Ad Lib 152

 

RKJ (in red) and Suhaili are the stuff of sailing folklore. It is therefore a source of some surprise, to Stargazer's skipper (stepping out to source a breakfast baguette) that they are Cherbourg berth neighbours. 

The pair won the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Out of nine starters (in the solo round the world event - the first of its kind) Robin Knox-Johnston and his trusty canoe sterned ketch were the sole finishers.

For which feat RKJ was knighted. Fifty years later, his achievement inspired Australian adventurer Don McIntyre to create a retro solo round the world race. Which he named the GGR, in honour of the original event. It is sailed, every four years, in long keeled craft, navigated by sextant. Post 1968 electronic aids, including autopilots, are outlawed.

A favourite, with GGR skippers, is the Rustler 36. A design which Jean Luc Van Den Heede sailed to victory in the inaugural 2018 race. The fleet, for this year's start, was forming up whilst Stargazer was in Les Sables d'Olonne (see Ad Lib 93).

RKJ had set off from Dartmouth, over the Bank Holiday weekend, to give the GGR boats an inspirational send off. From Suhaili's hallowed decks. But the westerly gales, which pinned Stargazer in St Peter Port, prevented progress. Sir Robin demonstrates his accumulated seafaring wisdom, by modifying Suhaili's passage plan in light of conditions. 

Picture Credits

RKJ Sunday Times Golden Globe Race pictures; courtesy of  Bill Rowntree / PPL

Jean Luc Van Den Heede winning the 2018 McIntyre GGR; courtesy of  Christophe Favreu / GGR

Ad Lib 151

 On a monochrome morning, Stargazer slowly overhauls the crazily tilting Roustel Tower. Which sits (nowadays at a somewhat jaunty angle) atop a submerged pinnacle. The outcrop creating a bottleneck in the channel between Guernsey and Herm. Accelerating a flow that is presently against us.

Sixteen knots of easterly breeze allow Stargazer to overcome this adversity. To sail clear into a favourable current. Which runs east across the top of Guernsey, Herm and Sark. Alderney is already visible to our north west.

Abruptly the wind builds to twenty five knots. Beneath a towering thundercloud which has silently crept up from astern. Catching Stargazer's skipper unawares as he prepares lunch below.

Two reefs are swiftly, if untidily taken. As Stargazer rockets past Alderney. Propelled by the wind and the force of the Raz Blanchard. Just turned north-going.

Together they deliver us, to the Cap de la Hague, in short order. The squall is now past, Stargazer's reefs shaken out. The sea-state unusually calm. Enabling us to cut this unpredictable corner well inside our 'safe clearance' waypoints. Laid down in light of past harsh treatment.

A conveyor belt of Channel tide carries Stargazer to Cherbourg's door. 

Stargazer secures in front of the ornate Gare Maritime. With its long green copper roof, and the golden facades of its lofty mullioned galleries, glinting in the evening sunlight. A memento of the grand age of ocean liners, before the coming of the jet plane. Still in use by their modern day successors.

Ad Lib 150

 

Stargazer slips into the St Peter Port outer harbour. Once there is water over the cill and a rush of French boats, bound south, has cleared. The breeze northerly today and advantageous to them.

A horn blast from the fast ferry announces the giant catamaran's departure. The port control lights turn red. The harbour echoes to tannoy calls. Seeking to restrain over-eager departing small craft, oblivious to their peril. Out in the Little Russel a cruise liner swings to her anchor. Disgorging a stream of passengers to see the Guernsey sights.

Whilst a coaster offloads containers on the quay beyond. Working the weekend. Perhaps to make up for time lost to a tempestuous week.

Aboard Stargazer, fingers are firmly crossed that the forecast holds fair for a ride through the Raz Blanchard (Alderney Race) tomorrow.

Ad Lib 149

 

By midday the low cloud and mizzle clears. Umbrellas are stowed. Barometers and spirits rise.

White cotton-wool clouds float in blue skies. Above the ornate golden sun of the St James' church windvane. Which points resolutely west. 

Stargazer's favoured wind direction. Her course lying north (three quarters) and east (one quarter). Tomorrow the breeze is forecast to fall light. Before filling in, from the east, to passage-making proportions on Sunday.

Stargazer's plan is to move into the outer harbour tomorrow. Before sailing through the Raz Blanchard (Alderney Race) on Sunday. Expecting a fair wind north to Cap de la Hague. With a tide-assisted beat beyond.

Ad Lib 148

 

With the change in the month we have entered Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness." Meteorological Autumn. 

 The cloudbase descends to sea level, off the St Peter Port breakwater. A ghostly Brehon Tower haunts the Little Russel. Herm is swallowed by swirls of fine grey mizzle.

The season marches relentlessly toward the date of the equinox, on September the twenty third.

Which heralds the shorter days and stormier seas of Astronomical Autumn.

Stargazer is poised on the brink of the English Channel. Watching for a weather window to carry her home.

Ad Lib 147

 

After the big Bank Holiday blow we await the arrival of its baby brother. A tempestuous teenager. Somnolent for much of the time, with brief bursts of intense activity. Of the kind unwelcome to small craft transiting the Raz Blanchard (Alderney Race).

One moment, smiling blue skies. The next, scowling black thunder-clouds. With the occasional (faint) rainbow arcing over Castle Cornet.

From tomorrow, tides turn fair for a daylight passage north and east. Stargazer stands ready. Her skipper's dawn weather watch resumed.

Ad Lib 146

The contrast is complete. Castle Cornet floats between blue skies and azure seas on a sleepy sun soaked morning. The air filled with the scream of high revving engines and smell of scorched tyre rubber.

Helmeted heroes hurtle up the steep switchbacks of Le Val des Terres. Bent on setting the fastest time of the day.

Fevered last minute preparations are completed in the pit lane. On a tree shaded boulevard, before the bus station.

There is excitement for all the family.

Sightseers are welcome. Whether hardened motorsport enthusiasts, or passers-by. Drawn by the sound and colour of this spectacle.

The August Bank Holiday hill climb shatters the peace and pulls a crowd.

Adds an unexpected zest to this day of rest.