Neil and his wife
Carol have no
regrets about
moving their
Beneteau 40cc to
southern BrittanyInitially worried
about negotiating
the notorious
Chenal du Four,
the passage went
without a hitchR
eclining on a warm sunny deck,
sipping a cool glass of Sauvignon
blanc before dinner in a Breton
riverside restaurant... it had
long been an ambition of mine
to realise this dream and move
my boat to southern Brittany.
After 20 years of Solent cruising,
latterly based in Chichester Marina, my wife Carol
and I decided to do a recce of La Roche-Bernard on
the River Vilaine, where the Azores High and French
culture beckon. With this in mind, and prior to my
retirement four years ago, we fl ew to Nantes, hired
a car and stayed at the sumptuous Château de la
Bretesche for a few days. The hotel itself cemented
our love of Breton hospitality, but despite the many
attractions of Brittany as a cruising destination,
it was a long way from home. I was used to my
boat being 50 minutes away, so I needed persuading.
After retiring, my fi rst project was to buy the boat
of our dreams. We exchanged our Legend 356 for
a Beneteau 40cc, a comfortable liveaboard cruiser
and a fi ne, easy-handled sailing boat with a luxurious
aft cabin. We named her Sylviane. The second project
was to extend our cruising ground westwards, having
never ventured beyond Salcombe. Once in Falmouth,
we took the last available berth in Premier’s
Falmouth Marina, switching from Chichester.
Thus, Cornwall became a staging post for our
next venture, southern Brittany. We enjoyed two
seasons in Cornwall. It marked a change in our
attitude to boat owning at a distance. We were now
used to a good half day down the A303 and A30.
Owning a boat in Cornwall meant longer planned
holidays rather than weekend
sailing that had previously
been the norm. It did not take
long, though, before the cool,
foggy, wet summer of 2016
(when coincidentally, Brexit
happened) convinced us to
revisit the notion of southern
Brittany, our third project.
I had done my research: the
weather was much sunnier,
the temperature on average 3°C warmer (and often
much more), there was little in the way of sea fog
and the wind was more likely to blow a Force 3-5. The
biggest bonus of all though was the annual berthing
cost – just one quarter of the cost of berthing in the
UK. A webcam of La Trinité sur Mer on my desktop
confi rmed how much sunnier the skies were.
Since 2013, my name had been on the waiting
list for a berth at the port of La Roche-Bernard and
in early 2017, a contract for a berth, known as anOptimum 12, came up. For just over £2,000, we
could winter ashore, afl oat on a pontoon from
April till the end of September and have two
free lifts in and out. As if we needed any other
incentive, the contract also came with a Passeport
Escale which entitled us to free nights berthing
in 122 marinas in the UK, France and Spain.OFF WE GO
Thus, the decision to move south was made and
the project got underway. Sylviane was made ready,
with new standing rigging and a full engine and
generator service. A solar panel was also installed,
as you cannot leave an unattended boat attached
to the mains in France. In advance of berthing
on a freshwater river, I bought aluminium anodes,
ready to switch over, plus a magnesium anode to
drop over the stern attached to a bonded connection.
I started to refresh my O Level French – there is an
excellent book, French for Cruisers: The Boater’s
Complete Language Guide for French Waters by
Kathy Parsons (Aventuras
Publishing Company, £22.23),
which I highly recommend.
Charts, almanacs and pilot
books were purchased and the
boat inventory replenished for
a new life abroad. We joined
the Cruising Association for
their bountiful information
and local contacts.
I planned the fortnight
delivery cruise with plenty of leeway for bad weather
yet enough time to take in the Brittany ports along
the way. My two friends, Peter Cureton and David
Morgan, were excited at the prospect. Carol would
join me at Nantes airport once we were there, after
which the two of us would have a month together to
cruise the Atlantic coast in the 30-mile hops that are
usual between the various ports. At 0400 on a pitch-
dark May day, we slipped our visitor’s mooring on the
Helford River, Lizard Peninsula, inched our way pastSylviane is within a day’s reach by car
but in a warmer, more clement environment
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