Riddle

Yesterday, I walked Cartaret's towering quaysides in the balmy heat of a summer's evening.

Wandered the manicured streets.

Watched as ten metres of tide hurried seaward. . .

. . . and the Ecole de Voile boats scampered home, whilst there was still water covering the cill - just.

Out at the mole, the visibility is clear and the colours deep and vivid. Truly golden sands, turquoise seas inshore and the deepest darkest blue offshore.

The hypnotic rhythmic rush of surf on sand fills the air. The unbounded curve of the horizon issues an invitation to imagine.

That clear visibilty, and those intense colours, foretold a blow. And a change to a less favourable wind direction. The changes we hurried around Cap de la Hague to out run. (Solid blue line). Today I'm down below, snug in Stargazer's saloon, working to resolve the riddle of our passage plan.  On deck the wind whistles and rain squalls drum. Across the port, halyards clang sonorously.

The first set of challenges are tidal. The tides in this area rotate, rather than run parallel to the coast. The tidal range is also exceptionally great. This means that many harbours may only be entered (or left) near high water. It also means that fast passages may be made with the tide, but that next to no progress can be made against it.

Another challenge is that the wind looks to have settled into the south west for a while. This means that we cannot proceed directly south west, as we would wish. (The closest that a sailing boat can sail to the wind is about forty degrees, once leeway is taken into account). I will need to find a way to give Stargazer an angle on the breeze, with a port (accessible at the expected time of arrival) at the end of each leg.

After much head scratching, I settle on a zig zag course down to St Malo, for our next passage. (Dotted blue line in Riddle picture). The alterations of course are timed to fit with the changes in direction of the circulating tides -  and to give us an angle on the predicted wind direction. For the middle leg, where we appear to be sailing directly into the wind, our steered course will be almost southerly, at forty degrees off the wind. The strong west bound tide, for those four fours, will push us the extra few degrees west - to give a south westerly course over the ground.

The tides are predictable. The wind we will only know on the day. That is the art of sailing -  creating a satisfying cruise, shaped from wind and tide.