Ben998
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Nov 2004
- Messages
- 153
- Location
- St.Lucia today, Martinique asap!
Hi All,
We took the boat across the channel and went around Alderney, Guernsey, Herm and Sark last week. We didn't make it to Jersey as we didn't really time without rushing and we were supposed to be on holiday..
Fortuntately, touch wood, everything seemed to go ok. We had one interesting moment when we got to St.Peter Port and rafted up to wait for the water to come over the sill and ended up in a raft of boats that was 12 deep, and two rows. How they managed to fit everyone into the marina has to be seen to be believed. When it came to our turn to go into the marina, there was no power at the ignition panel.. arrrrgh. Fortuntately the customs man tied his dingy alongside and towed us in. I managed to locate the fault after a couple of hours and fixed it, but only after the plastic casing on the ignition barrel disintegrated ( not, that it was the problem! ) and had to buy a new ignition barrel.
Guernsey was a bit busy and you really need at least one full day to get away from St.Peters Port and see the rest of the island, but we did go swimming in the sea with a load of 'older citizens' who go swimming whatever the season.
We crossed over to Herm from Guernsey and anchored in the bay just south of Shell Beach and spent the night there before walking around the island and taking in the views.
From Herm we crossed to Sark and picked up a visitor buoy in Greve de la Ville - very picturesque bay with steep granite cliffs coming down to the sea, a beautiful anchorage and not too bad at £12 per night. We spent two nights here as it was such a nice place to stay with crystal clear blue water - so different to the solent!
We left Sark for the crossing back to Alderney with a westerly blowing a steady 22-24 knots, gusting to 31. Its the first time we have had the boat out in a resonable wind and had a great crossing! The sea, according to Jersey radio was ' rather rough ' with a 4-4.5m swell but the boat coped superbly with no dramas at all.
We got to Braye ok, but ended up a bit far offshore as we were messing about with the sails and got caught up in a very rough patch of water norht of the end of the breakwater - something to be aware of if you are planning to go across.
We had an uneventful trip back across the channel, leaving Braye at 06:00 and arriving at the Needles Fairway mark at 14:00, and then spending 4.5 hours getting through the needles and across the solent against the tide to the hamble...ho hum, know better for next time.
All in all, a successful trip for our first proper offshore foray, especially given that we are relatively new to the boat. If you are thinking of trying it, I would say do it - its not that far and well worth a visit for a week or so.
Bring on the next foray.
cheers,
Ben
We took the boat across the channel and went around Alderney, Guernsey, Herm and Sark last week. We didn't make it to Jersey as we didn't really time without rushing and we were supposed to be on holiday..
Fortuntately, touch wood, everything seemed to go ok. We had one interesting moment when we got to St.Peter Port and rafted up to wait for the water to come over the sill and ended up in a raft of boats that was 12 deep, and two rows. How they managed to fit everyone into the marina has to be seen to be believed. When it came to our turn to go into the marina, there was no power at the ignition panel.. arrrrgh. Fortuntately the customs man tied his dingy alongside and towed us in. I managed to locate the fault after a couple of hours and fixed it, but only after the plastic casing on the ignition barrel disintegrated ( not, that it was the problem! ) and had to buy a new ignition barrel.
Guernsey was a bit busy and you really need at least one full day to get away from St.Peters Port and see the rest of the island, but we did go swimming in the sea with a load of 'older citizens' who go swimming whatever the season.
We crossed over to Herm from Guernsey and anchored in the bay just south of Shell Beach and spent the night there before walking around the island and taking in the views.
From Herm we crossed to Sark and picked up a visitor buoy in Greve de la Ville - very picturesque bay with steep granite cliffs coming down to the sea, a beautiful anchorage and not too bad at £12 per night. We spent two nights here as it was such a nice place to stay with crystal clear blue water - so different to the solent!
We left Sark for the crossing back to Alderney with a westerly blowing a steady 22-24 knots, gusting to 31. Its the first time we have had the boat out in a resonable wind and had a great crossing! The sea, according to Jersey radio was ' rather rough ' with a 4-4.5m swell but the boat coped superbly with no dramas at all.
We got to Braye ok, but ended up a bit far offshore as we were messing about with the sails and got caught up in a very rough patch of water norht of the end of the breakwater - something to be aware of if you are planning to go across.
We had an uneventful trip back across the channel, leaving Braye at 06:00 and arriving at the Needles Fairway mark at 14:00, and then spending 4.5 hours getting through the needles and across the solent against the tide to the hamble...ho hum, know better for next time.
All in all, a successful trip for our first proper offshore foray, especially given that we are relatively new to the boat. If you are thinking of trying it, I would say do it - its not that far and well worth a visit for a week or so.
Bring on the next foray.
cheers,
Ben
