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Category: Normandy Coast of France cruises 2017

Published: 29 May 2017

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Monday 19th June Ref: 2017/10

The departure arrangements went well, although it is always a tense situation when you leave later in the day as the time ticks by.  The wind was as expected and was against the prevailing and helpful tide but the sea state was smooth to slight for the most part and only moderate for a short while. As we cruised the following 3 knot tide was quite a boon but it was dragging fishing marks under and we had pull the throttles into neutral on one occasion as we had no option but to pass right over one of them and ‘freewheel’ past it.

I always monitor the real wind and tide states on board as we cruise and I became curious as the following tide started petering out too early. These tidal times are always just predictions and skippers have to be aware that climatic and meteorological factors can change them but with the breeze from the north-east against the tides I would not have expected the high water to have been earlier than predicted.

A glance at my tide tables revealed all. I had forgotten that the Almanacs give tide times for France in French Time rather than UTC and that a further hour had to be deducted and so we were nor running late! My plan was always to arrive at St Vaast a half hour before High Water and we had left 15mins earlier than that but I still increased speed to 10 knots from 8 knots for the final hour or so of the cruise such that we arrived at High Water anyway.  We followed a host of other boats in across the drying approach and had a good 5m or so depth at all times. Not being able to raise the harbourmaster, we came alongside a large Dutch-owned vessel, a Princess 53 at hammerhead C and tied up without problem, taking our own lines ashore in addition to those securing us to the other vessel.

The weather had remained hot and sunny throughout and we had to deploy our sun canopy and air conditioning to stay comfortable as we prepared for a few days’ stayas stronger winds were now predicted

Temp 22>32 degC, RH 64>32%, Pressure 1017>1015 fallingy, fair/mod viz down to 3-4 nm at times, smooth/calm seas \(occ mod)with wind less than 11 knots north-easterly

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Category: Normandy Coast of France cruises 2017

Published: 29 May 2017

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Wednesday 21st June Ref: 2017/11

This was an amazing day from many points of view; for us it was a day basking in the sunshine on the Isle de Tatihou and then the cruise to Grandcamp Maisy as fellow English and French people alike suffered a swelteringly hot day here and back in England. The cruise was very straightforward with smooth to slight seas with a very small swell but the visibility was not very good meaning that we saw little of the coast and the famous Utah beaches until our arrival on the other side of The Carentan Estuary.

The barrier out of St Vaast was opened a little early but we failed to take advantage of this as Kathleen got the forward rope stuck in the pontoon and we had to return and let her off to free it!  I cruised dead along the 146deg leading line towards the harbour entrance and my accuracy was proved desirable by scores of fishing marks being located on either side but not on the channel. Also by the two fishing boats leaving and bearing down on me on the reverse bearing!

Upon arrival at Port en Bessin, the harbour office was closed and nobody was answering the VHF until quite late and so we moored up at the end of the visitors’ pontoon C and made ourselves secure and then washed down the boat and filled up the water tanks. I was amazed by the number and activity of the fishing vessels. Grandcamp Maisy has always been a busy fishing port but seems even more so now with up to four large vessels unloading fish and crustaceans at a time into the purpose-built refrigerated warehouses along one quay and all of the other quays fully-occupied by 20+ other vessels.

I took a little walk around to check the harbour office, its display of weather and tides (tout dans Francais seulement) and then came back to help dry off Lady Martina and put her to bed for the night so that we could relax, eat and take stock at the end of what had been a very hot and exhausting but productive day. Seemingly the hottest for some 30 years.

Temp 36>28 degC, RH 29>50%, Pressure 1013>1011>1012 mb, fair/mod viz, smooth/slight seas with slight swell and wind less than 9 knots north-north-easterly

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Category: Normandy Coast of France cruises 2017

Published: 29 May 2017

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Wednesday 21st June Ref: 2017/11

I planned our route to Port de Bessin late in the day and got our Grandcamp Maisy harbourmaster to find the phone number to the tourist office there and we called it and they confirmed that the visitors’ pontoon in Port en Bessin was completely free this afternoon and so we should have every chance of finding a space. The trip was made in slightly more wind than of late at up to 11 knots but its direction was following both us and the 1-2 knot tide and so the sea was only slight/moderate and the swell not an issue

We passed Pointe du Hoc and the poignant Omaha Beach and foreshore, the site of so many young Americans losing their lives on the 6th of this month in 1944 and the wrecks of their landing craft, amphibious tanks, landing craft and support vessels were under our hull and all round us on our charts and visible on our sonar and echo sounder as we cruised on. Most of these young men remain in the cemeteries on the cliffs overlooking these beaches but for some this stretch of the Channel is their only resting place.  If the weather was as kind then as it was today, then many more of them would have survived.

The approach to Port en Bessin across the bay was a straightforward one and it just needed some careful work at the helm to turn across the following tide and hold the correct course transit into the outer and then the inner harbours.  I called port control on VHF Ch 18 and they held me there until two fishing boats exited and then I came in after them to find the visitor’s pontoon clear as predicted and the basin calm enough to enable an easy mooring, bow to the lock in an alongside mooring.

It took a while to figure out the electricity as it is one of those supply sockets where the plug has to be twisted after insertion. This was not before I had deployed a very long lead and found the second box no more cooperative than the first to just having the plug inserted! I then found an SFR ‘Fon’ internet service, which is affiliated to my home account with BT Fon in England and the KPN Fon in Holland and has served me well with fast and efficient connections during my travels and that was a welcome alternative to the use of my 4G phone data allowance of 20GByte monthly.

Unfortunately, as before when we visited, there is no water but I had anticipated that and filled up before we left Grandcamp Maisy. 

Temp 27>29>27 deg C, RH 51>45%, Pressure 1015 mb steady, good viz, slight occ mod seas and wind less than 11 knots westerly

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Category: Normandy Coast of France cruises 2017

Published: 29 May 2017

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Monday 26th June Ref: 2017/12a

I took a walk to the Port-en-Bessin harbour wall to see the ‘lie of the land’ at low water so as to judge the best course to take out of the place should the gates have opened earlier than the published time for  at 10.35am this morning, which is often the case. In fact it was just after the published time that the gates opened and then later still before we could edge ourselves into the queue of fishing boats all anxious to get out and start working. I had noted the times we were due at various waypoints and this told me that we kept falling behind our schedule to arrive at 1.15pm, the time that I believed that we had to be at Ouistrehem Lock. I cut as many corners as I could do safely to keep on schedule and then accelerated several times to ensure we arrived on time.

I did this only to find out that that the time specified was for the exit lock to the sea and the one to go inland was 30 mins later, such that we could have relaxed and gone in our own time after all! Nevertheless, it was nice to open up the engines again and have a fast end to the passage and so we just moored up at the pontoon to wait. The wind and tide had strengthened as we locked through Ouistrehem as the only boat and then started making our way up the Orme Canal. The next ‘convoy’ for going through the bridges was not due to start at Pegasus bridge until 4.30pm and so we had two hours and so I stopped at my favourite mooring downstream of that bridge and we visited the Pegasus Bridge memorial museum.

We had a very good tour hosted by long-term guide Margaret who told the story with true respect and fondness for she has started her working career here and then came back later and has never left since. She had met all of the Veterans of the Airborne Division who had since passed away, we think, and she related very many of the stories that they had told her. Also those of one of the two German soldiers who were guarding the bridge when we attacked, the other 20 sleeping in a nearby block-house after a birthday celebration that night. Aged only 18, he ran and saved himself at the time, hiding in a tree of two days before surrendering. The most poignant anecdote she told us was of a 97-year-old who confessed to having shot three surrendering German soldiers on another occasion after having his close friend shot through the eye next to him and the poor chap had sought her forgiveness and understanding after 70 years of guilt, which she found to be a very humbling experience. 

We were so taken with the visit that we followed the guide to see the Horsa replica glider and the grounds and so stayed much later than would have been in time for that bridge convoy and therefore decided to stay the night at those moorings. After our museum visit, we walked over to the Pegasus Bridge café for refreshment. The daughter of the original owner who was there on June 6th 1944 when it was the first hosue liberated still runs the place and, after she had served another couple, I said ‘You are still here then?’ and she replied, ‘I hope so’  and the couple said, ‘ have you been here a long time?’ and she said, ‘quite a while’ and I said to them, ‘She was here as a young girl when they all arrived on D day’ and she asserted, ‘I am still a young girl now!’ and of course I agreed.

Unfortunately, as before when we visited, there is no water (just like at Port-en-Bessin) but I had anticipated that and filled up before we left Grandcamp Maisy and our large water tank still delivered our showers daily and all of our needs. The new domestic battery bank also coped admirably to providing 230v electricity  in the absence of shore-power and used the new TV and DVD to watch the 'D-day' film, 'the Longest Day' as it seemed to be the appropriate thing to do....

Temp 24>29 deg C, RH 64>42%, Pressure 1013>1011 mb falling slowly, rain,, good viz, smooth/slight seas and wind less than 11 knots NNEly