We collected JohnJohn from Brest airport on Sunday and then after an
abortive and expensive hunt for a life jacket gas cylinder left Camaret and
France for the UK. [ I could not find a spare cylinder and had to buy a new
life jacket that was expensive and not very nice!]
It was pretty clear that we were headed for home as we had rainy weather, it
was cold and I wore socks for almost the first time in two months and I
sorted out all my layers of warm clothes!!
Crossing the channel is not that difficult, it is 100 odd miles wide at our
end, which takes about 20 hours] and a bit shorter at the other but it has
one problem to be overcome. There is a motorway for big ships to be crossed.
The good news is that for safety [of the big ships are all regimented into
lanes like a road] but the bad news is that it is largely up to us little
fellows to avoid the big ships and there are no traffic lights, and the big
ships never stop or slow down. We little yachts travel at 3 to 6 knots
whereas the big fellows are going at 10 to over 20 knots. That means that
from the time that you see them they are on to you in less than 10 minutes,
I always think of it as walking across the M5 on a foggy day!!
We do have help Radar that enables you to see further than the eye can see
and AIS a new invention taken form the airline world whereby each big ship
broadcasts it position speed and direction. This enables us to see what
ships are coming our way when they are an hour away and even more important
still it will tell just how close they are going to get to us. [the
collision risk]
All that said we had an easy crossing and only had 2 ships that we had to
avoid.
We sailed into the Helford river at 7 am, tired but relieved to be back in
the UK even though it was raining!
After a day of rest and recover and lunch with my brother in a very charming
yacht club up a creek that no one knows about we set off back to Plymouth at
6am.
We had intended to stop off near Mevagissy where Matt is working but as the
wind was strong and from the South we kept going. Matt is working off the
beach and I had no wish to run aground! It was a superb sail back and we
travelled at maximum speed for us under sail all the time arriving at the
Yealm just after lunch where we met up with Duncan and Barnacle Goose.
Reflections
We motored for some 250 hours [10 days solid] and that is a long time
because there was little or no wind for most of the time in Spain and
France.
We visited over 40 ports, made a mess of parking only a few times! and
travelled almost 2000 miles,
we saw dolphins, a seal, sunfish and even swifts in mid channel returning to
S
Africa! met al lot of interesting friendly people, some remarkable others
admirable
but all [of all of every nation very friendly]
We saw little rain, until we returned to the UK!
We ate well, not always knowing what it was that we were eating! [especially
so in Spain]
The sun shone for most of the time.
The natives were friendly.
The trip was fun.
this the end [thank goodness!]
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