Imagine doing a Round the Island every day for a week, parties included, and you can imagine how tired we were when we finally arrived in Cherbourg yesterday. From flat calm to 35 knots, all in sunny weather, though we had a day off in Jersey when it really blew and rained. Carteret-Guernsey-Granville-Jersey-Dielette-Cherbourg: I found I barely recognised Alderney when we saw it again yesterday!
With my 'licence' from the Federation Francaise de Voile, I can now sail on French boats in FFV events, which is a great way of learning the vocabulary, and how to communicate effectively within the team - the problem being that in a meltdown no-one's suddenly going to start explaining anything in English! And things happen very fast on a Grand Surprise, one of the nicest boats to drive (in flat water) I've ever helmed.
Great sailing, and especially great company; our best result was a second, behind professional Figaro sailor and Fastnet winner Alexis Loison, though being the smallest boat in the fast fleet on longer courses isn't easy. The starts tend to be a bit Ben-Hur, but establishing a bit of room on the course makes the options easier to explore afterwards.
My picture is from today's Presse de la Manche, showing Superflux just before we overtook the other boats shown along with about twenty more by staying to windward of the fleet in clean air, surviving rounding the next mark with nearly four knots of current on the nose, then sailing deep into the wind change (North-west to East) just before La Hague, to get height on starboard to clear the Race; not as wet as Tuesday afternoon off Jersey, but still wind over tide with steep short seas occasionally washing the deck.
Typical day - breakfast together on Adagio, the hotel boat, very comfortable and roomy, division into teams for the day, then off to the start line and away, arrive usually quite late, aperitif together, then ashore for the meal, and party, 'tisanes' aboard Adagio (basically rum), then too little sleep before it all starts again. Thanks to the collective good humour and friendliness of Christophe, Celine, Francois, Sophie, Stephanie, Thierry, Benoit, Bernard, Sylvia and Louis, I survived the week - and I'm already signed up for next year...
Steve Fraser
Submitted on 11th July 2015