Much of our first week on board Randonnée was heads-down getting-to-know her, and schlepping, as noted in our last post. We were terrible tourists, not really exploring Tréguier, heads in our bilge, bruises appearing everywhere as we banged around our new environment, eating quick-to-cook pasta meals and crashing, exhausted, every night. We met some of our neighbors, also new owners, who were wonderful. Dee and Molly of Wings, and Simon and Rory of Ataraxia were moored on either side of us. Both invited us aboard for a drink and shared their knowledge and experience. It was delightful to meet them, and we felt bad that we weren’t returning the “hosting” favor – but it looked like a bomb had gone off inside our boat. We weren’t ready for that quite yet.
Can you spot the schlepper?
A rare moment of relaxation
We had a bit of excitement when a tree decided to float through the marina. Randonnée looks like she’s really been in the forest here.
Another rare moment of quiet in the morning. This is the River Jaudy. The river fills and drains with seawater with the tides, causing some interesting currents.
The marina, our home for a few weeks

Luckily some friends showed up to pull us out of it and help us “fly the nest.” Ian came down from the UK by ferry for some “adventure sailing” instruction and Rene, a Dutch friend and former neighbor who now lives in Belgium, drove more than 8 hours to provide his services as deckhand and wheels. Both were incredibly patient with us. I wouldn’t say we were the most fun to be around; our attention spans were short as we jumped from one thing needing to be done to another. I don’t think we were even stringing together full and complete sentences… but they cared for us like friends helping new parents – feeding us and handling small chores without even asking how they could help.

Rene sets foot on Randonnée
Ian deftly coils a rope
Rene cooks an amazing meal

With Ian and Rene, we finally bounced from Tréguier on the 25th of July after nearly 10 days of schlepping and stowing, with only one day out on the water in that time. It felt so good to finally poke out of the Jaudy River. We were ready to learn – and learn we did. Ian put us through our paces. We practiced several drills, including crew overboard, ferry gliding, heaving-to, reefing, and several docking maneuvers. We ultimately ended up anchored at Les Sept Îles, a bird sanctuary. 

Finally setting sail!
Our motley crew 🙂 From left: Ian, Rene, and Randy
Randy at the helm in some spicy winds
Rene admiring Randy’s cockpit table – installed and working!
First night on the hook, at Les Sept Îles

Later we headed toward Lézardrieux and practiced more maneuvers on the pontoon, dried out, and anchored again for the night in high winds. Everything performed well. The main gripe we have is our staysail isn’t the right size. This will be fixed in September on a visit back to the yard. The other slightly dramatic event was when Diana inadvertently smashed two of her fingers when the fridge lid came crashing down on her hand. (It’s better now, don’t worry)

Randonnée rests on mud
Randy about to step into the bog
Drying out by Les Iles de Bois (no, this is not an accident!)
Beautiful Brittany countryside
Ian and Rene swim as the tide ebbs
Diana at the helm
Whoops. Smashed fingers…

A few days later we returned to Treguier, hearts full and ready for more. We reunited with Simon back at the docks (Rory unfortunately had headed home). Simon had arranged for a bit of a “field trip” to the boat yard. So the four of us piled into Rene’s car and headed to what would likely be our last tour in the yard. This naturally ended with beers at the marina with several of the yard workers. We’ll let the photos do the talking here.

The guys checking out some new boats at the yard. From left: Ian, Simon, Rene, and Eric Vautrin (general manager)
This photo needs no caption…

The clock was ticking. Ian set off with Simon back to the UK. Rene headed back to Belgium. And just like that, it was just the two of us with Randonnée again.

Here are some more photos from the first couple of weeks, for those who might be interested in more snaps of Tréguier and our first forays into the Brittany coast.