A Very Brief Pit-Stop in Cherbourg

Heading south from the Needles at the western end of the Solent on Monday 20 August we found we were hard on the wind. Not great for our aspiration to head southwest but we were sailing and there was more wind than the very light wind forecast. As we crossed the shipping lanes the new AIS proved to be really useful. A ship was going to get very close to us; we had right of way as a sailing vessel but it never seems worth pushing your luck with these ocean-crossing monsters so we tend to try to keep clear. With the AIS information I was able to call the ship directly and ask the officer of the watch what his intentions were. Brilliant, especially when he said he was coming left by a few degrees to avoid us. Far easier than trying to call a “ship in approximate position…” as we would have had to have done before.

As we finished crossing the shipping lanes the wind died so, with the engine on and a strong tide flowing, Cherbourg was the logical destination. We arrived at 2 am and, after a glass of wine to celebrate our arrival, we got a few hours’ sleep. Then we were up early for a run, to help wake up, followed by a shopping trip and a settle up with the Harbour Master’s office for mooring fees. The shopping was very successful. We managed to buy some of all of the important food groups: wine, cheese, pain au chocolate, garlic snails and lots of seafood (crab, large prawns and mussels). The mooring fees were less successful as they insisted on charging for a full 24 hour stay even though we would only spend 10 hours in Cherbourg. No point grumbling, or staying longer with a west going tide to catch as we have visited Cherbourg often, so we slipped at midday and headed west towards Alderney.

Blue Velvet photographed (by a friend on the Yarmouth ferry)
leaving Lymington after we had refuelled
just before setting off cross-Channel