St Peter Port Guernsey
Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Wed 6 Aug 2008 10:06
BST in a berth between two yachts that was roughly 6 foot longer that we
were.
Yesterday we slipped on time at 12:20 local and made good progress, motor
sailing, using the tidal back eddy near shore, to arrive at the Raz de Sein
at more or less slack water. The Raz, given the light wind conditions from
the south was in a very benign state although there is every indication
even in this state what it could be like when the conditions are adverse.
Crossing the Bay of Douarnenez and the entrance to Brest gave us cross tides
with the ebb and again we arrived on schedule at the southern entrance to
the Chenal du Four. Once again the conditions provided us with an
uneventful passage through one of the more infamous passages in northern
European waters. Maximum tidal flow appeared to us to be about 3.5 - 4
knots but mainly in the 2-3kt region.
Leaving the Chenal du Four we had six hours of favourable tide that saw us
well on our way to Guernsey. Six hours favourable is inevitably followed by
six hours of foul tide and with lightening winds from astern motor sailing
was the order of the day. It continues to amaze me as to how much
difference 1200rpm makes to the speed of Caduceus.
The arrival in Guernsey from the south west is spectacular. Firstly the
sight of the outlying rocks and cliffs and as you round St Martin's Point,
St Peter Port suddenly opening up.
We obviously chose one of the busiest times of the year, although arriving
at 09:30 just after the pontoons had emptied with boats catching the north
bound tide helped get us a good berth. By 20:00 the story was different and
it was possible to go from pontoon to pontoon across banked up boats.