Channel Cruise: Part 5 - Back to Southampton

On Sunday 5th August we set off for Southampton.  We asked the berthing master to help turn us around in the fairway and set off into Yarmouth Roads, where we got the sails raised with no reefs.  It was just about perfect sailing conditions, as we headed up the western Solent to Gurnard, before gybing, skirting the Bramble Bank and Calshot Spit and reaching up Southampton Water to Weston, where we dropped our sails.  We then headed up the Itchen, filling the fuel tanks at Itchen Towage before returning to Toucando's pontoon.

Just off Newtown Creek we encountered Four Seasons.  They had left Alderney a day after us.  It was good to see them again.  They seemed to be pointing cameras at us.  I am hoping that there will be some nice photographs of us in due course.

Thanks very much to Colin and Roger for crewing and enabling Toucando to make her first cross channel cruise from Southampton.

Roger and Colin somewhere in the English Channel

Roger and Andrew in the Solent - with a Dutch gaffer

Voyage of Toucando

Channel Cruise: Part 4 - Braye to Yarmouth via Poole

On Friday 3rd August we set off from Braye towards Poole.  It was a frustrating day as the wind was pretty much directly from behind, which may sound good, but isn't.  Boats roll about in such conditions and don't go as fast as you would like.  So although we sailed some of the way, most of the time we were motor sailing.  The only excitement came when we lost the tender, which we were towing, as a result of a poor round turn and two half hitches.  Fortunately it was spotted 200 metres behind and we had an interesting 20 minutes recovering it.  We were allocated our berth at Poole Quay and had the satisfaction of having completed a second channel crossing.

On Saturday we left our berth with some difficulty.  There was a brisk southerly blowing.  It would be hard to explain all the complications, but long keeled gaffers do not tend to go well in reverse at slow speeds.  Anyhow, we avoided hitting anything and warped ourselves round so we were facing the right way to go out forwards.  We motored out of the harbour, raised the main with two reefs, rolled out the staysail and had a good sail across Poole and Christchurch Bays.

We arrived at the Needles and sailed up towards Hurst very nicely.

The Needles (with the Bridge Buoy) from Toucando

We made pretty good progress until we were at Fort Albert when the falling tide slowed us right down.  It took a while to get up to Yarmouth, and then the lowering of the mainsail caused a little confusion.  Eventually all was sorted out and we made our way into the harbour where we rafted up on the green pontoon.

Andrew and Roger sorting out Toucando and the tender on the green pontoon at Yarmouth

We had a pleasant meal ashore at the Wheatsheaf courtesy of Colin, and were ready for the final leg of the trip back to Southampton.

Channel Cruise: Part 3 - St Peter Port to Braye Harbour

We didn't need to leave St Peter Port until after lunch, so we took the opportunity to do some victualling and in my case walk up to the museum.

St Peter Port Harbour with Herm across the water as seen from park

We set off having topped up the fuel tank and bought some more cooking gas and headed off back up the Little Russel.  The first part of the passage was fairly uneventful.  It was a slightly hazy day and we eventually sighted Alderney and the Casquests (the rocky islands to the west).  There was a real Atlantic swell rolling in from the west... big but very gentle waves, the remnant of some storm thousands of miles away.  Toucando rolled from side to side... all the crockery rattled as we went first one way then the other, and anything left loose  flew from side to side.

We had decided to approach via the Swinge - the stretch of water between Alderney and Burhou.

Alderney with Burhou in the top left and the Swinge in between

The Swinge is one of those places with a fearsome reputation, which proved well deserved.  We had been sailing, but took our sails down having conferred with Four Seasons over the VHF.  They said that it was "exciting".  We were certainly going fast with the help of the tide.  Ahead we could see a line of white breaking waves between the tip of Burhou and somewhere south of Braye Harbour entrance.  I took the tiller, and steered straight towards the wall of water: I wanted us to go into this head on.  Suddenly we were in a violent and confused sea, with standing waves, whirlpools and the rest.  It would not have surprised me to see the tentacles of a kraken reach out and curl round the mast.  We pitched back and forth, burying the bowsprit in the waves ahead, the stern sometimes coming clean out of the water and the tiller feeling light as there was nothing but air to steer by.  Each wave came very quickly after the other.  Our speed through the water was next to nothing, but over the grounds we were doing six or seven knots.  We were being hurled through the Swinge with the tide behind us.  Toucando shook and quivered with every wave.  It would have made a good video, but none of us were ready to do that.  Colin kept a watch on the chart plotter assuring me that there was plenty of sea room ahead.  I'm not sure how long it took... maybe a quarter, perhaps half and hour, but evenutually we were through it and out the other side not too far from the entrance to Braye Harbour.

It may or may not have looked like this

We turned into the harbour and started looking for a mooring buoy in the dusk.  Eventually we found one near the main harbour and secured Toucando before having a restorative beef goulash.  I had a can of Tanglefoot, my first alcohol in a year (not counting a very nice sherry trifle at Christmas). It had been an interesting day.

Toucando moored in Braye Harbour

In the morning we caught the water taxi ashore and walked up to St Anne's, the only town on Alderney. Although the population of the island is tiny, just over 2,000, it does feel like a little town, with a high street lined with granite houses, plenty of pubs, and shops which meet the island's needs as well as the whims of tourists.

Street scene in St Anne's, Alderney

We went our separate ways.  I wandered south past Crabby and various forts along the rocky coast line, looking out at the Swinge.  The tide was running in the opposite direction.  The confused water was in a different place, and I watched with interest a yacht try to make its way through against it.... very slowly indeed.

Alderney view... with fort and the Swinge overfalls clearly visible between the island and Burhou

I took a look around the museum in the afternoon, which had some interesting displays about island life, including the evacuation during the second world war, before doing another loop of walk north of Braye to yet more forts.

The whole Southampton Sailing Club party gathered together at the Braye Sailing Club before going to the renowned Chippy just by the old harbour.  It deserved its reputation: it was packed out.  I enjoyed haddock and chips with home made tartare sauce.  We exchanged stories about our experiences getting to Alderney... most of which focussed on the terrors of the Swinge.

Alderney Chippy

Channel Cruise: Part 2 - Cherbourg to St Peter Port

It was a fairly early start on Monday 30th July to get up and out of Cherbourg to catch the tide down to Cap de la Hague, the pointy western tip of the Cotentin Peninsula. We left our mooring without difficulty, raised the sails in the harbour and headed off into the Channel. It was motor sailing into a wind with a lot of west into it.

The sea was reasonably calm and we made good progress along the French coast, seeing the massive Joburg nuclear reprocessing plant high on the hill as well as a few small villages and the Cap lighthouse. As we approached the Cap the waves got bigger. Although we were a good few miles off shore we were clearly experiencing the effect of the tide rushing round the corner. Toucando pitched quite a bit, slamming down into the troughs between the waves. Eventually we got through it and were able to turn onto a more south westerly heading towards the Alderney Race. I had been through the race on Morwenna a couple of years ago. On both times the experience was similar... a lot of help from the tide, but no particular excitement. Unfortunately the wind still stayed on the bow so we continued to motor sail. Maybe next time I'll tack to windward, but on this occasion navigation and a timely passage was the priority.

We could see the other members of our fleet much of the time: Four Seasons, Sheena, Bianca, Siskin. We saw Alderney of to starboard, and the outlines of Sark, Herm and Guernsey ahead.

Alderney as we made our way to St Peter Port, Guernsey

We entered the Litle Russel, the channel between Guernsey and Herm. There are a lot of rocks about... mostly fairly close to one or other island, some more in the middle, but generally well marked. We made our way down to St Peter Port without any particular difficulty, lowered the sails outside the harbour, waited for Four Seasons to negotiate the mooring. We then rafted up alongside FS on one of the pontoons in the outer harbour (Toucando is too big and unmanoueverable to go into the marina.)

Roger helming us through the Little Russel

On Tuesday we spent the day sight seeing. My mission was to acquire a new Guernsey sweater. I had got one on my Morwenna trip, which had proved very good value: warm and very hard wearing. Roger decided to accompany me. The shop was on the western side of the island, although the bus driver claimed it had closed, a quick check on the iPhone established it was still operational. We caught the 7a - the bus which gowes round the island anti-clockwise. All fares are £1.00 - brilliant! The bus first winds through St Peter Port and St Sampson, then along the rugged north coast, full of cliffs and bays and forts. Eventually we got to Fort Grey, next to which the sweater shop operates. I was able to find one in a nice sea green. We had a cup of tea in the neighbouring cafe and walked out to the fort.

View from Fort Grey, Guernsey

We caught the next 7a to complete the circuit. We then went to a pontoon party on a couple of the SSC boats... bring your own crisps and ginger beer. Some of the fleet were going to continue south to Jersey and Brittany. Some had to go straight back home. Toucando, Four Seasons and Sheena were going off to Alderney. We said our good byes.

Castle Cornet, St Peter Port, by moonlight

We ate at the Swan pub that night. Fortunately it was not an early start for the north going tide so we were able to spend Wednesday morning having a further look around St Peter Port.

Channel Cruise: Part 1 - Southampton to Cherbourg

The crew assembled on Friday 27th July. Toucando had been victualled and prepared for the voyage. Roger of Southampton Sailing Club, and Colin who had sailed on Toucando recently both came to Shamrock Quay in the afternoon.

We set off shortly after 1700 towards Yarmouth, our chosen first night destination. Our voyage was to take us across the English Channel and to last nine days... Toucando's longest trip since her passage from Dublin last year. The cruise was in company with several other Southampton Sailing Club boats, led by Four Seasons.

We were able to sail some of the way down to Yarmouth, but needed the engine as well. We found a mooring buoy outside the harbour before darkness fell. We ate a Mediterranean chicken stew on board and got ready for an early start the following morning.

Our mooring buoy off Yarmouth

To get the best of the tide through the Needles Channel we aimed to leave at 0515 on Saturday 28th July. We actually slipped our mooring ten minutes later. We soon got the sails raised and were able to sail down the last few miles of the Solent, past the Needles before turning left and steering 185 degrees for Cherbourg.

We were on a pleasant starboard tack, with just the right amount of wind... an unusual experience. Toucando made a decent speed and we progressed steadily, making one (probably unnecessary) deviation for large shipping. As planned we arrived uptide of Cherbourg and were able to slide into the Western Entrance of the Grande Rade diagonally, to the astonishment of the crew who were slightly alarmed that we appeared to be heading straight for the harbour wall.

At 1703 we were the first to arrive, and had made an excellent time. It took slightly longer than we had expected to get the mainsail down. The wind had got a fair bit stronger in the final hours of the crossing. When we entered La Chantereyne Marina we had expected to be greeted by a lady in a red dory... but she was nowhere to be seen. We did a quick circuit before retreatring to the Petit Rade to await the arrival of Four Seasons. It seemed that the marina had not reserved places for us, so we wnded up distributed all over. Toucando finished up on the waiting pontoon... not connected to dry land (but we are used to that). We had a bolognese aboard.

Toucando in the sunset at Cherbourg

Sunday was a free day. We had established in a morning trip ashore that nothing much happens in Cherbourg on Sunday, and unfortunately the convenient Carrefour supermarket just by the harbour is being rebuilt, making any significant shopping difficult.

In the afternoon the skipper took advantage of visiting the Cite de la Mer, a major tourist attraction. Although it was only a frw hundred metres from where Toucando was moored it was a long (but not unpleasant) walk round the harbour to get there. It is based in the old liner terminal and one of the first rooms you go in is the baggage hall... quite impressive, I thought.

Liner baggage hall in cherbourg, now part of the Cite de la Mer museum

That room told the story of French emigration to America. Other parts of the museum were devoted to the Titanic (which stopped in Cherbourg for one and a half hours en route to Queenstown, and thence to its nemesis); diving and submarines (including a decommissioned nuclear sub), and a rather atmospheric aquarium.

Jellyfish

(I could post a few more like this.)

Nuclear submarine

I would recommend Cite de la Mer to anybody with a day to spare in Cherbourg. In the evening the whole Southampton Sailing Club part gathered in the Yacht Club restaurant where we enjoyed some French Cuisine... a duck and anchovy salad, a salmon steak, and creme caramel in my case. The following day we would be setting off towards St Peter Port Guernsey. (To be continued.)

Home again

Toucando is back on the Itchen after a nine day cruise to Cherbourg, Guernsey, Alderney, Poole and Yarmouth. A detailed account will appear in the next few days.

Isle d'Aurigny

We spent two days in St Peter Port, Guernsey, and are now in Braye Harbour on Alderney. The Swinge was quite exciting with standing waves and confused seas.