A long spinnaker edge and wide smiles
We were eagerly awaiting this 45-minute spinnaker edge to the Birvideau lighthouse. We would even dare to admit that it is a little for him that we are here.
The day has not yet fallen and the rain has stopped. We roll up the cardinal buoy, 3rd course mark and have more boats in front of us than before, at least 4 or 5. We're going to have to be better downwind than upwind.
We are in full tailwind and its strength varies between 20 and 25 knots. Stephane's Figaro 1 is quite light, so it glides well downwind.
We surf with pleasure from wave to wave, the swell is consistent and we enjoy it well. We're going up a few places.
Behind us, the sunset is magnificent, if only because it has the merit of existing after this rainy day.
This is the ideal time to reheat meals. Stéphane has planned some sterilized meals, like cans, these bags just need to be reheated for a few minutes in boiling water and it's a thousand times better than a freeze-dried meal.
The menu is chosen, a chicken tagine with lemon confit for me and a sausage and rice rougail for the captain. We take turns having dinner on the terrace, it's incredible how a good meal gives wings.
The night gradually covers the fleet, which is reduced to luminous points in the dark. Then it is the dolphins who accompany us for a long time as if to indicate to us that we are not alone.
Surfing follows one another and around 2am, we arrive in the darkness at the Birvideau lighthouse. Happy with this long gliding edge, we lowered our spinnaker with the fear that it would no longer be used until the finish.
After going down, you have to go up again
"There is water around phare?? "Stephane says to me
there's the complicity of the friend with whom we sail, and the little attentions for the guy glued to the bar "do you want a café??". There is the benefactor nap, which seems to act on us like when we turn off and on a PC so that it works as before. If you don't touch it with your fingertips, I'll be the one hitting you on the doigts?! "And something foolish in pleasure boating, in the darkness we go around as closely as possible, a dark and colossal wall where some waves crash.
As we move around the lighthouse, we tuck our sails in until we find that leaning and cold look that characterizes the meadows so well.
The wind is almost in the axis of the course, a long wave awaits us. It is 3 a.m. and as we approach the coast, the wind drops in intensity.
In the early morning in the Coureaux de Groix, neck and neck with a Pogo 8.50, the wind even disappears for a few moments.
