Albatross crosses Channel

Race Report

CCRC Passage Race Friday 27th July Chichester (England) to Cherbourg (France)

NB notes in (brackets) are for the benefit of our American Cousins.

Being complete novices at this sort of thing we weren’t s sure what to do when we got up at 3 a.m. Have an early breakfast or a late supper? We opted for neither. In an attempt to maximise our sleep we had anchored overnight at East Head (England) after leaving our mooring on Itchenor Reach on Thursday Evening.

Anchoring (dropping the hook) involved:
1. Running aground (I don’t know the correct US Naval term for this, but they must have one),
2. Refloating,
3. Dropping the hook.

We slept briefly.

Pre-dawn beckoned (it was still night), we motored out to the starting line, this was between Yacht "Gunshot" and a local mark.

Gunshot was late for her own start on account of a generalised electronic equipment failure. Fortunately, she found her way to the start line using extreme seamanship and general resourcefulness (wisdom) .. she followed all the other boats who were out there waiting for her..

Following some generally technical but otherwise unremarkable VHF traffic (does anyone else remember watching “Whirlybirds”), the hooter was hooted and off we all went.

The main things about this race were Breakfast, Lunch, Tea and Snacks. In our case mainly tea and Eccles cakes (editorial comment, no American equivalent).

As a new member of The Club (Chichester (England) Cruiser Racing Club) it is normal, I understand, at this stage to mention the progress, exploits and achievements of other club boats. As however, they quickly disappeared ahead over the horizon (and I therefore had no idea what they were up to), I’ve decided not to bother (sorry Commodore) ... but read on, if you must.

It was lovely sunny day with a 12 knot SW breeze. Albatross floated along pleasantly. For readers wondering why Albatross currently stands utterly last in the CCRC 2010 league (Super Bowl), there are two possibilities.
First, Mass. We carry 400 litres of water, 2 bicycles, enough chain to hold the Ark Royal in an F10, a library, an (empty) wine cellar and nearly 10% of my wife’s shoe collection.
Second, Incompetence.

Gunshot, Arcadia, Sikoflex, Intrepid, L’Aquarelle, Allegra, BT, Pheon, Saphire, Egret, Red Apple, Geofon (Commodore said to drop in a few boat names) all seemed to be luckier with the tide, wind, tactics and general overall mass and as a result of this luck arrived in Cherbourg (France) in good time. Meanwhile, Albatross’ race team (Jean and me) on our tenth “Trans-Manche” almost made it for the first time without using the engine. Sadly we were thwarted (blocked by a wooden seat?) by a sudden, uncharted and unpredictable tidal anomaly 300 metres before the finishing buoy.

Thus, we retired and finished last which resulted in the achievement of my ultimate, cunning and secret plan. … which was to arrive at a pontoon lined with the smiling faces of CCRC members who, ably instructed by Keith, managed to prevent any serious damage from resulting from our arrival (we didn’t hit anything).