Herm to Guernsey

Sunday 30^th Aug 2009 Herm to Guernsey 4.5NM

 

Wind S F4, light rain at first and then fair.

 

The overall purpose of the trip was to make the Vale Earth Fair at Vale Castle in Guernsey, a music festival taking place Midday to Midnight on the Sunday.

 

I managed to sail this passage most of the way, setting off south and then through the Percee and Corbette Passages between Herm and Jetou. I made a mess of the Little Russel, but luckily it didn't make a mess of me; The wind was against an unforeseen current and I wasn't properly prepared for the pilotage. I wouldn't like to be in the same position at springs. Another lesson learned. The motor stepped in again to save the day.

I had planned to use Bordeaux Harbour, just north of Vale castle, but with no depth marked on the chart, it turned out to be dry on my arrival and with quite a rocky bottom in many parts. Just to the north of this I noticed a sheltered bay of moorings. I snuck in here and initially anchored, until a friendly local fisherman offered me his spare mooring. I tried it, but it was exposed to the southerly chop from the Russel so I moved back inshore on the hook. This was the best anchorage of the trip, very snug, and a perfect fit for a Seawych. I walked a couple of miles to a petrol station to fill up the fuel tank in case of having to motor back the whole way to Jersey the next day. A sensible precaution as it turned out, and fortunate too, because until recently petrol wasn't available on a Sunday in Guernsey.

The festival was great, with many Jersey friends there too. I believe the Vale Earth Fair holds the record for having a higher number of piercings per square mile than anywhere else on the planet. OK, I made that bit up, but it's that kind of festival. After so much solitude, being around thousands of people at once was unnerving and I had to take a break back on the boat for an hour at dinner time.

Sark to Herm

Saturday 29^th August 2009 Sark to Herm, 5.5NM

 

Wind SW 3-4 Fair and Sunny

 

The wind finally dropped overnight, so I left for Herm around 7am, hoping to have a bit of a sail on the way. After heading North for an hour or so against the tide and not getting far fast, I turned east and motored for Belvoir Bay. When I arrived the beach and anchorage were deserted so, not being too sure on how far in to go I anchored a way off shore. In the end the privacy further out was quite welcome as many boats and ferry-born day trippers soon swarmed into the bay. There was at least one fouled anchor among the yachts. I rowed ashore and walked around Herm, having a first class Greek salad at the pub next to the harbour, and writing postcards.

 

Does everyone find there's something special about swimming off your own boat, or will the novelty wear off? Anyway, I returned to Kamala, and swam a few circuits around her. It was the first day hot enough to try out my solar shower. What a fantastic device! Every boat should have one. After the swim, I hung the shower on the boom and washed in the bottom of the cockpit.

 

I cooked myself dinner and then phoned Herm harbour office to request permission to stay the night and moved along to shell beach, swinging the lead line to anchor in as close as possible without grounding in the morning. After being crowded with so many boats and people during the day it was a treat to share the whole of Shell Beach (it felt like the whole of Herm) with just one other vessel that night.

A Day in Sark

Friday 28th Aug 2009, Sark

Wind Westerly F7. Stayed put!

I really enjoyed my stay in Sark. By chance I met some friends from Jersey who were camping and spent happy times in their company, enjoying the sunshine, drinking, eating, cycling, exploring, drinking, etc. If only the nights were as good; despite its location on the east of the island, theoretically sheltered, some chop from the westerley gale found its way around the top of the Sark and, bouncing off the rocks, made Kamala roll and pitch all over the place. I felt pretty rotten the next morning, the lowest point of the trip. The second night I moored further out, away from the rock face, and rigged up an anchor on a bridle off the stern to hold us into the waves, and things were much better. The Point Robert light is pretty spectacular from the moorings in Greve de La Ville, its beam rushing along the cliffs and then overhead and out to sea.

The Lumpy Mooring in Sark

Jersey to Sark

Thu 27^th August 2009 Jersey to Sark, 22.5NM

 

HW 10:28(UT) 8.9m   LW 17:07(UT) 3.6m

 

Wind W4, cloudy. Swell – pretty big.

(Yesterday's weather: Force 6+; Tomorrow's forecast: Force 6+)

 

 

At 9am, I left my home mooring in St Aubin's Outer Harbour, Jersey, planning to get to Sark around tea time. I'd done the same passage on an RYA course some  months earlier so had some idea of what lay in store, although on that occasion there hadn't been quite so much swell, as I recall. An hour or so into the trip, still on Jersey's south coast, there was a coastguard warning on the VHF of F6-7 winds in the area 'soon'. I was already a little unnerved by the size of the waves and so turned round and abandoned the trip there and then. It was only another boat querying the forecast a few minutes later that made me realise that 'soon' doesn't mean the same as on land, e.g.”I'll be home soon”, so on we went.

 

There were a few dolphins playing in St Brelade's bay, but they did little to ease my apprehension about the conditions. Little Kamala took it all a lot better than I.

 

Rounding Corbiere Lighthouse bought the wind and waves onto the beam, and the stream behind us. Up sail and north! The swell was still pretty impressive from the cockpit of a little boat, but rolling, not breaking. Not that is, until we got dangerously close to Rigdon Bank. Suddenly, half a mile ahead I saw very large, steep waves with white crests covering a large part of the sea, exactly across our course. Even from that distance it was pretty clear that there was no way through. What would have happened had we carried on I still get shivers thinking about. The pilot book showed a narrow safe passage inshore of the bank, so we headed for this. Even here it was quite unpleasant so I started the motor to get through as quickly as possible.

The passing of Gronez on the North West corner of Jersey saw the sea transformed into a very pleasant place to be and I finally started to enjoy the trip. The weather improved too. All too quickly we reached the approaches to Sark. I gingerly crept through the Goulet passage, past La Maseline harbour and under the Point Robert lighthouse to Greve de la Ville, as it seemed the best place to ride out the impending gale for the next two nights.

From Seawych Newsletter Pics

 

Autopilot #3

Bought a battery, a solar charger and a connector and mounts*, and now have a fully functioning autopilot. Was so easy to fit to this boat. Now for somewhere to go. How about the Vale Earth Fair in Guernsey? Sounds like a plan...

(*"Thought twice, bought local" for most of these items except the solar panel.
Trinity tyres is the best place for a leisure battery, and Marine Electronics' Steve Bottomley supplied the Raymarine/Autohelm fittings)

Sailing with the Fosters

Another trip out with friends. This time Martin and Kathryn from Leeds (now residing in Silsden), our oldest friends.

Incident-free as I recall. A very neat pick up from the South pier of St Aubin harbour at high water followed by a pleasant sail around the bay.

Managed to catch a few mackerel on the way. Arrived back with just 10 minutes of water to spare, so had a very short row back to the shore.


Had the mackerel for dinner...yum.

Motor log: 15 mins
Miles: 2
Wind: Light F2/3
Weather: Fair

Autopilot #2

I took the Autohelm down to Kamala to day. The fittings I thought were for an autopilot clearly aren't. On the plus side, the design of the cockpit means that the seat-backs and the tiller are at the same height, and the distance between the seat backs and the tiller is within 10mm of being perfect. I see an easy installation ahead.

The other problem is electricty, as I have none on board at present. Will get it sorted in time for .... well, watch this space.

Autopilot #1

The autopilot I got for free from the stripping of the other Seawych seems to work perfectly. I bought a socket to plug it into and connected it to a battery in my garage, and it goes in and out just like it should. Its an Autohelm 800, and all the manuals are online. I love the internet.

Need to work out if the fittings that look like they are for an AP on Kamala really are. If not there's some work to be done.

Excited at the prospect of another crew member on board, even if its electronic.

Splicing Fender Lines

I haven't got any photos of this work but suffice to say I am really pleased with the way they look, with eyesplices and backsplices.

I got the hang of it from

www.animatedknots.com

It actually pretty easy and having done 4 I can do it without looking at the instructions now.

Sleepover

Wind:1-2 NW
Weather: Fair
LW:0400??
Miles: <1
motor: 20 mins

Last night my two boys and I went down to Kamala at about 8pm with the intention of sleeping over and fishing. I had loads of stuff to carry out and because we were staying out I needed the little inflatable tender. It's only 1.8m so doesn't hold much so it was a bit like the Fox, Chicken and Corn conundrum deciding whether to leave the kids on the shore alone while I ferried the gear out or take them first and leave them on the boat. Decided they were safer on the shore and I could see them from the boat.

We sailed very slowly in the light wind towards Belcroute. A few people were fishing in the channel between the rocks and the fort and having great success, but by the time we had got our lines out we had drifted past the hot spot and the current and wind were carrying us out too quickly to turn round.

We had several goes at picking up moorings in Belcroute. It took us so long that it was virtually dark by the time we found one we could grab. I had to put the motor on as the wind had died to nothing.

The boys were eager to sleep for once and went off before the hot chocolate was ready. Just before they turned in they notice lights moving in the sky and thought they were satellites. The number of them soon made it clear they were Chinese lanterns. Coincidentally we had seen them last time Toby slept on the boat with me a few months ago.

Around this time I got a phone call from teh owners of 'OG', the other St Aubin's Seawych. They'd been trying to call me on teh VHF, but uncharacteristically, mine was off. They were also having a sleepover, but on their normal St Aubin outer mooring. As an aside, The Chinese lanterns prompted OG to contact the coastguard, thinking them to possibly be flares. This later prompted an news item a few days later on BBC Radio Jersey about the lantern/flare issue.

I tried to rig up a paraffin lamp as an anchor light on the new flag halyard. Too swingy. Eventually hooked it onto the clew of the furled genoa. Perfect. Burned all night but not very brightly.

I have not been sleeping well on my boat. Apart from the very first night on it months ago, I always am very restless. I think its combined anxiety for the safety of the children and of the boat with them on board, and lack of comfort. I drifted off at about 12, but woke around 4am when the boat started bumping on the bottom;I was surprised being on a mooring such a long way out at Belcroute. Its a very flat bottom out there, because the water's edge was still some distance away. After that I didn't sleep again, so read (Island Race by Sandy Toksvig and John McCarthy) until it was light enough to go on deck . My children on the other hand sleep better on the boat than at home. The sounds of me fishing above didn't stir them at all and they eventually roused around 7:30.

We headed in and had a rendezvous with OG. I really enjoyed seeing the two 'wyches rafted up alongside each other. A race must be imminent! We compared notes and boats then went home our separate ways.

Shopping

Been an expensive few days.

In the last few days I have bought:

A danbuoy
A lifeline
A radar reflector (was actually cheaper in Jersey than online)
A water carrier
A solar shower (these are so cool every garden should have one)
A beach towel
Guardwires
Fishing bits and bobs
Rope for fenders.

I'm now going to learn how to eye- and back-splice the fender ropes.

A good jobs day

Kamala in St Helier


Wind: F3/4 NW
Weather: Fair and Sunny
Miles: 4
Motor: 1hr

I set the alarm for 5am and managed not to wake the wife or any of the children. The boat is well stocked with supplied and toothpaste so I only had to get dressed and collect a few things before heading of to the boat.

5:30 was a bit early for the tide. Kamala was just about to float so I couldn't walk the bits out to her, but the dinghy was still aground. Aground and awash. The leak is so bad now that even leaving it on the mooring for an hour or so while I go of sailing sees it with a good few inches of water. I bailed it out into the mud then went for a run while I waited for the tide.

I got back to the dinghy in the harbour about a minute before it floated. Never ceases to amaze me how fast the water rises on springs. On board Kamala around 6:30am.

The jobs on the list were to fit the new guardwires (finshed in two days by Jackson's and at a very reasonable price) and rig a flag halyard up to the spreader. And to have breakfast.

I decided to see if the little harbour at Elizabeth Castle had any suitable berths for reaching across to the spreader, but even from a distance it was clear that this was not the case. Shame, as it would have been a great place for breakfast! I was going to go into the marina but then noticed the berths around the yacht club. There was one little, Kamala-sized space right in front of the Yacht club in St Helier and so that is where all the jobs were done. Including breakfast.

My sturdy new guardwires:


My new flag halyard:




Worth getting up for. A view of Kamala's home port as rosy-fingered dawn turned the streets and houses to gold:

Auction Bargains?

I went up to the auction at glencoe today to see how my car might fair next week. I promised that I wouldn't spend any money, but....

There was a pallet with a few fenders and some stainless ladders, and the clincher was a hinged outboard bracket which I know will get a good price elsewhere.

Anyway, I got the lot for £33 and sold the stainless ladders to my rival bidder for £5. Turned out to be three serviceable buoyancy aids, one of which is much better than mine so I'll keep it and give th e others away. The real reason for buying was the fenders and I ended up with about a dozen, some of which are brand new. Also a 4kg grapnel anchor with chain and miles of polyprop rope.

Anybody want to buy an outboard bracket?

Sailing with Claire

We had a good friend from Leeds staying in Jersey with her two children, so it was decided that they should come for a short trip out on the boat.

They had fun and all had a go steering.

It was a significant trip in that I had to pick them up from the end of the North pier in St Aubin. I had not come alongside before and duly fendered up ready. My first attempt was dreadful and I had to go out and try again. There were a couple of fishermen on the pier who helped take lines, but I still managed to bump and scrape a bit on the way out.

Dropping them off was slightly smoother and went to plan.

Safety Kit

Yesterday I bought a danbouy and Lifeline from Jimmy Green Marine (.com). Looks like they take off the VAT and shipping is the same as for the UK.

There's a campaign on in Jersey, "Think Twice, Buy Local". I try whereever possible to recycle my Jersey pound, but I'm boating on a very tight budget.

I still need to buy a radar reflector as the last piece in my SOLAS V jigsaw but hopefully they are the same price over here as in the UK.

New Guardwires #1 - taking off the old

I popped down tonight as the tide was going out to remove the rusted, saggy old guardwires currently maintaining safety aboard Kamala.

She was still floating when I got down but she only draws 0.7m. As soon as she was touching bottom I knew I could wade out there without getting too wet. Had a nice hot chocolate.

I have about 14m of 6mm stainless rigging wire that I picked up at the auctions for a few quid years ago. Been looking for a use for it all this time. Turn out it is actually worth something after all.

Jackson's are going to cut it and add eyes for me to use as guard wire.

I picked up a laser sail at the same auction for £5 and sold it on ebay for £12o. It paid for everything else I bought that day and then some!

Sailing to the Reefs

Yesterday Kamala sailed to Les Minquiers, a reef 11 miles south of Jersey. Perfect day, perfect weather, perfect company.

Wind F2-3, SE, sea slight, weather fair and sunny.
HT 1429 BST, 7.9m
Miles: 32
Motor runtime: 6 hrs, 4-5 litres fuel.

My friend Pete and his future brother-in-law Simon came along as crew.

The video on youtube tells most of the story

Sailing to the Les Minquiers - a youtube link.

To summarise, we left La colletewe motored out for an hour, then put the sails up, heading south. We fished and caught five mackerel, while Pete went below for a lie down with the mal de mer.

Pete recovered in time to spot the dolphins that swam around the boat for a few minutes. A first for Kamala and myself.



We motored through the passage in and then just short of mooring area at Maîtresse Île the engine broke; still running but the propeller wasn't turning. Luckily, Kamala is only 19ft and can easily be paddled so, using the dinghy oars, we glided up to the one vacant states mooring bouy to take stock of the situation.

A few minutes of pondering revealed the shear pin had gone on the outboard for no apparent reason. It was quickly fixed and then we ate lunch and swam and rowed the dinghy accross to the island. We had a little time to explore before the tide called, and visited the famous toilet.



The return journey was straight forward, but with little wind we motored all the way. Plenty of ferry traffic to avoid and lobster pots. We caught just one more mackerel. Approaching St. Helier we noticed what looked to all of us like the pall of smoke from an orange distress flare, over the horizon to the south. We called the coastguard to have it checked out but they drew a blank.

We arrived back at La Collette as expected around 1800BST

Below is a pic of Kamala at the 'Minkies'. She's the little boat on the right.

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