Having undertaken to deliver a copy of Jeremy's Club Centenary booklet to our friends in Cherbourg, and fed up with only being able to do short sails in the bay, I was keen to get away. Somewhere between work and the weather it's been hard to find a window this winter, but last weekend looked likely, and with Jo and Stuart's wedding only a couple of weeks away, a visit to Normandie Wine was becoming rather urgent!
The trip over on Sunday was glorious – blue sky, flat sea and, once clear of the Bill, a steady 12-15 knot westerly wind to blow me across the Channel. The Cotentin was covered in low cloud that began to blow offshore as the wind headed near the land, and the radio began to talk about 'la brume', but under the cloud the vis remained quite good, and the lights of the Grande Rade were as welcoming as usual - even though the forecast W-NW 25 knots for Tuesday didn't look too promising.
Woken on Monday morning by the bells of Holy Trinity church, I got up early to go shopping, and talked to David Lanier on the phone about the forecast (always the best means of getting some precision, I find); having to work on Wednesday meant I had little choice about when I left to come back. I decided that if I could persuade the lads at Normandie Wine to deliver super-promptly, I would try to make the ebb at midday and thus gain a day just to be sure of getting back with the wedding supplies in one piece!
This meant trying to find a YCC member very quickly to present the booklet to; luckily last-minute preparations for the important annual J80 championship, the Trophée de l'Ile Pelée, meant that I found Marcel Hacquebey quite easily, and we persuaded a crew member from Eric Le Roi's J80 to take the necessary photo!
Looking at the state of the capitainerie, visible in the background, made me wonder when they will have finished the refurbishment, though phase 1 is now due for completion by the end of March, and there is to be an official opening event in April.
Having resisted Marcel's invitation to lunch and avoided an underwater explosion going on outside the Rade, I got away on time, and was pleased to find a breeze out at sea which was mainly SW, and around 12 knots again; the stratus cloud cover meant fog was unlikely, and I sailed back at a good speed, only losing the wind after a gorgeous red sunset somewhere south of Portland. I couldn't quite make the West Shambles buoy given the flood still running, so I came across the Shambles bank about a third of the way along in just under 9 metres of water, and got in to hear St Mary's strike 11 - it is one of my definitions of a good day's sailing to have heard the bells of both churches the same day!
The Trophée de l'Ile Pelée, an inter-university championship which this year included a European championship, is organised annually by YCC; a report (together with some dramatic photos!) can be found at: http://www.yc-cherbourg.com/, where you can also find the news that YCC, already France's top club, has been given a national award for the biggest increase in newly qualified adult sailors in 2013 - and that with their facilties reduced to a bombsite for most of last season!
A big thank-you to Denis at Normandie Wine for volunteering to come in to work even earlier on a Monday morning!
Steve Fraser
Cruiser Class Captain
