SELENE - CAPTAINS LOG
Summer Cruise 1 of 2 July 10-21 2007
Our original plan was Jersey, St. Malo, Guernsey & Alderney, but after discovering that 300+ yachts from the 100th annual Cowes to St. Malo race would be arriving in St. Malo along with us, we canned St. Malo, and decided to spend more time chilling and to really see the Channel Islands properly.
Tuesday 10th – Wednesday 11th July 2007
We left Haslar at 1900 in glorious sunshine, under motor as the wind was still light. The final decision as to whether to take the Needles or go Bembridge was made with the weather forecaster who assured me that the wind wouldn’t go SW until we were in the Alderney Race, thus saving an extra hour going around the Needles for the better angle.
He got that right but his WNW 3 occasionally 4 decreasing NW 2-3 wasn’t. The direction was WNW but once we cleared the Island, we never saw less than 18 knots apparent wind speed.
However, it was flat calm through the forts and Julia cooked and we ate our evening meal in the cockpit whilst Otto (Otto-Pilot) drove. We cleared up and having turned South at Bembridge Ledge, we hoisted full sail into a freshening breeze. The forecaster was right about a nasty chop East of the IOW and as we came out into the Channel, the sea cut up badly, and the wind rose and rose. (Partly the headland effect) I soon doubled reefed and we were seeing early to mid twenties on the wind speed, and being tossed around by the sea.
As darkness fell, Julia started to feel unwell, and although she is usually a salty sea-dog, she had been ill during the week, was run down, and we weren’t sure about the food we’d just eaten, so it wasn’t just the sea state. However, she was soon unable to crew effectively.
It was now dark, and the compass light failed, so I only had the electronics to steer by which are always a bit slow to react especially in such a sea. Whilst Otto was driving, this was fine, but his lights started to flash, and suddenly the heading compass failed, and all the heading readings were 100 degrees out. Needless to say, Otto couldn’t cope and packed up. I took over. By now we were seriously overpowered and I’d lost both my crew, so I dropped the main, and we were still flying at 8 knots under jib alone.
Then we hit the East going shipping lanes, and the overlays required for the automatic collision avoidance weren’t working as they relied on the heading input, but at least the radar and AIS worked. We got caught in a ferry sandwich and had a nasty moment, as having just cleared one (we were the stand on vessel) the next one loomed but I couldn’t maintain a steady course due to the wind and waves. He was baffled and put his massive spotlight on, I was too busy to radio him, so I spun the boat out of his way, and ran between the two ferries until they were clear. It was one of those moments where I nearly ran out of ideas, but came through in the end. The ferries were about half a mile apart and not quite line abreast.
By now Julia had to go below and lie down, so I settled down for a solo night Channel crossing without autopilot. I had a breather before the next batch of five vessels, and by now was manually calculating the collision risks with the radar and the AIS, since the radar told me about vessels before I could see them and the AIS then told me their speed and heading, so I had time to draw the lines on the chart before they appeared as lights. (The slowest was doing 16knts)
I used the trick of knowing this and making sure I altered course before a risk arose, so they all knew they would cross ahead – I never trust crossing ahead – I’d rather always go behind, and hate being the stand on boat. At one point I had three boats coming from the left almost line abreast, one ferry coming straight towards me and one coming up from astern. I would definitely have panicked without the AIS and radar – it was well…, “interesting”.
The wind had eased by now, so I motor sailed with the jib until it was light, before putting up the double reefed main again. It did pick up from time to time and at one point it was so rough the dinghy was bounced off the sugar scoop and I had a hell of a job getting it back onto the scoop!
Soon it started to get light around 0400, and as it got lighter, the sun came up and I was beating into a stiff breeze on a moderate sea and was really enjoying myself. Julia put in an appearance but still wasn’t well and after half an hour had to go below again.
We then rounded the Cap de la Hague and rather than take the race itself, as I was Jersey bound, I cut through the overfalls about 2 miles off and it was a cracking sail. Massive waves coming across the beam, but by now all boats were beating as the wind had gone round, but clearly the sea hadn’t followed yet. The sun was out, and although the sea was rolling through us, Selene sailed really well. We were going faster and higher than quite a number of the boats around us, which really pleased me. Crossing ahead of a 38 footer on a higher tack was particularly pleasing. The skipper had a quizzical look!
We passed Alderney and could soon see Sark and the top of Guernsey, still stonking along under double reef. Julia came out into the sunshine again, but the sea was still quite big, and so she went down below again. After 20 and a half hours, we were approaching St. Helier Harbour, and I woke Julia, who was OK as we were now into much calmer waters.
On the auto pilot note, when it got light, I tried to see if I could reset the heading. It wouldn’t play, but on two legs when the wind eased slightly I somehow convinced it to work even though the heading was 100 degrees different to the GPS course, it somehow made the adjustments and I had two brief spells of respite from the helm. Lashing the helm doesn’t work on Selene – certainly not when motor sailing nor in bigger seas. One good thing about Otto, was that he did work along the South of Jersey, so I was able to drop sails and get ready for port as we neared St. Helier.
The sun was still shining and we sat in the cockpit basking shortly after arrival. Only I was drinking alcohol though! Journey was 121 NM, in 20 hours 47 minutes.
I had a power nap of 40 minutes, and we went to the Yacht club for dinner, came back watched a DVD and had a nightcap, and early to bed.
Thursday 12th July 2007
Fairly lazy morning, weather grey and drizzle, and still windy. Went into St. Helier, looked around and it was soon beer-o-clock, so a couple of pints of Bass were downed and we carried on trying to select a restaurant for the evening, and just touristing.
We went to book a hire car for Friday at 4pm, and the man said we could have the car straight away for the same money. Yippee! He also recommended Bistro Central, which we checked out and booked into, and then shot off in the car. We drove the South and West of the island, and generally took in the scenery and a ruined castle. Stopped at a pub, and then came back into town, changed and had a superb meal at Bistro Central.
Friday 13th July 2007
Summer officially arrived – blue skies, sunny and hot, with light winds. We took the car East and stopped at La Rocque and Gorey, where after spending ages in the magnificent castle, we had a picnic lunch overlooking the sea.
We then cruised East and North and stopped in a superb little bay, and had a Pimms at the Waters Edge Hotel. We then took in the steam and motor museum and came back to change for dinner. We drove back to Gorey and ate at the Dolphin Hotel – Lobster & seafood in general – yum!
Saturday 14th July 2007
Summer was short-lived, and it rained overnight and was grey this morning. However, it’s a bit more cheerful now. I had some jobs to do, and spent a while on the phone to Andy AT Greenham Regis, and we felt it was either the heading computer (most likely) or the fluxgate compass, so for now I have bypassed the heading computer and fed the fluxgate compass directly into the auto helm. If Otto now works, it’s the computer, if he doesn’t it’s the fluxgate. Did this and was finally able to set the heading correctly, so I think we may have Otto tomorrow, but can’t tell until we are out there. Also needed to adjust the mast gate and shake out the reefs.
We had lunch in the cockpit and then walked out along the causeway to Elizabeth Castle. That wasn’t as impressive as the one at Gorey, but worth the trip. Of course, the water had risen so we had to take the duck back.
We came back and I lit one of those instant BBQs on the pontoon (metal end of the finger) and we had massive prawns and tuna. Early night ready for the off in the morning.
Sunday 15th July 2007
We said Goodbye to St. Helier at 0800 and motored in little wind south of the Island. It then picked up enough, so that we could sail under cruising chute all the way up the Western side and then the wind died, so we motored into Havre Gosselin on Sark, where they’ve now laid nice mooring buoys. What an idyllic spot.
We had lunch in the cockpit and then wandered into Sark, and the place was dead. No tourists today, and also you can’t drink on Sundays unless you’re eating, so the pub doesn’t even bother to open. I managed a beer by eating a bag of crisps.
We then sunbathed whilst waiting for the tide into St. Peter Port. And left at 1650, motoring in absolutely no wind to Guernsey. We arrived along with many waiting boats, but slipped into the line and got a finger. As we came through over the sill, we heard a familiar voice calling us – it was Jez from Ransom. He is taking the boat solo to Brest where Nicky is joining him on Thursday.
As we moored, we realised we were in the middle of some do, as the pontoon was very busy with marquees and bars and it transpired a free band for the evening! Free entertainment, and a friend in port!
We had a quick beer with Jez, and then had a meal in town at Christies, and then met Jez for a few more beers at the “do” which had a tribute Beatles band. They were OK.
We had nightcaps on Selene of course.
Monday 16th July 2007
We went and had coffee with Jez before he set off.
We then went around the town, and decided on Da Nello for this evening’s meal. We visited the Guernsey Yacht Club and the Royal Channel Islands YC (Which is reciprocal with our Royal Southampton YC) and then after shopping in M&S we had lunch in the cockpit in glorious sunshine. We sunbathed, and I fell asleep whilst Julia went shopping!
Da Nello was excellent, and we had a splendid evening.
Tuesday 17th July 2007
I collected the hire car, and we drove off around the island. Much more rugged looking, but still with many forts. We had lunch near the airport at a pub, outside in the hot sunshine as we were out of the fresh breeze. We stopped at a few tourist places, but preferred Jersey as an Island. We didn’t find anywhere to eat out in the evening by car, as we had done on Jersey, and came back and dropped the car back early evening.
Wednesday 18th July 2007
We spent the morning cleaning the boat and after shopping at M&S, we chilled in the cockpit in glorious sunshine until eating at the little Bistro along he front, which was a bit of a disappointment as it was our last night in St. Peter Port.
Thursday 19th July 2007
We set off for Alderney, and based on the weather, I planned to spend the afternoon there and sail back to Cowes overnight as the Friday forecast looked maybe a tad too windy, and certainly horribly wet.
We took the fast current through the Little Russel and it only took us just over 3 hours to do the 25 miles to Braye. We took the South of the Island route, as it would have been a bit fierce in the Swinge at that state of tide and wind direction. It was grey and wet all morning, but cleared and got sunny as we came into Braye on Alderney.
We quickly picked up a buoy close to the shore and took the tender in. I explained we were going at 20:30 and the Harbour Master let us moor for nothing!
We walked into town and ate at the Georgian, which was fantastic and came back and drank in the new hotel right by the harbour. The weather was now glorious, and we met a great Dutch couple called Job (pronounced “Yop”) and Regina and drank champagne with them.
We then went back to the boat and prepared to sail. I decided to leave a little earlier than planned even though I knew the Needles to Hurst would be slow, just to get ahead of the weather as it was still really nice. Lovely sunset as we motored out.
The wind was extremely variable and it was soon drizzling and coming from different directions, so I motor sailed with full main, which helped sometimes.
Got back into radar and AIS mode, Julia went below as she needed sleep, so I settled in for the night shift. At approx 2249, it was dark and raining and I had negotiated some 15 vessels in the east going lanes, and was now going through the west going lanes (18 vessels scattered across the line) about due North of cap de la hague. I was watching a line of three big ones ahead of me on the radar about 6 miles away but hadn't looked at their ais details yet. They were all roughly on 269 - me 021. (This is not in the TSS but the traffic is in line with the lanes)
Suddenly the one in the middle of the three, cuts across the bows of its left neighbour and is now heading straight for me. I now look at the ais and see it's the Pride of Bilbao. It seems to be coming at me for ages, but I remember the MAIB report and that the POB turns very slowly, so I kept watching the ais and sure enough he eventually went 198 and 190.
Good job I didn't turn to starboard when I thought he was coming at me. 190 was still scarey close though, and I then think he saw that on his radar, and went 180 - passed about one mile to starboard.
I also had a tanker bound for the Cape turn 180 in front of me about half an hour later! At least it all happened well in front of me, but again for a while his course was at me. All I can say is that I am glad I had the radar and ais - that was a comfort. IMO, it's essential for x-channel at night if you are in a position to have / use it.
Friday 20th July 2007
By dawn the weather was very wet, cold and miserable, and the hot chocolate Julia made me when she appeared around 0500 was very welcome. I then took an hour’s kip, and we made very slow progress from the Needles to Hurst as predicted in very gloomy and grey damp conditions. The tide turned as we came through Hurst and we sped up the Western Solent. Sadly, the heavens opened as we got to Cowes, and it chucked it down. We were somewhat drenched as we pulled into the fuel berth and topped our tank up.
We were booked into East Cowes for Friday and initially we were in the main visitors’ section, and they had agreed to let us stay for Saturday as well after we pleaded with them. Later after a sleep, one of the staff came round and offered us a finger pontoon, which we jumped at and so we got prime spot at the foot of the ramp!
Keith and Lorna had car problems, so delayed arriving till Saturday, and we ate in the Red Duster in Cowes - very nice. Cowes quiet because of the weather.
Saturday 21st July 2007
Everywhere filled up during the day, as there were lots of rallies like us all going to Osborne House for the Last Night of the Proms open air concert. Keith and Lorna arrived and had coffee, and then Julia and I went to Cowes. Julia shopping me checking out the beer at the Anchor and the ISC.
We were picked up by coach along with some other RSYC people and whisked up for a fantastic concert. We got a little cold at one point, but the rain held off. Great night out and is in the diary for next year.
We were invited for drinks aboard Tahula and met Brian and Dawn along with Christine and Jeremy who have a boat at Harleyford, and Audrey, Colin, Shirley and David. We had a musical session and a great time was had by all!
Sunday 22nd July 2007
The weather really improved and we had a lovely sunny day. We got the cruising chute up on the way back, and sailed all the way. Many gybes and feather light touch on the helm as we went in search of the wind!
Keith and Lorna caught 19 mackerel, and so mackerel was added to our BBQ agenda for the evening. We came back, watched the end of the Open Golf, and had a wonderful BBQ. Early night ended a great holiday.