SATURDAY 6TH OCTOBER. CAMARET

Abemama has now been weather bound in Camaret for two complete weeks of listening to the wind screaming in the rigging and logging a series of lows which have been scuttling up the Atlantic and giving winds, which are in a good direction, but we have lost our appetite for being 60 moles off-shore in Force 7 – 8. There is a consolation that we are not in dither mode about whether to set off on the 150 miles to Brixham, or to stay here. All the weather forecasts agree that there will be strong winds until Tuesday at least.

We are not short of weather info. We have the French vhf, BBC shipping, Capitainerie, PC captured charts from Hamburg and the 5 day RTTY from the same source. Via the impressive NASA Navtex Pro 518/490, we receive both UK inshore and offshore forecasts and ditto Meteo France – when (as now) they are not on strike and only put out strong weather warnings. They all agree. Stay put.

We have not been marooned alone. The outer harbour had a colony of seven frustrated Brits travelling South. Sadly, most of them seem to have nothing to do on board, so they mooch around the town and moan that this is not the cruising in sun, which they had dreamed of. Two crews heading down for The Arc have even given up and gone home for a week. Yet, if you have to be stuck, Camaret is not a bad place to be. Long term cruising means being self sufficient for all weathers and all places. On the credit side, we have met many boats whose crews have a good life, even when it is blowing and raining and – as we say – it still sure beats hell out of the commuter train to the office 5 days a week.

The other red ensign is on Cornish Legend, whose skipper has settled here to run a charter and an RYA approved tuition centre in this very educational cruising ground, which really is a super area for anybody who enjoys navigation. You can see it all at www.brittanysail.co.uk

For info: we needed a mechanic. The going rate was ‘22.50 for a call out and ‘18.00 for work in house. For a boat in the 8m – 10m range, the berth is at the off season rate of ‘5.80 – which is typical of many harbours hereabouts.

I should like to compile a register of Colvic Watson owners, boat names contact addresses, home ports etc. At this stage, there is no thought of an owners’ association, but it would be good to have a clearing house for an exchange of ideas – perhaps a bi-annual newsletter. If you are a Colvic Watson owner, or know of one either already afloat, or still in build, please contact us through

Colin & Rita Jones on Abemama

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