Saturday in St Peter Port was dominated by the preparations for the grand opening ceremony of the Island Games, to be held that evening around the harbour. In the town we spotted competitors from the Falklands, Barbados, Cayman, Orkney, Greenland and Rhodes, as well as teams from the neighbouring islands of Sark, Herm and Alderney. There was great excitement at the choice of the harbour as the venue for the ceremony instead of the more normal sporting stadium, and we were promised a finale with a difference. This turned out to be an inflatable donkey which abseiled from the top of the bank to hover above the harbour. As a local guernseyman told us, "there is no pressure in the Island Games for each island to do it bigger and better than the last" - evidently he was right!

On Sunday we had thought of making the short passage to Sark to try out the new mooring buoys in the Havre Gosselin, sheltered on the west coast of the island by the neighbouring islet of Brecqhou. With fresh breezes up to force six forecast from the south east for later in the day, we opted for the easy way out and took the Sark ferry from the nearby jetty and enjoyed a relaxing day just exploring the island. It looked calm enough in the anchorage as we looked down from La Coupee, and the many boats there obviously thought so too.

After heavy rain in the night, Monday dawned quite clear and we decided to take the opportunity to make a passage back to Cherbourg to begin the Normandy section of our cruise. We could time the passage to have the south easterly swell running with us as we made our way up towards the Alderney race, which gave us three or four knots assistance. Once past Cap de la Hague we tried to avoid the inshore eddy by taking a route slightly further offshore than our waypoints suggested. However, we still seemed to be punching the tide, and decided that nature does not always comply with the Tidal Stream Atlas.

It was still a straightforward passage into Cherbourg, and we even found space alongside Q pontoon, and managed to squeeze our 42 foot boat into a space 42 feet and one inch long. We had coincidentally arrived on the same day as the 43 strong fleet of the RYA Channel Islands cruise, and met MBM friends who were taking part.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 46 nm

Total to date: 1297 NM

Avg Speed: 13 knots

Duration: 3:30 hours

Diesel: 228 litres (est)

Wind: SW 3

Mooring: €30/night

Electricity: Free

Waypoints
(European Datum)

St Peter Port
49 27.50N 02 31.10W

Beaucette Marina
49 30.00N 02 28.00W

Platte Fougere
49 31.50N 02 28.00W

Cap de la Hague
49 45.00N 02 00.00W

Basse Brefort NCM
49 44.00N 01 51.00W

Cherbourg West
49 41.00N 01 39.40W

Charts

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