Dandelion 13

 

Stargazer's speed (left hand screen, bottom number) climbs steadily, as the strength of the west-going tide builds.

Her cockpit lit by the glow of the auto-pilot screen, from below. . . . .

. . . . .and a gibbous moon, above. The lights of Dieppe dwindling off Stargazer's port quarter.

The velvet black, of the night sky, steadily brightens. Its festoons of stars no longer visible. An orange glow appears on the eastern horizon. 

Day breaks. In a molten glory. Over a sea ruffled by ten to twelve knots of south westerly breeze.

Bathing Stargazer's cockpit in a warming glow. As we close reach, along the Cote d'Albatre. 

Daring, now that we have light by which to dodge the pot buoys, to stand further in. The better to enjoy the play, of the golden light of dawn, over richly textured rock.

Steadily the sun climbs. Intensifying the blues of sea and sky.

   

Stargazer skims the tip of the chalk bluff, which guards Fecamp's harbour entrance. Coming up, hard on the wind, as the line of the coast begins to drop away, south and west, toward Cap d'Antifer.

A cathedral in rock, with its chalk stacks, caves. . . .

. . . .and flying butresses. Set aglow, in the pristine light of a new day.

Through a sun soaked morning, and into a summer's afternoon, Stargazer tacks south. Her skipper peeling off thermal layers. Until changing into sandals, shorts and a polo shirt.

Steadily, Stargazer draws nearer to the deep water channel. Marked by its procession of ocean roaming container ships. With more, anchored off, to seaward, awaiting their turn, in the port.

Stargazer hugs the shore, as she beats into Le Havre. Over the shallows. Cheating the (now northeast-going) tide. To slip in through the breakwater.