Alderney

Braye Harbour Looking East

 Moule Mariniere and Muscadet

Alderney is an island we have often wanted to visit but generally bypassed in the rush to get on to Guernsey or France. We have therefore only visited properly once and promised ourselves that we would visit again when we had more time. Pinching ourselves and grinning we realised that we now have the time so, after a short 3½ hour passage from Cherbourg, we dropped anchor in Braye Harbour. Once we had gone ashore by dinghy to clear Customs and to book in with the Harbourmaster, we settled back in onboard for a seafood feast with our shopping trophies from Cherbourg.

Having eaten far too much we turned in with big plans for an early start to explore the island. Unfortunately the early start came a little earlier than expected with an unexpected increase in wind that swung BV close to some Clipper Venture round the world racing yachts moored nearby.  All would be fine provide the anchor held but, just in case it dragged, from midnight we took it in turns to stay awake in the cockpit on anchor watch. At 5 am it was dawn and we moved the anchor, checked it was solidly dug in and crashed out.

Braye Harbour Looking West from Fort Albert

Have folding bike, will travel

Somewhat later than expected, we transported our folding bikes ashore and explored the island. It is only 3½ x 1½ miles in size with a normal population of about 2000. Strategically significant, it is covered in forts and castles dating from Roman times right up to WWII. Unspoilt, it was a delight to explore. St Anne’s town has real character with cobbled streets and small shops. Sadly most were closed on Wednesday afternoon; our loss with the late start. We cycled around the whole island stopping at numerous beautiful beaches, Mannez Lighthouse at the far NE of the island and headlands at the opposite end, where we had fantastic views for Fort Clonque and the Gannet colony on Les Etacs.

Corblets Bay, Fort Corblets and Mannez Lighthouse    

Saye Bay

The main (and only) town of St Anne’s

Les Etacs reported to have around 7000 nesting pairs of Gannets

Thursday 23 August morning was glorious with clear blue skies. We went for a run along the beach and up to Fort Albert; fantastic views. Once back onboard we stowed the dingy and outboard motor ready to set off in the afternoon. We had to do some careful checking of the tides to decide on our departure time because the tides run extremely strongly around Alderney. They run faster than BV can sail or motor so timing the tide and very careful navigation would be needed to make sure we didn’t get into trouble.

After an indulgent lunch, which included the garlic snails, French bread and cheese, we made the most of the clear blue skies and sunshine by lazing in the cockpit and reading. Mid afternoon we raised the anchor and departed Braye Harbour looking suspiciously at the halo around the sun caused by high level cloud because it normally heralds the arrival of a frontal weather system. Our immediate minor frustration was the lack of wind as we motored through the infamous Swinge with double our normal speed due to the fast running tide as we headed the short distance towards Guernsey. The weather update in a few hours would confirm whether or not we could sneak in a night at anchor off one of the beaches of Sark before moving to the security of St Peter Port.

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

Freedom!

There are 2 great reasons for us to pop a champagne cork and celebrate. The first is that Nicky had her last formal day at work on Friday and so we can both now concentrate full time on the final preparations, both at home and on BV, before we set off long-term. The second reason to celebrate is that we have slipped our lines for a 5 week cruise; a longer time than we have ever had before to sail because we have always been restricted by work commitments. This new freedom feels great! We are aiming to visit the northern areas of the Bay of Biscay, whilst also hoping for some warmer weather, but who knows where we will end up with the unsettled weather we are experiencing in northern Europe at the moment. We are both keeping our fingers crossed that, after the pretty ropey weather so far this year, things will settle down for these last few weeks of the summer.  An Indian Summer would be perfect.

Some people have asked why we don't just set off for the Mediterranean now. A very good question, and it is a very tempting idea. However, Nicky still has a few loose ends to tie down at work before she is fully off the hook, we ideally would like to move house in the Autumn so that is all sorted before we set off, plus we need to spend some time properly loading up BV. Packing her for moving onboard full-time will be a bit more involved than it has been for our previous holidays. But for now... the sun is shining and BV is pretty much ready to go, so ignoring all of that boring admin and escaping for a 5 week shake-down cruise (which will allow us to test out all of the improvements we have made to BV) seems like the very best thing that we can do with out time.  It's going to be awesome!

The new Bimini has been fitted

My daughter, son and his partner came to stay for a few days and we had a good blast up the Solent.

Great fun, however, I have my suspicions that they really came to stay so that they could size up the new teenager in the family.








The outboard started first pull and we successfully transported five adults at once without getting any wet bums - a success!  It seemed to get the approval of the offspring as they couldn't wait to steal the dinghy and use it to explore the upper reaches of the Beaulieu River.

My son testing out the new Bimini

For Nicky and me though, the real news from the weekend was arriving at BV to discover that the Bimini had been fitted during the week.

We will have looked a bit strange sailing up the Solent with the Bimini raised in pleasant but not very sunny weather, but it gave us the chance to try it out in a stiff breeze.

It's brilliant.  Exactly as we specified with enough headroom for us to stand on the seat when steering so that we can see clearly when manoeuvring in harbour, really solid bracing, and no forward straps to conflict with the main sheet.  Plus it is curved enough to match the lines and thus look good and, on a practical level, stay taut to easily shed any rain water.  It's got an extra sunscreen which can be lowered to protect the helmsman's back and it also has a little window which can be uncovered so that it is easy to see the sails and the wind indicators for top sail trim in those 'racing' moments when you get two or more cruising yachts in close company.  Perfectly matches what we were after.

Just the new sprayhood to go to complete the transition to beige.  That should happen this week in time for our summer cruise.  Can't wait to explore further afield than just our normal stomping ground of the Solent!

Straps and Chains

This week's new beige covers photo no 1...

Watching the amazing opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics meant we had a late start on Saturday so again only a short sail in the Solent this weekend. Before setting off we were able to finish fitting the pad eyes and securing straps to the deck for the new dinghy. Definitely a two person job with me wiggling the nuts and washers into position from underneath whilst Nicky tightened the bolts from above. Yes, we did get gooey sealant everywhere!

As well as buying a padlock and a length of heavy-duty chain this week, I also made a beige cover for the new dinghy. It is therefore tied down, covered and locked to the deck ready for us to try out properly during our summer holiday cruise starting in a few weeks. Both the new dinghy and outboard are much heavier than our old kit so it will take a bit of experimentation to work out the best place on deck to inflate the dinghy, lift it overboard and then attach the outboard engine.

... and no 2

We were also able to check out the new AIS which is now 'talking' to the notebook so we can see a picture of all of the ships and AIS equipped craft that it is detecting.

We had a good beat west into both wind and tide.  As we came abeam the southern end of the Beaulieu we decided to stop so that we could watch some of the Olympics events.  It is a peaceful spot and fantastic place to wake up to in the morning.

On Sunday the wind built to a force 5-6 so we elected to sail with just the genoa raised.  Very easy sailing and big grins all round as we took it in turns to steer.

There was the usual maelstrom of racing yachts to dodge as we passed Cowes plus a square rigger training ship and a Thames Barge to add variety.  It was great to get out on the water again for a short sail but we are both itching to travel further afield.  We're also hoping for a phone call this week to say that the Bimini and sprayhood are ready to be fitted.

More Reading

Reading the pilot books for where we are planning to go is really exciting.  Great pictures of beautiful anchorages and warm, clear sea.  Can't wait to get there!

It's not just about dreaming though.  There is also a lot to learn about the local weather conditions, immigration rules and other regulations.  It might sound like a chore but researching it all beats working through an in-tray at work by a long way!

One of the things we will need to narrow down is a shortlist of locations where we could overwinter at the end of 2013 and into 2014.  The pilot books help there but there also a lot of good information on the Web.  Interestingly it seems that if you spend more than about 3 months in an EU country then you should register as living there for tax reasons.  That might have some significant implications so we'll need to properly understand those EU rules.

I'm also reading up on fishing - watch out Tunas, here I come!

Teamwork

I solved the problem of potentially having to get all scrunched up in the lazarette laying the long GPS cable for the AIS... Nicky volunteered for the task. On account of her superior sailing qualifications (and flexibility) it was one of those "never look a gift horse in the mouth" moments!  Joking aside, it does highlight the teamwork.

We regularly see yachts sailing with just male crews onboard, usually made up of the owner plus friends moving the yacht to somewhere nice where 'Mrs' flys in and embarks.  It is unusual for a gentleman to be sailing with a lady who is more qualified in sailing matters - I definitely feel privileged.


When asked I generally sum the balance of workload up as, "Nicky prefers to do the tricky navigation and I prefer to steer in the rain and fix things" - potentially a perfect division of labour.  But, as fitting the AIS illustrates, we regularly get amongst each others 'areas of expertise' to maintain the balance.

This is me securing and wiring in the AIS as well as tidying up the NMEA network wiring.

The AIS fitting went very well and the AIS unit now shows the all important green light demonstrating that it is very happy; properly configured, transmitting and receiving okay and that its GPS is working.  Proper geeky stuff, but a result!

However, the ship's computer wasn't talking to the AIS apparently because some 'drivers' that hadn't loaded properly.  I'd configured the AIS with the MMSI number and BV's dimensions using my Mac at home.  Simply plugged it in and it worked; Macs are good like that.  The PC onboard, however, seems to be more temperamental.  I do remember seeing a Tech Note from the manufacturer that might help so will work on that at home and hopefully all will be well on our next visit to BV with a picture of what the AIS is 'seeing' displayed on the computer screen.

Cowes Revisited

Mai-Cha III

Athos

Saturday morning was an early start with just a short hop across to Cowes on the agenda.  It also gave us the chance to take another look at the spectacular yachts we saw the previous evening; the 147 foot long Mai-Cha III and the 201 foot long Athos.

I love the style of the Van de Hoek Classic yachts so for me Athos stole the limelight, and hence there are more photos of her.