Sailing with Amy Clair

Our confidence levels boosted we decided to make an early start and to sail back to Portsmouth ahead of the rally. Mainly because Keith had to fly off to Switzerland on a work trip early on the bank Holiday Monday. We had a great sail back with favourable NW winds that somehow meant we were able to be on one tack . All went well until we were about 10 miles south of the Isle of Wight. I went below and discovered to my horror that we had a large ingress of seawater. Keep calm. There is nothing more focused than a man with a bucket in a sinking boat ! It was a schoolboy error . We had left a thru hull open on a long port tack and water had backed up through the sink and overflowed. Scary and prompted us to beef up our bilge pumping arrangements just in case ! The ARC was a wonderful experience. We made new friends, saw new sights and increased our skills and confidence . Highly recommended.

Very pleasant sail back to Cherbourg for the final night of the rally. 

Very pretty and deserving of another visit.

Anita & Derek Southworth on "Milla of Falmouth" assist with the docking antics  and join us for a well earned beer afterwards !

B ecause of the lost time at the start of the rally the visit to Jersey was cancelled and we sailed direct to Braye. Another fine day and an easy sail. Alderney is a pretty place. Again a lot of German WW2 building has dramatically changed the landscape.

As Solent sailors we know about tides but have never experienced the 30+ foot tidal ranges that the CI's experience. A management and pilotage challenge.

As it is my first tourist visit to Guernsey I did not understand just how much significance the CI's had during the second world war and just how much Nazi infrastructure had been built. A blot on the beautiful landscape and much too sturdy to be removed,

After the sometimes heavy weather of the crossing from Portsmouth to Cherbourg we awoke to a clear, bright blue sky. Definitely shorts and tee shirt weather. A happy crew ! The tide runs fast in the Little Russel . Not for the faint hearted  Safe arrival in the pretty town of St Peter Port

Cherbourg is a pretty place . The weather was kind and we enjoyed exploring. Seems Napoleon liked it too !

It was great to have a welcoming committee on the dock at Cherbourg to take lines and to start the social side of our ARC experience. We had a nice berth with easy access to the facilities.

After 2 days of delays we finally got underway at 04.30 on Sunday 22 August. Everything went well until we emerged from the Eastern end of the Isle of Wight when we received the brunt of the (still) strong SW ' erlies. Still running at around F6 and with a strong swell. It became clear that the conditions were too much for a number of the boats. Radio messages indicated that crews were becoming very seasick and in the end 3 or 4 boats decided to return to Gosport. A great shame as within the next couple of hours the winds abated and we had a cracking sail across to Cherbourg.

After several weeks of preparations, attending meetings and getting the boats safety equipment up to standard we made our way to Haslar Marina (all of 1/2Nm away !) tomeet up with our fellow participants. The weather however had different ideas and the winds remained solidly at F6+. Still it was a good opportunity to have some social events with our new found friends ! The baking competition was won by Paul on "Milla of Falmouth" for a fantastic stuffed loaf.