Royal Air Force Yacht Club

Well, We’re back.

 I think the last postcard came from A Coruña where we were waiting for crew and weather.

Martin Walford joined us on Monday 24 August. Weather files showed fair conditions for the next day, but then the tail end of Hurricane Bill coming into western Biscay in the small hours of Wednesday. So on Tuesday we set off for the 50 mile passage up to Viveiro on the north west tip of Spain to lurk there whilst the worst of the weather passed through.

Further updates to GRIB files in Viveiro showed the winds as fresh south west, then veering west and easing before veering further to the north west and freshening to strong with gales in the northern Channel. Quite possible!

We set off on Wednesday afternoon with the forecast SW and a swell of barely 2 metres heading north. The idea was to keep well west of our track to allow us to bear away when the veer came through on Friday. Luckily the forecast was right and we had an excellent first day with only moderate seas, allowing the sun to be shot at noon.

By Thursday night the swell was increasing and the wind had started to veer, so we slowly bore away, just inside the north bound shipping lane but keeping east of the south bound vessels. Closing speeds of vessels of 10 knots coming up from behind is tolerable, but 25 knots from ahead is less easy!

On Friday the swell had increased to 4 metres and the wind a fresh NW 6-7, but by then we could point NE to Ushant, giving us a storming but bumpy ride. Ione behaved perfectly, with the autohelm handling the conditions magnificently. We passed inside Ushant, through the Fromveur Channel, timing this so that the tide was just in our favour, and by nightfall were past the Basse Portsall and into the English Channel still with a fair tide.

The wind favoured us all the way up Channel, easing when off Guernsey, so up went the cruising chute. This we carried all the way up the Alderney race and through to Cherbourg on a fast fine reach . Arriving in time for supper on Saturday, we had made the 500 miles in only 75 hours – a memorable sail.

Sunday was spent stocking up at the Normandie wine warehouse with a dozen cases coming on board. Then in the evening Stavros Niarchos came into the inner harbour, enabling Tony to meet up with a load of old ship mates.

Winds were light SE on Monday for the passage home. We could have sailed slowly, but there seemed little point, so we plugged across channel rapidly, dropping Martin in Lymington, and were back home in the Hamble in time for a drink at the Club!

Now comes the depressing stuff – sorting out home after our months away.

Best wishes to all

Sarah & Tony