunchtime, we turned back half a mile to squeeze into its peaceful secluded anchorage (Anse de St Cadou) where our 3 boats rafted up and we shared provisions, bread, wine, cheese, pâté, cake, chocolate, for a relaxed meal.

After lunch we returned downriver, although the flood was still running against us a little.  Marc’hMor tried sailing for a while but there wasn’t enough wind to make satisfactory progress until we had passed under the Pont de Cornouaille at Bénodet where sails could at last provide enough drive to tack through the moorings and out to sea.  From the mouth of the river it was a close reach in a moderate breeze all the way back to Loctudy, though, as we were on port tack all the way we had to keep a good lookout for a fleet of windsurfing learners who were tacking and gybing unpredictability around us.

Arrival at Loctudy and recovery of all three boats to their trailers went without a hitch, leaving us with just enough time to enjoy a farewell drink together at the waterfront bar and to receive some topical limericks from Miles who had managed to compose one for each of us on his drive home.

Finally

Thanks to:

• Frédéric for organising and for catching and cooking the fish
• Bob and Mike for coming so far and Mike for buying us all dinner in Benodet
• Miles for the map and the limericks
• Anthony for gluing and screwing Salvo’s damaged rudder
• Îles des Glénans for letting us off harbour dues because we were “too small”
• Mark for introducing Patrick to Navionics
• Cidrerie Kerné for the Cider
• The dolphins for playing with us