THE PREPARATION

Last year we crossed the Bay of Biscay to the north coast of Spain and this year while still heading South we had decided to go back to my favourite place, the Channel Islands, for our family holiday. There was a time, some years ago, when I had the original Sarah May 1 that we went to the Channel Islands five years in a row: this was quite simply because it is such an enchanting place to be. The Channel Islands has good weather, higher temperatures than Northern Ireland (averaging about 4°C higher), we also know quite a few people who live there, some of whom are from N.I; so this all serves to draw us irresistibly back to the Islands.

St. Peter Port, Guernsey

We had worked hard last year fitting extra diesel tankage in the form of flexible tanks to the boat and this meant that we could comfortably cruise there and most of the way back without having to fuel up.

We had a few teething problems with the tanks not the least was a slight leek which brought the nauseous smell of diesel into the forward compartment when the cabin heater which operated off the engines was switched on .We had finally traced this down to a slight weep at the manifold where the diesel transfer pump was and it took double hose clips to sort this problem out and a little silicone applied to the pipe as well just to be sure we didn’t get that nasty smell back again! The tanks all took their full quota of diesel when we filled up from Finlay’s tanker on the Quay at Ringhaddy and I did my best to prevent any spillage.

The main tanks hold approximately 2000 litres in total:

Tank 1: 352 litres          Tank 2: 381 litres          Tank 3: 381 litres          Tank 4: 207 litres

This gives a total of 3321 litres or 730 gallons depending on which system you prefer to use.

We did not have the use of Tank 4 during our cruise to Spain last year but now we had all the tanks in operation. The internal layout of the boat showing the flexible tanks position shows that the tankage is just forward of the engines and underneath the floors which means that it makes the boat more stable but slightly wetter and does not seem to take much off our cruising.  (Just a small difference of 0.5kts.)

It was with some confidence therefore that we left Ringhaddy at 2145hrs on the 23^rd July 2003, to head for Arklow (See attached Passage Plan). Our objective was to get to our destination of choice quickly and spend the maximum available time there before having to travel home again and of course, enjoy ourselves while doing so. One of the main criteria for doing this was to have accurate long range forecasts where we could choose our “weather windows” to travel and to have the range to do it.

STRANGFORD TO ARKLOW

(See attached Log Listing and chart) When we cleared the shelter of Strangford, the wind was WSW 4 which made it uncomfortable so we decided to head for Ardglass, but when we came to Ardglass we decided to head for Carlingford as the wind and sea had eased somewhat.  However when we approached Carlingford Lough, the sea had abated somewhat more so we decided to continue towards Arklow as our motto is to “take the weather when you get it”. We arrived in Arklow at 0540hrs and attempted to get a berth in the new marina.

The new marina is very small and would only accommodate a very small number of manoeuvrable boats, of which ours is neither. When we got into the marina we cautiously had to reverse out as the entrance was very narrow and the tide runs down the Arklow River at 3-4 knts. We then picked a buoy and stern mooring in the main river channel after some manoeuvring and had a good peaceful ‘morning’s’ sleep!

When we arose, the domestic water pump was only working intermittently so I had to remove the pump completely to see why it seemed to start and stop intermittently. On opening up the electric motor it appeared to be okay at first glance! But on closer examination I found that the spring which holds the carbon brush onto the commutator had snagged on the supply wire and this was preventing the carbon brush contacting with the commutator.  I added a piece of insulation to both wires to prevent the same thing happening again and we have had no further problems with the pump since.

 The New Arklow Marina without any boats

The marina do not charge for lying on a mooring and the Harbourmaster was very kind and gave Mark and Esther both t-shirts with the Arklow Marina Logo free of charge. This gift was much appreciated and was typical of the friendly reception we received at Arklow.

Arklow Marina in the Main River Channel

I had a long chat with a captain of a 46’ Nelson who was lying alongside the pontoons getting his boat worked on in preparation as a supply vessel for the construction of a wind farm on the Arklow Banks.  This is a major development taking place on the Banks and will be a new feature on the skyline about 3 miles out from Arklow Harbour.

We have always liked Arklow as a safe sheltered harbour in any wind! The tidal rise and fall is so slight at 2.5’ that it is hardly noticeable; this helped to make our stay very pleasant in the harbour.

Shipwreck at Land’s End

ARKLOW TO NEWLYN

(See attached Log Listing and Chart)At 0915hrs on Friday the 25^th of July we left Arklow for Newlyn.  For the first 2 hrs we were lulled into a false sense of security as the sea was relatively calm. But, what at first seemed like a calm sea turned into a SW 5-6 with a moderate to rough sea! The shelter of the island of Ireland in a SW wind is surprising and this left us heading into a 10-15ft beam sea most of the way down to Newlyn. The Sun was shining brightly and Mark even went up to the flybridge to sunbathe though he came down 10 minutes later after we hit a large wave that flew spray all over him! The sea gradually eased back but we were in for another rough time as we navigated round Land’s End. We went to the inside of the Shark’s Fin and sighted a wreck sitting on the shore just North of Land’s End and it looked like it had been there for a couple of months: a stark warning of the treacherous waters that exist around Land’s End to catch any unwary seamen. As soon as we changed rounded the corner and headed Eastwards, we got more into the shelter of the coast as the wind had veered Westerly by this time.

On the crossing from Arklow to Newlyn we sighted in total 4 whales and a number of dolphins.  This helped to ease the monotony of the journey.

We arrived at Newlyn at 2100hrs and were glad for the shelter of a comfortable harbour and a good old fish and chips dinner which we obtained from the local chippy! On the Saturday we started repairs to the portholes on the starboard side which had leaked water badly due to the heavy seas and the fact that they had never been installed with an adequate amount of sealant in the first place by Princess! This necessitated one of us standing in the dinghy outside, catching the porthole while I released it on the inside.  We quickly ran out of sealant and had to make a quick trip in the dinghy to Penzance to get more supplies to be able to finish the job as the ships, chandlers in Newlyn close at lunchtime on a Saturday.   The diesel transfer pump which had gone faulty on the way down had to be replaced under guarantee with a new one which we received from the harbour master as I had arranged this on the phone from the boat as we went along after leaving Arklow.

We topped up the tanks with diesel in Newlyn as the diesel here was only 18p a litre from the tanker on the jetty.  We took a total of 1929 litres to fill the tanks completely.

I had been having problems with the advance charge regulators which were putting out too much voltage from the alternators and  I refitted these regulators which now seemed to work better than ever and the maximum voltage didn’t rise above 29.6 volts! They had been putting out 30.9 volts and this was overcharging the batteries and the adjustment on them didn’t allow me to lower this voltage so I had had to send them back to the factory to have them re-calibrated to 29.6 volts.

Newlyn is a fishing port but is a very picturesque harbour as you can see from the photograph below.  We always go there instead of Penzance because you can go in and out at any state of the tide and most,  not all, of the fishermen are quite helpful.

ADVANTAGES

·        cheap diesel

·        access at all states of the tide

·        very sheltered

·        cheap chandlery

·        Cornish cream teas!

·        most fishermen are helpful

·        Long walk to Penzance (beautiful walk)

DISADVANTAGES

·        some unhelpful fishermen

·        can be not as clean as you would like

·        Long walk to Penzance!

Newlyn Harbour

We always enjoy our short stays at Newlyn and usually meet some people that we have become acquainted with, simply because we have called in so many times!

View looking East towards Penzance

NEWLYN TO GUERNSEY

(See attached Log Listing and Chart) We left Newlyn at 2330hrs to head for Guernsey, as the wind was W 4-5 which was right on our stern and made for a very comfortable passage to the Channel Islands. As the sea was astern, at times the boat was surfing down the front of the waves at over 20kts which made the passage quite exhilarating as this passage was at night. Mark being the keen astronomer enjoyed this trip immensely as in the middle of the English Channel is far away from any skyglow and the Milky Way was just spectacular! This was our view of the sky looking East.

The Milky Way unspoilt by light pollution

The autopilot kept the boat from broaching throughout the night and it even managed to surf down the waves faster than either Mark or I could by steering manually! We arrived at the entrance to the Doyle Channel to go into Beaucette Marina at 08:30hrs the next morning. High tide was at 05.50 a.m. so we were able to go straight into the marina with 3 metres clearance still showing on the board at the entrance sill. As with all marinas in Guernsey you have to watch the depth over the sill at the entrance very carefully as the total rise and fall of the tide is between 7 and 10 metres! That sort of rise and fall in Strangford would give a 20 knot tidal flow at the entrance and would dry out the majority of the Lough!

Everything in the Channel Islands is affected by the tides either directly or indirectly and it is impossible to emphasis the importance of being familiar with their flow and ebb. The large rise and fall means that we never anchored in less than 15metres as we would have dried out and damaged the propellers in even 12 metres, but more about that later.

There was a swell coming in with us and the entrance to the marina is only 18 metres wide in total as it was originally a quarry hole which the Royal Engineers blasted through to the sea and with the high rocks on either side it doesn’t leave much room for error. I noticed that the most of the local boats keep their fenders out until they are well clear of the entrance and they have someone running round the boat with a fender in their hand just in case they would get pushed too close to the edge of the rocks.

We tied up at the fuelling pontoon and went and asked where to go. The manager directed us to a visitors berth at the port side of the entrance. This was alongside a large sailing boat which was a project that someone was in the midst of building; at this stage it didn’t have any portholes or mast so it looked rather out of place amongst all the lovely yachts in the marina.

Beaucette Marina from the air

Beaucette Marina was a quarry that for many years supplied the stones for a big proportion of the buildings and roads in Guernsey and is a huge almost circular shaped hole with steep rocky sides. It is the only marina in Guernsey which allows you to live onboard your boat and there are approximately 20 boats with people who live onboard. The access to the marina is down 4 different walkways which have a notice at the top that access is strictly for berth holders only but apart from this, that is all the security that there is. There are no gates or any other forms of access control to the marina and I thought to myself, isn’t that just brilliant that they don’t need any forms of security; only a notice. The reason I point this out is that there are boats worth millions of pounds each lying in the marina and there is absolutely no security needed to keep them safe. They just sit there and no-one touches them, some of them aren’t even locked as I found out later. It gives you a great feeling to get away from all the necessary security in Northern Ireland and experience what it is like to be in a place that doesn’t need any precautions at all. That’s why it is such a lovely place to be and why I keep coming back to the place year after year.

After we had Sunday lunch, we decided to have a walk round and have a look at the rest of the boats in the marina and on walking past a 70foot Sunseeker Manhattan I noticed that the owner,  his wife and daughter were sitting having their lunch in the aft cockpit. My son Mark recognised him, it was none other than Mr Willy Johnston who had just written an article in Motor Boat and Yachting magazine about a system he had invented and had patented of air safety bags that automatically inflate if a boat was sinking to keep it afloat. I introduced myself and we had a very pleasant discussion about his invention and I must say he was very down to earth and practical about the system which I may fit to my own boat at some stage. Probably in 5 or 10 years time it will be fitted to all new boats being manufactured. It is so simple, but so effective and just works when the boat is sinking, and takes up so little space as well.

On walking further round the pontoons we stood in awe of a brand new 70foot Aquastar motor yacht (cost about £1.7 million) .It was just stunning! Sitting quietly at her berth she was a beautiful sight with her deep blue hull and white super-structure gleaming in the sunshine. The marina was so peaceful and calm that it just gave me the feeling that; here we are in as close to boating paradise as it is possible to achieve here on earth.

On walking back round the pontoons a cheery voice greeted us with a Northern Ireland accent and we discovered a couple living on their boat which he had built, hull and all. It was a delight to meet this couple who had just had an addition to their family in the shape of a lovely little baby daughter called Elle. They told us how they had left Northern Ireland looking for a better future for themselves; they had worked in the Isle of Man and then crossed to Malihide where they had spent their first winter afloat. Then they had worked their way down to the south coast of England and had then decided to cross the channel and see what the islands were like before heading for the Mediterranean. They had been at the wheel for 27hours when they decided to head for the nearest marina which was Beaucette and they had become so charmed with the place they have never left it, and I must add that I could clearly see why.

It is impossible for me to over-emphasise the feeling of relief that you get when you arrive somewhere where there is no need for security and people just go away and leave their possessions without locking up and come back in the knowledge that there won’t be anything touched. That’s what I’m told Northern Ireland used to be like when the majority didn’t lock their doors at night and went away for a holiday, and came back without locking their front door. How delightful that would be again!

Beaucette Marina, Guernsey

Ann took us the next day with her into St. Peter Port to obtain some groceries and some marine sealant to finish off the portholes and it was only £1.50 a tube. I must say that this is the cheapest I have ever bought marine sealant and Ricky brought me some tins of spray paint for the Volvo engines at only £2.00 each! The exact same cans of spray paint from Craig’s in Belfast cost me £12.50 plus VAT.

Our electric kettle decided to give up with a bang, the element burnt out so later that evening Ann lent me her car, a 3series BMW to tour round the island and to obtain a new kettle from one of the large discount warehouses that have now opened on the island. At only £12.50 it hardly broke the bank. After obtaining the sealant, Mark and I decided to take out the rest of the offending portholes and as this is a two man job needing some one out in the dinghy, being in the marina made it much easier. We didn’t quite get them all resealed but we ended up with only 3 more to do out of 11.

We had Ricky and Ann and another friend Mr Ed Morrow round for a chat and in the course of conversation it turned out that Ricky’s father lives on board his boat in Carrickfergus Harbour and that I new him very well having had to pull my boat out at Carrick for the last two years. Mr Norman Stevens’ boat at Carrick required a gearbox and Ricky had obtained one, but had no way of getting it back to Northern Ireland. We then went and got the gearbox (which weighs about 600lbs) and manoeuvred it into the lazarette, tying it down so that it would be unable to move, even in rough St. Peter Port, Guernsey   weather. We stayed 3 nights in the marina at Beaucette and reluctantly moved round to the QE2 Marina in St. Peter Port where we stayed for two more days.

St. Peter Port looking east

Mr Ed Morrow is an aviation engineer who works at the airport in Guernsey for Aurigny Airlines and mainly does modifications that are required to planes like the fitting out of a plane for air and sea rescue and the fitting of bullet proof doors into the cockpit of planes to comply with new anti-terrorism laws.

He very kindly lent us his pristine 4-wheel drive Mitsubishi LX200 Jeep to go round the island and we made full use of it. It is a lovely island full of surprises and we visited the little chapel built by a monk out of sea shells and bits of broken crockery all cemented in the structure, the chapel only holds about 5 people and so it is called the little chapel and is claimed to be the smallest in the world, which it probably is when you consider all the other rooms added on it really adds up to quite a sight.

The Little Chapel, Guernsey

The German Underground Hospital has a network of tunnels which total two miles quarried out of the solid rock by German prisoners of war, many thousands of whom died as they were forced to labour in atrocious conditions. Only a small proportion of the original hospital equipment has survived the dark and damp conditions underground and after all that labour, the Germans found that casualties could only be kept here for a maximum of two weeks as any longer and they took diseases from sunlight depravation.

German Underground Hospital

Boiler for heating the hospital

The hospital was supposed to be able to cope with the casualties that would have ensued if Germany had invaded Britain and as such could have held up to 10000 wounded but it was only used for a few hundred casualties at the time of the D-Day landings towards the end of the war and when you come out into the daylight you weave a sigh of relief! I certainly would not have wanted to be held for any length of time in that place it was so cold and damp. The Germans also built gun emplacements at every headland around the island and these were built out of reinforced concrete of up to 10 feet thick in places. They built them so well that the majority have resisted all attempts to destroy them.

One of many German forts lined along the shore. This one facing West to the Atlantic and America

One particular turret was blown off the cliff face by explosives where it sat looking out over the bay and when it hit the rocks 70feet below it didn’t even shatter nor was it damaged other than a few cracks so the islanders gave up trying to remove the emplacements and many of them are now tourist attractions.

Some of them still have the original German guns still in place simply because they just could not get them out of the turrets!

 

The Germans occupied the Channel Islands during World War 2 

We also visited the German Occupation Museum which has a large collection of military hardware from war and it proved very interesting. They have German cipher machines and an early attempt at radar and many other very interesting pieces. The weather was nice and warm and we finally decided to have a look at Herm and Sark, two of the smaller and less well known islands.

We left St Peter Port and anchored in Belvoir Bay, Herm, for two nights and enjoyed the beautiful sandy beach where we went for walks ashore round the lovely tracks of the island. (See attached Chart)

Shell Bay, Herm

The island is approximately 2miles by about 1mile and has only a resident population of about 55 people, it is a charming little place but all the anchorages are exposed to a swell no matter what direction the wind blows out of.

Belvoir Bay, Herm

Having enjoyed the anchorages that are to be found off the Western Islands of Scotland there is no comparison. But having said that you can’t get the warmth that comes here as a matter of course. We had to turn the air conditioning on to cool us off! I think that says it all as far as weather is concerned.

We had Ed, Ricky, Ann and Elle over for tea and there is nothing more perfect than being able to sit and eat a meal and enjoy the warmth of the evening in the cockpit of the boat as the Sun sets.

Looking West at Guernsey from Herm Island

On the 2^nd August we moved on to explore Sark and went to La Grande Greve Bay in Little Sark but again, even though we were in the shelter of the wind, a large swell ran into the bay and this made the use of the kedge anchor essential for a comfortable nights sleep.

On 3^rd August we went through the Gouilot Pass to Port a la Jument and this bay was a lot more sheltered from the ground swell. Then we went to the South East side of Sark to Dixcart Bay which provides a good anchorage in about 15metres at high water where we climbed the 299 steps that take you up on to the plateau of the main island.

Dixcart Bay, Sark

Sark is an island that rises about 200 feet above sea level and no matter where you land on the island; you have to climb up steps to reach the main village. It is populated by about 600 people who have interbred far too much and is a very tight society to become acquainted with. It has no income tax, no corporation tax, no council tax, and no water charges and has become a tax haven for thousands of large companies who are registered here to avoid paying large amounts of tax to the British Government. This is tax avoidance and is perfectly above board and is used by a surprising number of well known names in the high street. I could not list all the large names listed here but suffice to say that even Marks and Spencer is registered here. There are quite a few good shops in Sark and the prices are reasonable, we bought some items at half the price we would have paid in NI but groceries were a bit more expensive. There is a Nat West bank and a Post Office which was famous at one time for its issue of rare stamps. We had a comfortable night at Dixcart Bay but the kedge anchor was still necessary. The next day started off foggy but soon cleared as the sun came out!

Main village in Sark

Looking from La Coupee (the causeway) over La Grand Greve

La Coupee causeway joining Sark and Little Sark

We went ashore and walked all the way to the other end of the island to the Silver Mines where they had tried to mine silver on Little Sark. There is a spectacular causeway between the two islands with a sheer drop down to the beach on both sides of 150 feet, you walk along this narrow causeway between the two islands and you definitely wonder how it has stood there as there is nothing to support or deflect the waves below from washing it away.

BACK TO STRANGFORD

La Grand Greve, Sark

We reluctantly left Dixcart Bay to go farther north, around the island. We moved up to Creux, picked up a mooring and went ashore for awhile before saying goodbye for the last time to this island paradise, so close to the UK but which so few people know about. It was another lovely sun kissed day and that made it even harder to tare ourselves away from such a place as Sark and start to prepare the boat and ourselves for the long haul back to NI, but all good things must come to an end, and this was no exception. We crossed to Herm firstly and then on to St Peter Port where we couldn’t go into the marina but had to anchor in Havelet Bay, just to the southern side of the marina.

Now the locals have their own name for this bay, they call it “Heave-A-Lot” Bay as the Atlantic swell tends to run into this bay and makes it uncomfortable most of the time. The bay is completely open to the south west and hence it gets it local name and reputation.

We met up with Mr Ed Morrow once again and he decided to come back to NI with us as he could not find a spare seat on any plane going out of the island that weekend. He wanted to see what this boat of mine could do and I don’t think he was disappointed. Originally we had worked out that to obtain the best advantage from the tides in the channel we should leave at 0400hrs but when I looked at it again we decided that if we left at 2300hrs it would work out best so, at 2300hrs we left to cross the channel, round Land’s End and then up St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea to Strangford! Not far when you say it fast.

(See attached Log Listing) The night was a fine night for sailing and we made good time across the English Channel but we weren’t sure the weather would hold to do the whole journey non-stop. For the past 10 days, Mark had been checking the long range GRIB forecasts which show wind direction and force and it was this forecast that showed the whole picture. As we left the wind was 5-10kts from the East gradually veering to the South at 5kts for the rest of the trip. What this meant was perfect conditions for cruising home and what a beautiful sail home it turned out to be. Our timing worked out so that we would be at the south end of the Irish Sea at the start of the flood tide. This would then give us the added benefit of an extra 2-4 knots onto our speed over the ground up that part of the journey and this in fact happened. As you will see from the log of the journey it is a major advantage to have the tide with you even on a faster boat, not just at sailing speeds.

It was as calm a crossing as I have ever had and, apart from a near miss about 15 feet away from a large submerged fishing net, it was a perfectly calm cruise. That near miss was too close for comfort but it was impossible to see the net at a distance as it was floating just below the surface of the water and it couldn’t be seen until we were nearly on top of it. I did see it at the very last moment but it really did give me a fright at the time as I may not have been able to avoid it.

The sea life was abundant on our homeward journey and we saw whales, dolphins and basking sharks and a multitude of different sea birds .The sea swallows and the Manx shearwaters being two of the rarer species we noted.

We arrived off Strangford about 0200hrs and I thought that we would have no problem with the fog as I had navigated up Strangford Lough so often on the radar that I was too sure of myself. We past the entrance to Pawle Bay at approximately 0300hrs but this was no mist patch; it was a pea-souper! We couldn’t see the water 5 feet below the gunnels of the boat, never mind any other boat in Ringhaddy Sound. We decided to anchor for the night and wait till morning before venturing through the fog. Only 150 yards from home but frustrated that the final wee stretch of water had defied us and won.

We anchored for the night in Pawle Bay but at 0700hrs we still couldn’t proceed as the fog was still too thick. In my 25 years or so at Ringhaddy, I have never seen the fog so thick that I could not see the water that the boat was floating in!!! Finally, at around 0900hrs, we got enough visibility to go round and tie up to the pontoons.

It was a wonderful journey home, it being so calm in comparison to our outward leg, but it also taught me never to take the sea for granted as it can have a surprise in store for the unwary! The boat performed very well and we are now more confident in her sea keeping abilities than ever. 

Since we can cover remarkable distances in reasonable times we are looking forward to next year and who knows where we might end up?