The Normandy (or Perseverance) rally

Ariel set off from Southampton on Saturday 18 June with John Strode and Gill as crew, we made for Haslar Marina to pick up daughter Sally and her husband Marc on Sunday. The forecast didn’t look good. Strong south westerly winds and rain were forecast and we had already knocked on the head the “prequel” gathering in Littlehampton. With Sally and Marc now aboard we set off in the company of Oxygen to Brighton. The plan was to make east before crossing to Dieppe. After a somewhat lumpy and gusty passage east through the Looe Channel we duly arrived at the rather incongruous Brighton Marina stuck out on the coast as a bit of a carbuncle. Safely on the visitors’ berths we settled down for what we thought would be a short overnight stay, four nights later we were still there. The wind kept howling and the seas were coming over the marina wall, not a good omen for crossing the Channel. We were joined by several Dutch boats, some making for home and some trying to go west. Whilst in the rather dismal marina we did get out and about on the excellent public transport, visiting the Pavilion and Arundel Castle by bus and train. At last we saw a weather window on Friday, the weather site weatheronline.com proved accurate and reliable both in its prediction of wind strength and direction and of sea state also.

On to Fécamp
So, early Friday morning saw us setting out to Fecamp, all ideas of a mini-cruise via Dieppe and St Valery-en-Caux having been overtaken by the weather. The crossing was good with a south westerly blowing 15-18 knots on our beam we made good speed in rather rolly conditions arriving in Fécamp by early evening. This was Ariel’s first time to Fécamp and it has much to commend it once you are through the slightly shallow and narrow entrance. Restaurants and shops are close at hand and we enjoyed our first moules frites of the cruise and stocked up on the usual provisions. Our arrival also marked the start of the improved weather, shorts were broken out of the locker and sun screen liberally applied to all exposed parts. We were joined, rather surprisingly, by Peter Scott on Azanti on Saturday evening although not part of the rally he had come over just for the weekend and returned early on Sunday morning. Also joining in Fécamp were the Bizzies on Storm Petrel extending their Calais / east coast / south coast cruise.

Delayed rally goers
We had been getting constant updates from the other participants of the rally who had variously been delayed by poor weather, fog and all sorts of unimaginable things and we were rather resigned to this being a three boat rally, however, Little Ship Club sailors are nothing if not determined and we had promises of late arrivals in Honfleur, our next port of call. Monday dawned bright with a light sailing breeze as we left Fécamp for Honfleur, another new destination for Ariel. We sailed and motored and sailed and motored round Cap d’Antifer and past Le Havre and on into the Seine estuary finally resorting to motoring into a strong tide for the long drag up-river to buoy number 20 where we turned south for the lock into Honfleur.

The lock caused a number of interesting diversions as we three boats squeezed in alongside a trawler, a beautiful classic motor launch and a couple of ever present Dutch yachts – however, my lips will be forever sealed as to what these minor diversions may have been. Suffice it to say that we all emerged relatively unscathed to see Odin tied to the harbour wall waiting for the bridge to lift to allow us into the Vieux Bassin. Also, standing above Odin on the wall, was Malcolm Malir ready to join Storm Petrel. This was now becoming rather more like a rally!

After sculling around for a few minutes the bridge duly lifted and we were directed onto a pontoon in this unique harbour – we had arrived. Shortly afterwards we spied Ronhilda who opted to stay outside the harbour as did the next arrival, Sour Kraut. We were now a rally of six boats, our late arrivals having shown great perseverance in finally getting out of the Solent or Chichester Harbour and making the crossing.

Needless to say we all got thoroughly stuck into the wonderful restaurants that surround the harbour and we also enjoyed a “pontoon” party aboard Ariel for those that had missed the rather depleted party in Fécamp. Rather alarmingly the bridge failed to open on the Tuesday morning as the two operators had an “important meeting”, no warning was given of this and it would have been very inconvenient had we needed to get out that morning, as it was we moved outside the Bassin during the evening to give us an early start for Deauville the next morning.

Towards Deauville

The 07.30 lock was always going to be busy, we were rafted up against other British boats and the ever present Dutch and all we needed was a trawler to want to get out and we would be snookered. In the event it all went very smoothly and we got away without any drama and into the Seine for the short hop to Deauville.

This, our shortest passage of the cruise proved to be the most unpleasant with a very lumpy sea and a headwind we had an uncomfortable couple of hours in the Seine estuary before making our way into the approach channel for Deauville. Port Deauville is immediately to starboard as you get to the end of the entrance channel and it is a shallow and inconspicuous approach to the marina lock. Fortunately we got in just at the end of free flow making it an easy entrance, Odin and Sour Kraut were less fortunate, having to lock in with a big swell running out in the channel. Port Deauville is rather un-prepossessing being rather stark and too far out of town. For future reference the new pontoons in Bassin Morny, which were just being installed, would make a far better destination and they are right beside the yacht club. Ronhilda already recognised this and went instead to Dives-sur-Mer – a wise choice for the shallow drafted among us.

The formal rally dinner was held on Wednesday evening at the Deauville Yacht Club. The caterers did us proud and we all staggered away from the tables fully satisfied. Not only did the crews from the six boats attend, we had Peter and Caroline Withey who joined by car (they had caught up with us in Honfleur) and David Blackburn and two guests also joined us, David has a house near Deauville and had watched one of his horses run at the nearby race track.

We had decided to make our way to St Vaast a day early to give ourselves a better weather window to return back across the Channel so, with a relatively leisurely start to catch the lock opening we set off for another sail / motor / sail north west to St Vaast. It turned out to be a very enjoyable passage and timed to perfection as we arrived just as the gate to the pretty harbour opened. The usual scramble ensued as those boats that had arrived early and anchored off tried to assert their rights to first choice of pontoons but there was plenty of room inside. All six boats got in and enjoyed beautiful weather and the hospitality of the local restaurants and, of course, Monsieur Gosselin’s wonderful establishment.

With the weather now set fair all except Storm Petrel decided to leave on Saturday in order to get home and sorted out before the pressures of our other lives caught up with us. The gate opened at 09.15 local time and after refuelling and with zero depth under the keel Ariel set off for the Needles Channel. The slight breeze from the east slowly died away to almost nothing and we motored the whole way back to Ocean Village arriving at just after 22.00 BST; a long but relatively easy passage helped by the new spring flood down the western Solent which pushed us back home at up to 12kn over the ground. We were rewarded with a wonderful sunset over the beautiful Fawley refinery as we approached Southampton.

This was a very enjoyable rally, the first week only spoilt by the poor weather but the second week making up for it in grand style. It was most gratifying that boats made it after being delayed and thwarted by the weather and it certainly lived up to the Club’s motto of Sailing in Good Company.