That's us departing Portsmouth (Clarence Marina, Gosport to be precise) at silly o'clock on Saturday morning, dodging cruise ships lit up like Christmas trees heading into Southampton.
Look - 7.5 knots - sailing.
Heading for Cherbourg.
Mr B had been engaged as skipper to sail 5 people to Cherbourg and back on what they called a 'mile builder'; sailing experience that takes you out of sight of land (for an hour or two).
It is 70 nautical miles from Clarence to Cherbourg. At that speed we would do it in under 10 hours. (We didn't - it was lumpy once we got out of the lee of the Isle of Wight.)
With departure originally scheduled for 1700 Friday evening, the wind was gusting 35 knots and 3 people had cancelled. More bodies were needed on board to keep watches sailing for 10 to 12 hours across one of the world's busier shipping channels.
Departure was postponed to 0200 Saturday and I arrived back from London at 2100 Friday so Mr B drafted me in. We were also joined by Maria - one owner of
Bridge Sailing (the owners of the yacht we were on). (I told Maria I would link her in the blog - I get nothing out of it, but you get to look at nice sailing pictures.)
Not a bad way to spend a weekend.
ReplyDeleteExcept for those, like me, who have absolutely no sea legs!!
What a great experience. Super photos.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteWell, that was an adventure you didn't know you were going to have on Friday morning... or early evening, even! Tiring, I'm sure, but exhilerating too, no? YAM xx
Well done. An exciting time was had by all, by the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteWow, that was an unexpected adventure! Sounded like fun :)
ReplyDeleteYou have me wanting to go yachting again. In younger days I used to sail with my Uncle and Aunt who regularly crossed the channel from Rye harbour to Boulogne. A shorter trip than Portsmouth to Cherbourg, but equally busy with shipping.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
ok in my ignorance I had to google where Cherboug is. Hope you had fun in the yacht.
ReplyDeleteI’d say that was a lovely weekend. Except that you had to actually work. Still I love being on the water
ReplyDeleteI envy you being able to go to different countries in such a short time. I could drive for days, and we have. And we are still on our own country. As you know. Flying anywhere from here is all long haul
I like the ship and the naval memorial. lovely photos and you would not want me on the boat. I can't fly or float because I get instantly seasick, nausea/vertigo and can't even move and the bad thing is I can't throw up, I just get to the point of misery.. as a child I got that way in the back seat of the car, and had to lie down to ride back there. I think that is why I can't skate or ride a bike, never could. I fall over
ReplyDeleteWe had a chap on board who did a lot of feeding of fishes on the way over - he had a better ride back fortunately. I haven't sailed for over 4 years so had my own battle with using the 'heads' (toilet). Being shut in a small space inside a bucking boat can get a bit unsettling. Fortunately I survived until I got back out on deck.
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