We couldn’t leave St Evette until 0915 in the morning as we had ordered a bread delivery to the boat for that time. It’s a tough life! It was a cloudy morning with a forecast of light winds and Jac said that we should need a reef in later at which I fell over laughing. However, after a gentle breeze to start and contrary to the forecast, I hate to have to admit that wind guru Jac was correct. One reef in the sail had us bowling along on our ear close-hauled chasing Kokopelli who had a greater turn of speed than us. We rounded the Pointe de Penmarsh and the wind dropped to the forecast breeze and we were back to the engine again. We separated from Bert and Theresa who went the long way round an Island while we took the short cut, arriving in Concarneau about half an hour before them. The mooring was at the end of a pontoon and very tight but after the antics of the previous day, we were determined that our arrival would be uneventful – which it was, thank goodness. We were sat on deck with our gin and tonics looking smug awaiting Kokopelli’s arrival.
4 Jul 15
Concarneau, (it wasn’t very chilli there) proved to be a very pretty town. The old town was in the middle of the harbour with a drawbridge linking the land to some attractive, narrow, picturesque streets full of touristic delights. Jac and I separated from Theresa and Bert while we restocked the boat and then went for a stroll to see the sights. We wandered through the streets, saw a wedding procession, accompanied by a piper in full highland rig. The Celtic tradition runs strong in Brittany. This was to be our last day with Kokopelli as Bert and Theresa had to return to the UK by 18 July and wanted to start slowly making their way west and north again. Jac and I had to keep pressing on south if we were to reach Gibraltar by 3 Oct. Jac and I also went hunting for a Jolly Hooker but the poorly stocked chandlery was unable to provide one. We met with Bert and Theresa in the evening for a farewell supper, commencing with drinks on board Kokopelli before proceeding to the old town for a meal of steak and chips at a pretty outdoor restaurant. We then went to a concert which was taking place at a makeshift arena constructed in a corner of the old town walls. A mixture of contemporary music was played by some very talented musicians from a local music school. It was a great evening culminating in more drinks on board Kokopelli and a presentation to us by Bert and Theresa of the Concarneau Cup for being the first to arrive at that destination. We feel that this trophy might be hotly contested in the future. We bade a reluctant farewell to our two friends at 0130 with the prospect of an early morning departure ahead.
Sailing Synergy 