Maintenance, Changing plans, hitch hikers and fog: 4-6 Sept 2014

Spectra
Paul & Norma Russell
Sat 6 Sep 2014 19:09

49:45.97N 00:21.90E

 

Maintenance, Changing plans, hitch hikers and fog: 4-6 Sept 2014

 

The two days in St Valery Sur Somme have been well spent. Andy stripped the carburettor on my outboard umpteen times before we finally replaced all of the fuel pipes and the beast burst into life. Steve managed to get the sat phone speaking to the computer and we can now download Grib (weather) files from anywhere on the planet, in theory at least. Sarah and Norma managed to get the boat sorted out from our day on the beach I think we must have had about a tonne of sand on the decks. We are now all washed, re-victualed and raring to go, all we need now is some deep water so that we can get out of here. Oh and we have finally eaten the last of Sue Fosters home baked Biscotti biscuits so we will have to wait until Madeira for some more (hint, hint). St Valery is a very nice place but two days is pretty much it I think. If you are thinking of going enter at half way between springs and neaps and be sure to skedaddle the day before MHWS and it should be all good news. If you have a deep keel (anything approaching 2 meters) I would go to Calais or Dieppe and get the bus.

Saturday morning and the tide was high enough for us to attempt exit plan number two. After questioning the locals it would seem that the tide rushes in but doesn’t get properly deep until it rebounds back from the sluice gates in the town, so the ideal time to leave is only one hour before high water. Armed with this knowledge we cast off our lines at 0840 with all hands on deck. It was a dead calm with fog patches aplenty and seals all around, popping their heads up to watch us pass as I crept rather nervously passed the 46 buoys marking the channel out to the open sea. No problems at all, we never had less than 20 cm below the keel at any time, I can’t see what all the fuss was about!!!!!

Now it was decision time, 145 miles to Cherbourg including punching the tide around Barfleur or the shorter hop of 75 miles down to Fe Camp spend the night and then on to Cherbourg tomorrow with the tide most of the way. The thick fog and light rain at the entrance to the Somme estuary made the decision for us. No wind, rain and Fog, Fe-Camp it was then.

We stuck to the shift pattern to keep things regular and it turned into a bit of a plodding along sort of day. Steve broke out the fishing gear and successfully deployed two lines of lures astern. The third line resulted in a knot of Gordian proportions which took Steve several hours to untangle, earning himself many a stab in the finger along the way. Andy and myself managed to take a brace of sun sights with the Sextant Steve Stokes gave me a year or so ago, all very Nelsonian, and Andy went through the plotting process with me. I must admit it has been 5 years since my Ocean course and I had forgotten most of it. Anyway, Andy managed a plot within three miles of our position which is pretty good in my books. I cheated and bunged the figures into an app on my I-phone and likewise managed to plot a position in the blue stuff, so happy with that. No chance of a noon site as we didn’t see the sun again all day.

About lunchtime a hitch hiker landed on the mizzen boom (see pics) and spent about 20 minutes hopping around the boat before refusing Norma‘s offer to share her cheese and onion crisps and flew of to France for finer fair I am sure.

       

 

            Arrived Fe-Camp at  1800. Next hop Fe-Camp to Cherbourg, unless we change our minds of course.

That’s it, all going well and life is sweet.