Blithe Spirit at anchor off Rozel Harbour

Rozel, Jersey

Found a great Portuguese restaurant in St Hellier, and felt much recuperated after a lazy morning on Monday. We decided to leave the marina when there was enough water for the sill, to let our French neighbours out, but also to travel round to an anchorage on the East coast which would give us shelter fromthe South Westerly winds. We headed for St Catherines Bay, negotiating the rocky Violet Bank that juts out 4 miles from Jerseys South East corner.
We sighted dolphins on the way, but they didn't come over to play, so was unable to tell if they were the bottlenose that reside around here.
Picked up a vacant mooring in St Catherins Bay, protected by a large breakwater to the north, the land to the West and South West, and a rocky reef to the South East. Unofortunatly we then heard a wind warning for strong winds from the south in the channel overnight, which would undoubtably mean southerly wind for us, although not so strong. This proved to be the case and although the wind did have a little west in it it did manage to send some swell over the reef, which meant anouther lumpy night. It was worst in the early morning when the wind died down but the boat laid to the swell which rolled us a little. So as sonn as we could manage we moved to the next Bay round and found some more protection, at the expense of poor holdng on the rocky ground for the anchor. but we got it dug in and had bit more sleep.
A hot sun burnt it's way through the heavy grey clouds, and by the time we got ashore at lunchtime the tourists were arriving in the sleepy little fishing village of Rozel. It was a lot more inviting than it first appeared at  8.30am. So We booked into the fish restaurant on the front for the evening, which means we'll be staying here tonight. There is not much else here other than the restuarant, a tea room, and the Hungry Man kiosk, but it's all we need. It now feels hot enough for a swim, shame I,ve just eaten a late breakfast!

Dixcart Bay, Sark

St Hellier

Having trouble posting, especially pictures, as much as we would like. However after a realxing day, taking some hired bikes o a beach, on Guernsey we set off for Sark on Saturday. A few hours brought us round the South of the island to Dixcart Bay, only open to the South and South East, so with winds from the West we thought we would be in for a quiet night. On returning from a walk through the dense wooded valley up to the Stocks hotel for drink, we found that the bay had emptied of other boats bar one- did they know something we didn't? Probably.
The Westerly winds managed to whip round the South of the Island and create an onshore wind in the bay, which kept the sea rolling in. Added to this there was an occasional gust from the west down though the valley which blew us side on to the waves. Fortunately none of this was too extreme, and the anchor held, but we rolled enough to keep us awake.

Today was a 4 hour sail with a strong beam reach west about Jersey to St Hellier. Cool conditions on the water with a cold westerly, but hot sunshine awaited once we were in the shelter of St Hellier marina- We soon feel asleep in the cockpit after rafting to a French boat.
It's the same on land with a cool wind blowing in but hot when the sun is out. Possibly the sea is cooler than normal after May/June sunshine hours, and is cooling down the air, even though we are having quite a lot of hot sunshine

A good rest for a couple of days, to make up for Dixcart Bay, before we head on South for St Malo, depending on wind direction.

Beaucette

Blithe Spirit farthest boat, to left of Union Jack. You can see the narrow entrance into the marina, which is an old quarry.

Briony Asleep In The Alderney Race!

Briony Asleep In The Alderney Race

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Yarmouth - Beaucette, Guernsey

We're officially on holiday!  We arrived at Beaucette Marina at 9.30 yesterday evening after our (well my) longest passage ever - 91 miles, 17 hours from Yarmouth.  Setting off at 4.30 am seemed very early, but it was worth it to perfectly time our arrival at the Alderney Race which looks very calm in the picture.  Conditions were good for the crossing - we motored at the start for several hours, then managed an hour with the spinnaker before the wind moved forward and picked up and we were on a beam reach for most of the rest of the passage.  We were also able to receive radio 4 and the English coastguard  all the way across - result!  The shipping channels were quiet - we only saw about although there was a lot of radio traffic, we didn't see many other yachts, however on the approaches to Guernsey we saw a Malo 36 which we took an interest in as my Mum's cousin Phil has one and we always look out for him (but never see him) in the Solent.  Amazingly it was his boat Kaprys - we tried calling on the radio and catching up with them but didn't manage to make contact and they went in to St Peter's Port.  Despite several phonecalls we couldn't contact Beaucette Marina but took a buoy outside to wait for the sill to be passable, the passage between the rocks seemed very narrow but the size of the boats inside suggest that we won't have any trouble!

 On arrival we were greeted by a family who also keep their boat in Portsmouth who helped with our lines and gave us a glass of wine: a lovely welcome after such a long trip.  As usual there were a couple of points where I was wondering why I choose to spend my holiday feeling so rubbish, but after 12 hours sleep, a hot shower and a cup of coffee I'm looking forward to the rest of  the trip.

Briony didn't mention that we are heading for Guernsey today, hence the early start. Should be there this evening, but we are hoping some wind will kick in to speed us along. At the moment we are motoring in a very flat sea, with the sun rising on our port quarter.

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A very early start from Yarmouth - up at 4.30 - so already on my second cup of tea before 6 am. After a busy day getting ready in Gosport, we spent the first night of the trip at anchor in Osbourne bay. Miraculously, Harry caught 3 fish on the way so our first dinner afloat was fresh mackerel - lovely. It was beautiful the next day and by the time we left, there were a lot of other boats basking in the hot sun. We motored against the tide to Yarmouth where we filled up with diesel, enjoyed a drink (or two) overlooking the harbour, and bought fish and chips for dinner. All going well so far apart from the demise of my kindle, good job I packed a couple of real books too!
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