Purrfect Tale

Prticipants

Name of Boat	L, B, D	Model	Skipper	Crew
Azahara	10.7	Dufour 360	Javier Bardavio	Massimo Sibilio
Diamond Time	10.4L 3.55B, 1.95D	Hanse 348	Martin Preston	Karen Ruhr
Polestar	11.9L, 3.9B, 2.0D	Jenneau Sun Odyssey 39	Connor campbell-Coleman	Charles Perret, Oliver Gordon, Conor Whelan, Mhairi Campbell-coleman
Purrfect Tale	10.4L 3.55B, 1.95D	Hanse 348	Mike Lithgow	Pat North, Anurag Krishna, Manogna Hemnur Sastry
Scott Free	9.45L, 3.29B, 1.85D	Bavaria 30	Tim Webster	Leonora Gutierrez
Blackjack			Vernon Bradley	Phil

The intention of the rally was to encourage either first time channel crossers or those that had not been to France since BREXIT to give it a go. In the end the number of takers from the Club was limited – however via word of mouth and Hanse Owners Club – 5 boats plus Purrfect Tale signed up to the event. Prior to the Rally as an experiment two Zoom calls were held 1) Cross the Channel and 2) Rally to Cherbourg. The aim being to help people understand the process and forms that had to be completed – eC1335 and PAFs.

26th May – Hamble – Lymington

The weather forecast for the event – like so many in the first half of 2024 was windy. The rally was taking place at the same time as two other races – Deauville and Frecamp. The Friday we sailed down to Lymington and had booked berths on the Dan Bran and the Royal Lymington for supper. All arrived without incident and we gathered in the upstairs bar of the RLYC. Friday night was ‘steak night’ – unknown to us – the bar was packed and there was a great atmosphere. The front of house staff looked after us extremely well. We had already decided that the forecast for the Monday was too bad – very high winds. This changes our original plan of out on a Saturday – rest day Sunday – back Monday. Now we were faced with a short turnaround – in late Saturday and away early Sunday. But for many it was the fun of crossing the Channel and experiencing once again the joy or entering a foreign land!

Gillian was not with me – which proved to be a good decision. Instead I had Pat to help me plus two crew who had flown in from Luxembourg; Anu and Manu. Anu ran robotics for Amazon in Europe and Manu an astrophysicist – both overseas members of the Club.

27th May – Lymington – Cherbourg

We left around 0520 in the morning which meant a 0440 reveille. The weather was fair but we had a Easterly wind which was blowing us onto the pontoon. This required a a bow spring to get us off the pontoon. Most managed but one of the boats had a bit of a challenge – but we hung around to make sure they were with us as we started the passage down the Needles Channel.

Once we were clear of the Needles and out into the Channel the wind gradually began to pick up from early morning 12kts to 20kts by 0900. There was also a large rolling sea coming down the channel from East to West which made for an uncomfortable ride. We had set up a watch system with Anu partnering with Pat and Manu with myself. The berth in the saloon was also set so people could get their heads down after each watch. Anu and Manu preferred to stay on deck but both Pat and I managed to get 2 hours rest between our watches.

By 1100 a combination of the rolling waves and wind made us rethink the sail plan and we put in a single reef which did make for a more comfortable ride. It was a little tricky on the foredeck but with Pat in the cockpit supervising all went well without a hitch. By this time one of the boats had turned back. Both the skipper and crew were very sea sick. One of the other boats was struggling but kept going.

A bonus of the strong wind was a remarkably fast crossing. We went from the Bridge to Grande Rade in 7hrs 45 mins – the fastest cross we have ever made. We entered the Grande Rade via the Western entrance – first time I had been in this way as it is used by the ferries and we are sort of discouraged from using it. Entering the marina we discovered it was absolutely packed. Blackjack had already arrived and found a space rafted up on one of the hammer heads. There was a dory out to help those arriving and we were eventually directed to a berth into which we reversed without a problem. As we were 2nd in I hung around the pontoon to catch the ye of those coming in after us to guide them to a spare berth as there were so few. There was still a strong cross wind and and berthing was not without some drama!

The next question was did we book in with the Police. We were going to leave very early the following morning before the Police arrived at the marina to stamp passports. The ‘quiet’ advice we got from the marina was to slip into Cherbourg and leave without booking in or out – a decision we took on the basis were were there for less than 12 hours and would not travel outside of marina. However chatting with other people across from UK it turned out the French Police were very pragmatic – they were double stamping passports for people leaving early at the time of booking in.

The entire atmosphere in Cherbourg was one of welcoming those from UK and doing everything they could to make it easy for us to visit.

In the evening we had booked a meal for the group at L’ equipage which is the restaurant above the marina office. There were a few tired bodies there but all feeling a sense of success in crossing the Channel in some challenging conditions. All were mindful of the early start the next day!

28th May – Cherbourg – Hamble

We spent some time looking at tide tables for route back to Hamble – either the eastern entrance to the Solent which was more or less tide neutral via the Nab Tower or in through the Needles which was very tide dependent. We were on Neaps so we took the risk and decided on Needles. It was going to be tight and we also had to balance get everyone out of bed at a reasonablish hour – which turned out to be 0500. Departure would have been smooth except a line got caught between pontoons as we left. Quick action by Anu saved the day!

There was little breeze – 8kts and given the direction of the tide we decided to motor sail for the first few miles which turned out to be the whole of the trip across. It was a normal crossing time. Cherbourg to Needles in 11 hours. But the tide had turned – just. We crabbed our way through the Needles under motor but as we came past Yarmouth the tide against us got stronger and the wind picked up considerably – 20kts. We then spent from 1800 to midnight tacking against tide down the Solent in an Easterly wind. It was a long night!

We had the additional issue of booking into UK with two non UK nationals on board – Anu and Manu. Border Force were going to meet us at Hamble but when they realised this would be after midnight they lost some enthusiasm. They did come up with a solution which involved emailing forms across to us on the boat, Manu and Anu filing them out, emailing back, Border Forces printing out and stamping the forms, scanning back in and emailing back to us. All of this took place as we were managing a bit of an over canvased boat in darkness down the Solent.

All was going well till Pat called down the companionway that she thought there was a ship heading for us. Thinking this might be a little way off I causally came up top to discover we could see their bow wave and both starboard and port light. Quickly radioing them (City if Chichester – for those who might meet her in the future!) we eventually managed to get hold of them. As we were hard pressed under sail I asked if they were content with our course – ie have you seen us. The response from them did not inspire confidence ‘not really’ and then silence. I had loosened off the main a little so Pat could move to right angles to the ship but there was not much else we could do. It was close! I am not sure the ship moved at all and I suspect it was a very junior officer on the bridge who had been left to take the freighter down the Western Solent on what would usually be an empty stretch of water at this time of night. It would have been if we had not been there. Thankfully Anu and Manu were unaware of the quiet but dignified panic up-top as they filled in custom and arrival forms.

Just after midnight we entered Southampton Water and shortly after than Hamble River. The Hamble at night has two contracting sections. Near Southampton Water end it is a mass of lights and pontoon markers and looks very different to daylight. Above HYS it is dark and you cannot even see the pontoon letter. Fortunately a late arrival was not a new experience for me and we slowly and gently made our way up river to finally berth at 0110.

We were the last ones in. The others had made it across and were berthed up by 2000-2100. All had enjoyed a bracing weekend sailing!

29th May – Hamble

Pat stayed on board that night and left the next morning. Anu and Manu took the ferry across to the Isle of Wight for a days outing and I did some tidying and maintenance on the boat. Anu and Manu kindly hosted dinner that evening in the Gaff Rigger before catching the train up to London for the flight back to Luxembourg.

An adventurous outing!