Cruising Association’s Rally Yeu was about to start on Tuesday and we still had a few days before sailing to Île-d’Yeu. The heat wave was still continuing and we were tempted to make one more stop in the islands of Brittany so we turned bow towards Île-d’Houat.
The distance from Vannes to Houat is only 22 nautical miles. The weather was perfect and we were jibing at three knots in the light wind towards the mouth of Morbihan. We were not sailing alone for sure, the good weather had got the boats out and all around us people were enjoying the Sunday sail.
One yacht was sailing the strait in countercurrent and with the current being equal to their own speed they were staying on place with their sails pulling nicely. If you are not in a hurry then why not! And the moment later the trimaran reached us from behind and passed all keelboats in a blink. It was like the rest of us were just standing still on the strait.
Just before arriving to Houat the wind died completely and we turned on the iron genny. After a few moments a jumbo size fly swarm suddenly attacked us. We tried to flail and drive them off but no can do. It looked that similar flailing was going on also on another boat close to us. It must have been that the flies were caught by a gust pushing a swarm to the sea and they got exhausted. They even did not tried to fly off but just landed on a deck and died. I must say that there was unbelievable amout of them!
Houat is the island about four kilometres long and one wide next to the coast of South-Brittany. It is famous for its sandy beaches with the three biggest ones on the eastern side while the western coast is more rocky and rugged. There are six anchorages from which the three are in front of the three biggest beaches.
We were anchoring in the bay of Tréac’h ar Salus on southwestern side of Houat. For the next night there was a forecast of brise de terre. It starts after sunset late in the evening or during the night and can blow 15 to 20 knots. The pilot book had a serious warning that a sudden wind during the night on an open bay can start quite a pyjama party on the decks of boats. There was even a warning to store some escape GPS waypoints into a chartplotter. If the anchor drags or the wind turns boat sideways into the waves it would be much safer to depart to the open sea and stay away from the rocks.
When we arrived to the anchorage there was alsready about 40 boats anchored there. The forecast was showing the wind from northeast and we managed to secure a spot on the western end of the bay with enough space swinging at the anchor.
It was already quite late and we were wondering should we put the dinghy down and go ashore? The evening was just so lovely and warm. There were splashes all around us when people were jumping for a swim and dinghies were criss-crossing the bay. We were just enjoying the summer onboard Suwena.
After a quiet and tranquil night at anchor we sailed south to the next adventure on the island of Île-d’Yeu