June 13. From Fécamp to Cherbourg.

June 13, 2011

Boekanier: Trip from Fécamp to Cherbourg, 85 miles.

Yesterday evening we started the planning and tide calculations for our trip from Fécamp to Cherbourg.
We found out that 10.41 was the best time to be in front of the coast of Barfleur, on the Cotentin peninsula. This town is 20 miles from Cherbourg and with a strong current (2,5/3,5 knots) we would need 8 hours to negotiate that distance.
This would mean that we had to leave at 01:00 AM, but that was not an option. No way!
The wind for today was predicted South and going West at 15.00, exactly the direction we had to go!
So we calculated that the elements where against us!:) And we just had to go at 03:00 AM.

So we did. We had a short briefing on the best way to leave the narrow berth.
That helped us to a perfect start.

At 03:00 AM the sea is pitch dark and a ferocious waves were waiting for us.
The wind was much stronger then expected and the waves much higher, but in that kind of weather the Boekanier shows it is a well build ship.
Our biggest risk was hitting one of he many lobster nets which are placed at random for the coast. We tried to keep a sharp lookout for the flags attached to those nets. Anyway we managed to reach the deep water area and motored our way in the night.
Sunrise came later then we had expected mainly because of the heavy clouds.
Finally we had daylight again and we could take sleeping turns.
From 09:00 we could set our reefed sails and with a strong South wind we made good progress and speed.

During the afternoon the Genua sail was torn on one of the spreaders, so we had to drop that sail.
That was the main reason why we were not in time to catch the favourable tide at Barfleur. Secondly, the wind shifted to West and that was exactly our course.
So we did end up motoring from Barfleur to Cherbourg which took all evening.
The current was much stronger then described in the Almanac.
Anyway, we entered Cherbourg harbour under the delightful light of the undergoing sun. Dima made some nice pictures of it.
Landing our ship goes very quick now and I was proud of my crew. Very efficient.
At 11:00 we were ready to drink our well deserved steigerborrels.
Tomorrow we will have a look at the 'parapluis de Cherbourg'.
We will keep you updated.

Cees, Sam, Andrej and Dima.