Stormbound in Guernsey
Flinns
Terry/ Nicola Flinn
Sat 18 Jun 2011 09:47
|
49:27.33N 2:32.11W
We left Gosport on Wednesday morning with John Fago on board, joining us
for the Fareham-Vannes rally.
After an exhilarating sail from Studland Bay on Thursday, with strong winds
on the nose most of the time, we arrived in Guernsey
just in time before the forecasted sustained blow set in. It’s been wet
and very windy here as a series of weather fronts crossed the Channel Islands.
We had planned to spend only a single night here in St Peter Port
mainly so that we could fill up with cheap diesel fuel.
But the winds are just too strong and from the wrong direction to
continue to Brittany, so it looks like we’re stuck here until Sunday
at the earliest.
We took the opportunity to arrange a repair to our wind generator which
suffered a mechanical failure on the passage from
Studland. A gust of wind of over 30 knots had sent it spinning
crazily out of control and the power cable was ripped out.
Nevertheless, we’ve enjoyed it here in Guernsey and have taken full
advantage of the pubs, shops and restaurants and spirits are high.
The next few legs look challenging as we will have to fight our way
westwards along the north Brittany coast towards Brest.
Thereafter, the prevailing winds should work in our favour as we
continue south to join the Rally at Vannes which starts in a week’s
time. |