Wednesday 12th July Ref: 2017/15

A late decision to cruise from Honfleur to Le Havre and probably not the best one but we managed it. I awoke this morning to the sight and sound of rain outside and this was to last for quite a while off and on until it started to brighten up. Our boating neighbours on both sides wanted to leave by the 10.30am bridge lift opening this morning and so I agreed to do the same thing and followed them out to try a passage today rather than tomorrow. I waited as long as I could for the calming weather to arrive but then missed the last of the free-flow through the Honfleur sea lock and had to wait a while and be locked out with two passenger vessels. 

The inner Sein estuary was not too bad but the seas deteriorated from slight to moderate the further out we went and this made for the most uncomfortable trip that we had experienced for a while. It was safe and manageable but not of the sea state that I had been aiming for in recent times and so I should have waited until the calmness of the following day as I originally planned to do. The winds were at the upper end of F4 (around 16knots) and against the tide for some of the time which was also more than forecast but, as I had predicted and explained to one of our neighbours, the sea would take time to calm down from the previous winds anyway and that was another factor. We made the passage all right despite by boating computer deciding to reboot and reset mid passage after an update was received and the only casualty of the trip was Kathleen’s special soup. She had worked hard to make this soup and was very much looking forward to enjoying it but it had been left in a saucepan in the galley fridge which fell to the floor when she opened the door after the passage! We found a nice berth in the inner Angedo Regattes marina close to the Capitanari after taking on £200-worth of diesel at the outer Anse de Joinville basin upon arrival. 

 Temp 20>25 deg C, RH 76>48%, Pressure 1015-1017mb rising slowlyy, good viz, slight/mod seas at upper end of F4 with breeze mainly Nly up to 16knots

Cruise Data

Distance: 15 nm

Total Year to date: 565 nm

Leave: 12:30 UTC 14:30 LT

Arrive: 14:45 UTC 16:45 LT

Avg Speed: 6.7 kn

Duration: 2:15 hr

Diesel: 46 ltrs

Mooring:  Honfleur €48.50/day Le Havre €46/day

Electricity: included at Honfleur & Le Havre)

Water: included at Honfleur & Le Havre

WiFi:  free but poor at Honfleur, free at Le Havre

VHF

Honfleur  Ch 17

Underway Ch 16

Le Havre Ch 12

Charts

2110.8(c),  2110.7, 2110.8(a)

Waypoints

265>261, 273,277

Locks and Bridges (All French Time)

Honfleur Bridge 10:30, 11:30 etc

Honfleur Freeflow HT -1:30 to HT, 12:30 to 14:00

Tides (UTC)

Wednesday 12th July:

Dover HW 00:03 6.3, 12:51 6.4; LW 07:55 1.2, 20:17 1.2; 

Le Havre HW 23:54 7.6, 11:42 7.5, LW 06:24 1.6, 18:40 1.9; 

Honfleur HW 12:00 7.5; LW 07:00 1.7, 18:40 1.9 

Dutch Waterways

Dutch Waterways

Visit dutchwaterways.net for latest updates and to order a copy of the book

Broom Owners Club

Visit broomowners.com for regional events, members pages and details on how to join. 

Journals of David A Broad

Visit davidabroad.com for my daily journal from 1984 to the present day