Leg 7 – Dieppe to Camaret-Sur-Mer

We stayed in Dieppe 4 nights from Friday (July 19) to Tuesday (July 22). It sounds a lot when we write it but we feel we had only a very short stay there. Could it be because we spent an entire day just to dry the boat (see Leg 6)? At the end we had just the time to walk around the city and see the sea front and get amazed by the high cliffs of limestone. Before that, we had seen them only from the boat while sailing along the coast of Hauts-de-France and Normandy. Then it was already time to plan the next leg towards Cherbourg and go.

We had been warned by many people for the strong currents around the horn of Cherbourg and the need to properly plan this passage. There are basically two things to be mindful about:

• Avoid getting stuck in strong current in the opposite direction at “Pointe de Barfleur”. In this area, currents can be greater than the speed of the boat through the water. This means that with all the effort one could make to have good speed on sail or even on engine, one would travel backwards.
  
• Avoid ending up in the same area when there is strong wind against strong currents, which would lift nasty waves and make the trip very uncomfortable. We have already experienced that when we went from Brunsbüttel to Cuxhaven and we would be glad to skip that. If such conditions are forcasted, better stay in Dieppe and wait.

We spent several hours to study the weather along the 108 nautical miles from Dieppe to Cherbourg. We identified first the right time window to arrive in Cherbourg so we would have the current with us and would not have strong winds against us. Once identified, we calculated backwards the time we would need to leave Dieppe considering the weather and the currents along the way, taking also a little bit of margin. We decided we would go for a late departure from Dieppe, a night sailing for an arrival in Cherbourg the day after in the afternoon. We marked on our seachart several waypoints so we could check if we were going according to plan or too fast or too slow.

The waiting for the departure from Dieppe was pretty stressful. Since early morning, already when it was still dark, one by one, sailboats were leaving Dieppe and by 2pm, Lovisa was one of the few boats left in the harbor, while the night before the harbor was completely full. Although we were confident about our plan, looking at boats leaving one by one, including S/Y Alba and SY Texas White Lady that decided to go via Le Havre, was very stressful. It is like every person leaving is asking you “are you really sure about your plan?” and that added some pressure to us. One hour before our planned departure time, we decided it was enough waiting. We decided to go … with no rush but still go. We shifted the expected time to our waypoints by one hour and tried to stick to that. We went on engine for about 4 hours while the wind was coming from the bow. Once we wind changed direction, we hoisted the sails but kept the motor going (we basically motor sailed) for additional 2 hours as we were going too slow against the current: the GPS speed was not greater than 1.8 knots while looking at the speed in the water, it was probably around 4 knots, so we had quite strong current against us as foreseen. Once the current decreased, we turned off the engine and continued on sail alone for the remaining 18 hours. We checked the time at every waypoint to check if we were on time. We were very pleased to see that we got it right! We had a pleasant evening sail, a fantastic sunset on the water, a night with steady winds, not too weak, not to strong providing good speed and an arrival in Cherbourg on flat water at 7 knots. We couldn’t hope for anything better!

It so happened that the Rolex Fastnet Race was planned to start on July 26 (it is a sailing race that start in Cowes in southern England and finishes in Cherbourg). When we went to pay the harbor fee, the girl at the desk asked us if we were there to join the Fastnet. We are not quite sure Lovisa would be that competitive! She could be more suitable for a Rolex Slownet Race!

Many french boats were gathered in Cherbourg the days before the start date, so we could admire some of the racing machines parked there like Class 40 boats, Ocean 50 and Imocas.

In our spare time we also managed to finalize the installation of the wind generator. This has been a project pending for a long time so it was very nice to see the wind turbine up there instead of it taking a lot of space on the boat! What remains to do is only to check the performance of it. We also took the opportunity of being in Cherbourg to visit the nuclear submarine Le Redoutable that is exposed at the Cité de la Mer. That is a fantastic piece of engineering considering its construction year 1964-1971 … it is always amazing to think that some people enroll themselves willingly to spend months underwater in one of those … We also visited the Titanic museum (yes, Titanic stopped in Cherbourg) and a nice aquarium.

Four days after our arrival in Cherbourg it was already time to get back to the rituals and plan for the next leg towards west. On the way towards Brittany from Cherbourg, the channel islands make perfect stopovers. We were very curious to see at least one of them. We chose Guernsey because of its good reputation and good harbor according to Reeds Almanac. But to go to Guernsey, one needs to pass Cap de la Hague and Raz du Blanchard. Sailing in that area can be difficult and in some weather conditions even dangerous. Choosing the right weather window, time and route was essential. We studied the plan for several hours and discussed with our friends on S/Y Alba. The wind that day was coming from west so we decided to go the entire way on engine instead of trying to sail our way out and risking to miss the time window to pass Cap de la Hague and Raz du Blanchard. In any case, the good planning gave us a smooth crossing despite an hour or so of pure roller coaster north of Cap de la Hague. We passed when there was nearly no current and when it is supposed to be best conditions. One of the reasons for the rolling could be that we passed that area a bit close from land at 1.5 NM while it was recommended to leave 3 NM to land. Several boats went even closer to land but that option was also a roller coaster as we could see.

On the way out of the harbor of Cherbourg, we ended up side by side with a Class 40 racing sailboat. Lovisa against Class 40 Legallais ! We only had time to take some fotos before they disappeared ahead of us.

After 7.5 hours motoring, we arrived in Saint Peter Port in Guernsey under a very slight breeze of wind. We waited for an hour or so on a waiting pontoon before we could enter Victoria Marina (Visitor’s marina). Victoria Marina is accessible only a few hours before and after high tide. In order to avoid all the water to leave the harbor during low tide, there is a sill at the entrance, basically a wall that is covered at high tide and retain the water during low tide and maintain a minimum depth in the harbor. Pretty cool!

And yet a new flag was up!

Guernsey seems to be a wonderful place that would deserve more than the couple of days that we spend there. Having quite little to fix on the boat, we spent some time to visit the centre of Saint Peter Port, eat some tasty seafood, and go for a hike to Fermain Bay that is a pitoresque beach stuck between cliffs just a couple of kilometers south of Saint Peter’s Port.

Although it is very close from mainland France, we felt like there was only little French influence on the island. Everyone speaks british english, the pubs serve you fish and chips, cheddar cheese has taken back the place of the Cantal and Saint Nectaire in the food shop as we could find in Cherbourg and the pint of beer is cheap. Nevertheless Guernsey has dedicated several statues to Victor Hugo as he lived many years on the island during his exile from France… something we didn’t know before coming here.

We left Guernsey with a doubt: the sinks in the marina’s bathrooms were equipped with two separate cranes, the left one for hot water (like veeery hot) and the right one for cold water. If we want to have just warm water, how shall we do? what’s the trick?

We left Guernsey on early morning 4:30 Guernsey time on Wednesday (July 30). Although it was just one hour before sunrise, it was still dark due to the clouds. But we were not the only ones with such a plan and we ended up in a group of 6 sailboats all heading towards Roscoff including our friends on S/Y Alba and S/Y Texas White Lady. We reached our destination after 15 hours. Out of these, we motored for about 4 hours and did a few hours of roller coaster. People usually pay to get just a few minutes on a roller coaster. We get all that roller coaster for free!

And once again, thank you S/Y Alba for the nice pictures of Lovisa making her way through the waves !

We arrived in Roscoff happy for the nice winds we had along the way but very tired. We really started to feel the need for some days of rest. Some days without having to plan for any route, without having to set the alarm at 4am to leave to some place, without having to check the winds, the tides and the currents. Some days just to enjoy being in a place after several intense weeks of sailing from Sankt Anna. Luckily, the weather forecast over Bay of Biscay was not looking very promising for at least a week and this would allow us to take some rest in Camaret-Sur-Mer. We stayed just a couple of nights in Roscoff, the time to see how the town looks like and take a little bit of rest and buy some food for the coming days.

We left late morning on Friday (August 1) towards Aber Wrac’h, a small town midway between Roscoff and Camaret Sur Mer. On this stretch we finally spotted our first dolphins. We saw first a thin in the water then a few seconds later we had several dolphins (common dolphins) swimming at front of the boat. What a fantastic experience! We met three groups on the way and saw several other ones further away from where we were. Something that is certain, they know how to bring happiness to people. And seeing dolphins has a special meaning for us: we’ve gone far!

After a good nights sleep in Aber Wrac’h, it was already time to leave to Camaret-Sur-Mer. The way from Aber Wrac’h to Camaret Sur Mer is going through Canal du Four which is a narrow passage between mainland Brittany and some small islands off the coast of Brittany. Currents are strong in that passage so it was important to choose the right time window and get that current with us. That was easy to plan since Aber Wrac’h is relatively close to Chenal du Four and the weather was very promising.

During the first hours, the wind was very weak and we made a major part of the route on engine. We managed to hoist the gennaker as the winds picked up in Canal du Four. We spent an hour or so with the gennaker up before we took it down and hoisted the main sail and genoa instead. The video below is taken during the last miles prior to Camaret sur Mer. The coast of Brittany as we could see from the boat is beautiful with alternating high cliffs and sand beaches with just a few people on them.

Today Sunday August 3rd, we are in Camaret sur Mer. We have left the waters of the English channel behind us and started our route through the northern Atlantic ocean. We will stay here some days to relax and check and prepare the boat for the second part of this voyage when we will go through the Bay of Biscay and along the coast of Spain and Portugal. Cheers!