TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Friday 29 June

Old Blighty

Left fairly early and headed for Eastbourne. It was a little bit lumpy but not too uncomfortable.

Passing the TSS was interesting. One ship was refusing to alter course and for a while it looked touch and go. We dropped the main sail and turned on the engine and it was pedal to the metal.

Came into the Eastbourne and headed almost immediately for our favourite Indian restaurant – Ganges.

Saturday 30 June

Eastbourne

Staying put as strong winds suggest it would be very uncomfortable to push on. Gen will stay on a and bring her home on his own when there is a weather window.

Thursday 28 June

Fecamp

Needed to get fuel so headed off to La Harve – bit a of trek out of the way as we followed the instructions for crossing the shipping lane (i.e. going 4 miles out) – noted some other yachts not bothering.

Continued east and stopped off at Fecamp for the evening. Arrived quite late where everything was closed for the evening. Shortly wandered around into the town centre and then passed the Benedictine distillery – what a wonderful piece of architecture.

Tuesday 26 June

Homfleur

Absolutely no wind at all today. Left the anchorage and headed east to Homfleur.

What a place. Wandered around the town and decided that it is definitely worth another day to explore the narrow cobble stoned streets, the markets and just everything. This will mean a hard slog in a day or two but it is worth it.

Wednesday 27 June

Homfleur

Spent the day wandering around.

Went to the petrol station to pick up a jerry-can of diesel (as we are running very low and the pump according to the almanac’s is no longer there and the minimum of fuel you can order in is 300 litres (we only need around half that). Also bought some mussels and oysters from the fish monger.

Monday 25 June

Iles Saint-Marcouf

Not much wind but we’ve got to continue on. Decided to go a little bit out of the way and anchor at Iles Saint-Marcouf. A pretty spot in between two islands. One has an ancient fort on it and the other a bird sanctuary.

A small boat anchored precariously close to us. We kept a very careful eye on them. In the end they left as there wouldn’t be much room in the cove as the tide dropped.

Saturday 23 June

Dielette

Left early as its going to be a reasonably long day. Need to get to Dielette on high water to get over the sill.

Got into the marina okay but the there was very little water under the keel when we berth on a finger pontoon (again very short). Gen went searching with a lead line to find another vacant visitors pontoon which could be deeper. We moved and yet still managed to sit on the mud throughout the night.

Sunday 24 June

Cherbourg

At one stage we were going to stay the day but in the end decided that we should move on if we were to make Ramsgate for Friday.

Left in a bit of a hurry as we wanted to catch the tide. There was a bit of swell as we left the harbour which meant it was a little lumpy. Then on top of that we had wind over tide. Nice.

Got into the Alderney Race with minimal fuss (I thought – this will be okay I thought). At one stage we doing 11 knots. Then there was a bit of “smooth patch”, maybe for a minute or two and then we entered the “washing machine” – it was truly awful. We were in it a proper for near on 30 minutes. Not much you can do but to hold on tight and be prepared to rock every way the chop decides to send you. Got through it going around 9.5 knots. At the other end, still doing a great speed you wouldn’t have thought there was a race.

Came into Cherbourg. A very big boat on a tiny finger pontoon. We were a little embarrassed about her bum sticking out but hers wasn’t the only one.

Wandered about the town. Everything was closed being a Sunday. Shame as it looked like it could be a bustling city

Wednesday 20 June

St Malo

After having problems getting the mail sail up we ended up having a lovely gentle sail to St Malo although coming into the channel there was a very strong cross current and lots of rocks.

Wandered into the old town which is only a few short meters from where we are moored (rafted up) and enjoyed a wonderful seafood platter.

When we got back to the boat the wind picked up significantly. We ended up setting up the v-cabin to for the night as there was no let up with the bashing of the wavelets on the transom.

Thursday 21 June

St Malo

Turned the boat around. Set off to gather provisions. Very quickly learned that shops close between midday and 3 pm.

Managed to divert a tragedy as we found a shop open selling wine (I was down to my last bottle of white and we’ve still a week to go on this trip).

Wandered around a couple of suburbs. Very interesting – the architecture and the vibe between them.

Tuesday 19 June

St Helier

Visited the Durrell Conservation Trust park. Really well organised and the animals and the vegetation was just amazing.

After that we took another couple of buses to take us around the island of Jersey. Very pretty beaches. Unfortunately we ran out of time and were unable to visit Elizabeth castle.

Wandered around the town looking for somewhere to dine. Ended up at La Taverne and had a most enjoyable Italian meal.

Monday 18 June

Gorey

Went into town. Had to leave the dinghy on the fuelling pontoon. Within minutes it was high and dry.

This castle is one of the most impressive we’ve visited. Before exploring the nooks and crannies we listened to the history of the castle from the 12^th century to present day.

In the afternoon Gen donned the diving gear and cleaned the prop of the tangle weeds. This made a significant difference to our speed as we set off for St Helier.

Sunday 17 June

Jersey 

Gorey Left after midday and headed for Jersey. We motor sailed for a little while but ended up motoring as the wind died down completely. We went through a thick patch of seaweed which tangled around the prop, which slowed us down a bit. Found our anchorage opposite the castle – what a view. Had a very pleasant evening at anchor.

Saturday 16 June

St Peter Port

Went to Cornet Castle – it is impressive or what. Today they were celebrating the Queens official birthday and there was a wonderful (and comic) display of a 21 gun salute with veterans and cadets firing the cannons. There were a couple of missed timings some where the guns didn’t go off.

Afterwards, we took the number 7A bus around the island. Great value. Any bus trip, regardless of distance or duration costs £1. This route takes you all around the coast of the island – perfect way to see it when the wind is blowing a F6.

When we returned we were planning on moving the boat to the outer harbour, but as the wind was still blowing we decided to stay in the inner harbour and move in the morning.

Had a reasonable meal at La Perla. Suggest reserving a table at the restaurant you like as these get filled up pretty quickly.