For reasons which will later become clear, skipper elects to tackle some 'indoor jobs.' Primarily the renewal of our Meteo Consult (weather forecasting) subscription. Which seldom runs smoothly. Fortunately my French pen-pal Karine, on the help desk, is swiftly able to restore service. The better to monitor an emerging weather window for Thursday.
A day on which, during a sixteen hour crossing to Chichester, Stargazer would experience two runs of east going tide, to one west going. Which, with springs approaching, buys ten to fifteen miles of easting for free. Leaving Stargazer to take care of the northing, under sail. Task number two, is to calculate a course to steer, to achieve this end. Using the time honoured method of drawing out a 'tide triangle' on a paper chart. Before transferring the resulting waypoints to the plotter.
A trip to the Police au Frontiers (PaF) headquarters, in Rue Dom Pedro, will be required before departure. To sort out, what could prove to be, a sticky situation. That of a UK citizen, booked into Schengen under the new EES system (which automatically counts off against the standard 90 day stay allowance), but holding a French 6 month Visa de Long Sejour. PaF officers have previously had authority to authorise this apparent anomally. Hopefully, they will still have the final word. Even if an EES computer alogrithm says "Non." Task number three, is to book a PaF appointment.
By mid afternoon, all below decks tasks are complete. Whilst Stargazer still reels to the squalls of a mournfully whistling wind, the heavy rain has cleared. Enabling Stargazer's skipper to stretch his legs ashore. Yesterday’s Cherbourg street scene pictures, set aside after our unexpected audience with RKJ and Suhaili (see Ad Lib 152), have been repurposed for today’s post.
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