Cherbourg - How was it for you, then?

Published 16:24 on 7 Jul 2015

Some eighteen boats and crews made it across to Cherbourg in very pleasant weather for the summer solstice and the music festival; those who made the crossing by night were able to witness how short the period of darkness is at this time of year; the loom of the sun just travels round from north-west to north-east, and then it's time for dawn again! Worth being out there for, not to mention arriving in Cherbourg in sunny weather for a great weekend of sightseeing, shopping in the market or just wandering around the gardens when the sun got too hot.The traditional wine-tasting was held outdoors as the weather was so nice; it was clear at the pontoon party on 'Arcsine' that there may have been more quaffing than tasting, and even expert crews appeared to have forgotten the implications of drastically changing a yacht's meta-centric height by adding most of a sailing club to the cabin roof! A rapid physics lesson, which even I understood (possibly the first, in fact), put things to rights in time for a short address by YCC Vice-President Marcel Hacquebey, who expressed the hope that we can continue to build on the very real links between the two clubs, and presented our Commodore with a bottle of YCC-labelled wine.Star attraction on Sunday was the visit to the WW2 German batteries underneath Fort du Roule, which was preceded by a brief visit to the Emmanuel Liais museum and gardens on the way. We met our guide Cyrille at the gate to the batteries, and were issued with very necessary helmets with headlights, before following him through a door into the hill. The four batteries were built very quickly in 1943 as part of the Atlantic Wall, though in fact were hardly used in anger before the surrender of Cherbourg on 26th June 1944. Cyrille is an expert on the period and the weapons used by both sides, and showed us how he had managed to deduce (using a laser) that some of the holes in the concrete roof of the fourth bunker were made from below by a captured German anti-tank gun.Then it was time to begin the drift into town to find something to eat and then wander around listening to the various bands playing. Although it was a smaller festival than last year, being Sunday, we found our favourite band, the Lindburgh Blues Band, playing just where they were last year, dishing out Who covers to an appreciative audience of fans, including a large number of WSC members!Monday was time to go for lots of crews, who made it back without too much exposure to the very nasty weather we were left with in Cherbourg Äì a lengthy period of near-gale with heavy rain made a quiet morning reading on board seem very sensible. Glorious sunshine on the northerly veer was a mixed blessing for those coming back on Tuesday; I seemed to be the last to leave at 5am, and still found motoring into a northerly breeze rather slow, so bore away for Alderney to get some diesel and see if the wind dropped and backed, as it duly did, so I was able then to sail from about mid-Channel right up to the Stone Pier.It's not like the Sixties Äì if you can remember Cherbourg, you were definitely there... If you've got photos you want to post or your account of the weekend, send them to Steve Homan-Berry or me. Some of Bendan's photos from the weekend are here: https://goo.gl/cAOllkSteve FraserCruiser Class Vice-Captain

Last updated 15:13 on 28 July 2025