Our first attempt at The Raz de Sein began at 0100 when we left Douarnanez in bright moonlight and calm conditions. As we motored eastwards, mist started to appear on the land which quickly turned to thick fog. Bert, who was half a mile ahead of us called on the radio to say that visibility had dropped to around 60 metres and he was turning round and heading back to the starting point. Jac and I did the same and we groped our way along in the murk using the radar and AIS as our eyes. As we went we saw a sailing vessel cross slowly in front of us before disappearing towards the coast. Then came our encounter with pirates! Out of the fog appeared a ghostly vessel crewed by men with eye patches, yo ho hoeing and swigging rum. I swear I saw Johnny Depp swinging from the yardarm and splicing the main brace. They chased us for a while, but with great British aplomb we out-smarted the blighters to fight another day. Seriously though, we had a very strange encounter with a motor boat who turned all his lights on, including a zillion candle power search light. He came chasing after us and we had to manoeuvre quite violently to avoid him. Eventually, thinking it might be a police or customs boat, we slowed down at which point he sheared off to give Bert the same treatment. After this interlude we carried on back to Douarnenez, initially spotting the green light on the harbour breakwater, only to have it disappear again as the fog thickened. At 0500 we moored up where we had started and compared notes with Bert and Theresa over a stiff drink before falling into bed.
Sailing Synergy 