Royal Air Force Yacht Club

We decided to spend the first night in Yarmouth and then made our way via Weymouth and Alderney to Perros Giurec where we met up with Brian Goodfellow on Soul Wind.   As Brian had to get to Cameret asap he left us and headed straight for L’Aberwrach while we made our way slowly along the French Coast, taking our time.

We eventually met up with Brian again in Cameret on the 30th June.   We then stayed in Cameret for the next 10 days having a look around then going over to Brest to collect the free passes for the festival that we had been promised.   Whilst in Cameret we met a couple. Mike & Cathy Sullivan who are members of the RAFYC, they hadn’t been to the club for eight years this was  because they had been sailing round the world and had just completed their circumnavigation in their boat Tacks of Hamble which is an Evasion 34, they certainly had some very interesting stories to tell.

On the 5th July Sue & Roger Longley on Naobi 11 joined us.  Whilst in Cameret we met the skipper, Rob Salvidge, of the Matthew of Bristol, which is a replica of the ship on which John Cabot discovered Newfoundland, the original ship was built in 1497.  Rob Salvidge, was a member of the RAFYC many years ago.  On the 10th July Den Goodfellow, Mel & Jan C arrived by air and Ken, Pam and Paul Beecroft on Magnum arrived.

On the 12th July we all had our first visit to the Brest Festival, this was a very interesting experience with some fantastic sights and ships to see, as we all had passes no-one had to queue to see anything, we were just waved straight through past all the other people patiently waiting in line.

On the 14th July we all went into Brest once again to see the rest of the festival that we missed on our first visit, we also decided to go to Oceanopolis, which is well worth a visit.   Whilst on our second visit to Brest we met up, once again, with the skipper of the Matthew of Bristol, four of us were invited by him to sail on her for a couple of hours as she had to leave her berth to allow larger ships to tie up alongside the quay, we had a fantastic time sailing amongst all the really big ships, on returning to the harbour one of the ships fore canons was loaded and fired much to the delight of the watching crowds.

On the 16th July we left Cameret for Douarnanez for their festival, although not as big as Brest the sight of 5000 ships of all sizes sailing into the Port was spectacular.

On the 19th July we left Douarnanez for Morgat and then back to Cameret where we stayed for 5 days waiting for the wind to be in the right direction.

On the 25th July we left Cameret and began making our way towards home.   Whilst we were in L’Aberwrach Ken & Pam Beecroft on Magnum joined us so we all decided to sail in company towards Guernsey going via Isle de Batz, Morlaix, Trebeurden, Perros Guirec, Lezardrieux (where we managed to have a meal in the restaurant which was recommended by Jane Clarkson in Riverside Review and was as delicious as she said) , and then calling at our final French port  -Paimpol.   We arrived in Guernsey on the 3rd August, very wet as it had rained continuously all day.   Whilst there we met up with Steve & Charlotte Jarmain on La Corderie and Tim & Sarah Phillips on Caribou, we all left to head for Weymouth on the 6th August heading home via Weymouth and Lymington eventually arriving back in the Hamble on the 9th August after a very interesting trip lasting 7 weeks and covering 612 nautical miles through the water which was 712 nautical miles over the ground interestingly giving one hundred miles tide assisted.

Although many boats didn’t make it to Cameret due to either bad weather or home commitments, those of us that did had a really good time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would recommend this festival to anyone in the future.

Cilla Mitchell