Doteyboaty

July 2021 - March 2024
Family sailing around Europe
Currently traveling
  • 155footprints
  • 8countries
  • 982days
  • 1.0kphotos
  • 79videos
  • 10.7kkilometers
  • 72kilometers
  • Day 1

    The Goodbyes

    July 12, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Nana and Grandad come to visit Régal and help out with some last minute jobs. When Ronan and Ruby arrived back from their PCR test we say goodbye.
    The Meades arrive at lunchtime with a picnic lunch for everyone. We are sorry later that we didn’t keep the leftovers - those sandwiches would have made a great night watch snack. More goodbyes after lunch and 3 Meade diehards stay on and wait for nearly an hour until we leave. Gavin Deane and Pat Farnan come to see us off and Gavin brings hats for all the crew. They help us slip our lines and leave the marina in Crosshaven. Joan, Tom and Fionn give vigorous and enthusiastic waves from the shore until we lose sight of them.
    Liam and Mags come out from their house to wave us off. Bridie and Kevin wave bye bye with their giant Munster flag.
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  • Day 1

    First evening at sea

    July 12, 2021, Celtic Sea ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We have embarked on a 48 hour passage from
    Cork to Brittany. We have lovely sunshine and are motor sailing. Several pods of common dolphins come bow-riding and bidding us farewell as we watched Ireland fade to our stern. It’s chilli con carne for dinner followed by a beautiful sunset over the gas rigs. When the night finally comes the sky is full of stars. Ruby is up on night watch with Ronan and then me. She points out some of the constellations as we have a uninterrupted view of what feels like the whole galaxy. Colm pops up later during the night watch and keeps Ronan company for a whileRead more

  • Day 2

    Day 2 on Passage

    July 13, 2021, Celtic Sea ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Today is a very different day to yesterday . It is overcast and there is no wind. From the early morning the sea swell has been gradually increasing and the conditions are rolly. This is a day that just has to be endured. Ruby and Colm feel seasick. Ronan and I are tired after several shifts of night watch. The rolling prevents anyone from getting proper sleep and never allows the children to forget their queasy tummies for too long. We get some distraction from ‘eye spy’ which is made very challenging when the item spied must be outside the boat. We are in a great big fishbowl with only sea and sky and yet there was plenty of spying to be done.
    Colm does some great helming before dinner.
    We go through two traffic separation schemes around the Scillies during day light without much to report. The larger Ushant Traffic Separation Zone is much busier and we are crossing it diagonally at night time.The north going lane is full of ships with one following quickly behind another so it is hard to find a gap long enough to cross. Ronan and I go on watch together and pick the best spot to cross at, which meant travelling down through
    the dead zone for a few miles.
    The AIS is incredibly useful as it gives all the details of each ship including the speed they are travelling at and how soon and how close you will come to it. We were going to come very close to one ship Torpo. Ronan made contact and Torpo agreed that we would pass in front of him. It is an exciting and nerve wracking experience and when we are safely out of the TSS Ronan is delighted to turn in after nearly 6 hours on watch.
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  • Day 3

    Arrival to France

    July 14, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We are so happy to arrive in France this morning. We have our first family sea passage done. We tie up at the marina in Camerat Sur Mer and have champagne and eggs to celebrate. We are so proud of Ruby and Colm. The lack of movement on the boat and the feeling of stillness is a sensation we all really appreciate. After a snooze and a shower we wander up town for dinner. Still bleary and slightly disorientated we are happy to return to the boat for a good night’s sleep.Read more

  • Day 4

    The walk home

    July 15, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    One of the great things about being on the boat is that marinas and anchorages are often right where you want to be. Here is Camerat sûr mer we walk back to boat after dinner and on the way we pass most of the town’s tourist attractions.Read more

  • Day 6

    Raz de Sein

    July 17, 2021 in France ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today we leave Camaret sûr Mer after a day of jobs yesterday. We refuel in the morning in is as scenic spot as any to fill up on diesel - shown here in the photo of Colm and Ronan. We head down through the Raz de Sein which is a passage between the mainland and Île de Sein. It is only easy to travel through at particular times of the tide and can get very rough if you hit it at the wrong time. We time our trip around this and the passage through is fast and comfortable. We give the kids some seasick medicine in the morning and it knocks them out. They sleep through most of the Raz experience.Read more

  • Day 6

    A great destination

    July 17, 2021 ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After passing through the Raz de Sein we continue our passage from Camaret to Loctudy . We were hoping to go to Anchor for a few days in îles de Glenan but the wind forecast lead us to believe Loctudy was a better option. It is a long day at sea and thankfully by lunchtime Ruby and Colm are over the worst of the effects of the sleep inducing seasickness medication.
    We pass Phare D’Eckmuhl, the lighthouse at Penmarch - ‘gateway to the sun’. We see an extraordinary athletic display from
    Dolphins as they are hunting around the point. They are torpedos moving through the water and we see them jumping and diving, bounding towards their prey. The seabirds swirling and diving add to the whole excitement of the scene we find ourselves in. We have no photos as the dolphins were much too fast for our amateur photography.
    Later in the afternoon there is only a light breezy and the sun is beating down on the boat. We jury-rig the back canopy to shade the helm. Our ETA in Loctudy is 6pm. We see the mainland on our Port and on our starboard we begin to see îles de Glenans. Everyone had been disappointed in Camerat when we had made the decision to change our destination from anchoring off islands of the Glenans. Now we could see them right there and they were indeed ‘Caribbean-like’ ,as the good guide book said, it made it even more difficult to head to Loctudy. Ronan and I had a private pow-wow at the bow and came back to Ruby and Colm with the good news that we were changing course to Starboard. We anchored below the lighthouse on île de Penfret with little wind and hot sun delighted with our decision.
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  • Day 7

    Penfret

    July 18, 2021 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We share our anchorage in Penfret with about 70 other boats. We can see the other Glenan islands from here and there are boats everywhere. There are so many masts of yachts at anchor, we can’t count them. There are day trippers on sail and motor boats. And finally there is the Glenan sailing school with dingy’s, catamarans and windsurfers out on the water and on the beaches on almost every island. The other big population in the Glenans, aside from sailors, is seagulls. The weather is hot, the islands are low lying and full of white sandy beaches. The water is clear and shallow. This is what we have been looking forward to for so long. Nous sommes arrivé.Read more

  • Day 8

    Three on a SUP

    July 19, 2021 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Ronan and I have our first sea swim of the trip. After second brekkie, we move to the most popular anchorage; Le Chambre. The water is pretty shallow so we have to go in at high water and pick a spot deep enough that we don’t find them bottom at low water. We launch the paddle board and 3 of the 4 of us go in to the beach. Ronan comes back out to collect me as he says the beach is not to be missed. There is a thin strip of sand that joins two islands. At high tide it is covered over with water and it is a magical place to swim and play. The day is so hot it’s the perfect spot to be. Ruby and Colm have a great time playing with the translucent jellyfish- they are all shapes and sizes and don’t sting so what’s not to love.
    Later when we return to the boat on the SUP we discover that the floor of our new dingy has burst and punctured in the heat.
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