Ashdown Summer 2004 Cruise to the Baie de Seine

Dyson England Fizzgig,

Summer Song, Blue Scherzo and Lucrece and their crews assembled for an 8-day exploration of some of the tidal harbours of the Baie de Seine between Le Havre, at the mouth of the Seine, and Cherbourg, on the Cotentin peninsula.

Lucrece (or rather its crew Jennifer Aitken, Wendy & Dyson England, and skipper Alan Waller) opted for a daytime sail to Cherbourg, and set off from its berth in Chichester Marina 3 minutes behind schedule at 0603 on Saturday 12th June into a light north-westerly breeze. Full main and genoa were set after passing the West Pole, and the engine switched off (a rather involved process involving lifting four hatches or lockers and Alan in swan-upped stance to compensate for the lack of a non-return valve for the cooling system).

The NW F3-4 provided an excellent cross-Channel sail, so enjoyable in fact, that a pigeon joined us, nestling down in the mainsail-furling trough for nearly 9 hours. It was only when we were within garlic-sniffing distance of Cherbourg that it emerged from its bunk, and winged its way back towards England! Some hitchhikers can appear ungrateful and some visiting cards are inevitably less welcome than others, aren't they?

Ignoring the advice in the Shell Channel Pilot to steer to a net tidal vector (calculated from the total east-going and west-going streams for the projected crossing time) we took a "short cut" and headed directly for Cherbourg for the last third of the distance. We then had to motor-sail WSW for 3 hours to stem the east-going tide, arriving in the Port Chantereyne at 2100 BST (2200 European Time). A useful lesson for cross-Channel trips.

Fizzgig, Summer Song and Blue Scherzo opted for a night crossing, and joined us in Cherbourg on Sunday morning, where we remained for Sunday night, sampling some excellent local fish in a restaurant beside the fishing boat harbour. The time ashore also enabled us to discover a delightful little park, complete with tropical house, pond, natural history museum and a tower tucked away in the city centre.

A 1255 departure on Monday suited the 28-mile reach under genoa round Pointe de Barfleur to St. Vaast la Hougue, arriving at 1830. St. Vaast is a very attractive little town, which we look forward to returning to with more time to explore. The well-sheltered marina is relatively simple to enter, depth permitting. The Capitainerie facilities seemed a little coy, with leg-crossingly narrow window of toilet opportunity between their opening time and our departure time of 0810 on Tuesday morning.

A 56-mile broad reach eastward under genoa on Tuesday brought us to Deauville, again entering through the open lock to visitors berths a short distance inside. The tidal stream atlas suggested that the direct route would be the quickest with only 1 mile of tide against us in net total. However the route following the curve of the bay, followed by the other three boats, probably avoided even that, and in hindsight would have been more interesting. Deauville is a sizeable town, renowned in the early 20th century as a resort frequented by the rich and famous, and its dramatic and attractive architecture reflects this. The marina facilities were obviously not on their itinerary, comprising, within a half-hour's leg-crossed scurry from the visitor's berths, a subterranean concrete cavern (an ex air-raid shelter or gun emplacement of genuine WWII provenance), reluctantly released from that role. It was as difficult to unlock as a bank vault, requiring a code, a key, and Cupertino as frantic from those on the inside trying to escape as from those innocents on the outside in desperate need of its promised facilities. These amounted to three washbasins, two rather smelly toilets (did you remember to bring some loo paper?) and a matching shower on a unisex basis.

Wednesday evening was declared Cruise Dinner evening, and an excellent meal was enjoyed by all, although to simplify the financial aspect, fraternisation between the crews of different boats was not encouraged until after the 'post-restaurant' address i.e. well-deserved votes of thanks to the organisers.

With waves roaring up the beach the other side of the sea wall, a passage plan to the beautiful old port of Honfleur was prepared, and at 0910 on Thursday, we set off for Le Havre (change of plan) in a fairly brisk westerly. Despite Alan's declaration that he never reefs the mainsail until the lee rail is under, we set a reefed main and genoa, and made a fairly rapid and boisterous passage to Le Havre Yacht Marina, in which we moored at 11.30. The "architecture" of Le Havre could hardly contrast more with that of Honfleur or Deauville, but the harbour facilities were good, and we found an excellent yet inexpensive restaurant called l'Acrobat, beyond the 115 metre high phallic and fully sheathed Eglise St Joseph. As we returned from the restaurant the ginormous aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was leaving to the accompaniment of a band and an extremely impressive firework display, for which we could not have wished for a better view.

We left Le Havre at 0610 on Friday morning for an 88-mile passage to Brighton, with full mainsail, and genoa furled to varying extents in the WNW winds, which varied from F4-6 with stronger gusts. Being close-hauled most of the way, we were thankful that we did not have to tack or alter course significantly for ships. Despite a relatively fast passage, averaging over 6 knots for much of it, I think we were all glad to get into Brighton marina at 2140 and have another of Wendy's cleverly conjured meals at rest on an even keel. (Blue Scherzo headed directly for the Solent.)

Saturday saw a quieter, more leisurely start at 1000 for the westward passage to Chichester, which started well, but the wind dropped during the middle of the day, returning with a vengeance as we negotiated the Looe Channel past Selsey Bill. Gusts of F7 with the wind producing a continuous high-pitched whistle in the rigging, put Lucrece under a lot of stress, and the mainsail suddenly split with a heart-rending bang. Fizzgig's fanbelt had shredded, putting her engine out of action, and both she and Summer Song took the longer passage around the Owers. At this time Channel 16 was so busy with emergency calls that routine maritime announcements were postponed. Reaching the vicinity of the Chichester Bar at Low Water and almost Springs in choppy conditions, with little more than our own draft as available depth dictated that we either waited in the unpleasant conditions for greater depth, or continued to Gosport. The latter course was chosen, arriving at 1955, ready for another nourishing and tasty Wendy concoction.

Sunday dawned sunny with a benign Westerly F4-3, and we retraced our passage through the "submarine gap" to the Chichester Bar under genoa, motoring up the harbour and into the marina as soon as the lock opened for free flow.

So ended a week filled with new, enjoyable and rewarding sailing experiences, new harbours and towns visited, new friends made. Sincere and hearty thanks to all who put in so much work to make it all happen.