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Welcome to my blog. Here you will find the journeys of Ti Gtu and information that I have researched and found useful for maintaining and servicing yachts and motorboats.

I post full information that I find on the Fay Marine information site, accessed through www.faymarine.com/ and I can be emailed at paul@faymarine.com.



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Happy sailing,



Paul Fay



Saturday 18 April 2015

Across to France.


After doing the antifouling we took our friends David and Lynda out for a brief sail one afternoon and then Ti Gitu left Falmouth on 15th April. The winds were forecast to be very light but later in the week forecast to be very strong so we took the decision to burn diesel just to get across.

As it turned out the light winds allowed us to sail most of the way to the Morlaix river. We took 25 hours which in light winds was great.

After passing through the rocky entrance to the river we anchored in the middle away from the prolific oyster beds and waited for high tide when we would enter the town of Morlaix through the lock.

Late in the afternoon Ti Gitu started up the river and a passing local power boat came alongside asking if we were going up to the town and then informing us that the lock was being repaired and wouldn't be usable for about ten days.

With the strong winds forecast we decided that it would be prudent to turn around and go into the new wonderfully modern bland marina at Roscoff.

By Friday night the wind was howling and we were being bounced around. Despite the enormous breakwater when the wind is from the NE there is a swell that enters the marina and makes life uncomfortable. It was out with the wonderful springy old climbing rope that Mike gave us years ago and stops the snatching at the moorings. We were also lucky to enter at high water as the notice at the entrance warning of strong currents is correct. The water runs through at about 3 knots on neap tides and I guess more on springs which makes manoeuvring a yacht very interesting.

The town of Roscoff is just a short walk away and is lovely. There are many very old buildings and all the local people are incredibly friendly, helping out when I try to use my half dozen French words.

We visited the Roscoff harbour master to see about going into the harbour but as strong easterlies are forecast he said not to go as it would get very swelly against the wall. A shame as it is not only much more picturesque but is also a third of the price of the marina and Ti Gitu could dry out easily on the twin keels.

Looks like we will be stuck here for about a week so it will be off with the bikes and start exploring – when it stops raining!!

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