Trip Report - Normandy

[Solostoke]

A trip report. Still underway but will aim to post a few days worth at a time.

The plan for this summer was similar to previous years. Move the boat with crew via some longer sails before they left and I had short hops along an area to soak it up and get a good feel for it.
With the boat having overwintered in Dover the first leg was to be to Boulogne.

18th July
I got down to the boat at midday and provisioned the boat with a good amount of food as me and my crew consisted of Eccleshall RUFC's back row plus one other half.
No one else had sailed before so I was looking forward to a good day.

A good forecast for sea state but the wind was to be pretty much on the nose for the day.

19th July
We left the fuel berth at 0940 and managed to sail from 1010 until 1300.


Moored up and gone ashore in Bolougne by 1500.
The pontoons were tiny in Bolougne and barely floated with a couple of us on them.
I had heard about the foam at the Marina but didn't think it would be that bad.... I wondered why everyone else had crammed in to the other end of the marina.

Poor Galatians covered in foam that stained badly. The marina staff were out in the early hours hosing everything down but my dinghy was full even though it had been pulled on top of the pontoons!

A good stop though, and we enjoyed the town that evening.

I had sent the form across to the marina before leaving Dover but we decided to push onto Dieppe the next day and to attempt to get our passports stamped there instead of the nonsensical idea of getting a train to Calais. We had to get a proper stamp in as we were all flying out a few days later.
We planned to slip lines at 0820 so we stayed out and sampled a few more beers before finding our berths.

 

[[70521]]

I'd be interested in what how your moules were served.

We keep seeing moules with all sorts of cooking liquer, but remain loyal to moules mariniere..

 

[Mark-1]

Thanks, it would be good to have more trip reports on YBW. I like to share vicariously in other people's trips. (Even if they make me mildly jealous.)

 

[johnalison]

I didn’t feel that we were abroad until I had savoured the odour of Boulogne water and adapted to walking with a stoop to avoid the dog mess on the pavements.

 

[Solostoke]

I'd be interested in what how your moules were served.

We keep seeing moules with all sorts of cooking liquer, but remain loyal to moules mariniere..

Chorizo! Chorizo on everything please.

 

[S04]

Thanks, it would be good to have more trip reports on YBW. I like to share vicariously in other people's trips. (Even if they make me mildly jealous.)

I agree, trip reports can be fascinating and informative................if well written. The problem is that often the authors of such pieces feel they need to use a turgid style and vocabulary which they wouldn't use normally.

Having tucked up "Twinkletoes of Hamble" securely ahead of the advancing gale we repaired to the local hostelry where we partook of the the local delicacies. We quaffed a glass or two of fine ales available. We availed ourselves of the splendid facilities. We indulged in the excellent pastries.

Do people really speak like that on a daily basis? Perhaps, but not those who I meet. That style of writing puts me off what might otherwise have been a fine read. Just use "normal" language"

Edit: It's probably just me.

 

[Mark-1]

I agree, trip reports can be fascinating and informative................if well written. The problem is that often the authors of such pieces feel they need to use a turgid style and vocabulary which they wouldn't use normally.

Having tucked up "Twinkletoes of Hamble" securely ahead of the advancing gale we repaired to the local hostelry where we partook of the the local delicacies. We quaffed a glass or two of fine ales available. We availed ourselves of the splendid facilities. We indulged in the excellent pastries.

Do people really speak like that on a daily basis? Perhaps, but not those who I meet. That style of writing puts me off what might otherwise have been a fine read. Just use "normal" language"

TBH, I'm not bothered about literary style. I get to see a few photos, a few words and I'm happy. (Despite the Envy.)

 

[johnalison]

I can't be bothered with long sailing blogs, though I can't say that I have paid much attention to writing styles. I enjoy looking at people's photos, though half a dozen would normally be enough for my attention span. I am quite happy with the OP's comments. Few if any of his sentences have verbs, but they are essentially captions, so this is quite appropriate.

 

[Solostoke]

Well...onto the second day.
Dieppe.
Leave at 0820 and hope the wind would let us have enough of an angle to sail for at least some of the day.
I use savvy navvy to help plan and find it a useful tool to look at how the wind may play out over the next day or two. The tidal flow on it hasn't seemed the most accurate in this area.
On the previous sail I lost the remote GPS connection to my chart plotter so I relied on savvy navvy and filling in the logbook every hour.
We made the first 18 miles or so before having to resort to the engine and motorsailing straight into the wind.

After an hour or so I was sure I could hear the engine note changing......I tried to convince myself that it was fine but thirty seconds later and it definitely stumbled. Then stopped.
I had a pre filter with a glass bowl and water separator so drained that off. Tried to restart and the bowl wasn't filling.
Disconnected the outward fuel line from the sender unit in the tank and at the filter end and could not blow through it. At this point I was beginning to wonder if this was to be my first pan pan call. Thankfully I had left a motorcycle suspension pump in my tool bag and so I was able to pump the line clear and refit it. I found the manual primer lift pump on the engine and all was well with the engine and off we went.
All this took a while though in a lumpy sea so the crew needed a rest!

After what was a long day it was an easy entrance into Dieppe.
I had rang ahead and reserved a bows in, port to berth so as to make it easy. Alas, upon entry at around midnight there was not a single berth to be found. We rafted alongside a lovely Dutch boat and wasted no time in getting to sleep.


Dieppe marina was great being in the centre of town, and with wind stronger than required forecast I decided to have the next day not sailing and to explore Dieppe. Well worth a couple of days to enjoy, and so close to England.

 

[newtothis]

I agree, trip reports can be fascinating and informative................if well written. The problem is that often the authors of such pieces feel they need to use a turgid style and vocabulary which they wouldn't use normally.

Having tucked up "Twinkletoes of Hamble" securely ahead of the advancing gale we repaired to the local hostelry where we partook of the the local delicacies. We quaffed a glass or two of fine ales available. We availed ourselves of the splendid facilities. We indulged in the excellent pastries.

Do people really speak like that on a daily basis? Perhaps, but not those who I meet. That style of writing puts me off what might otherwise have been a fine read. Just use "normal" language"

Edit: It's probably just me.

I work with professional writers, some of whom fall into a weird syntax and vocabulary that they would never use in real life. I've found over the years of training young reporters that the trick is to ask them to read a passage to me out loud and tell me it sounds right. Most of them get the idea eventually.
BTW, this is just a professional observation not a commentary on Solostoke's trip report, which is very interesting. But the large photos require a hella lotta scrolling.

 

[Solostoke]

The next couple of days were spent stuck in port exploring the area as the weather didn't want us to have an enjoyable sail to Fecamp.
We walked to the ferry port and got our passports stamped in. Despite being incorrect they didn't care, just seemed pleased that we had sailed there! Didn't ask when we got there or where we were going just a stamp and a smile. Easy!

Time was up for my crew so we all got the train to Paris. Split up for the day there, Harvey went to look at trees, I went to an Olympic swimming pool, and Tom and Sarah were normal tourists.

Harvey with his pine cones to add to his collection.

A flight home to pick up the family, home for 9pm. I headed back out of the door the next morning at 6am for the flight back to Paris. An overnight stop in Paris and the train into Dieppe the following evening.

I really like Dieppe and the harbour being right in town is great. Good food and a busy town was great for us to have the first few days getting used to the boat again.

The kids loved the big sandy beach when the tide was out.

Thankfully the weather was soon kind enough to flatten the sea enough to head out on the first sail of the summer holidays.
An early start to motor out of port and get the sails up before turning off on a nice beam reach that got ever narrower before succombing to a motor sail after two and a half hours.


The day took a lot longer than expected. I seemed to spend a long time punching against the current. More than expected but I couldn't find brilliantly detailed tidal stream information for the area.




The kids were happy to finally arrive in Fécamp and get some proper food. The visitors pontoon was again mainly Dutch, some French and Belgians. Hardly any brits around. Anyone know why?

 

[Tranona]

I'd be interested in what how your moules were served.

We keep seeing moules with all sorts of cooking liquer, but remain loyal to moules mariniere..

Pop into your local Lidl where you can get Scottish mussels in a variety of sauces. This week Thai green curry, but have had Chorizo, Jalepeno, Harissa as well as cream garlic. Not quite as good as home made but simple to heat up and serve.

 

[sailorman]

Well...onto the second day.
Dieppe.
Leave at 0820 and hope the wind would let us have enough of an angle to sail for at least some of the day.
I use savvy navvy to help plan and find it a useful tool to look at how the wind may play out over the next day or two. The tidal flow on it hasn't seemed the most accurate in this area.
On the previous sail I lost the remote GPS connection to my chart plotter so I relied on savvy navvy and filling in the logbook every hour.
We made the first 18 miles or so before having to resort to the engine and motorsailing straight into the wind.
View attachment 197777View attachment 197781View attachment 197782
After an hour or so I was sure I could hear the engine note changing......I tried to convince myself that it was fine but thirty seconds later and it definitely stumbled. Then stopped.
I had a pre filter with a glass bowl and water separator so drained that off. Tried to restart and the bowl wasn't filling.
Disconnected the outward fuel line from the sender unit in the tank and at the filter end and could not blow through it. At this point I was beginning to wonder if this was to be my first pan pan call. Thankfully I had left a motorcycle suspension pump in my tool bag and so I was able to pump the line clear and refit it. I found the manual primer lift pump on the engine and all was well with the engine and off we went.
All this took a while though in a lumpy sea so the crew needed a rest!
View attachment 197776
After what was a long day it was an easy entrance into Dieppe.
I had rang ahead and reserved a bows in, port to berth so as to make it easy. Alas, upon entry at around midnight there was not a single berth to be found. We rafted alongside a lovely Dutch boat and wasted no time in getting to sleep.
View attachment 197779View attachment 197780

Dieppe marina was great being in the centre of town, and with wind stronger than required forecast I decided to have the next day not sailing and to explore Dieppe. Well worth a couple of days to enjoy, and so close to England.
View attachment 197783View attachment 197784

 

[sailorman]

The next couple of days were spent stuck in port exploring the area as the weather didn't want us to have an enjoyable sail to Fecamp.
We walked to the ferry port and got our passports stamped in. Despite being incorrect they didn't care, just seemed pleased that we had sailed there! Didn't ask when we got there or where we were going just a stamp and a smile. Easy!

Time was up for my crew so we all got the train to Paris. Split up for the day there, Harvey went to look at trees, I went to an Olympic swimming pool, and Tom and Sarah were normal tourists.
View attachment 197808
Harvey with his pine cones to add to his collection.

A flight home to pick up the family, home for 9pm. I headed back out of the door the next morning at 6am for the flight back to Paris. An overnight stop in Paris and the train into Dieppe the following evening.
View attachment 197802
I really like Dieppe and the harbour being right in town is great. Good food and a busy town was great for us to have the first few days getting used to the boat again.
View attachment 197800
The kids loved the big sandy beach when the tide was out.

Thankfully the weather was soon kind enough to flatten the sea enough to head out on the first sail of the summer holidays.
An early start to motor out of port and get the sails up before turning off on a nice beam reach that got ever narrower before succombing to a motor sail after two and a half hours.
View attachment 197803
View attachment 197804
The day took a lot longer than expected. I seemed to spend a long time punching against the current. More than expected but I couldn't find brilliantly detailed tidal stream information for the area.
View attachment 197809

View attachment 197810

The kids were happy to finally arrive in Fécamp and get some proper food. The visitors pontoon was again mainly Dutch, some French and Belgians. Hardly any brits around. Anyone know why?

 

[Wansworth]

Reminds me of my copy of the RCC accounts published in book form.

 

[capnsensible]

Fab, thank you.

 

[Frogmogman]

I'd be interested in what how your moules were served.

We keep seeing moules with all sorts of cooking liquer, but remain loyal to moules mariniere..

My favourite is cooking them in leeks and cider.

 

[ashtead]

Never been to Fecamp -can you stamp in there ? Maybe not visitor friendly for collecting the infamous stamp deters Brit passport holders ? Just a guess on my part though.

 

[Solostoke]

Never been to Fecamp -can you stamp in there ? Maybe not visitor friendly for collecting the infamous stamp deters Brit passport holders ? Just a guess on my part though.

It is my understanding that your nearest stamp would be a trip to Le Havre.
Maybe that and the picture of rough water in the shell channel pilot? The entrance was fine for us both ways, and I quite liked the immediate area.

 

[johnalison]

It is my understanding that your nearest stamp would be a trip to Le Havre.
Maybe that and the picture of rough water in the shell channel pilot? The entrance was fine for us both ways, and I quite liked the immediate area.

It can get a bit unsettled in the entrance, which is shallow at LWS. It is usually not recommended to approach in onshore winds. This was an F6, which was quite exciting enough for my wife who took this picture at my behest to take her mind off the matter.