Ah but what a trip!...The usual unhealthy, but extremely appealing, combination of boys trip sailing, copious quantities of alcohol and plenty of good food results in me now sitting here with a hangover and a sore throat from all the laughing!It all started with a mad dash down to Lymington Thursday evening after work, unfortunately via Harwich, as i'd left my passport on the boat, but eventually I arrived at Nicks boat, Fiddler's Dream, and we cast off soon after into the dark towards St Vaast.The passage out was uneventful really, barring the usual fun of being popped through Hurst Narrows like a cork with the strong tide, and then being bounced a bit through the Needles passage where the might of the English channel tides tries to force its way over the shallow rock ledge called the Bridge, and inevitably cuts up a bit rough.... but nothing too serious, and Nick's boat as a Moody 44 pushed it aside in her stride.We settled into the normal cross channel routine, and with around 18 to 20kts of wind, soon had her flying along.... Nick served up a great chicken dish, produced by his wife Karen, and we were on our way.Sadly just 1/2hr later, the combination of being very tired from a long week at work with too many early starts, a rough-ish sea, and a very rich meal saw me present the meal to the fishes, which caught me by surprise a little, as its the first time i've been sick on a boat in many years. It wasn't however full blown sea sickness, as I had little warning, and then felt right as rain again afterways for the rest of the journey.We had a little maneouvering to cope with in the middle of the channel as the ships passed out of the Western TSS and set themselves up for the Eastern one, but nothing too troubling....It was, apart from the above, pretty uneventful, and as we got within about 10nm of Barfleur lighthouse on the French coast, the wind had dropped enough that Nick was starting to express concern about us making the entrance window for the tidally constrained St Vaast, so the engine went on, and we approached the coast, and rounded the corner into St Vaast itself as the early morning dawned.A great crossing in just under 12hrs.St Vaast started as planned with a large fried breakfast, and then we got our heads down for a few hours to compensate for the missed night's sleep.By mid afternoon, we were somewhat refreshed, so wandered over to few other boats to say hello, and of course share a beer with them, and by evening, decided that the three of us onboard Fiddler's Dream (Nick, myself and other invited crew member Rick) would have a quiet meal in St Vaast, and get our heads down early.... pah!The meal itself was very good, and in a restaurant that was delightfully named 'The Nelson'.... rather an interesting choice for a French restaurant!.... In particular the starter was a seafood platter that excelled itself, with a whole Crab, Oysters, Whelks, Mussels, Langoustine, Prawns, and all manner of other unidentified delicacies..... very nice indeed. By 21h00, we were ready to go back to the boat for a night cap and a sleep.... no chance....!.... we were soon joined by other revellers, and eventually retired for the night, a little worse for the wear (sorry about emptying the brand new bottle of Port Nick!) at about 00h30.Saturday started off with real promise, with warmth in the air as early as 08h00, and when we slipped by about 09h00, it was sunny and pleasant.... the wind was lighter than the previous day, and so we motored out of St Vaast into about 14kts and flat seas and soon had the sails up and the engine off.... we'd decided the previous evening that we'd try the rather more challenging inshore passage, which zig zags through the rocks and wrecks... this proved to be a great decision, as it was challenging navigation, great fun to sail, and enabled us to get as close as 100m to the shore on one occasion rather than the normal 3nm off. It had a couple of slightly disconcerting moments, as we watched the depth rapidly shallow, and could see significantly disturbed water ahead, but careful nav saw us through. We did miss some of the final route as the wind would have been on the nose to get us through a rather narrow (10m wide) passage between two submerged rocks, and we didn't want to start the engine and spoil the moment, but apart from this, we managed perfectly.We slotted neatly into the Eastern entrance to Cherbourg to find quite a few boats from the gang having already arrived.Again, and afternoon of loitering, drinking beer, and chatting to old friends, and making a few new ones culminating in Roger's boat, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42DS having at least 25 people stood on board, and still remaining afloat!We set off to the restaurant previously booked to arrive just in time, and settled in for an evening of tale sea tales, food and excellent company. (thanks Fergus and Roger - great organisation - a fabulous evening!)Following a trend we eventually found ourselves back on the boat enjoying a night cap with about 15 other people, and god knows what time we got to bed.A relaxed start to the day Sunday, and we set off into 15kts of wind just at an angle sufficient that we could saul hard on the wind, and started the return back to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.The journey started well, for as we left the inner harbour and entered the outer harbour, the Grande Raide, A dolphin was entertaining the ribs with a spectacular jump and high speed maneouvres.The trip back across to the Solent was equally uneventful, with only two maneouvres needed to avoid ships, and by early evening we slotted past the Bridge Cardinal again, and shot through into the Solent, hitting a remarkable 12.5kts over the ground with the assistance of the impressive tide flooding through Hurst Narrows.Tied up in Yarmouth, we grabbed the water taxi ashore for much needed showers, and then a very pleasant meal in the Kings Head, with a few pints of decent beer, and a timely pub quiz evening, in which we sadly failed to cover ourselves in glory by not knowing the answer to apparently obvious questions like who wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!... still we had a great evening, with lots of laughter again, and early the next morning, set off for the very short hop across to Lymington, where we sorted ourselves out, helped clear the boat up, settled up financial imbalances and set off home tired, a little sunbunt and happy.Thanks Nick and Rick, a truly brilliant weekend, with some fabulous sailing and thoroughly enjoyable company. I can quite understand why Nick is so proud of his boat.... she is lovely.
Miles logged 180nm
Miles this season 922nm
Miles since this blog started 3,869nm
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