2018 Nov 1, Brest, France, Waiting for winds to Canaries

I’m sitting under my sheep fleece and a microfiber throw, but as it’s a Mac, my hands are freezing as the aluminum sucks the heat from my hands. It’s warmer than Scotland, but not by much. I am bound for Canary Islands, then Caribbean, but storm after storm after storm has been sweeping through. I need a little over three days to make it to A Coruna, Spain, at the very least, but so far have only had windows of about two days.

It is cold, and seems to rain in the afternoon, but there is beautiful sun from just before noon to a few hours after.

There is a huge classic French fortress just above the marina. I can’t see the tricolor from here, but when driving by it’s apparent. I always think of the movie “Captain Horatio Hornblower” or put myself in some Patrick O’brian novel when I see that. The most glorious days of sail power.

The marina is full of boats. One thing I like about France is the variety of boats. They seem to experiment with more combinations of boat design than anyone. Lots of aluminum and composites, various bowsprits, jibbooms, spibooms, lots of synthetic rigging, and odd hull shapes. I see more variety in French marinas than anyplace else I’ve seen.

They also have a gorgeous schooner, La Recouvrance, tied up near here. They took out the mast for the winter last week, but it’s a great looking boat with severely raked masts. A bit larger than the Hawaiian Chieftain,  similar to the Californian, but beamier and fatter. looks like a good sailer.

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