En France 1

 

The first glimmers, of pre dawn glow, lend an orange tinge to the purple palette  of the night sky. The bright pin prick stars now extinguished. Stargazer is reaching gently down the Emsworth Channel, under mainsail only, whilst I stow her lines and fenders.

Stargazer is under full sail, by the time we cross the Chichester Bar. Making four knots in eight knots of north easterly breeze.

I hoist the kite. Stargazer sets off into the dawn. Making six to seven knots over a smooth sea.

The breeze builds to fourteen knots, as we skim the deep water anchorage off Sandown Bay (on the South East tip of the Isle of wight). Clearing the wind shadow of the mainland. The sea lit an indigo blue by a golden sun, still low in the sky.

Soon the kite is in and we have a reef in the main. The breeze is up to twenty two knots. Stargazer is power reaching south.

She surfs and surges on a, sometimes breaking, swell. On the rhumb line for our waypoint, twenty nautical miles off La Pointe de Barfleur. Carefully calculated on the basis of a five knot passage. Stargazer is storming along at seven. Eight or more on the surfs. Powering her way across the shipping lanes.

Once more Stargazer will arrive early. So early, that we will be in before the westbound tide has begun to run. Let alone be subject to the four hours of it, assumed in my passage plan. I make some mental calculations, from the helm. (Downwind surfing, carrying this much sail, is the best of sailing, but requires attentive hand steering). We bear off, on the border of a gybe, to lay the Cherbourg entrance. Shaking out the reef, for added impetus. Speed over the ground four knots, ferry gliding in across the last of the eastbound tide.

Napoleon's fortified breakwater usually makes the Cherbourg entrances easy to pick out. The better to judge the tide swept final approach. Today a murk, just short of mist, hangs in the air. Making it tricky to pick out. Finally I spot the wedding cake central fort. Stargazer is on course for a perfect entry.

She romps in, across the outer rade. I take advantage of its flat water to set up lines and fenders, whilst Stargazer reaches along easily under main and autopilot. A shaft of wan sun warms my back and lights the grand facade of the liner terminal. Like the welcoming smile of an old friend.

Stargazer is alongside, in Cherbourg. A yellow 'Q' flag at her starboard spreader (indicating that we have yet to clear in). The evening sun bathes the cockpit. Barely a zephyr stirs the air. We are en France. Let the summer adventure begin!