End of Day 27 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

 

Dawn breaks…

…and the sun creeps above the horizon Our last night at sea was uneventful except that by midnight the wind had gone fully into the east and the tide had changed to run west so at watch changeover we switched the engine on and started motoring. And as dawn broke we found ourselves chugging along gently across increasingly smooth seas as the wind dropped away further.

A beautiful final morning at sea

Our careful husbanding of fuel meant that, even without the 40 litres we had transferred from the jerrycans the previous day, we had more enough diesel in the main tanks to motor the rest of the passage back to Guernsey, which looked a likely requirement given the weather forecast.

Pleinmont – Guernsey’s southwest tip

The Hanois lighthouse off the southwest of Guernsey

So it was just a case of pointing BV’s bow in the right direction and watching out for other traffic and, of course, our first glimpse of our island home.

The visibility was excellent and so we had a great view of the Hanois lighthouse off Guernsey’s southwest tip and the island’s south coast cliffs.

Enthusiastic welcome committee

As if seeing Guernsey again against beautiful blue skies were not enough, we were also completely spoilt by the arrival of a reception committee of dolphins.  They swam with us for 20 minutes both alongside us and in our bow wave.

Just fabulous!

The southern cliffs of Guernsey

When the dolphins sped off to other, more important, tasks we spent the remainder of our motor along the south coast, feasting our eyes on the cliffs and bays of home.  The morning light picked out the detail of the rocky inlets as we looked directly north but ahead, and into sun, it was all a little hazy.

Approaching St Martin’s Point with views across to Herm and Sark

However, the off-lying islands of Herm and Sark stood out clearly as we approached St Martin’s Point at the southeast tip of the Guernsey.

Rounding St Martin’s Point

Here we turned north and got our first sight of St Peter Port, the main town on the island.

Top: St Martin’s Point with the light at its base standing out clearly. Bottom left: Fermain Bay.  
Bottom right: Looking up the Little Russel towards Town (St Peter Port, the white buildings)
and Castle Cornet (centre of the picture)

As we headed up the coast towards St Peter Port we called Guernsey Coastguard on VHF Ch20, as we had been instructed to do, to announce our arrival.  We confirmed that we were both healthy and still planning to make landfall at Beaucette and gave our ETA so that Guernsey Border Agency staff could be tasked to meet us and brief us on the self-isolation procedures.

Carol-Anne and Richard came out to meet us – but, of course, maintained an appropriate social distance

And just as we finished on the radio, we were met by our second reception committee of the day.  Good friends Carol-Anne and Richard had tracked our progress home and came out to welcome us back to the Bailiwick – nautically socially distanced of course. 

St Peter Port and Castle Cornet off to our port side

It was great to see them and to catch up as best as we could by shouting between the boats.

Carol-Anne and Richard head off towards Herm for the day

Leaving St Peter Port astern

Abeam Castle Cornet, Carol-Anne and Richard disappeared off for their fun day out on the water whilst we continued north towards Blue Velvet’s new home in Beaucette Marina

St Peter Port view as we continued north

Whenever we’ve sailed to Guernsey before, we have always made landfall in St Peter Port.  Today, however, we were only permitted to arrive at Beaucette, a marina we had never even visited before.  So we took the opportunity to enjoy the views around the Little Russell….

Vale Castle, just to the north of Guernsey’s second port, St Sampson’s Harbour

….the whole of Guernsey was almost glowing in the sunshine.  We couldn’t stop thinking how lucky we were to have arrived back on a such a beautiful day.

Island view eastwards from the central Little Russell – Herm (left mid-ground), Brehon Tower (centre left), Sark (right background) and Jethou (right mid-ground) with Crevichon just to the left of Jethou

We weren’t the only people enjoying the beautiful day.  Though the pictures don’t show it, the Little Russell was alive with boats and people out making the most of the fabulous weather, light winds and smooth seas.

Following the approach transit into Beaucette Marine

Guernsey as was with Beaucette Quarry (now the marina) standing out clearly

Beaucette Marina is right at the northeast tip of Guernsey and was originally a granite quarry, one of the several hundred excavated on the island to extract granite for export, notably Diorite as used in the steps to St Paul’s Cathedral.  In 1968/1969 the Royal Engineers were employed to blow a hole in the sea cliff, allowing the quarry to flood and thus be converted to a marina.

Royal Engineers working in the entrance to Beaucette Quarry/Marina

Final approach to the marina entrance

The task of blowing a hole in the sea cliff almost proved too difficult for the Royal Engineers, who started the job in 1968 and had to stop and then return the next year, with even more personnel, to finish off their mission.  The entrance looks, and feels, very narrow, particularly when there is any sea running, but it is actually 15m wide when there’s 3m over the sill.  It might look so narrow because of the dogleg turn to port immediately inside the entrance.  There’s not a huge amount of space to manoeuvre here, so we called up on the radio to make sure that no one was planning to come out as we made our way in.

We were too busy to get any photos as we went through the gap by can report that, yes, it does feel very narrow.  More so when there’s a sea running!

Having been told that we had to self-isolate at home, instead of going to a quarantine berth we were directed to BV’s new mooring.  It too turned out to be very tight to get into but was the only remaining mooring suitable for a 42ft yacht available on the island, so we were very pleased to have been allocated it.

Whilst we waited for a visit from Guernsey Border Agency (GBA) officials we quickly packed up some important bits and pieces to take home with us.  The GBA (Customs and Immigration) officers arrived pretty quickly, processed our arrival – from a distance – and then, with BV closed down, we moved into a room in our house to begin our 14 days of self-isolation.  Fortunately, 2 days later we received a very welcome call telling us that our request for exemption from self-isolation had been approved; 26 full days at sea, as proved by our satellite tracker, was deemed to be more than enough time in ‘self-isolation’.  So, in a bit of a daze, we began adjusting to life on dry land, meeting up with family and friends and starting on the million and one jobs on BV and ashore that needed attention.  

Our trip home had been wonderful conclusion to a fabulous journey.  Yes, it came sooner than we might have hoped and we certainly hope to be able to go off long-distance sailing on BV at some point in the future.  But with so much uncertainty surrounding travel in the face of COVID-19 returning home was exactly the right thing for us.  And the trip home, whilst also not panning out exactly as we had originally envisaged, was very successful both in terms of the time it took, the weather we experienced and the fact that, after 26-odd days at sea, we were still talking to each other and could quite happily have continued on further.  So, in time, we’ll point BV’s bow west again with our eyes on more diving in the Honduran Bay Islands, a summer’s cruising in Newfoundland (or maybe 2 summers?) and, perhaps, a Pacific crossing – we’ve certainly proved we can go that distance!

Passage statistics:

Position at 1000A 24 Jun: N49 30 W003 31 (Beaucette Marina, Guernsey)

Midday to 1000A distance through water: 131 nautical miles (average 6.0 knots).

Midday to 1000A GPS distance towards destination: 127 nautical miles

Midnight to 1000A distance through water: 56 nautical miles (average 5.6 knots)

Midnight to 1000A GPS distance towards destination: 52 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water:  4068 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): Zero nautical miles

End of Day 27 - Guernsey

End of Day 26 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

This Blog entry is an edited version of the message we intended to send back whilst we were on the passage.  Unfortunately the laptop we use to work with the modem connected to the HF/SSB radio failed on 13 June so we had no way of sending it at the time it was written.

2359hrs (A, BST, GMT+1) Tue 23 Jun 2020

Dear All,

Motorsailing at dawn on Day 26 of our passage

The wind did indeed die away as Chris Parker had predicted, so Day 26 of our passage started with our motorsailing towards Ushant on the northwest tip of France.  The tidal flows are strong around this part of France and the Channel Islands and we were a bit concerned that we would arrive off Ushant with a strong tide against us.  However, by complete fluke all the way up to our waypoint off Ushant we got a push from the tide and the GPS showed us with a speed of 7-8 knots.

Ushant.  Our first sight of land for 26 days

The imposing lighthouses on Ushant stood out clearly and then the island also appeared over the horizon in the hazy dawn light; our first sight of land for 26 days.  We adjusted BV’s heading to take us through the Inshore Traffic Zone and then set about seeing if we could get any sort of mobile phone signal.  Our priority was to start to talk to the authorities in Guernsey again to see what had changed in the arrival procedures in theses Covid-19 times during the last 26 days.  Our phones, however, had other priorities.  Nicky’s phone was the first to connect with the internet and, over the next 30 minutes, our phones and computers hoovered up the 26-day backlog of hundreds of emails, junk mail, Facebook notifications and messages various.  There was so much that it completely used up her data allocation.  But, sifting through the general inbox detritus she homed in on a couple of key emails and, having arranged for more data, started the email and phone communications that we hoped would make for an easy arrival in Guernsey.

Sadly, it seems that yesterday’s message from Hagen’s work colleague that logic about quarantine requirements will prevail and that, after 27 days in complete isolation at sea, we would be able to put BV in a marina and go straight back into normal life on island, may not be the case at all.  Nicky was firmly told (and directed to the govv.gg website to read it for herself) that the policy is that a 14-day isolation period must be completed upon arrival in the Bailiwick no matter how or where you have come from.  Clearly, the policy it has been written on the assumption that people would have potentially interacted with potential Covid-19 carriers during their travel to the island and/or within 14 days of arriving on the island which, given that most arrivals come in on public transport or travel independently for only a couple of days to reach the island, makes sense.  Disappointingly, no one we spoke to seemed prepared to accept that an additional 14-day period of isolation makes no sense when you have already been in isolation for 27 days.

Similarly, the idea of completing that additional 14-day period of isolation in a marina on Blue Velvet where we would be completely self-contained also seemed to be unacceptable.  The civil servants Nicky spoke to stated that we were expected to decamp to a shore-based address to complete our self-isolation period, which of course will bring us into contact with a taxi driver and need other people to support us getting food etc.

We were a bit concerned that part way through the negotiations and confirmation of our position we would lose mobile phone coverage and would be unable to finish the discussion until we arrived in Guernsey.  However, our route took us close enough to the French coast for us to maintain a signal.  So, we arranged with the marina manager that we would arrive and go directly to our allocated berth, rather than one where we could stay for the period of self-isolation and confirmed with the Harbour Authority that Border Agency officers would be able to meet us at Beaucette to conduct the arrivals formalities.  Meanwhile BV chugged along all day in the totally calm weather making steady progress directly towards Guernsey.

Beating into wind along the north coast of Brittany (with a bit of help from the east going tide) for the final leg of our passage to Guernsey

With the frustrating bureaucracy completed as far as possible and teh tide starting tohelp us again, it was time to do some sailing.  The weather played out as predicted and at 1700hrs the wind picked up to 10-15 knots so we had glorious sailing conditions; the only niggle was that the wind was from the east-northeast, directly on the nose for our final leg between Ushant and Guernsey.  We set about beating east along the north coast of Brittany, but making reasonable progress with the help of the east-going tide.

Sundowners at 1800hrs was technically a bit early, as this far north the sun sets at around 2130hrs, but whilst enjoying a glass of wine together we drew up a list of jobs we needed to do on BV before leaving her to enter isolation and also a list of items to offload and take with us for that period.  Then we ate dinner, some of our ‘storm stew’, and clicked into night watch routine for our last night at sea on this passage.

The last sunset of the passage

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 23 Jun: N48 37 W004 57

Position at midnight 23 Jun: N49 18 W003 40

Midday to midday distance through water (23 hours due clock change): 146 nautical miles (average 6.3 knots).

Midday to midday GPS distance towards destination (23 hours due clock change): 142 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance through water: 151 nautical miles (average 6.3 knots)

Midnight to midnight GPS distance towards destination: 151 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water:  4011 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): 46 nautical miles

End of Day 26 Beaufort, North Carolina, USA towards Guernsey

End of Day 25 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

This Blog entry is an edited version of the message we intended to send back whilst we were on the passage.  Unfortunately the laptop we use to work with the modem connected to the HF/SSB radio failed on 13 June so we had no way of sending it at the time it was written.

2359hrs (A, BST, GMT+1) Mon 22 Jun 2020

Dear All,

The morning dawned bright and clear and again the day remained that way.  Blue skies, bright sunshine, a good 15 knots of wind from the southwest and BV bustling along at 7-8 knots doing her best to get us to Ushant before the wind dies.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Dolphins visiting us in the morning… honest… lots of them

And we had visits from dolphins.  Lots of them….. both lots of visits and lots of dolphins.  In fact, it seemed as if we had dolphins with us all day.  However, my camera is colloquially known as ‘the dolphin scarer’.  Every time I bring it out to try to take some pictures of dolphins, they vanish.  So these are the best shots that we got in the morning.  You’ll just have to take our word for it that the dolphins were there and were a pretty active bunch.

The sea has suddenly got busy…

Not the best photo but it does show Nicky’s ship
dodging antics [Ed: which makes it look as if I totally
 irresponsibly cut just in front of the ship.  In fact, I cross the
 ship’s projected track probably 10nm in front of her bow]

We’ve spent the day working our way northeast towards the southern end of the inshore traffic zone, just to the east of the Off Ushant Traffic Separation scheme.  For much of the day, this track was essentially the reciprocal of the obvious routing for freighters coming the other way aiming for the west of Spain and Portugal.  Needless to say, the AIS display has been alive with traffic all day and we’ve had to spend our watches monitoring things closely and dodging ships far more than we have had to previously during the passage [Ed: or, indeed, for most of the past 3 years since leaving European waters].

… and busier still as we got closer to Ushant

At midday we put the clocks forward for a final time and are now on A or BST (British Summer Time).  Guernsey is starting to feel very close now.  However, as I write, the wind is dying and we have had to switch the engine on to maintain a decent course and speed amongst the heavy shipping.  Nicky spoke to Chris Parker for the final time this evening and he confirmed that the wind would be very light tonight and until tomorrow afternoon and then he expects the wind to pick up to 10-15 knots from the east-northeast, directly on the nose for our final leg between Ushant and Guernsey.  Suddenly Guernsey feels quite a long way away!

Our dolphin escorts.  They stayed with us all afternoon and evening

We’ve known since before we left Beaufort NC that Guernsey was the first part of the British Isles to become free of Covid-19.  But without email comms it’s difficult for us to get a definitive answer on the self-isolation policy which will be in force when we arrive [Ed: that’s to say, in general there is a requirement for arrivals on island to undergo a 14-day self-isolation period after arrival.  But we have been self-isolating on board for the past 25 days so we’re hoping that our time at sea will count as our arrival self-isolation complete.  At the moment though we have no confirmation one way or the other.]  Though we may not have email comms, we were able to use the HF/SSB radio to speak to Hagen on SY Salmon, currently on a mooring at St Pierre, a small French island off the south coast of Newfoundland.  Hagen has been told by a work colleague with a good contact in Guernsey’s Department of Public Health that time on passage will count towards the 2-week self-isolation period.  Clearly, we’ll need confirmation of this when we arrive but looks like logic will prevail and we may be able to put BV in a marina and go straight back into normal life on island, which would be fabulous.  Weather from Florida, Guernsey self-isolation policy updates from Newfoundland; it’s a small world when you’ve got a good SSB radio on board!

The sunset was looking so promising….

… but again, cloud on the horizon scuppered the chance of us seeing a green flash as the last of the sun dipped below the horizon

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 22 Jun: N47 15 W007 45

Position at midnight 22 Jun: N47 49 W006 23

Midday to midday distance through water: 144 nautical miles (average 6.0 knots).

Midday to midday GPS distance towards destination: 147 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance through water (23 hours due clock change): 152 nautical miles (average 6.6 knots)

Midnight to midnight GPS distance towards destination (23 hours due clock change): 151 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water: 3860 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): 183 nautical miles

End of Day 25 Beaufort, North Carolina, USA towards Guernsey

End of Day 24 Beaufort NC USA towards Guernsey

This Blog entry is an edited version of the message we intended to send back whilst we were on the passage.  Unfortunately the laptop we use to work with the modem connected to the HF/SSB radio failed on 13 June so we had no way of sending it at the time it was written.

2359hrs (Z, GMT) Sun 21 Jun 2020

Dear All,

Clear skies at dawn

After spending yesterday in grey, overcast and drizzly weather, at dawn it was nice to see that the sky was clear again with very little cloud.  Nice too for the solar panels which would have a chance to fully recharge our domestic battery bank; with a clear sky they were able to do that by early afternoon.

All a bit damp and salty and in need of a freshwater wash

The working area of BV around the companionway steps, galley and chart table also had a chance to dry out.  The combination of the damp drizzly air and our moving about in wet oilskins tends to get the cabin sole and steps area of this bit of the boat covered in saltwater and condensation.  And the latter, certainly, is not something that we have had to worry about too much whilst we’ve been cruising around the Caribbean.

A good drying day

In a similar vein, with the sun shining gloriously, the cockpit became a drying area for clothes, oilskins, lifejackets and all the other various bits and pieces that had got wet over the past 2 days.

Light winds…..

….. and swell result in slatting, banging sails

It was a big relief to get past the depression largely unscathed and having experienced much better conditions having sailed southeast.  However, despite the clear blue skies and seemingly idyllic conditions today, the effects of the depression were still much in evidence.  We were sailing relatively slowly at between 3 and 5 knots in 10 knots of wind or less but BV was rolling about significantly because that little wind doesn’t really provide enough pressure on the sails to keep everything steady when there is significant swell.  And the depression had certainly created significant swell.  As the day progressed, the long wavelength swell from the west increased significantly from around 3m in the morning to about 5m by early evening.  When BV was on the top of the swell the view down in to the ‘valley’ of the trough was impressively long and deep, much like being on rolling parkland.  And whilst the wavelength was long so BV could keep sailing despite the height of the waves, the result was both the rolling and also lots of banging and shaking of the rig as the sails filled and then emptied with the rolling effect.  It could get quite unsettling, especially as we had already had a rigging failure on the staysail’s inner forestay.  Ironically, if we still had the staysail available to use, we would have sheeted it hard in down the centreline which helps to reduce the rolling effect quite considerably as well as helping to keep a steady track downwind.

Calmer seas so baking ops are back on.  Probably the last loaf baked on the passage

Just before midnight we passed a significant milestone: that of having sailed BV 50,000nm.  We couldn’t really do anything at the time but decided that was worthy of a celebration later in the day.  So we treated ourselves some white wine at sundowners and with our homemade pizza dinner.

A good sunset on the longest day of the year but no green flash

The sunset at 2034hrs looked very promising but sadly we can report that there was no green flash.  On the plus side, the wind got up to 15 knots which was enough to get rid of the rolling, banging and shaking of the rig that had frustrated us during the day.  It also boosted our speed so there is a chance that we might get to Ushant before the wind dies.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 21 Jun: N45 51 W010 32

Position at midnight 21 Jun: N46 29 W009 26

Midday to midday distance through water: 155 nautical miles (average 6.5 knots).

Midday to midday GPS distance towards destination: 155 nautical miles

Midnight to midnight distance through water: 135 nautical miles (average 5.6 knots)

Midnight to midnight GPS distance towards destination: 132 nautical miles

Total miles covered through water:  3708 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Guernsey): 329 nautical miles

End of Day 24 Beaufort, North Carolina, USA towards Guernsey