A red sky at dawning, brings Stargazer her long awaited west wind. Whilst announcing, along with a tumbling barometer, that Erin is on her way in from the Atlantic.
Stargazer sails, from Saint-Malo, at first light.
Sweeping seaward, to make the most of the day.
We settle onto a comfortable, tidally assisted, reach as the sunrise dries the dew from Stargazer's decks.
Stargazer weaves her way north. Between the low lying Minquies and Les Iles Chausey. Where the tide funnels hard and favourably, between rocky pinnacles rising from unseen reefs. We are making for the Tres Grunes, off the south east tip of Jersey.
The first of Erin's fronts arrives. Briefly boosting the breeze to twenty knots. Stargazer making seven knots over the ground, with two reefs in the main, while it passes.
Jersey appears, off the port beam. With it, phone signal briefly resumes, bringing a forecast update. We shall enjoy fourteen to sixteen knot westerlies on into tonight. Beyond that, Erin brings stronger, more volatile, conditions. Rising to a stormy thirty knot crescendo over the weekend.
A plan begins to form, in the mind of Stargazer's skipper. As Stargazer lopes north over the swell. Well ahead of schedule, far too early to enter either Cartaret or Dielette. Which were, in any case, staging points to transit the Raz Blanchard (literally White Waters) or, more prosaically, the Alderney Race. A task to which today's breeze is perfectly suited.
Although (now) bound east, for Cherbourg, Stargazer steers a little to the west of the rhumb line. Once clear of Jersey. For the Race flows fastest upon its eastern side. In order to make progress against it, Stargazer must stay clear of the strongest flow.
Through the afternoon, and into the evening, Stargazer makes five to six knots through the water; two to three over the ground. Jostled by the uneasy seas of this restless strand. By sunset, the tide is, once more, turning in Stargazer's favour.
It sends us on our way, swirling us around the Cap de la Hague, making nine knots over the ground. The wind still on our beam (the fastest, and most relaxing, point of sailing), having backed southerly at sunset. Stargazer secures, in storm proof Cherbourg, at midnight.
Picture Credits
Chart screenshot courtesy of Navionics by Garmin.
Stargazer track screenshot courtesy of MarineTraffic.com
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