Fifty shades of grey - and a fair bit of masochism!

Published 07:05 on 18 Mar 2015

Having slept on board, I found the cold and Condor made me get up at 0430 on Saturday morning, put on an unlikely quantity of clothes and set off into the blackness beyond the harbour mouth and the serious chill of a brisk nor-nor-easterly. Masochism or what? The wind did at least mean that I could bear away and get sailing just beyond the stone pier Äì destination France, at last!Daybreak offshore is always an awesome experience, and one worth getting up for, even if it's cold, though given the wind strength and sea state clear of the land, it was clear this was going to be a lively trip, even reefed right down. The fitting on the mast holding the inhaul/outhaul for the main came off, requiring urgent attention; I was tempted to turn back, but it already looked a long way, and the ebb had begun, so it was easier to go on, having fixed the damage.Once I had found the most comfortable line and sail area, 'Aliya' ran straight and true on an open reach at around 6.5 knots all the way to the Passe de l'Est, over a sea empty and grey, but even after the flood kicked in before lunch it didn't get too rough. I managed to spill some of the soup, a sign that I haven't been sailing enough Äì it's easy to forget not to put things down where they can tip over! Little traffic mid-Channel was welcome as the AIS seemed only to be working intermittently, too, though again this turned merely out to need connecting correctly - I haven't used it in earnest since the mast came out in the autumn.I saw a few boats sailing in the grande rade as I approached the eastern entrance, and found some of the Grande Surprise weekend training squad in the YCC bar; about four boats raced on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Also braving the cold were the keen children and and very long-suffering parents from the Ecole de Voile, who were on the water for most of Sunday. They included Thierry Lacour and Anne Mataguez of YCC and their son Adrien, who managed a 2nd and 3rd in his new role as 420 helm. Thierry and Anne have undertaken the presidency and vice-presidency of the Ecole de Voile, and are keen to create a link with young sailors at Weymouth, especially in 420s.A visit from Loulou (together with Carla and Cashemire the dog) meant I could get Loulou's verdict on the Transquadra experience, followed by Thierry's account over dinner on Sunday evening. They were lucky only to break a pole and tear a spinnaker, in the first few days out of Madeira when it blew hard from the north-east and a new record of 23 knots was achieved for 'Raging Bee', while others less fortunate snapped masts, booms etc: one boat was even rolled by the big seas. Forecasting on the boat was difficult, and Loulou wants 'wifi like at home' for the next trip, in order to get a sufficiently detailed view of what's happening. The important thing was that they got there, in spite of being stuck with no wind for two days, and that they felt they had got on well and shared the difficulties positively.'McDo de Cherbourg', Bruno James' SunFast 3200, had all sorts of issues Äì autohelm failure, then ripped sails and a broken boom, and to round it off a total electronics blackout which meant sailing merely by compass for four days! It is to their credit that they managed a competitive result despite the compounding of problems which inevitably included crew exhaustion.An equally grey and chilly trip back, mostly motor-sailing, felt very easy by comparison, though it was tempting, in the emptiness of the Channel, to wonder quite why we do this...Steve Fraser'Aliya'

Last updated 15:13 on 28 July 2025