All the time we were motoring up and down the country, Sal
Darago was waiting patiently on the Deacon family mooring on the River Deben.
We made her ready for offshore sailing, packed her lockers with food, clothes,
spares and prepared for a 10 day trip, hoping to reach Santander in northern
Spain, but booking a flight to London from Bordeaux just in case.
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| Jeremy, Kathy, Ellie and Sophie on the Deben mooring |
First, we welcomed Emily, Ben, Ellie and Sophie on board for
a family BBQ at The Rocks to celebrate Em’s birthday. The rain held off until
we were eating our food. We rushed for cover under trees as the sky darkened
and the heavens opened. Ellie was amazing sitting next to me, water gathering
on her plate and not a word of complaint. Sophie was not amused to be woken by
rain bouncing on her face. Everyone warmed up back at SD with the engine
running and the radiators pumping out much needed heat. It was July in Suffolk.
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| Dieppe Marina in the heart of the town |
On Saturday we motored in calm, cloudy weather across the
Thames estuary to Ramsgate, where we anchored off the harbour. Jeremy had found
the faults in the wind instrument and the log and put them right as we
travelled. Crossing the Dover Straits the following morning was less scary than
I had expected and we had no close encounters with the many ships, ferries and
other vessels using the seaway. Once across we met a foul tide and sat it out
making about 2 knots until it turned. At one point we thought we might continue
to Cherbourg, but the west wind was on our nose and rose to force 5 with gusts
of force 7. We turned inshore and entered Dieppe Harbour at midnight, after a
scare with an outgoing ferry.
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| Entrance to Fecamp - not 24 hours |
The bad weather set in. We managed a daysail to Fecamp and
spent two nights in harbour, leaving on Wednesday with a reasonable French
inshore forecast, but on the tail end of gales in sea areas Thames, Dover and
NE Wight according to the BBC. We were in SW Wight. The rain stopped, the mist
cleared and the wind blew on the nose again. I took Stugeron and was glad when
the uncomfortable night was over.
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| Fecamp from Chapel de Notre Dame |
The main GPS stopped working as we reached Cherbourg, but
the weather was calming and the tides were right, so we continued our journey,
using our hand held GPS and noting our position on the chart plotter until the
main GPS started working again. We rounded Cap de Hague, took advantage of the
Alderney Race and zipped along at 8 knots. Once more the wind prevented us from
going in the direction we wanted (WSW) and we headed south. This gave us a
favourable tide for many hours and by midnight we were close to Ile de Brehat.
Now the tide turned and I again got the short straw managing only 5 nautical miles
in three hours. At 4pm we were close to L’Aber-Wrac’h and our diesel supplies
were depleted. The decision was made to go on in order to pass through Le
Chenal de Four and the Raz de Sein. It continued calm and despite a huge
(Spring) tide we crawled our way out of the Channel into Le Chenal de Four. We
cleared this well lit route at 2300 and noted that we needed to be through the
Raz de Sein by 0115 or the tide would turn on us and push us literally
backwards. There were only 15 miles to be covered in two and a quarter hours,
fairly easy with a good tide, BUT it just was not there. It had disappeared and
Jeremy increased the engine to the maximum safe revs. We cleared the Raz de
Sein at 0125 as the tide turned hard against us and both breathed a sigh of
relief – no more tidal gates, but where to buy diesel?
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| Waiting for diesel |
Using our pilot books, by a process of elimination, we chose
to go to the fishing port of Le Guilvinec at 0800 HW Saturday. All went well
and we pulled in alongside a pump proclaiming “DIESEL 24 HRS”. There was none
for us yachties – just for trawlers. The unhelpful Frenchman suggested Loctudy
or walking several kilometres to the nearest garage. We sought advice at a
public quay and the same unhelpful Frenchman turned up. He offered to take
Jeremy to the garage with cans for 100 litres of fuel and on their return
waited patiently while Jeremy siphoned the diesel into the tank. Finally, this
fine French chap took Jeremy back to the garage in order that our spare
containers would be full. It just goes to show that you cannot judge a book by
its cover.
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| The lighthouse at Cap de Hague |
The rest of the day and night continued calm. Jeremy accused
me of being smelly at 0300. This was not the case and he soon discovered that
the batteries were boiling. We deployed Hydrovane, our trusty wind pilot,
hoisted full sails and sailed slowly through the night and most of the next
day. While testing the batteries to find out if we could start the engine,
Jeremy forgot the helm was lashed and put on Neco, our electronic pilot.
Overheating against the strain, Neco switched itself off and would not switch
on again. We were reminded of how quickly things can go wrong on a boat. We
still had sails, steering and just enough wind to make headway.
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| Amazing fountain in Bordeaux |
The next weather forecast warned us of a 3 metre Atlantic swell
heading our way. We’d decided to make for Royen at the mouth of the Gironde,
just down river from Bordeaux, but the swell would make the entry dangerous. La
Rochelle was nearer and protected by an offshore island, so we headed for the
largest marina in Europe. Surely they would have room for us on one of their
3000 berths. Jeremy discovered that one battery was OK. The other two would
need to be replaced but could take a charge so we were able to motor into the
harbour and berth on the visitors’ pontoon in Port de Minimes.
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| Stunning stonework in Bordeaux |
Two days later we were on the train to Bordeaux, having
arranged for Sal Darago to stay in La Rochelle for 6 weeks. Ryanair’s flight to
London Stansted was on time but the National Express bus to Ipswich was
delayed, meaning an hour’s wait for us on the station platform for the next
train to Wickham Market and a 5 minute walk home.
We were back in time for Sophie’s operation on 12th
August.
