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Channel Islands Cruise - June 2007
The weather forecast was good that Monday morning as Richard, Olivia, Tricia and Cynthia loaded on provisions for the seven day cruise. Our only task was to sail Lady Emma gently down to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight on the ebb tide. We departed at lunchtime after a short safety briefing and hoisted just the No2 Genoa as the wind was light and from the north east.
By 5pm we were safely moored alongside a French registered yacht (but crewed by French speaking Belgians) on the pile moorings in Yarmouth Harbour. We had wanted to moor alongside a yacht more suitable to our size but its skipper said he would be leaving at 0600 the next day. Needless to say, when we left at 0800, he was still there! Some people will go to any lengths to stop you from mooring against them. I can’t work out why to this day.
The next morning we motored over to Lymington Yacht Haven (having dodged both inward and outward bound ferries) where we refuelled. Very soon we were joined by our fifth crew member, Jeremy. We soon slipped the mooring and set out down the Needles Channel, with full main and No1 Genoa, against the tide. Thanks to Olivia’s local knowledge, we were able to keep out of the worst of the foul tide and soon we had the Needles lighthouse abeam and we were able to set course for Cherbourg.
Half way across the Channel the wind died away and so on came the iron donkey. We made good time though as Lady Emma had recently had her bottom scrubbed. We reached Cherbourg at dusk and by the time we eventually found the entrance to the marina, it was dark. We moored first time alongside the visitors’ pontoon and everyone went to sleep.
The next day we were woken by the wind howling through the rigging. The forecast F3 from the NE had turned into a F7 locally. So we decided to spend the day in Cherbourg. The crew split up and did their own thing, agreeing to return at 1800 hours and then to go out for dinner.
The following day the wind behaved itself and we set off at lunchtime for Guernsey. We were able to use the east flowing tide that runs close to the Contentin Peninsular for 10 hours out of 12 and we arrived at the Alderney Race at slack water. The tide then ebbed and we were swept down towards Guernsey at a pretty impressive rate even for neap tides! We moored in St Peter Port, outside the Marina (Jeremy reminding us that the yacht drew too much for entry to the Marina, a fact we discovered some years ago when she started to lean on the yacht on the next berth at low water).
The crew went ashore for a run and Olivia purchased some splendid fresh crabs from the market whilst Jeremy, Tricia and Cynthia went shopping in the supermarket. The next day we set off for Sark; sadly there wasn’t enough wind to sail but we had more than enough work to do plotting a safe course round all those rocks. Jeremy spent half an hour commissioning the anchor and chain. When we arrived at our destination, a small bay on the west coast, adjacent to the private island of Brecqhou, we discovered 20 visitors’ moorings! They had just been laid in time for our arrival. So we abandoned any attempts at anchoring and managed to pick up a buoy at the second attempt (don’t ask!).
This very peaceful anchorage had just one disadvantage – to get to the shops requires a climb up 299 steps and a 15 minute walk. Jeremy and Cynthia took the rubber dinghy ashore and returned some three hours later with provisions, newspapers and locally made ice cream; wonderful! That night we feasted on fresh crab and salad – thanks Olivia!
The next day was Saturday and time we started our return trip. But we woke to the sound of no wind (?) and fog! By 1100 the skipper judged the fog had been burnt away by the sun sufficient for us to slip. Instead of rounding the rocks off Brecqhou, we took the tiny passage between it and Sark; we had seen several French yachts do the same the previous day, so if they can do it, so can we! With not enough wind to sail we motored up the Big Russell heading for Alderney. Then visibility dropped again and a lookout was posted on the foredeck. The skipper had estimated a run of three hours to the Alderney Race and two hours into this asked Jeremy to check our position on the chart. Much to everyone’s surprise he said we were five miles into the English Channel and our speed over the ground was still 10 knots! It just shows one cannot underestimate the power of the Alderney Race!
Sadly we had to motor all the way over in visibility that varied from 200 metres to 2 miles. Every four hours, Solent Coastguard broadcast the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Safety Warning that “visibility across the entire section of the English Channel had been reported as being between 50 metres and 2 nautical miles”. We only saw one close encounter – a large merchant vessel making its way from the Casquettes east-bound lane passed about 300 metres in front of us. We had heard her fog horn (one long blast every two minutes) for some time. But only saw her when she was two minutes away from us.
We arrived safely off the Needles in clear visibility at about dusk and we decided to take advantage of the flood tide to continue on to Ocean Quay. We arrived at our mooring at 0230 hours Sunday morning and switched off the engine after 15 ½ hours faultless service. Our average speed for the journey from Sark to Ocean Quay was 7 knots! We then decided that some sleep was in order, although we had been working watches since 1800 hours Saturday night.
The next day we awoke and spent the morning cleaning the yacht and re-watering her. We left for our respective homes at mid-day having had an interesting cruise that covered 270 sea miles, wind conditions that varied from flat calm to F7 and visibility that varied from 200 metres to the horizon!
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