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Sunday 5th July Ref: 2015/15
This was the channel crossing to Cherbourg in preparation for the passage west around the Cap de la Hague and down the Alderney Race to Guernsey. It has us leaving Itchin at high water, carrying the tide down the R. Itchen and across the Solent and out through the Needles. Then cruising due south until it tried to push us East quite hard with the speed degraded accordingly
We had hoped to stay at Yarmouth the night before to lessen the journey but the moorings at both the Marina and local boatyard were all full due to them being very popular at summer weekends. The passage from Itchen, whilst long, used the tide well and, with the timing being chosen to take advantage of the weather being very still, the long 10 hour passage, starting at 4am in the morning local time, was still enjoyable. I had given my crew permission to sleep and she did a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed the passage. Kathleen had prepared lots of drinks and food to pass the time on route. Sandwiches, snacks, fruit and biscuits with lots of flasks and drinks
The weather was wind 3kn to start with rising to 10kn gusting 12 knots off the French coast; initially the East but finally settling to the SW : Temperature 17degC rising to 25degC; RH 67% at first rising worryingly to 85% with risk of fog but then falling steadily to 32%; 1017mb steady; smooth/slight seas but with a pronounced swell from the SW, mod to good visibility, weather fair and dull at first but then warm and sunny later. F2/4
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Monday 6th July Ref: 2015/16
This was planned to get the best weather, tidal conditions and timings through Cap de la Hague to give the calmest passage possible. Also to take the 'back eddy' approaching the Cap from Cherbourg and then to take the advantage of the strong following tide through Alderney Race down to Guernsey. This passage was brought forward as this day is the only possible one for the next few days on the evidence of weather forecasts and it was anticipated that it might be a bit more bumpy than we would have preferred!
The wind we finally experienced was a maximum of 11kn starting S, backing SE and falling to 7kn and the swell kicked in around the Cap de la Hague with turbulence off of Brofort to the Cap increased the sea state from slight/smooth up to moderate for twenty minutes or so. We could probably avoided such a lumpy section by cruising further offshore as a flotilla of sailing vessels had seemed to try.
The port has quite a network of pontoons in the outer harbour these days and we had to wait there until let in and rafted up at HW-90mins by which time there was over 3m over the sill into Victoria Marina. This was noit too much of a hardship as it was a fine, balmy and very still and sunny evening for us to sit on decks and relax whilst enjoying a fine sunset
It was warm generally 20degC-25degC; RH 30-42-35%; 1017mb steady until falling later to 1015mb
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Friday 10th July Ref: 2015/17
After the very enjoyable few days in Guernsey, it was time to move on to Jersey and again the right weather and tides were absolutely essential for crossing this very open section of the Atlantic, very much exposed to swells and waves from the south west. There was a choice of two days to go; this day and the day before and, although the 9th held out the prospect of slightly less wind, this day had the swell reducing after the period of calm as it takes a while
By adopting our optimum economical cruising speed of 8 knots, the tides are most favourable a while before LW St Peter Port so as to arrive in St Helier with the tides following. Unfortunately the exit window at St Peter Port Victoria Marina is only around 2hrs +_ HW (or a little more with care) and so that is not a solution. Fortunately, St Peters Port had installed excellent pontoons in the outer harbour which have water and shore access, if no electricity, and so we arranged to move from our inner berth to one of those the day before.
We really cracked the weather and passage plan this time and experienced wind of max 9kn falling to 3-4kn from the East and the swell was insignificant from the W. There was poorer conditions forecast to come and this was confirmed as the glass was falling during the trip. By adopting my preferred course of giving Port Corbiere a very wide berth, we made doubly sure of a comfortable passage
It was a fine and sunny day on arrival with 21-33degC, 71-31%RH, 1019mb falling to 1015mb, slight seas, 5-8kn from East. good viz
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Wednesday 15th July Ref: 2015/18
It was time to move on from Jersey to catch our pre-booked ferry for home leave in Cherbourg and again the right weather and tides were absolutely essential for crossing this very open section of the Atlantic, very much exposed to swells and waves from the south west. As seen a week ahead, the best choice seemed to be this day but tides and weather predictions were monitored in advance day by day keeping the date open from the 13th onwards.
The plan calls for an early start and steady passage well clear of both Point de Corbiere (at the south west peninsular of Jersey) and Cap de la Hague (on the Caretan peninsular) to avoid the strong tidal eddies and turbulence present for Spring Tides. We planned to carry the tide from Jersey up the Alderney Race and then hit Cap de la Hague at 'Slack' water and then realised that would have to punch the tide along the coast to Cherbourg as we could have it all our own way! In the event, tides are only predictions and the tidal change occurred a good half hour earlier than predictions and that, combined with a slightly later start than planned, had us punching adverse tides up to the Car de la Hague. Then, upon rounding the Cap and running into the Channel the sea state became certainly moderate and possibly rather rough and so I abandoned the passage plan and opened the throttles and left the sea state for dead, shortening our passage by two hours at the cost of some 82 (est) more litres of diesel. On Lady Martina, we have two 330HP engines to act as our 'Get out of Jail Free' card but the sailors we passed bucking and tossing around the Cape did not have that option and we felt concerned for them.
Weather forecasts (early on the 15th July) had winds 12-13kn gusting 16kn from the WSW with a swell of 0.7 from the West reducing to 6/7kn during the passage and that proved to be accurate . Spring tides and mod/poor visibility were predicted as the main hazards with fog patches a distinct possibility and that was right too.
It was generally a light drizzle but warm with temperatures 20-24degC pressure steady with fine weather and mod to very poor visibility with a 1m swell
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This section describes a variety of cruises to Cherbourg and then down to St Peter Port, Guernsey, where we may make some excursions to other ports and islands such as Herm and then on to St Helier, Jersey before returning direct to Cherbourg, all in the July 2015
