ADVENTURE Words by Steve Walker
Atlantic
Adventure in the
V8 Catamaran
I hastily moved my weight towards the stern in a pathetic
attempt to avert a pitch pole. Phillipe had gone below to
check on our position leaving me alone at the helm of
the V8 with the spinnaker and full sail up.
e were about 15 miles
W
from any land out in
the Bay of Biscay.
Suddenly a gaping
hole in the ocean had appeared
in front of us and we accelerated
down a hill in the sea, finally
reaching a speed of 16.3 knots!
Would we go head over heels?
Would Phillipe be able to get out
from inside the hull if we turned
turtle?
I need not have worried, this was
all in a days work for the wave
piercing hulls of the V8. Slicing into
the bottom of the next wave and
gently lifting the bows with hardly any now had a yacht in our sights that was clearly going to the same place as we
deceleration. No bodies were flung were. By the time we'd caught it up and whizzed past it (it was a monohull) we
about, no slamming, just a sizzle and could see what looked like two lighthouses on the horizon. Ile d'Yeu!
woosh, ready for the next wave, it
was only a force 4 after all. We nearly got run down by a high-speed ferry as we entered Port Joinville! It's a
busy little port. The harbour is neatly divided up between commercial shipping,
We were en route to Port Medoc in leisure craft, fishing vessels, ferries and local boats. They bend over backwards to
the Gironde Estuary, the river that accommodate every boat that arrives because clearly the whole island is heavily
leads to Bordeaux, for “L’Estuaire dependant upon tourism and each boat brings with it hungry sailors willing to
Challenge Multi 2009”, the first ever spend money in local cafés, restaurants, chandlers and cycle hire shops. They
international regatta being held there invited us into the commercial dock, this presented us with a problem, we could
for multihulls with accommodation. not attach our fenders to the racks outside the hulls, however, after circling around
We'd set off about midday from a few times, thinking about what to do, we hit upon the idea of putting the fenders
L'Orient in Brittany and had already on the dockside instead of the boat, soon we were in a restaurant having a beer
passed Quiberon and Belle Ile and and a lovely meal.
18  MULTIHULL REVIEW : OCTOBER 2009
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