Channel Islands (and the World Cup) Cruise
June
2002 Crew:
Tony Keegan, Julian Thornley and Paul Daniels
Saturday
The week started with a bright, sunny day with plenty of
breeze from the east promising a favourable crossing and we had a good forecast
for the following few days. Everyone got down to Beaulieu without too much delay
so we had plenty of time to get prepared and have lunch. In idyllic conditions
we got all the stores put away, filled all the tanks and got Alize ready for her
first real cruise.
By
4pm we had cleared the river and set all the sails and set off on a broad reach.
It was a glorious sail down the Solent in perfect conditions – bright sunshine
and favourable tide getting us to Yarmouth in less than and hour. Alize would
have made a great picture off Yarmouth sailing fast with cream sails against the
deep blue sky. Soon the Needles light was passing behind us as we went over the
Bridge without incident and settled down for a steady sail across the Channel in
10-15 knots of wind from the East.
Being such a pleasant evening we broke with tradition and
had a beer each to celebrate before having a pleasant dinner of Ocean Pie and
peas – so much more civilised when the boat is not gyrating around. After the
washing up it was 2 hour watches and getting as much sleep as possible while the
going was good. This proved to be a smart move because when we reached the
shipping lanes in the dead of night they were really busy. On one watch we had
to dodge four ships and keep a close eye on many more – not much sleep and hard
work! Having to cross the lanes at 90 degrees took us off the direct route close
to Alderney so we had to run parallel to the lanes for some time arriving off
the Casquets at daybreak. There the wind was dropped fast and wanting to see the
first World cup match which started at 10:30 we put the engine on which was not
so bad as we had had a great sail through the night.
In the pilot great emphasis is placed on transits to pass
through the Little Russell, we found that the two towers make fine lateral marks
on the NE side and the three big French style marks define the Guernsey side. We
also had difficulty following the transit between the white house and white
patch into the Harbour; this did not come into line until well past the Brehon
Tower which contradicted the instruction to turn towards the harbour between
Roustel and Brehon. Common sense pilotage came to the fore and we made an
uneventful entrance mooring up at one of the visitor’s pontoons in the outer
harbour at 9am.
Not surprisingly the boat got sorted out in minutes and we
set off in the water taxi for the Ship and Crown where we watched the match
against Sweden, which was a draw! Still the beer made sure we had a good
lunchtime nap to make up for the rather interrupted night. Feeling much more
lively in the afternoon we sorted a few jobs and checked out the inflatable, the
new engine worked really well; what a luxury a gear lever is! Eating out was a
bit of a challenge, as the whole place seemed to have shut up that afternoon.
The only place where you could get a drink was the Yacht Club and the only
restaurants open were Curry Houses – Tough! After a welcome meal overlooking the
harbour we got back in good time because of the early start the next day but
found another boat rafted outside us. A couple with a small child had just
arrived from Cherbourg and the last thing they needed was a move but a quick
shuffle then was going to be much better than at 5:30 am so we soon got things
sorted. This was in marked contrast to the antics of a certain Sigma 33, Oxygen,
who didn’t know what they were doing and caused us some damage to the bow
earlier that afternoon. Finally crashed out at 11 pm.
Monday
Set
off without incident, left the harbour together with two other Yachts and headed
south in ideal conditions – a 15kn Westerly. It was a glorious sail passing
Jersey to Port then heading to the NW and later the SW Minquiers cardinal marks.
The visibility was superb allowing us to see Maitresse Isle in the distance.
Unfortunately although it was getting warmer by the hour the wind was dropping
and once again we had to resort to the Iron sail for the last five miles to get
us into St Malo safely and in good time. The tide was really ripping towards the
east so transits were of great importance to keep us in the main channel as we
went past Le Grande Jardin and the smaller light further on. Wanting to keep our
options open we decided to stay at the Bas Sablons marina, which has 24hr access
over the sill at neaps, which was the case. There are excellent facilities with
St Servan close by and the old city a short walk away over the sea locks.
St Servan is really picturesque, especially where it
overlooks the Rance Barrage where we soon found a bar and couldn’t resist a few
beers in the sunshine watching the French enjoying themselves. Monday night in
St Malo was a bit flat and the restaurants not that exciting, we eventually
settled for one of the fish restaurants underneath the ramparts which was fair
enough but not particularly memorable or exciting.
Tuesday
We woke to teeming rain; I marched into St Servan for
croissants then found out that the weather was going to deteriorate sharply
making the original plan unattractive as we did not relish heading home in a
Force 5-6 Northerly. After a quick re-assessment we decided to g
o
straightaway for St Helier, annoyed yet another yacht alongside and headed off
between the Minkies and the Isles Chausey. The rain had stopped but the wind was
right on the nose so it was motoring towards the NE cardinal to stay out of
trouble until we were able to crack off and reach along the Jersey coastline in
about 12kns of wind. There were several other yachts heading in the same
direction, we did our best and kept up with a Tempest and an old Westerly but
were overhauled by a Halberg Rassey 35 and left well behind by a J something.
These other yachts had gone straight over the Minkies, which I was reluctant to
do, as our charts were not very detailed although they did infer that the
highest rock was +1.5m. Later we found out that it was safe to sail across up to
mid tide from the Westerly owner who lived on Jersey.
It didn’t take long to get the boat moored in the “holding
area” which is a really good little marina at La Collette. It’s a bit further
from the town but only another 10 mins and has 24hour access plus excellent
facilities. After a shower we went to the Yacht Club on the South Pier just
around the corner. This was really good, lots of dramatic oil paintings with
a clubby atmosphere as the members spent the last of the
Jubilee holiday downing a few jars. Later we went into the Town to meet Tony’s
sister who lives in St Helier – some useful local knowledge! Subsequently went
to some of the best bars and had an excellent curry.
Wednesday
The weather forecast was not great – force 6, NW. This
made the planned trip to Carteret
risky, I was not comfortable going through the Violet Channel in rough weather
and we needed good conditions to get from Carteret to Alderney in reasonable
time the next day. A slog back to Guernsey didn’t appeal either so with the hope
that the wind would back the next day we resigned ourselves to lay day.
Naturally football had a part to play in all this so after
sorting out the masthead lights and getting some excellent photos from the top
we went to see Ireland get a last minute equaliser against Germany at La Follie.
This was a very old nautical pub but rather run down and populated by smokers
and those with time on their hands, shame the beer didn’t meet expectations but
the match made up for it.
More jobs were sorted out in the afternoon interspersed
with trips to the excellent chandlery then out to the Bistro where Tony’s sister
works for a very civilised meal. On returning to the boat for a nightcap we were
joined by the two guys who sail a rather nice Rival 34 moored alongside. Lovely
boat, very traditional, but unfortunately rather boring people later christened
Geoffrey and Synoptic; still it added a bit of variety to the evening.
Thursday
The passage plan called for a reasonable start - 7:30 am
to catch the favourable tide to La Corbiere where we could then head North to
Alderney; initially against the tide but timing it to become favourable as we
went through the Big Russell - the scenic route. Departure was a little hasty as
some incompetent boat owners were hell bent on coming along side us even though
we had told them we were leaving very soon; there was plenty of room on the
pontoons, I could only conclude that they couldn’t moor up properly.
Motoring out to La Corbiere was bumpy in the force 5
westerly which was right on the nose and not a lot of fun with white horses
everywhere. Once clear of the Island, however, we could get all the sails up and
although it was still rough had an exhilarating sail on a close reach to Herm.
Not surprisingly nobody felt like going below in the quite boisterous conditions
but we made good progress against the tide and reached the Big Russell at
Midday. Going between Herm and Sark was a good decision as it was not only very
attractive but also relatively calm in the lee of Guernsey despite the overfalls.
Taking advantage of the conditions we had pasties and soup before venturing on
to Alderney in what had now developed into a force 6. The good news was that it
was not quite as rough
as earlier so it was really enjoyable – it’s a small margin between an exciting
sail and one that has to be endured!
Fortunately the tide had turned so it was a short sail
towards the headland on the southwest side of Alderney above the Garden Rocks,
which looked particularly vicious amongst the breakers. Cautiously we headed for
the Burhou side of the Swinge to stay clear of Corbet rocks initially mistaking
Ortac for a rather ugly ship. This turned out to be a safe but uncomfortable
strategy as that was where the worst of the overfalls lay and it was difficult
to maintain course in the swirling water. Just when things seemed to be getting
a little less tense we got buzzed by the Harbour Master’s Rib who took lots of
pictures – what had we done to deserve that? It turned out that it was a
photographer from Sailing Today out taking pictures to illustrate an article in
the series “Treacherous Places”.
We soon were heading straight round the breakwater as it
was high tide with 6 meters of water over the submerged section and tied up onto
a well protected mooring close to the inner harbour. After fun and games getting
tied up who should we see behind us but the Rival 34 who had left with us but
taken the direct route.
Alderney always makes a great destination and after a brief
pub-crawl in Braye and walk around St Ann’s we had a memorable and highly
enjoyable meal at the First and Last. Rita and her staff were all on top form,
both in terms of entertainment and excellent food.
Friday
After a later than usual start for some unknown reason we
got stuck into the list of jobs that were still outstanding, replenished the
ships stores and replaced the deck brush which had broken due to some vigorous
activity earlier. At Midday it was off to the Albert House Pub in St Anne’s to
watch England beat Argentina. It could not have been a better place to watch a
great match. Full of a very mixed bunch of enthusiastic supporters the
atmosphere was really something, especially after England scored and after the
nail biting last few minutes.
Straight
afterwards we took the water taxi back to Alize with the intention of setting
off straight away for Cherbourg, the tides having arranged themselves perfectly
to coincide the optimum departure with the end of the match. This was almost
foiled by the boatman who was working to Alderney time and took ages to get us
back on board. The result was that we made the crossing of the race a bit after
slack water but it was a brilliant sunny day. The wind was not particularly
cooperative so we had to motor across to Cap de la Hague but once clear we had a
good close reach with a ripping tide in our favour taking us into the outer
harbour in less that three hours overall. We were soon through the Outer Rad
where we had another ineffectual attempt at sorting the auto pilot before going
into the port de pleasance.
The visitor’s area was quite clear so we moored in good
time to be able to get into the town to sample some of the excellent seafood in
the traditional French style. We chose the Café de Paris which was excellent, a
four course meal including a Plat de Fruit de Mer for 24 Euros. We even had time
to stop in a few bars on the way back to round off a great day.
Saturday
An early start but not a challenging crossing – light
south westerlies were forecast so it was engine on and 2 hour watches. We
crossed the shipping lanes in great visibility and a lot less hassle than
earlier which was just as well as we had a few difficulties getting used to the
Radar which kept on want to switch itself off. We had a few moments when it
looked like we could not switch fuel tanks but managed to sort it out after
sailing in fitful breezes for
lunch. As always the Needles were in sight for a long time before we finally had
them abeam and entered the channel in brilliant sunshine.
The crunch was restaurant bookings – everything was booked
up so we had to settle for a 7pm table at Mad Dogs and sailing back went out of
the window. Eventually we arrived at our reserved berth at the Yacht Haven at
17:15 in good time for a shower and a beer before heading off to the restaurant.
The evening was a fitting climax to the week, great food,
innumerable bottles of wine, lively music from the hanging pianist and a great
night out.
Sunday
The last day – a bit sad but……. Got up at 8am, got our
free paper, had breakfast on board and set off before the contrary tide became
too strong. The wind was favourable and strong from the west so we only had to
unfurl the Yankee a little to speed up to Beaulieu. Once in the river it took
ages to get to Bucklers Hard where we replenished the tanks then it was back to
the mooring and tidy the boat up. This didn’t take long but by then it was
pouring with rain and anyone venturing outside just to take down the burgee had
to have full oilies on. Somewhat reluctantly Roy came along in the club launch
and took us all off, complete with all our gear in the torrential rain.
The cruise that had proved the seaworthiness of Alize in
no uncertain terms. A soggy end maybe, but a great week overall and one to be
repeated.
