Author Archives: Patrick

West, always West !

Drydocking on the Aber Wrac’h’slip for that time, last visits to the Moulin de l’Enfer to admire the “Bel Espoir II” slowly back to life, a trail to the “Pont du Diable”, and same as usual, we sailed again…No like theafts, impossible to live the Aber Wrac’h quietly : the eve of our departure, by chance of the calendar and the weather, the”Etoile”, the “Belle Poule” and the “Grande Hermine” came to moor to our pier. Exchanges, visits (Thank you Guillaume !), mutual respect, we couldn’t thought of a better conclusion to our stay in the Aber. The day after the”Etoile” will leave shortly after us and, in a supreme tribute will salute us when our courses will diverge :them by the Four channel, us by the Fromveur.
Not to much wind to cross the Bay of Biscay, 3 days anchored in Cedeira, Galicia, waiting for a good wheather window, and the wind will acompany us up to Horta, in a single tack from the quarter !

We dind’t realy thouht to stop, but once again it was the wind who decided, and our boat. We have more and more the feeling that’s it him who take us, we just have to let it do, and we like it.
In fact, to be again at Horta, with the Pico in the background, it’s a great pleasure. We quickly had a covid test and a day later we are free, free to meet again our friends, Leandro, who had already taken pictures of our arrival, Pedro, Luis, Rita and baby Francisco, Jose Henrique of the Peter Cafe Sport. Anne Marie make the discovery of Pedro’s garden boat, at Praia da Norte, we meet Anna Luisa, 6 days of feast, of getting together…I leave my third and last oak in the hands of Pedro. With him I am sure, it’s a wonderful gardener, and I was afraid that it will not be able to bear the harsh climate of Saint Pierre. By this way they are 3 oaks planted on our way : one under Jeanne’s guard, at the Vrenig, one by Jean Yves at the “Moulin de l’Enfer”, the last one in Faial, our descendants will have enough wood to built their boat if they want it.

The way to Saint Pierre was not as easy as the one for Horta, much reaching, that nor “SKOIERN”nor us like, and as soon we left the Gulf Stream it’s the fog that welcome us, for sure we were on the New Foundland Grand bank. The fog we will not let us until the arrival, that we will do at night, as usual…


As we wake up Enrique Perez, the Port Captain, tell us that the harbour is closed and ask us when we are about to leave. We answer that we didn’t intend to do so and that we come here to stay and live in. Great laugh, the ice is broken, a covid test more and 24 hours later we start our life in Saint Pierre.
If we would have thougt to be secret, we failed : the day after our arival we are at the TV, for the 20h00 news on SPM 1ère ! It’s he first time for us, we discover an unkown world, and this will introduce us in the islands : everybody saw us, know why we are here, our projects…and come to see us and talk. And it’s not the radio reportage, the day after at “Radio Saline” where we are invited which make any change….
What is realy extraordinary on these small french rocks which disturb so much canadien people, is that it’s a meeting point for the sailors and other travelers. There is not a day without meeting a friend, or a friend of our friends, which we have not seen for years, here, on the other side of the Atlantic! Bretons, Marseillais, sailors like Laurent ,with whom we sailed together on the “Liberté”, 40 years ago, Gérard, our friend radio, Linda his wife, who came to visit their daugther Sonia…others who come from l’Aber Wrac’h, hard to beleive it.
Nature is beautiful at Saint Pierre, it remind us of Norway, Canada, we like this post glacial vegetation, the peat bogs, the ponds with carnivorous plants, the trees fighting the wind. Visits to Miquelon, Langlade, the horses island, the Ile aux Marins, it’s the “plate bierre” (the yellow berries of norway)season, bluberries, raspberries, blackberries, you have just to pick them up.
Winter is coming soon, we have to prepare us, another adventure…

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Winter in Britany… and confined at Spring…

One more time we crossed the North Sea, one more time it was not easy. We then had to stop in Esbjerg that we know well, and wait nearly two weeks in the new “marina” for fair winds. We didn’t went far, we had to call at Oudeschild, on Texel island, in the Nederlands, and we had not to regret it., so engrossing and new for us was the atmosphere of this fishing harbour : the polders rounded by seawalls, where the sheeps graze, the village nested down, the pumps preventing the floooding we can hear day and night…We make provisions of cheese and we arrive in Boulogne with a good wind, pleased to leave away a sea which is no longer a sea, with huge wind farms which compete with the oil rigs, navigation lanes which don’t offer nor place nor pleasure to the sailors, where nature seems to be distroyed….
En Lézardrieux we meet again our friend Gilles who will make us discover the Trieux of his childhood and the castel of La Roche Jagu, wonderfull, our friend Alain will introduce us Dominique and Xavier and take us to discover the Sillon de Talbert, and quickly we join the Aber Wrac’h for the winter.

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Holydays, Manon, Enzo and Kylian come back to our way of life : walks, visit to the Ile Vierge lighthouse, visit of the “Bel Espoir” at the Moulin de l’Enfert where works now our friend the carpenter Jean Yves, big lunchs with Paskal, Tao and Lucie, in one word : Holydays !
Winter is here, storms, rain, gales, we will have all ! Fortunately we will find a good shelter to varnish our masts at the Saint Antoine Yards, and small weather windows to take out and back our masts. Thanks to Bruno, Morgan and Bastien ! As for the couture Sofi will make all what we needed, even Iris’s bandana ! We will find also some time to make long walks, they are infinite, which makes our dog happy; Lise teach us how to collect the seaweeds, how to dry them, and how to eat them ! As for exchange we give to her daughter Jeanne a “baby” oak, an acorn picked up on the Trieux banks then breeded on “Skoiern”, as to apologize to have taken so much wood in the building of our boat.
And always, always, the soul of Michel Jaouen who glide on the Aber : the “Rara Avis”, Penn Enez baracks, kids from everywhere who still hear him saying ” Get by to be happy”…

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In February, with Enzo and Manon, pilgrimage to Marseille, which we find changed for some angles, but where we find ourselves back and where we meet again our family : Jacques, Sophie, the “great” Manon, Ibrahim, Emilie, Kylian, Virgile, and the sailor friends : Daniel et Monique, Eric from the Frioul, Margot et Philippe on “le Don du vent”, Michel on her “Léopard Normand” : we had bought our 3 boats the same year, in 1979…The calanques, the Frioul, the Société Nautique, the Panier, the rue longue des Capucins, the Corniche and the Valon des Auffes, the Pharo, the Goudes, Saint Victor and the Four des navettes, we needed much more time in this town we love, where we spent a big part of our sailor life. Stong, strong feelings

Then came the Covid19, just before Spring, with its cortege of desolations, with the confinment, modern jail for a humanity who receive a tremendous lesson, her who thougth that a smartphone and some “aplis” were enough to be happy…
Yet how beautyful is the nature…

The centenary of SKØIERN at Grimstad

Grimstad route goes trough Douarnenez, where we meet again our carpenter and friend Jean Yves, Gwenaël the farmer, Fred the sailmaker…then l’Aber Wrac’h, were “Bel Espoir II” turns into a new “Bel Espoir”we hope to meet some day on the seas, Lézardrieux were the friend Gilles is waiting to drive us in his woods, Boulogne were the ancestors of Capi, the Flahaut and the Bacquet reigned centuries ago….

In Kristiansand we meet the fanatic sailors of the “Hestmanden”, from 1911, the only one who escaped from WW II among the 1000 of norvegian merchant ships , then the Blindleia and at least, Grimstad !

Dans les bois de Gilles : Au pied de mon arbre, ce géant de 34 m dans les bois de Kermarie, à Loguivy de la mer, vaut le détour : 34m de hauteur, 8,30m de circonférence, c’est un géant. Il aurait été arrêté à un moment de son existence, cet incident aurait provoqué la croissance de 5 ou 6 troncs qui lui donnent l’aspect d’une pieuvre. Les Bretons, grands voyageurs, auraient ramené des graines de pin de Monterey (pinus radiata), de la baie californienne du même nom. La météo du Goëlo semble convenir parfaitement à cette espèce de bord de mer. C’est impressionnant de voir vieillir ces arbres venus d’autres continents. A 140 ans le pin de Loguivy  est probablement l’un des plus anciens introduits en France, et le plus imposant en Bretagne, assurément ( d’après Mikaël Jézégou, technicien forestier des Côtes d’Armor)

 

July the 28, in front of the Jørgensen og Vik shipyard, now a private museum of the Bergshav shipowner, “Skøiern” ex “Mars”, meets again her sister “Lady III” ex “Liv”, a century later ! The emotion is strong, the sight of these two boats fantastic, as it is full of chance, wills, perceverance to make these two boats, nearly the sames, meet again.
Fredrik Gude and his family will welcome us as friends, we will be amid wonderfull classic boats comming from all parts of the Oslo fjord, we lived an historical moment.

We were there :
Anne Marie Della Casa, Patrick Chalmeau, Stéphane Chalmeau, Manon La Brousse, Enzo Chalmeau, Fredrik Gude, Cecilia Gude, Thomas Gude, Allman Gude, Chris Ennals, Peter Ennals, Mona and Arne….Zoé and Iris…

With Manon we sailed up to Oslo, still host of Fredrik at the Osloforening, on Herben island, and there we make her discover the Bygdøy museums : the Fram of Nansen, the Gjoa of Amundsen, the Kon Tiki of Heyerdal, who Capi met one day in Djibouti, the Viking museum, and in Oslo we fell under the spell of the sculptures of Gustav Vigeland in the Frognerparken and of the Munch paintings in the Munch Museum.
Later, still at the Osloforening, Capi will meet again his great swedish friend, Pele…

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The centenary of SKØIERN at Port Lay

The winter storms have passed, our boat is ready to sail for Britany, the winds turned, then we left Santa Maria, said hello to the friends, and headed North East. It will not take us long to reach A Coruña, only one tack from the quarter…Just the time to admire this wonderfull town and we sailed again, still with the wind from the quarter. And with a good wind we arrived at the island of Groix in little more than two days.

We have only one month to prepare our feast, time flies, but June the 9, as scheduled, “Skøiern” is dried in Port Lay to welcome our families and friends. How great it was ! To see our hundred years old boat, honored in this tiny harbour, where the Captain lived, at the times of “Jeunesse et Marine”, more than 50 years ago ! In Port Lay rare are the ones who were not in the merchant navy, when it was not in the same Companies as us…. and merchant navy sailors, they are a lot to celebrate “Skoiern”, the friends are here, from all the corners of France, as for our families.
The feast started a day before, in the reunion, in the evening of June the 9 we tried to eat, and to drink, all what was left, without succeeding indeed, the following days we will go on apreciating this island we love so much.
It has been a great feast, full of emotion, reunion, friendship, with our “Skoiern” more beautiful than ever, been admired alongside as when dried.
The people of Groix, and especialy those of Port Lay welcomed us, they helped us, we savoured what they prepared for us, we couldn’t have made a better choice to celebrate the century of our boat.

We were there :
Anne Marie Della Casa , Patrick Chalmeau, Emilie Cintas, Manon La Brousse, Kylian La Brousse, Enzo Chalmeau, Dany Nollez, “Nono” Nollez, Madeleine Nollez, Sophie Tallard, Jacques Chalmeau, Sophie, Alain Charpiat, Gaëlle Charpiat, Vincent, Lily, Elisa, Daniel Suzzoni, Pascal Basset, Paskal Morvan, Julien Lacote, Hanane Lacote, Lina Lacote, Reina Lacote, Jean Pierre Charrier, Brigitte, Pierre Fermon, Colette Fermon, Edith Lepage, Hervé Lepage, Eric Beyo, Martine Beyo, Fred Gourlaouen, Alain Jourdan, Patrice Menard, Gaëlle De Labrusse,Tao Morvan De Labrusse, Lucie Morvan De Labrusse, Rodolphe Rohart, Claude Guillot, Jean Guillot, Georges Maréchal, Jocelyne Maréchal, Claudine Gauguin, André, Monique Suzzoni, Eva Petendi, Thiery Froment “the storyteller”,Yvon, Bernard,
Zoé and Iris,
By phone : Maurice Bertoni, Henriette Millan, Hervé Lopez.

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