A bit miffed with Alderney

You couldn't get a better island. We have never had a problem with anchoring or picking up a mooring buoy/rafting.

When we were gale bound for a few days, we ended up in the inner harbour and were very well looked after by the locals, to well in fact, the boat dried out but we didn't!!
 
hisw said:
You couldn't get a better island. We have never had a problem with anchoring or picking up a mooring buoy/rafting.

When we were gale bound for a few days, we ended up in the inner harbour and were very well looked after by the locals, to well in fact, the boat dried out but we didn't!!
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+1 A certain Cricket Commentator and Alderney Resident, sadly now passed on, described it to me a 3000 drunks clinging to a rock. Definitely my kind of place! Been going there for well over 20 years and it's now unquestionably the best CI now the Barclay Brothers have B(@@$&d up Sark.
 
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Greetings, just my tuppence worth: A magical island, where else can you explore Napoleonic-era barracks and forts, with original fixtures and fittings, dangerous holes to nearly fall down, all by yourself with no fences, and hear the ghosts of the squaddies complaining.. then climb the hill and sit in a Wermacht 8.8cm gun emplacement, and see German grafitti scratched in the concrete, and marvel at the perfect position to cover the bay?

Then meet up with the skipper in the friendly Divers's Bar, and have a pint of beer with a (uniformed local airline) Britten-Norman Islander (Trislander?) captain, who needed a strong stirrup cup before flying his passengers to England, because it was so windy!

(Windy enough to force us to pull in, in a Siggy 41 with strong crew, so I dont blame him ;) )

Look forward to my next visit.
 
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hisw said:
we ended up in the inner harbour and were very well looked after by the locals, to well in fact, the boat dried out but we didn't!!
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That matches my much briefer stop in the inner harbour - we called in for water to find a fair-sized local mobo already occupying the water/fuel berth. They invited us to tie alongside, fetched and passed the water hose, then asked us whether we preferred red wine or G&T. As far as I remember it was mid-morning, but they were having a birthday party and insisted on handing over three large gin and tonics while we filled up :)

Pete
 
prv said:
That matches my much briefer stop in the inner harbour - we called in for water to find a fair-sized local mobo already occupying the water/fuel berth. They invited us to tie alongside, fetched and passed the water hose, then asked us whether we preferred red wine or G&T. As far as I remember it was mid-morning, but they were having a birthday party and insisted on handing over three large gin and tonics while we filled up :)

Pete
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My kind of rafting...
 
On another occasion having sailed across in early March, after a slow overnight 20 hour sail, went to celebrate, as we arrived at opening time, in the sailing club for a quick half before heading for our bunks..

We got back to the boat in the early hours after having been taken to all the pubs on the island, in the back of the police land-rover....!

What's not to like about Alderney?
 
The HM is a 9.00-5.00 operation, if you're lucky. Lovely guys but that's island life. Jersey & St Peter Ports aren't much better except when the inner harbour sill is uncovered.
 
rotrax said:
By the Victorian period we were not expecting the French to be a threat-the "Entante Cordiale "was first entered into around this time.

During WW2 the Germans used slave labour, mostly French, to improve and fortify Alderney.

The regime was so harsh that as a percentage, not total numbers, more forced labourers died on Alderney than anywhere else where the Nazi's used forced labour.

Folk lore has it that to avoid digging graves dead workers from the concentration camp were just chucked into the foundations of the breakwater extension.

If only half of the above is true, it shows how awfull it must have been to be in the concentration camp on Alderney during WW2.
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I believe that true; in the 80's we were stuck in St Peter Port in fog for a few days so as one does we became a small yottie community.

The lady on the boat next us's Dad had been an Army surveyor, asked to find out why voids were appearing in Alderney Braye breakwater - answer, the croaked slaves considerately chucked into the mix didn't last as long as Nazi concrete.

I found Alderney a rather ' hairs on back of neck ' place even before I knew of the slaves and concentration camp, but maybe I'm a sensitive soul; Braye beach is lovely in the summer sun.

If having to raft - and I think I'd rather make a run elsewhere than Braye if wind was increasing and the option was still available, I'd go for Guernsey or back across the Channel - otherwise the old tricks when rafting, use springs to stagger the rigs, spinnaker poles rigged horizontally between mast eyes to hopefully keep the boats rolling in synch, and booms out with buckets each side as dampers - then pray !
 
The HM and staff on Alderney are good guys.

One of my Speedway mates-he rode for Exeter, Swindon and Long Eton-was the engineer for Alderney's diesel powered power station.

He died a couple of years ago from chronic lung disease and First Mate and I visited him and his lovely wife three times by boat during his last year of life.

When we went to settle up after a week on a buoy at the end of the first visit the HM said " I'll just take for a night-you've been to visit Glyn. We have all benifited from Glyns engineering skills over the years and we appreciate the support you are giving by coming to the Island at this sad time. "

We were never charged the during the other visits either.

Glyn's grandson is away on an engineering apprenticeship on Guernsey. If he sticks it out and qualifies he can take over where his Grandad left off-fixing and making bits to keep the local stuff going!

I agree with the above post. Glyn took me to the site of the concentration camp. Very spooky feel to it-and very quiet.
 
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