I had some excitement on the Ile Chausey last night when at around 22.30 I heard a commotion outside my tent. A rubber dinghy was floating out to sea and two men dived in after it.

All three were quickly swept into the darkness by the massive tide and a strong wind. I got into my boat as quickly as possible and paddled after them. One man clambered onto my back deck and we caught up the other man who had been driven onto some rocks in the dinghy. 

They tried paddling against the tide but kept getting swept back so we attached their painter to my rear handle and I towed them back to their yacht. They would’ve spent the night on the rocks if I hadn’t ! Back on land I had a good chat with their families before another past midnight bedtime.

Sunrise on Chausey was stunning, my camera does it no justice. What an incredible place.

I left at 11 and didn’t bother fighting the tidal current and wind to get to St Malo but instead decided to see where it would take me. The swell was moving pretty fast and with the tide, making the runs hard to catch. I cruised along about 10km off land to get the maximum current.

Cap Frèhal approached, looking quite formidable. The runs started to jack up about 10kms away from the headland and I had some super downwind. I don’t feel like I deserve such good conditions this early in the trip! 

The other side of Cap Frèhal was a rugged stretch of towering cliffs with golden bays. I landed at Sables-D’or-les-Pins and was just wondering if the tide would leave any beach to sleep on when Nicholas, a local sailor, came and asked me what I was up to. 10 minutes later my boat was in the sailing club and I was in his beautiful house!  I had a fun evening and it was lovely to have a sand-free night, thank you Nicholas, Marie, Madeline and Juliet.