Journey to Glénan Islands – rocky Waves and sunny Islands

Journey to Glénan Islands – rocky Waves and sunny Islands

In the last episode, you could be with me to examine my Grand Banks 36 and do a sea trial. After that, I had fixed the deal and returned to my home in Norway. There the preparations of the big adventure got into the final phase.

I already had nearly finished my skippers license that would allow me to travel on all seas with boats of up to 24 meters length, now I had to take the last exams and got my skippers license.

Meanwhile I also had to make the planning for this long journey that should take between 28 and 50 days, depending on the sea and weather conditions. I also had to register and find insurance for the boat in Norway.

And last but not least find an experienced seaman to be part of this journey and be my guide in my new abilities When everything was ready, I found a date with the sales agent, when I could take over the boat,

So that he could organize a service and some additional works to be done that I had to pay for. For the 22nd of April I booked the flights to Paris and the train to Quimper. Where we arrived in the evening and moved into the boat that was ready on the quai.

We, that was my partner Anita, her brother Ståle, who was an experienced captain of large ocean going freightships and I. For the next 2 days, last preparations and a first test turn to the Islands of Glénan were planned. This episode is covering this period.

The marina of Port-La-Forêt is situated in a beautiful environment with a nice pond and golf course nearby It offers also some restaurants, very sanitary installations, a rich nautical shop and an active warf that can help you fix problems with your boat The people at the harbor masters office are very friendly and helpful

The first day was used for internal installations, as the service on the engines was not finished yet. I had brought an AIS security device and that allows ships and boats to see eachother early and a new VHF radio both registered in Norway

Then the boat, that had been called Printania in France, was renamed to Whitehorse. This name was suggested by my partner as I used to have a log cabin in the Yukon not far from the city Whitehorse, secondly, because the boat has a white apparence and reminded her of a proud horse

And thirdly, because it should ride on the waves that are sometimes called white horses. The next morning, we filled the two large fuel tanks with about 1200 liters diesel as well as the water tanks with about 600 liters of fresh water.

Then we prepared for the test journey to the Islands of Glénan. The weather report was good and promising. For me, it was the first time to move the boat out of the tight mooring space of the marina using the 2 engines and the bow thruster.

Under the vision of Ståle and with his hints, all went well and soon we were on our way out of the marina. The marina of Port-La-Forêt-Fouesnand is very nice and tidy. It is part of the small village Port-La-Forêt and can host up to impressive 1140 boats

Including yachts of up to 60 feet This makes it a favorit place for many residents in French Brittany As the bay offers good opportunities for sailing with constant winds that blow often there are many top sports yachts to be found moored Some of them entering the race around the world.

After having found the way to the exit of the marina, we crossed into the Bay of Port-La-Forêt in southern direction of the Glénan Islands, about 10 km off the coast It was a pleasant jouney and we watched many sail boats using the fresh wind.

Further out on the sea, some stonger winds came up and the waves began to rock the boat. This was time for Ståle to tell us some stories of his adventures with large waves when he worked on large ships crossing the Atlantic ocean.

On arrival of the Islands, the sea got calm again and we found a nice anchoring place to enjoy the warm weather and sun Ståle opted to try his luck on fishing Many other boats shared the narrow strait of sea between the islands and people were fishing, diving or swimming.

Ståle was successful and caught some nice and big Makrells with which Anita prepared us a tasty lunch with fresh salads we had bought in Port-La-Forêt. Too soon it was time to leave and we were excited to see, how our anchor winch would perform.

All went smooth and soon the anchor was secured and we could get on our way back to the marina In the late afternoon, the sea was calm and the journey back to Port-La-Forêt offered good time to use and enjoy the upper flybridge

Where we had a beautiful sight of the shores and boats that were sporting the wind. Just about at 7 pm we reached our mooring space. We could establish, that we and our boat had managed this first task and everything was ok to go ahead with leaving the marina the next day

In next episode, we leave the marina of Port-La-Forêt and head west When reaching the western end of this coastline, we changed course to north in direction of Brest You will see, how we experienced sudden change of wind and large waves tested our seaworthiness

In this episode, we take our first test tour on our newly acquired Grand Banks 36 Classic named Whitehorse. We sail from Port-La-Forêt to the Glénan Islands, about 10 km out in the bay. It is beautiful weather, but further out, we experience some rocky waves. Our test was successfull and we could decide to start our way home the next day. This is an episode of my series Adventures with Trawler Yacht Whitehorse, my Grand Banks 36.