Wander Lost

Author: John

  • Sailing in fog

    Sailing along an unfamiliar coastline in fog is a bit daunting but with the right equipment and a bit of planning it’s perfectly OK. I had to do this today from Lannion to Roscoff with visibility rarely more than quarter of a mile.

    First the equipment I used..

    • Raymarine Axiom plotter
    • Garmin GPSmap 551
    • Simrad VHF radio
    • Samsung Galaxy tablet
    • Samsung Galaxy phone
    • Large scale paper map of the entire coast
    • Raymarine autopilot
    • Wind vane steering
    • My eyes
    • My brain

    Having up to date charts is essential, my favourite electronic source is an android app called Savy Navy but I also have charts on my plotter and the Garmin.

    I rely heavily on electronics so I needed a backup plan in case of a lighting strike which could knock out them all. In this case it was to keep an eye on the safest route to open water and memorise the bearing from my current position. That way I could get to a safe position to reassess and not run into rocks on the way.

    Route, weather and tide planning is essential. You don’t want to be fighting a tide pushing you in the wrong direction and you don’t want to be fighting high winds. Those are the times to stay where you are and wait.

    The most expensive bit of kit I used was my eyes and my brain. I was constantly on the look out for other vessels, uncharted obstacles, pot bouys etc. I was also constantly monitoring my course and the tide to avoid charted rocks and shoals.

    After leaving the anchorage this morning the visibility was about half a mile, within half an hour it was down to less than a quarter of a mile, sometimes much less, the first land I saw in the final 3 hours was Roscoff harbour wall, right where Savy Navy said it would be.

  • Tough few days

    The last few days have been tough on both me and the boat. I want to get on but the weather and strong currents around here mean slow progress.

    The sail from Guernsey to the French coast went well. It started with good winds which dwindled to nothing and ended in strong winds gusting to 25 knots and passing showers. I found a safe anchorage in the Lee of a small island and have spent two rolly nights here. The strong currents here mean I can only move on the ebb tide, high tide is mid day so cannot move in the mornings at the moment.

    I tried to move yesterday but the anchor windlass stopped halfway up. The anchor was not snagged, I could pull the chain. I spent the next couple of hours stripping down the windlass to investigate (missing my chance to move). I found this….

    Windlass motor drive shaft sheared

    I think the gearbox has jammed and that caused the motor to shear the drive shaft. The winch is old and given the gearbox and motor will need replacing its more economic to replace the whole thing. Especially as I wanted to move it further forward anyway. That will have to wait till I reach a marina, probably Brest. In the mean time my muscles will get a workout manually lifting the anchor.

    I have also struggled mentally with a lot of setbacks. I am naturally a positive optimist but the last few days have drained a lot of that. I need something to enjoy for a few days. I may stop at Brest a while and live a little 🙂.

  • Sailing to Europe with a Dog

    We have just crossed the English Channel so this is a good point to write about our experiences with beaurocrazy in doing this post Brexit.

    Pre Brexit, UK vets could issue an EU pet passport once all relevant jabs, including rabies, were up to date. The pet passport lasted the lifetime of the dog and allowed travel across Europe. That is no longer the case. You must now obtain an animal health certificate from a UK vet, leave within 5 days and arrive in Europe within 10 days, you are allowed longer if travelling by sea. You can leave by private boat but YOU MUST BRING THE ANIMAL BACK BY AN APPROVED ROUTE; which means by plane or ferry. The returning pet must have an valid animal health certificate OR an EU pet passport with up to date jabs. The new rules are complex but the information is available on .gov.uk.

    I started the process last January by getting Dotty’s jabs up to date. A couple of days before I sailed I got a health certificate from PetPass in Havant. This cost £99 for 10 minutes of checking her jab certificates and her microchip and stamping preprepared forms. Most vets were charging far more for this, PetPass is run by a couple in a conservatory at the back of their house and this is all they do so keep the costs down.

    With the paperwork in hand, I arrived in Cherbourg marina and presented them when I met the frontier police at the marina to have my passport stamped. They looked confused 😳 they didn’t know what to do with them. I showed them the page where they are supposed to sign and stamp the form. This is necessary for onward travel in Europe. They filled it out and stamped it but did not sign it, so I asked them to do that too. They had no means of checking Dotty’s microchip so the whole thing is a farce.

    This form allows me to travel with Dotty in Europe as well as return her to the UK (via an approved route) within 4 months. We will be away longer than this so I plan to get her an EU pet passport within that time. French vets no longer register dogs except for French citizens so I plan to get one in Spain.

    This is just one of the many crazy consequences of Brexit which was a good idea but very badly implemented. I hope that over time the mess will be sorted, but in the mean time we must jump through paper hoops put in place for political reasons, not practical ones.

  • Sark, Channel Islands

    My plan last night was to do a night sail back to Guernsey. It was the first opportunity to move for several days due to high winds and a sequence of storm fronts moving through the Channel.

    I got as far as the outer harbour entrance in bumpy seas and noticed a line flying around over my head… that’s not a line, that’s the stern shroud (the wire running from the top of the mast to the back of the boat.. it holds the mast up 😳).

    Panic!!! No… stay calm… I quickly got the engine running, furled the headsail and dropped the mainsail and turned back to the harbour. On the way I figured out what went wrong. The shroud is attached to the boat via a thick clevis pin which should not be able to work loose due to a retaining pin. Both pins were missing. Fortunately I have spares.

    I anchored outside the marina, did the repairs and went to bed.

    I set off about 9.30am, conditions were good with at one point 7.5 knots of tide pushing the boat up to just over 11.5 knots.

    I made good progress as far as Alderney but then wind dropped and tides were against me. Heading too far East I switched on the engine and motor sailed to Sark where I am anchored for the night.

  • Cherbourg, France

    In this blog entry.. crashing the boat, crossing the English Channel, playing dodgem with big ships, storms, checking into France after Brexit and more changes in plans (why do I bother planning?).

    Let’s start with the embarrassing 😳 bit, hopefully you will have forgotten all about this by the time you reach the end of this blog.

    I set off from my mooring at Deacons Marina in the Hamble at 9am. The marina is on a tidal river with a fast flow, I headed to the Channel. As soon as the bow got into the river flow, it swung the front to starboard (right), toward other moored boats, then the stern swung against another boat, its anchor went through my cockpit canopy canvas. I was pinned there by the current and had to wait till the current lessened to move again.

    Fortunately no other boat was damaged, only mine. I eventually got clear and under way around 11am. I spent the first half of the Channel crossing sewing up the canvas.

    Have you stopped laughing yet?… OK I will carry on 😳.

    The Channel crossing went very well, it was a night crossing and the only scary moment was crossing the busy shipping lanes outside Cherbourg. There are two one for eastbound ships, one for westbound, they are separated by a 5 mile gap. First I had to cross the Westbound lane, that was straightforward, not so scary I thought… then I picked up the AIS signals from the Eastbound lane. Think of crossing the M4 on a bank holiday and you will understand. These were big tankers, container ships, ferries, cruise ships etc. Fortunately I also have AIS and one ship changed course so I could thread the needle at an angle…

    After Cherbourg I rounded a Cape where the winds and waves started to pick up. At first I just thought it local winds and tides, usual around headlands. But then both French and UK coastguards issued new storm warnings on the radio. Things were getting worse, the forecast had obviously changed so, change of plan again, I decided to head to nearby Guernsey in the Channel Islands. There I could find a sheltered anchorage and have a good look at the new forecasts.

    The new forecast was not good news. A big depression was due south of Ireland and will spread its tentacles around Biscay, worse it was set to last until the end of the week and another was hot on its heels brewing in the Atlantic.

    I needed to enter the EU by a Port of Entry. Crossing Biscay to Spain was out but I had two options in France. Brest was best but it will be effected by the storm, Cherbourg was the safe option, although it meant going backwards. I am now in Cherbourg marina with my passport stamped as is Dotty’s health certificate. We are good to stay in the Schengen zone (EU) for 3 months.

    I plan to stay here at anchor in the harbour waiting for the storms to clear from Biscay. If I get the chance I may run to Brest to wait. I am in no rush.

    Oh yes, nearly forgot. This is a big squall that passed through the marina earlier. The video shows the start, in the middle of it a massive gust knocked the boat against the pontoon.

  • I’m back…

    What a summer ☀️ 🙂 but today I will be travelling back from Wales to Lady Cindy in the river Hamble to resume my travels.

    I have spent the summer with Ffion and her family helping them to move and paint their new home. It’s not all been hard work though, I have spent a lot of time up at their fields with the horses, been to two music festivals, a couple of band gigs, birthday parties, days and nights out in the town, country parks, got a tattoo and much more. Dotty has been on an adventure too but lost her tail in the process. She tried to climb some scaffolding to sit with me while I was painting. She slipped, caught and broke her tail and had to have it amputated due to no blood circulation. She has recovered well and seems to manage fine without it.

    I originally planned to enter Europe via France to get Dotty a European pet passport but French vets have been told to only issue them to French citizens. I will go to A Caruna in Northern Spain instead. There is also a big Atlantic storm coming into Biscay next weekend so I will go to Portland harbour and shelter there until the weather is right to cross the Channel and Biscay. I have an opportunity to stop at Brest if needed.

  • Plans Re-written (again)

    I spent the first part of this week finalising plans to sail across the Channel. As I had to wait a week to get Dotty’s animal health certificate, I decided to hire a car and go to see Ffions family doing their first live gig since before Covid. The hire cost per week was not much more than the 3 days I needed so I booked it for a whole week and have spent the entire time with Ffion.

    Ffions parents have been preparing to move house and in the process her Dad has made an already bad back much worse. So I have volunteered to stay with them for a while to help with the heavy lifting. There is a lot of work needed at both the new house and at their field. Its not all hard work though. I get to use a mini digger and spent more time with Ffion and her family.

    The boat is going to be moved to Deacons Marina at Swanwick where it will be lifted and stored ashore, its cheaper than a pontoon mooring. At the end of August she will be put back in the water and I will cross the Channel in September.

  • Southampton Town Quay

    I am at Town Quay marina in Southampton and will be here another week preparing and supplying to cross the Channel at the beginning of June.

    I am spending time with family, taking a road trip to see Ffion perform a gig with her family, and getting an animal health certificate for Dotty.

  • St Ives to Portland

    It’s been a tiring week of sailing, sometimes it’s been fun, sometimes relaxing, sometimes exciting and a couple of times a little scary.

    From St Ives I went around Lands End and stopped just before the Lizard point at a small anchorage called Mullion, I stopped there on the way up too.

    From Mullion I went to Falmouth where I stopped in the marina for a couple of nights to alow a predicted storm to pass. Next was Cawsand just inside Plymouth sound and then on to Brixham and then Weymouth.

    I had some excitement with an aircraft carrier. It came within 5 miles ahead of me then turned back. Ha.. scared her off I thought… then she came back and passed within a mile of me. Two helicopters were on deck loading with personnel one of which later flew off.

  • Milford Haven to St Ives

    Winds were good to cross the Bristol Channel but with good winds come choppy seas. For the first time on Lady Cindy I felt queezy. It lasted about 3 hours before the seas started to calm a little and so did my stomach. I wasn’t sick and I have been in worse conditions but I think it started at dusk when I would have lost the horizon as a fix for my eyes.

    I arrived in St Ives at dawn, dropped anchor, had a meal and spent the rest of the day napping and reading.

    I left St Ives about 8.30 this morning after a few chores and plan to get around at least as far as Penzance, preferably further but with no winds and under motor at the moment, that looks unlikely. I want to get to the safety of Falmouth by Wednesday because a storm is predicted for then. It should only last a couple of days giving me a clear run along the South Coast.