rickp
Well-Known Member
The scuttlebutt mob have just had their annual jolly to Cherbourg and I was invited to join BigNick on his Moody 44 "Fiddler's Dream", along with Morgana (an east coast forumite). It was an invite I was very pleased to get - as I've done a bit of sailing before, including on a J120 in the San Francisco Bay - but never done more than a day trip.
The plan was to meet at Nick's home berth on Thursday and head off around 9pm for a night sail to St Vaast - somewhere I'd not been before. Once we'd arrived, stowed the various alcoholic provisions and done the safety briefing - we set off to catch the tide down through the Needles. Sea was a little sloppy from the wind on the previous days, but the boat handled it just fine. We got the sails up and soon had the engine off. The stars were fantastic and once the moon had set the milkyway was very visible. Nick's SMWBO had left a lovely stew for us, which we had once past the Needles.
Had to put in a tack after dawn to avoid a ship, but Nick's chartwork had us bang on the money as we passed Barfleur. By this point we had the engine on as we risked missing the gate at St Vaast - so I was feeling right at home /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif As we approached St Vaast, we had some sprinkles of rain, but over the land we could see quite a bit of rain falling:
A few boats were already there including SturgeronSteve with crew ParaHandy and jhr (another motorboater) who welcomed us alongside. Took us 12hours to do the 80 miles - slow, even by my standards - but pretty reasonable for a rag-n-stick thing, I believe /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Once tied up, we had the mother of all fry ups before getting a few hours kip to recover from the night passage. Then we headed out to say hi to the others that had turned up, before a quick wander around town and a visit to the local wine merchant. Some photos:
Fiddler's Dream in St Vaast:
We saw this fine trolling vessel:
We had planned for a light dinner and an early night - but having had a nice meal in the Nelson ended up back at the boat where we were joined by a few others. Ended up turning in around 00:30 somewhat the worse for wear...
Saturday morning saw Morgana and I hitting the market for some breakfast and lunch bits - before we headed off for Cherbourg.
Leaving St Vaast:
Due to almost complete lack of wind, and scoffing breakfast we motored for the first hour, so I took the oppotunity to get a wake shot for you lot - I know you like them:
Once we were a little way out, the wind started to pick up and we were soon sailing again. We decided to go for the more challenging inshore route, so with me on the helm with Morgana assisting and Nick doing the nav - we had a cracking sail. Plenty of tacking through the rocks until the tricky bit where the wind shifted onto the nose. So we headed out around them, rather than through them. It meant we took rather the long way around to Cherbourg, but we enjoyed the sailing.
Once tied up, and lunched, we spent the afternoon and evening socialising. I met up with a few I already knew, some I'd only waved at and never managed to meet face to face despite sharing a marina (!!) and loads of names I knew, but hadn't met before. Some rib pulling on both sides but great fun all round. After the organised evening meal, we ended up back on the boat again with around 15 folks for more liver punishing.
Sunday morning arrived too quickly, and I went in search of a boulangerie for breakfasty bits - before we set off. We saw a dolphin in the outer harbour which was a nice start to the day. We had feared a lack of wind, but there was enough to make sailing worthwhile - so we unfurled the washing and got on with it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Nick cooked us a second breakfast buttie which was superb /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the shipping lanes, the wind was dying so it was on with the donkey until we got to Yarmouth. We were joined by a stowaway for a couple of hours:
though he jumped ship for something faster in the shipping lanes /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
You can't imagine the excitement as we touched a giddy 12.5 knots coming up through the Hurst narrows - tide assisted of course. The photo was a little blurry, this was sharper:
Into Yarmouth for the night, along with IanGrant, Derek (an Emsworth Bad Boy), DJE & crew and SturgeronSteve & crew (who made it eventually) for a few beers, some food and the quiz (where we did woefully, but that's jhr's fault for not turning up in time to answer all the literature questions! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). A cracking finale to the weekend.
The sailing was good fun - different to motorboating (and a lot slower) but fun nonetheless. Once I have more time, then I could see myself in a rag-n-stick thing though it would need to be the non-tippy type for SMWBO-compatability. Even though we have a slow boat, we cruise 30-50% faster and more in terms of velocity made good - so for now, the Elling remains /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
So thanks for Roger (sailfree) and Fergus for organising the meal - great work guys! Finally, I have to say a massive thank you to BigNick for the invite, and Morgana for the company. I had a really great time with great company. What more could you ask for? Thanks guys!
Rick
The plan was to meet at Nick's home berth on Thursday and head off around 9pm for a night sail to St Vaast - somewhere I'd not been before. Once we'd arrived, stowed the various alcoholic provisions and done the safety briefing - we set off to catch the tide down through the Needles. Sea was a little sloppy from the wind on the previous days, but the boat handled it just fine. We got the sails up and soon had the engine off. The stars were fantastic and once the moon had set the milkyway was very visible. Nick's SMWBO had left a lovely stew for us, which we had once past the Needles.
Had to put in a tack after dawn to avoid a ship, but Nick's chartwork had us bang on the money as we passed Barfleur. By this point we had the engine on as we risked missing the gate at St Vaast - so I was feeling right at home /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif As we approached St Vaast, we had some sprinkles of rain, but over the land we could see quite a bit of rain falling:
A few boats were already there including SturgeronSteve with crew ParaHandy and jhr (another motorboater) who welcomed us alongside. Took us 12hours to do the 80 miles - slow, even by my standards - but pretty reasonable for a rag-n-stick thing, I believe /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Once tied up, we had the mother of all fry ups before getting a few hours kip to recover from the night passage. Then we headed out to say hi to the others that had turned up, before a quick wander around town and a visit to the local wine merchant. Some photos:
Fiddler's Dream in St Vaast:
We saw this fine trolling vessel:
We had planned for a light dinner and an early night - but having had a nice meal in the Nelson ended up back at the boat where we were joined by a few others. Ended up turning in around 00:30 somewhat the worse for wear...
Saturday morning saw Morgana and I hitting the market for some breakfast and lunch bits - before we headed off for Cherbourg.
Leaving St Vaast:
Due to almost complete lack of wind, and scoffing breakfast we motored for the first hour, so I took the oppotunity to get a wake shot for you lot - I know you like them:
Once we were a little way out, the wind started to pick up and we were soon sailing again. We decided to go for the more challenging inshore route, so with me on the helm with Morgana assisting and Nick doing the nav - we had a cracking sail. Plenty of tacking through the rocks until the tricky bit where the wind shifted onto the nose. So we headed out around them, rather than through them. It meant we took rather the long way around to Cherbourg, but we enjoyed the sailing.
Once tied up, and lunched, we spent the afternoon and evening socialising. I met up with a few I already knew, some I'd only waved at and never managed to meet face to face despite sharing a marina (!!) and loads of names I knew, but hadn't met before. Some rib pulling on both sides but great fun all round. After the organised evening meal, we ended up back on the boat again with around 15 folks for more liver punishing.
Sunday morning arrived too quickly, and I went in search of a boulangerie for breakfasty bits - before we set off. We saw a dolphin in the outer harbour which was a nice start to the day. We had feared a lack of wind, but there was enough to make sailing worthwhile - so we unfurled the washing and got on with it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Nick cooked us a second breakfast buttie which was superb /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the shipping lanes, the wind was dying so it was on with the donkey until we got to Yarmouth. We were joined by a stowaway for a couple of hours:
though he jumped ship for something faster in the shipping lanes /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
You can't imagine the excitement as we touched a giddy 12.5 knots coming up through the Hurst narrows - tide assisted of course. The photo was a little blurry, this was sharper:
Into Yarmouth for the night, along with IanGrant, Derek (an Emsworth Bad Boy), DJE & crew and SturgeronSteve & crew (who made it eventually) for a few beers, some food and the quiz (where we did woefully, but that's jhr's fault for not turning up in time to answer all the literature questions! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). A cracking finale to the weekend.
The sailing was good fun - different to motorboating (and a lot slower) but fun nonetheless. Once I have more time, then I could see myself in a rag-n-stick thing though it would need to be the non-tippy type for SMWBO-compatability. Even though we have a slow boat, we cruise 30-50% faster and more in terms of velocity made good - so for now, the Elling remains /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
So thanks for Roger (sailfree) and Fergus for organising the meal - great work guys! Finally, I have to say a massive thank you to BigNick for the invite, and Morgana for the company. I had a really great time with great company. What more could you ask for? Thanks guys!
Rick
