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Thursday 23rd July Ref: 2015/20
My crew has declared that both our last port of call, St Vaast la Hougue, has been the best place we have visited so far and that this entire Summer the best she has ever experienced. I have to agree that this is always a lovely place to visit and we have been having a great time on Lady Martina which is ideally suited to these cruises around Europe. However, time and tide as they say ... and so we had to move on and we had chosen another fine, sunny and calm day for the next leg of our Normandy cruises to Grandcamp Maisy, a location steeped in history as being close to Pointe de Hoc and Omaha Beach which are the first two locations we can visit that played such a significant role in the 'D-day' Liberation in 1944.
A short early afternoon passage of just 15nm and two hours at low speed was planned to take advantage of the following tide and the fact that high water times are successively later as we cruise West to East along the Rade de la Capelle Normandy Bay. We had to have enough water to cruise over the rocky plateau that guards the entrance to Grandcamp Maisy harbour but it is a great smooth slab of rock of approximate drying depth of 1 to 2m that is well covered by high tides which are necessary to approach the port 2hrs 30mins each side of high water (or 1hr 30mins in lesser tides). Even so, we stuck closely to the specified approach bearing, given that strong growth of weed elsewhere is known to be a hazard.
We left St Vaast soon after the tidal gate opens around HW-2hrs which was 1300 LT and then arrive at Grandcamp two hours later just around HW there at 1500LT and so timed the entrance well. Our new venue is well known as a small but friendly seaside port where both pleasure yachts and fishing vessels co-exist happily together. The sole harbourmaster does the essential maintenance, mans the office and provides a warm welcome to visiting boats but that does not extend to answering the VHF Ch9 in English but we made our way in and moored to the hammer-head on the visitors pontoon C. We had been on the same cruising plan as trawler yacht, 'R-Escape' who we preceded into the port and then invited to raft alongside us for the night.
We had awoken to a still and sunny morning on the day of the cruise and the weather was forecast to be fair with good visibility with wind of 6-8kn from the WNW to follow our passage and tide with seas state smooth/slight and a slight swell of 0.4/5m predicted. In the event, we had winds of less than 8kn with smooth seas and good visibility. Temperatures were warm at 21 to 26degC.
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Friday 24th July Ref: 2015/21
I had been concerned about getting far enough along Normandy Bay and near enough to Ouistreham to complete our passage to Caen in a few days time and so the calmer weather forecast for today and the positive email reception we had received from the Port En Bessin tourism office encouraged us to make this trip there today
Another relatively short passage of some 1hr 45mins and 14nm promised not to be too difficult and so I hurriedly planned the route, waypoints and passage plan this morning. The tidal gate at Grandcamp opened at 1.40pm LT and it was sufficient to plan to leave around 2pm after the first exodus and, we did this within a quarter of an hour or so, which we achieved, despite the short notice and last minute plans. The cruise across the rocky plateau was taken in a north-eastery direction to go east of north cardinal No1 and that went well but then we encountered a metre swell from the last days stronger wind and had to ride that as we rounded Ponte du Hoc and the travelled along the Omaha beach. As we neared PortEn Bessin, the seas state eased back to slight and then smooth as we made our final approach, avoiding many small open fishing boats and crab pots as we went.
Upon arrival we entered the outer, and then the inner, harbour, the swing bridge opening for us helpfully and then we could moor at the visitors pontoon immediately on the right with another yacht. This pontoon mooring is now managed by the tourism office (where you pay) and is of very modest cost with electricity available if you have a cable long enough. There was scheduled to be an evening market and a firework display as this was Friday and they lay on this for every Friday in July and August. The street market fissled out in the rain but the firework display went ahead and we had the best seats in the house to enjoy it!
Weather was 24degC 68-64%RH, Barometer falling steadily from 1005 to 1003, and rain showers but good visibility. Wind less than 7knots but swell made the sea moderate at times but mostly smooth to slight.
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Sunday 26th July Ref: 2015/22
After a delightful couple of days in the centre of Port En Bassin, from which Kathleen had taken the bus rider to Bayeux to see the market and tapestries and I had caught up on some writing, we had both enjoyed the simple attraction of this honest seaside town and its fishing harbour, but it was now time to move on again. Scarily, the only time where the wind, waves and swell offshore would have decayed to make for a calm passage was very early on the morning of the Sunday and there was then forecast full gales later in the day. Studying the local meteorology for the correct timing was a necessity. Luckily, the local cafe/restuarant Rondponte IciWifi was within range of my WiFi bat and so this was made possible
The passage itself was fairly short at 26nm which was covered with the tide in less than three hours. By leaving an the unearthly hour of 04:45LT, we would arrived in Ouistrehem before the 8:30am lock opening and in time for the first 10:10 convoy transit up to Caen; the bridges only opening here for private boats at set times. The difficulty is that daylight hours are ebbing this late in July and so our planned 04:45 start would be some two hours before sunrise but the 'astronomical' twilight (where the horizon becomes visible, if not the crab pots) is at 04:48 here and so we could be all right! By my calculations, the harbour gate would be open by then, and the evening before this was confirmed as 04:15, so the passage could begin.
It was a rather scary start to the passage as it was pitch dark in the outer harbour and I had to use my searchlight to see the harbour piers and to find our way out. Then we had a particular concern to avoid any crab pot markers and so were relieved when 'nautical twilight' (horizon viewable) was replaced by normal twilight and then when the sun rose and we could see fully and increase speed towards our destination with safety. It was my crew's first experience of navigating in the dark and she did find it rather stressful but I was confident with the radar and the calmness of conditions.
The arrival in the Ouistrehem buoyed channel was very straightforward and we followed a fishing boat into the small boat lock and tied up to vertical slip wires astern of him on the starboard side with two students helping us moor. Once through, we cruised along to the Pegasus Bridge and occupied my favourite mooring downstream on the true right bank and went ashore to have a delightful coffee, omelette and croissant breakfast at the cafe with Mme Arlette Gondree-Pritchet, surviving daughter of the family first liberated during the D-Day landings when she was then six years old. Once the next bridge transit 'convoy' arrived, we joined them for the rest of the canal trip up to Caen and arrived in the pouring rain to moor in exactly the same difficult berth that I had last occupied ten years ago!
Weather from the marine.meteoconsult.fr web site was giving 6-8kn (gusting 11) breeze from the S with a 0.3/2m swell from the SSE outside Port En Bessin and the same breeze with a .6m SSE swell outside Ouistrehem falling to 0.3m by the time we get there. The glass was predicted to be falling from 1017 to 1013mb over that time which i would watch closely in passage as both sites give wind strength rising rapidly later from 14kn thro 18knt with gusts of 25-30kn by the afternoon, which would be a full gale. The Inshore Normandy forecast the night before was F2/3 smooth/slight seas with 2-5nm visibility and 0.3/4 swell until noon
The weather we actually experienced was 16-18degC, 78-68%RH as predicted but the barometer fell earlier than forecast from 1013 to 1009mb during the passage and the wind was SEly but peaked at 18kn before we gained the shelter of the coast and it fell again. I was ready to accelerate out of trouble but the sea was smooth to slight with a slight swell at one point and the visibility was good throughout thankfully.
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Wednesday 29th/ Thursday 30th July Ref: 2015/23
Our time in Caen was a mixed bag; useful as it was to hole up during some pretty serious gales and high winds, the port facilities and amenities were a bit disappointing and, apart from a good market upon arrival, some fine cafes/restaurants/bistros and bars and the Caen Memorial, we were getting bored after a few nights there. Furthermore, the marina WiFi, though free, was slow and unreliable and cut users off after an hour each day and so that was not much of an opportunity to get some work and publishing done. The restrictive canal transit convoy times, uncoordinated with the reducing number of lock times at Ouistrehem, and the few hours that the harbourmaster is in attendance also makes for difficult entry and exit.
Time was moving on, however, and the storms had ended and the waves and swell offshore from the north-west was gradually subsiding and so our next passage had to be a long one to ensure our eventual arrival back in Ramsgate in time to collect our dog from his minders. On the morning of Wednesday 29th July, we took the first bridge transit starting at Caen at 08.45am LT (the next one was not until noon and the last at 3pm) and made our way back to Pegasus bridge and used the nearby campsite Wifi to be able to monitor and weather and make our passage plans.
Next morning, the new plan was for a potentially long cruise of 56nm and 6hrs 30mins around Cap d'Antifer and on to St Valery-en-Caux, which would take us within striking range of Bolougne on the one hand, or the English coast at Eastbourne if needed. Being a long cruise newly after storms, we could have contingency arrangements to go into le Havre (an all tide port) after 21nm or 2hrs 45mins or Fecamp (39nm 4hrs 30mins) if we were not enjoying the passage. Both St Valery and Fecamp can be entered two hours each side of high water for choice. However, although the sea conditions turned out to be slight/moderate at times with a NE swell, we ploughed on and timed our arrival at St Valery dead right to councide with the gate being opened and the first bridge lift taking place.
Weather from the marine.meteoconsult.fr web site (am 29th) For the Ouistrehem and St Valery ports gave us 9-11kn breeze from the NE with 0.4-5m waves and a 0.7m swell which is bascially a F3/4 and this was what it turned out to be. The Inshore Normandy forecast the day before was F3 WNW with smooth/slight seas with 0.3-7m swell and >10nm visibility and pressure steady at 1019mb but it was slight/moderate at times with that swell.
17-31-19degC; 68-30-48%RH humidity, 1011-1018mb (steady on day 2); sl/mod seas with swell, 9-10kn NNW: good visibility
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Saturday 1st July Ref: 2015/24
Our time in St Valery-en-Caux was altogether too short and Kathleen pronounced this lovely sheltered and ancient little port the second best venue we had visited after St Vaast-le-Hougue. We certainly loved the market on the morning of our first stay and the walk out to see the dried out channel which was quite spectacular at low water Springs. I took some pictures as a future aid to navigation. The short stay was also enough for me to diagnose an instrument problem indicating a full-deflection reading on my port engine gearbox oil pressure and it turned out to be a broken wire which I then fixed.
The weather had quietened down by today and we could now cruise another longish passage from St Valery to Boulogne, which would comprise some 64 nm and take 8 hours at 8 knots. This was a cruise that I had done before in 2004, but this time we would be cruising much more slowly and planned to use 110 litres rather than the 320 litres I did then, a saving this time of some £210!
We left soon after the gate in St Valery En Caux opened around 8.45am UTC and we arrived in Boulogne around 5pm UTC (7pm local Time) which was well before dark and gave us time to settle. It was a long trip but one in fine weather and we had prepared lots of sandwiches and flasks to mark the half-hourly log recordings. We arrived just about on time and that was despite us being hauled over by a French Customs vessel outside Boulogne and made to wait a while! They called us on Ch16, asked us to go to Ch6 and then just questioned me a while and decided to let us go on our way withut boarding. Upon arrival, space was tight and there were no other large motor boats in the marina and so we had to raft against a sailing boat, which proved to be a new experience and challenge for my crew.
The breeze changed from the NW to the SW during the day and was mostly 7-8kn until the final hour when it rose to 10-12kn to oppose the tide and make the entrance to Boulogne a moderate sea which until then had been smooth/slight with a little swell. It was warm with temperatures 29degC falling to 24degC, 35-40%RH and the barometer rising from 1015mb to 1017mb during the trip. It was bright or sunny for the most part with good visibility
